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The Egyptian Origin of Christianity

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Now in a revised second edition, Lisa Ann Bargeman's The Egyptian Origin Of Christianity offers an informative, iconoclastic analytical survey of those non-Biblical contributions to the concepts and ecumenical development of Christianity drawn from the Egyptian religious myths and rituals of antiquity. The juxtaposing of texts from the Bible and from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the comparison of similarities between the story of Osiris and the story of Jesus, the observations of cosmology, physical symbolism, and tradition, are all revealed in startling and unexpected ways that will give serious students of both Egyptian and Christian metaphysics a great deal of food for thought and reflection. Lisa Bargeman adheres to a very high standard of scholarship both in her presentation and in her interpretative commentary. The Egyptian Origin Of Christianity is a welcome and much appreciated contribution to Metaphysical Studies.

"This... is intended for all those who question the origin of Christian symbols, rituals and ceremonies. This book clearly demonstrates the similarities between Egyptian religion and Christianity in general and the modern Roman Catholic Church in particular. The facts are presented in a well-organized structure based on a number of different themes such as: the ceremonial parallels, the Genesis, the Great Flood, the seven Sacraments, the Jesus/Osiris connection, the Mary/Isis connection and the Trinities. It is in the Animism chapter that the author juxtaposes extracts from the Bible and from the Book of the dead. This chapter is eminently revealing.... The topic of this book, and the Egyptian / Christian religious parallel in particular, is rarely addressed in modern literature. Ms. Bargeman meticulously and definitively demonstrates that the Egyptian influence on modern theology can be easily discerned in Christian practices, and that Christianity as a whole is greatly indebted to its Egyptian antecedents. This book should be a welcomed addition to the TO DO list of all (not yet satisfied) avid readers of the now famous "The Da Vinci Code".
- Denis et Claudette Goulet, Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities

With this book, I ordered Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity. I am so glad I did! Let's put it this way: if I had just ordered THE EGYPTIAN ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY, I probably wouldn't have given this topic much further thought.

When it comes right down to it, THE EGYPTIAN ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY is poorly written. The title is certainly arousing, but the thesis is poorly supported. The author jumps haphazardly from concept to concept and it is clear that the author's historical grasp of ancient Egyptian theology is lacking... perhaps limited to the ancient Egyptian BOOK OF THE DEAD. Specific supporting examples are far from compelling. In comparison, the author of EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY AND EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANITY presents considerable background information, shows hieroglyphs, and considers overall parallel concepts. Transitions within EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY AND EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANITY are also much smoother. It really seems as if the author of THE EGYPTIAN ORIGIN OF CHRISTIANITY hasn't done her homework, which is really inexcusable considering that EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY AND EGYPTIAN CHRISTIANITY was written 100 years earlier.

I must overwhelmingly disagree with the previous post.

This book is an entirely serious, and most comprehensive work concerning the similarities between Egyptian, & Christian philosophies, concepts & traditions. Each comparison, & contrast seems to have been extensively researched, and coherently presented.

Extremely informative, and compelling read.
Recommended.

I have to say I do love this book, it gives you food for thought! From reading it, I know a lot of thought and time went into it, and any mistakes in printing can be passed up as she seems to be a new writer. It's a great book, I love the thoughts and comparisons in it, and would recommend it to anybody who wants to see more than one angle of Christianity and how it was formed. I hope to see more from her in the future!

Bargeman's "The Egyptian Origin of Christianity" staggers from one idiotic statement to another; it is drenched, soaked in errors.

But more than that, the main thesis itself is wrong. In the years 1880-1930 many hundreds of biblical scholars argued that early Christianity drew its dogmas from the pagan mysteries, including Egyptian ones. The theory is known as the History of Religions school. There is not a single reputable scholars in the world who now believes it. After thousands of books written about it, the evidence showed: early Christianity did not take a single dogma from the pagan mysteries.

So has Bargeman come up with fresh insights, new information? Hardly. Not that it's easy to understand her arguments, because she writes in a haphazard manner better suited to a novel or book of poetry.

To give an example, in her argument that the Christian trinity and Egyptian ones are alike, she argues that the "Egyptian trinities were conceived in order to elevate the status of a minor deity to that of a major one" (p 8). This appears to be some bit of information she copied from an Egyptian history book, but adds no value to her argument, since it only points out how utterly different the Christian trinity is from the Egyptian ones.

In the Christian trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all one being. Not aspects of one being. One being. One being who created everything in our universe. This was indeed a new concept.

She gives not a single fragment of evidence to show that Christians borrowed the idea of the trinity from the Egyptian religion. Nor has she even tried to deal with the time problem she has for her idea to work. The Christian debate about the Trinity came during the 3rd to 5th century, for pity's sake.

How long had it been since the entire Egyptian religious system collapsed by that time? CENTURIES. In fact, the Egyptians of the New Kingdom and Late Period had lost the idea of a heavenly future. Their civilization had been overtaken by the Greeks, both physically and in their idea of heaven.

Every time she pounces on something similar, she seems convinced it means Christianity borrowed it. A reference to eating bread and beer in the Book of the Dead she connects with the Eucharist. Food eaten by the dead gave the early Christians the idea for the Eucharist? I could easily list 100 ways in which they were poles apart. Besides, everybody eats. The idea of a ritual meal is a pretty obvious one. Pretty much every religion has ritual meals of one sort or another. Why even the need to borrow?

She writes that in the Egyptian religion "the soul is judged by the god in the presence of a tribunal" (p 50) and forgets to mention that the Egyptian people had all sort of ways to trick the judge. Pagans, including the Egyptians, only conceived of their gods as being a bit better than people in their abilities, and no better at all in their behavior.

This is not a judgment by a God who is all holy, who created us, and who knows our every thought.

She errs again arguing that "Osiris and Jesus were...resurrected" (p 53). This, by the way, was a very popular argument in the History of Religions schools. But it was proven to be entirely bogus. For pity's sake , scholars laugh at the idea now. Why, why didn't she read anything on the subject?

Osiris was never resurrected by his own power. Isis scurries about collecting pieces of his body. Also, Bargeman confuses early stories about Osiris with much, much later renditions.

She errs when she argues that Osiris and Jesus were born to virgins. No they weren't. Osiris' mother had sex with a god. And, therefore, she was no longer a virgin. Lots of pagan religions claim such births.

But losing your virginity to a minor god is not the same thing as never having had sex, and yet giving birth to the Word Incarnate. This is exactly like her error over the resurrection, when she compares apples to a chocolate bar.

There are a number of good books that disprove Bargeman's theories. The very best and most thorough, and one you could order from Amazon today, is "The Jesus Legend" by Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory A Boyd. On the popular level, try "The Gospel and the Greeks" by Nash. On the highest level of scholarship, try Gunter Wagner's "Pauline Baptism and the Pagan Mysteries" and Martin Hengel's "The Son of God. And for an idea of just how different Christianity was from the pagan religions, try "When Children Became People".

Although the author gives us nothing new, she has managed to consolidate existing information in a pleasurable read that stays focused on the topic she set out to discuss.
Especially interesting was her focus on 'Feminine Pharaohship', giving emphasis to the importance and competence of the 7 pharaoh queens mentioned on the King List of Mantheo.
Perhaps a little more attention could have been given to the Sumerian roots of Egyptian beliefs, however I understand that might have taken the reader too far off topic.
This has been a pleasant and informative book to read It's compiled and referenced well.
Ms. Bargeman did an outstanding job. I shall enjoy reading anything she produces in the future.

The book is a complete failure. The printing is horrible with some page numbers IN THE MIDDLE of the page, and has many, many widows. I have the sense that this was a home-brew, desktop publishing effort as the printing is done on demand. Not all direct quotes are even cited! The author is identified as attending Ramapo College (NJ) which the bio claims was "once considered for Ivy League status!" Wow! The author quotes two teachers at that school as sources for her book. By the way, review your Roman Numerals for these are the numerals used for endnotes. And be prepared to examine TWO different endnote groups. NOTHING in the book establishes any thesis in reference to the title. NOTHING in the book relates to the few hundred word "conclusion," which is merely a string of unrelated non-sequiturs. There was an inital promise to show Egyptian influence in the OT through Egypt's relationship with Syria. Oh. NOTHING in this promise was presented. Based on years of secondary and university teaching, I judge that this book was a freshman, sophomore at most, term paper (and probably for high school).

This book presents a well researched exploration of the similarities between Christianity and the culture of Ancient Egypt. It is well written and a good resource for scholars studying the subject in depth or those of us studying it for the first time. Although detailed and informative, this book retains the readability of a good novel.

I read this book and... sorry, but can not recommend it for serious studies. The author obviously has not heard about Mircea Eliade. This work is somehow not serious and left me disappointed. Good, if you want to do some Sunday reading or have just begun your studies, but it is not serious. Sorry for that.