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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Introduction to Ancient Mystery Religions, April 26, 2010
This review is from: Jesus: The Explosive Story of the 30 Lost Years and the Ancient Mystery Religions (Paperback)
I could not put the book down. Ms McCannon writes clearly and keeps you interested. I particularly liked the heavy footnoting which made the book more meaningful. If you are interested in seeing Jesus as the man he was and why he was so learned in the ancient mystery religions, this is the book. If you become hooked with the topic there are many citations to keep you searching. Everywhere I look now I see the symbolism which is the foundation for much of Christianity today, including the "beehive" hat the Pope wears to the "fish" symbol that appears so ubiquitously on the back of automobiles and the origin of the "cross", which was already an important ancient religious symbol before Christ. Rather than travel to the Holy Land, I suggest go to the Isle of Avalon in Gastonbury England where Jesus lived and his followers, lead by Joseph of Aramethia, went to start the first Christian church. You will find out that Jesus also traveled extensively in India and was well grounded in the ancient teachings of the Egyptians, from which he may have learned about resurrection. The raising of the Eucharist during the Catholic mass is a symbol for the Sun, based on the Egyptian god of the Sun, Ra, whose "eye" is the derivation of the "fish" symbol. All this and more is explored by this wonderful book that places our current Western religious practice and the life of Jesus in in a modern perspective.
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Grand View, March 30, 2010
This review is from: Jesus: The Explosive Story of the 30 Lost Years and the Ancient Mystery Religions (Paperback)
Tricia takes you on a journey of Jesus' life - from birth through death and Resurrection, but most importantly she speaks of Jesus' journeys to Britain, India, Tibet, Persia and Egypt - what he learned and what he taught. You get the clear message that the wisdom of the ancients - held in the ancient mystery schools - that have been around for at least 5000 years, is embraced by Jesus, and played out on the world stage with his life. If you have ever wanted to know the symbolism, or hermetic language in the art of all cultures - read this book - filled with over 100 illustrations. We have never been alone - and the teachings are now surfacing for all to know.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pre-ministry of Jesus, August 23, 2010
This review is from: Jesus: The Explosive Story of the 30 Lost Years and the Ancient Mystery Religions (Paperback)
I have to give kudos to Tricia on her book of the pre-ministry years of Jesus. I've also been studying Christian origins for over 20 years and found much of her research very interesting and supportive of my own studies. It is outside the main stream scholarship, but then they tend to focus on studying the trees and not looking at the forest. What I found most interesting is the conncetion for ancient myths with the mystery religions which I had previously made also. There is very little written on the similarities of these religions although you can find a number of books claiming Jesus plagarized his religion from pagan sources and event more astounding is their claim that Jesus never really existed, that he too was mythical; these seem to be hasty generalizations from authors promoting their own atheistic agenda. This book comes at a very different angle, supporting my findings that most of the major religions came from a very ancient single source. The problem for most Christians in reading this book will be that it is too far out there for them to make a connection. As one reviewer previously put it, "I'll rely on the NT" [paraphrasing]. This "solo scriptora" (scriptures only) attitude has caused Christianity to remain in an ever shrinking box that becomes more and more disconnected with time. There are a number of other books that support that original Christianity was more esoteric and probably closer to the Gnostic Christian version than the orthodox version we have today (Inner Christianiyt for one). So Christians have to give up a few of their idealistic beliefs such as Christianity being a unique revelation in the doctrinal sense. Jesus himself confirms that what he teaches is not something new, but rather something very, very old as he questions why Nicodemus doesn't get the concept of being 'born again' (Jn 3:10) The verse implies that this Pharisee was, or should have been taught that this ancient concept in his training also. Most people have no problem realizing that Jesus was Jewish and much of his theology came from his Jewish religion. I also subscribe to the theory that Christianity was more Essene in it's theology than Pharisitic. But some how it we discover that Jesus taught concepts similar to those in non-Jewish religions then somehow it has to be false. The logic doesn't follow here. Again, we have Christians having to give up the assumption that they have a monopoly on truth. Margaret Barker, Oxford scholar, wrote on the Hidden Tradition of Christianity and one has difficulty walking away from reading that book without knowing that Jesus taught the mysteries of the kingdom. In fact both Christianity and Judaism were mystical and mystery cults. So to say that other mystery cults had similar teachings is not something that should be thought of as heretical. But the biggest problem of this book facing a Christian audience is that most do not study their own religion, let alone the stories and legends outside the Bible. This book may be too much of a quantum leap for them to embrace. I appreciate the many footnotes the author provided, but also consent that although there may be traditions of Christ visiting those other countries in his pre-ministry years, it is far from solid evidence for absolute proof. Too often, the author seems to throw in premises without fully building an argument in favor of. All in all, it's a book I would recommend for those ready to receive it.
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