Customer Reviews

Out of Egypt: The Roots of Christianity Revealed

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I was intrigued by the thesis of this book; that the roots of both Judaism and Christianity were to be found in ancient Egypt. Amongst other ideas, the author suggests that the Pharaohs Thutmosis III, Akhenaten, and Tutankamun were the persons that the Bible calls David, Moses, and Jesus, respectively. He argues that the accounts in the scriptures held sacred by the Jews and by Christians, known as the Old Testament, and which were written down only after many centuries of oral tradition, are seriously flawed and ahistorical. Osman further suggests that there is no proof whatsoever, aside from the biblical account, that there ever was an important Jewish kingdom in Palestine ruled by David or Solomon. Essentially, he contends that Jesus did not live a mortal life in the first century AD, but rather that embellished accounts of a life from more than 1000 years earlier were used as a model in what amounted to a great deception. His book is a serious problem for either a believing Christian or a believing Jew, undercutting as it does the veracity of the scriptures, and basic tenets of both faiths. Nonetheless, the book might be a serious challenge to conventional scholarship, were it not flawed itself. Osman has an annoying and ultimately self-undermining habit of making a great many unsupported suppositions. He makes a claim, which he promises to prove "later", and then later he continues his argument with "As we have seen..." as though he has offered solid proof, when in fact he has offered nothing of the sort. There is far too much here that lacks substantiation, and the author relies far too heavily on the Bible itself (which he himself claims is completely unreliable) and his personal interpretation thereof, to measure up to even a weak academic standard. It IS an entertaining read; but far too many speculations are held together with very little solid evidence for Osman's argument to be taken completely seriously. Even his research was less than thorough. His bibliography, for example, does not include Immanuel Velikovsky, who wrote of a similar theory regarding the Pharaoh Akhenaten decades ago. To conclude, the book promised much, but failed to deliver. Ultimately, I was disappointed.

Normally, I look skeptically upon some of the reviews for books such as this. You either get people who are totally sold on the ideas presented, or you get those who simply shoot down the book in flames because it challenges their beliefs. As a result, the book is given either a "one star" or "five star" rating.

I am not a Christian, and have no strong feelings either way. I therefore approached this book with an open mind, having hitherto assumed that the teachings of Christianity though not entirely true to the letter, were nevertheless reasonable accounts of the events they described.

Ahmed Osman has revolutionised my understanding of Christian history in this book. Unlike many other authors of this genre, his book is well-referenced and he is able to keep his argument firmly on the rails as the true account of events is presented. Furthermore, though he admits to being a Muslim himself, he never allows his own beliefs to prejudice or bias the argument.

These days, Christians are dismayed by poor church attendences. By adhering to beliefs that are mystical and unfounded in history this is no surprise. Osman's book should clear the way for anyone who reads it with an open mind, and I hope that research such as his will continue to be done so that we go into the future with true knowledge.

Osman sets out to show that the major Biblical characters of David, Solomon, Moses, Mary, and Christ were all Egyptian royalty who reigned during Dynasty 18, often referred to as the New Kingdom in Egypt, some 1350 to 1500 years BC. Thats right. Christ lived 1400 years earlier than we thought. David was Pharaoh Tutmosis III who ruled from 1490-1436BC, the Pharaoh who married Abraham's wife, Sarah, for a short time. Yes, and Solomon was the father of Moses who was actually married to Mary, Christ's mother. But wait, there's more: you have probably heard of Christ back then because he was the Pharaoh known as Tutankhamun, who was killed in 1352BC. From the time of Solomon (Amenhotep III) to Moses and Mary (Akhenaten and Nefertiti),to Christ (Tutankhamun) there was only 61 years! It's a big ask to try to get someone to believe all that, but to give Osman his due, he tackles his subject boldly and with conviction. He is correct that Egyptian influence on Western thought generally and Christian theology in particular has been ignored, or misrepresented as being Greek in origin. He is correct in showing that Hebrew accounts of their Kings conflate events accross several centuries into the one liftime. He does raise a number of interesting and valid points along the way, but he does not make a believable case for his thesis. But hey, everybody is chasing the revisionist line these days. The 60s gave us Christ the revolutionary, the 70s Christ as the hippie, and the 80s Christ as the Gay, so why not an Egyptocentric harvesting of the Judeo-Christian heritage into its own bosum?

Let me start by saying Personaly I think this is a fantastic book.The author has produced an excellent work considering the wealth of information available on egypt and the Bible,he has presented the facts clearly with a sound thesis which I'm convinced has alot of truth.I ask readers Christian,jewish,muslim or whatever your belief is to put down opinions and approach this work with a fresh mind and see what is so clearly and non- biasedly presented to you.The old testament is examined in great detail, translating names and words back into several languages {hebrew,aramaic etc.} bringing suprising results,names and dates are put next to and compared real historical records to find some real truths,any serious reader will not be dissapointed I can promise that.

I started reading this book with enthusiasm and energy and by the end was so annoyed with the author's conjectures and flying assumptions I wanted to hit him with it. There is no denying that some of his hypothesis may include an element of truth but the way he jumps from historical evidence to blatant personal conjectures on some of the subject matter leads the reader to confusion. The evidence for his theory that Joshua is really Jesus is extremely flimsy to say the least made more so by his lack of real evidence and manipulation of historical accounts. All in all a total disappointment to a potentially explosive bestseller

This author deserves every credit he so obviously merits. He unfailingly produces well researched and enlightening scholarship. A most edifying writer that very much reminds me of the stalwart R.A.Schwaller de Lubicz.
He has a prominent place in my collection of works on Egypt's ancient history.

For those who look for provocative ideas about Egypt, this is an interesting book to read. Granted, there is probably some truth to the basis of the author's ideas. But he takes his theories as far as saying that Jesus came out of Egypt. If nothing else, at least it brings up discussions.