Customer Reviews

Secret Origins of the Bible

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This book is an excellent layman's introduction to the "documentary hypothesis" and an excellent starting point for someone interested in a truly analytical analysis of scripture based on it's historical context. The author presents the scholarly debates and questions regarding the history of the Bible in enough detail to understand the arguments and yet maintain a level that is accessible to the layman. He also provides an extensive bibliography that provides an interested reader with ample opportunity to verify the material for themselves. Tim Callahan himself states in this book that this material is well known among scholarly circles and has been debated endlessly and refuted, without success outside their own clique, by apologists. This book is simply presenting core scholarly arguments that have been hidden behind, what the general public sees, as an incoherent and hopelessly daunting mountain of verbose and conflicting and outrageous interpretations of scripture made by apologists and mystics. This is the book the fundamentalists don't want people to see. It is a book that presents the scholarly criticisms, which fundamentalists have fought vainly against for decades, in a format that people can understand. Now people can read this book and use it's bibliographical references to pursue biblical research for themselves and not rely on the fundamentalists' arguments from authority.

Now just a few personal words about some of the criticisms I have seen posted.

Beware of the arguments of Christian fundamentalists and apologists. These people will argue that any evolutionary biologist with a strong background in evolutionary theory has been brainwashed by being too educated in his academic field to provide an unbiased interpretation of evidence, however, they don't seem to feel that a strong religious background taints scriptural interpretation at all. They feel it is necessary to understand the evidence. The same people that are criticizing Tim Callahan as "unqualified" to present an opinion on scripture because he does not present a dozen degrees from theological seminaries and a long background as a "Christian" scholar will argue endlessly against evolutionary theory without so much as a single respectable class in evolutionary theory. We usually refer to these people as hypocrites.

Additionally Tim Callahan is quite correct when he attributes the roots of Christianity to the same roots as modern Islam and Judaism. Christians need to understand that radical Islamic fundamentalists are no different from radical Christian fundamentalists. In spite of the peaceful messages espoused by their mainstream followers religious, social and political extremists can be capable of acts of unspeakable violence and hatred like 9-11, medieval witch and heretic burnings, the KKK, the Holocaust and a million other examples throughout history. The author is not blaming Christianity for 9-11 but is, quite accurately, showing how any form of religious fundamentalism or extremism can lead to this form of horrific behavior.

While the majority of Americans are Christians America was never a "Christian country', our constitution is not based on the 10 commandments and our founding father's were not, as a group, more religious than any other randomly selected group of Americans today. Our founding fathers were very careful to keep references to specific faiths or doctrine out of our governments founding documents. Our country was founded during a rebirth of rational thought and humanism and our, sometimes imperfect, adherence to those ideals is why our country is the land of freedom it is today. I defy any Christian fundamentalist to find anything in the 10 commandments that espouse freedom of religion, freedom of speech, right to bear arms, right to trial by jury, and right of The People to freely elect their leaders. The point Tim Callahan is trying to make is that fundamentalist Christians are just as dangerous to the freedoms America holds dear as fundamentalist Muslims.

Tim Callahan's book is a rational and entirely American way to look critically at any material that proclaims divine authority. It is a great introduction to the rational and scholarly side of research into the origins of the Bible. It is not complete by any means but it is a very good place to start.

The book's title is a little bit odd, since there's nothing secret about any of the information in the book. In fact, the most important conclusion is obvious to anyone who has ever read the various books of the Bible: The Bible simply cannot be the infallible word of an omniscient being. The reason is that the Bible contradicts itself all over the place, including and especially in some of the most famous passages. One clear-cut example is the existence of two contradictory creation myths, right there for anyone to read.

The fallibility of the Bible will not come as a surprise to most people. Actually, by "most" I mean two-thirds, which means that a terrifying 33% of Americans think that everything written in the Bible should be taken literally. Some of these people work in the highest levels of the U.S. government and have access to nuclear weapons.

As Callahan points out, this fundamentalism is a major problem because the Bible was clearly written by quite fallible human beings to advance a political and philosophical agenda relevant only to a particular time and place. The evidence for this conclusion comes from:

1) comparative mythology, which shows that most of the major stories in the Bible can be found in older myths, only with a different cast of characters and slightly different plotlines.

2) history, which shows that many of the events described in the Bible could not have happened in the reported sequence.

3) science, which shows that a lot of the things that are recorded in the Bible could not have happened on planet Earth.

4) The Bible, which by contradicting itself repeatedly, eliminates the possibility that everything in it is true.

On the first and last of these points, Callahan's knowledge appears to be encyclopedic. He describes a detailed web of correlations and contradictions that places the Biblical stories squarely in the proper historical and cultural context. In fact one of the more enjoyable aspects of the book is that it gives the reader some insight into the Bronze Age mentality that gave birth to two of the world's biggest religions.

Admittedly some of the attempts to explain certain Biblical passages end up seeming like a bit of a stretch; at times I would have been content to accept that parts of the Bible just don't make any sense. But Callahan's penchant for speculation is nothing compared to the sheer wackiness of contemporary theologians who try to extract a coherent narrative from the scriptures.

This is a wonderful book, and packed with research about the mythological origins of the bible. A great read for those who don't want to blindly accept the bible as some mystical holy writ, but as a conglomeration of many different mythological themes that
were floating about and/or were created directly by the first city-state of civilization in fertile mesopotamia. All religion can be traced to this wonderous valley of the crescent. Callahan does his work thoroughly in tracing bible origins old and new. His writing is easy to follow and interesting throughout, never too 'scholarly'. Quite enjoyable and not cynical or 'bible-bashing', this book respectfully satisfies any curious mind. It also confirms how detrimentally arrogant the folly and laziness of fundamentalist literalism is.

Repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it even when you smack them over the head with the truth. It takes a special kind of fool to believe that the particular 66 (or 73 for the Catholics) books of the Bible just appeared inspired and in their final form to lead mankind for all ages. Like any ancient work, they have origins and it's refreshing to see someone look at the Bible as what it is: an organic outgrowth of even older religious ideas as well as multiple revisions to eliminate contradictions or censor unpopular notions (about 75% of the original books have been purged altogether and there isn't a single extant book in the modern Bible that has survived unaltered from its earliest forms).

Unless you simply enjoy having your comfortable beliefs unchallenged, this book is a great read. Further, this is the sort of factual information needed to combat the often overwhelming ignorance in the world.

The Secret Origins Of The Bible contains a goldmine of information for those interested in a secular understanding of the origins and meanings of the Bible. Callahan's primary bogey is the fundamentalist Christian thesis that the Bible is a literally true and inerrant work inspired by a perfect god. This thesis he thoroughly rakes over the coals, skewers from a multitude of angles, and bludgeons with every historical tool avilable to him. And argue convincingly he does. Since many of his arguments are independent of one another, refuting one of them usually does not challenge the credibility of the others. He also does an excellent job of citing contemporary theologians' responses to his arguments and showing why they do not hold water (Gleason Archer is Callahan's favorite whipping boy).

Callahan's knowledge of the Bible is encyclopedic, frequently drawing from disparate texts to give a perspective on the ancient Israelites' views of the world and what they meant by some of the puzzling passages is the Bible. He presents convincing arguments that the concept of a universal, perfect God came around long after much of the Bible was written (that is to say, Yahweh was originally known to his believers as the tribal God of the Israelites, and prone to jealousy, vindictiveness, and all the other all-too-human flaws ascribed to regional deities of the time such as Zeus, Baal, El, etc.). Callahan reminds us that the monotheistic worship of Yahweh in pre-exilic times was rare, with a small minority of radical fundamentalists (represented by those writing the texts that eventually ended up in the Bible) continually fighting an uphill battle against the majority of Israelites who were polytheistic and worshipped Yahweh alongside Baal, Asherah, and a number of other gods.

Callahan uses the multitude of contradictions, shifts in style, and conflicting retellings of the same story within single books of the Bible to argue that many of the books had multiple authors. He shows that supposed prophecies are really not prophecies, but authors looking at present events and writing predictions into the mouths of their ancestors. How do we know? Because these prophets betray their own ignorance of the times they are writing about by making historical errors. He also shows that many of the stories of the Bible have antecedents in the mythology of other nearby cultures. For example, Callahan argues that the flood story was lifted from an earlier Mesopotamian myth. These arguments are sometimes convincing and sometimes not, depending on the particulars of the case. Sometimes the parallels are so general that they can be dismissed as coincidence, or myths representing a common human sentiment.

My main complaint about this book is that it desperately needs a thorough editing. Callahan is often at a loss to include all the information he wants to discuss without losing his focus. His train of thought meanders wildly as he speculates on a myriad of Biblical topics, often not reaching any definite conclusion. So unless you have a longer attention span than I, you will find yourself losing track of where he was coming from and where he is going. These idle ponderings get tedious and detract from the book as a whole. For a more focused skeptical treatment of the Old Testament I recommend Friedman's classic "Who Wrote The Bible?", a scholarly and extremely readable book that Callahan references frequently.

This challenging book is very detailed in describing many sources of the bible and many parellel myths of other societies and religions. Callahan repeatedly documents ways to sort out anachranisms, and contradictory versions of passages of the bible such that one is forced to see the bible as an amalgum of myths and stories, at times centuries newer than originally presented in the bible or after-the-fact justifications for subsequent uses of various stories and histories . He points out geographic mistakes which could only have come from writers not familier with the actual geography of Israel, historical mistakes that must have come from writers who were not there when the histories are supposed to have taken place.
The selection of myths and histories, whether a "natural" selection or a politcally motivated redaction (look it up, it's a new word for me too), is shown to be the work of man, whether inspired by God or not.
This book has a solid point of view, which it documents well, a view which challenges and undermines a literal understanding of the bible. One comes away with confidence that it is not solely the work of an all knowing perfect God. Just as the eye is not the perfectly engineered organ of a perfect maker, the bible is not the consistent, logical, accurate, perfectly arranged story of the earth and mankind. With all the mixtures of styles and stories pointed out by Callahan, it can not be seen as accurate history. He points out the difference between narrative truth and historical truth, although he doesn't use these terms.
If at times a bit too detailed to read in big chunks, it is a book easily picked up, put down, and picked up again to learn about possible and variably probable understandings of the bible, Torah and New Testament.

Rarely can a single book answer as many questions as this one does. As the author explains, the mythical basis for Biblical stories is not really a secret, just knowledge that is rarely communicated outside of academic circles. Callahan does an outstanding job of catching readers up with several thousand years' worth of Biblical scholarship, history, and comparative mythology. Buy this book if you want to understand where the stories of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles come from and (as much as is possible) what they really mean -- or if you want to know more about the origins of the Jewish and Christian religions. For me, the sections dealing with the Genesis tales of Creation and the Fall were alone worth the purchase price.

It has been said that to understand western culture one must understand the bible.If so this is a great place to start.

In this volume Tim Callahan gives the reader a good overview of the likely sources for many of the myths and legends in the bible.Callahan examines biblical narratives and points out the inconsistencies,anachronisms,and earlier mythological motifs to determine whether specific tales should be taken literally,or were written with a particular religious or political agenda in mind, which is often the case.These stories are not literal history,but they can tell us a lot about the world view of those who wrote them.If the bible were to be taken literally we should be horrified at the god it portrays.

*What earlier creation myths are the bible's myths based upon?

*Why are many bible stories told more than once,but in different or even contradictory settings?

*Was yahweh the only god worshipped in Israel?

*Was there perhaps a goddess that was worshipped?

*Did yahweh ask for and recieve human sacrifice?

*Was the story of Samson based on the mytholgical motif of a sun god?

*What do we really know about Jesus?

These and hundreds of other questions are examined as Callahan takes the reader on a tour of the bible .He cites numerous biblical scholars , while on occasion disagreeing with them.This is a great book to have as a reference .If I had one complaint it would be that the arguments are somewhat drawn out and the reading can at times be tedious.Some of the details of the arguments could have been put in the end notes.

In the beginning these bible writers created God.The editors of the bible editted God.These are their stories of a God with a completely different worldview and morality than we have today.If taken literally they condone mass murder,human sacrifice and many other atrocities.In the words of Mark Twain "With fine sarcasm we enoble God with the title of Father-yet we know quite well that we should hang his style of father wherever we might catch him." THESE STORIES ARE MYTHOLOGY.THEY ARE NOT REAL.This absolutely cannot be the compass by which we guide ourselves ethically or politically.

The bible's origins aren't so much secret, Callahan argues, as hidden or ignored. To him, revealing those underlying aspects of The Books will provide society with a better grasp of what it believes. He hopes that by enlarging the knowledge of the roots of belief, such tragedies as the assassination of Itzak Rabin or the destruction of the World Trade Center might be avoided. If the origins are understood, perhaps the fallacies can be stripped away. With a view unclouded by myth and/or fixed vision imparted by authorities, the historical antecedents of biblical writings are clearly shown. With that clarity may come a new way of regarding the worth of the Anthology's contents. In this well-written and careful overview, Callahan offers insights into the foundations of Judeo-Christian mythology.

Callahan reminds us that the home of the biblical writers was an integrated part of Near Eastern society. Trade routes crisscrossed the Levant, often followed by conquering or retreating armies. Sometimes, whole populations were uprooted and displaced. The result, he contends, is a blending of peoples, their legends and beliefs. Teachings on matters practical and divine were introduced, tried, accepted or replaced. It's not surprising the phrase "There's nothing new under the sun" originated there - there was an intense exchange of ideas and information. Some of the ideas were incorporated by scribes belonging to a subset of the peoples living near the Mediterranean shore - the Jews.

In explaining the sources of biblical myth, the author essentially follows the sequence of the books laid down by Protestant clerics. In the second part of the collection he even cites Matthew prior to Mark, although the latter's writing preceded the former by two generations. Throughout the text, from Genesis onward, Callahan shows how earlier legends of other peoples were incorporated by biblical writers and editors into the texts. He shows how societies older than the Palestinian peoples the Jews emerged from contributed to the Jewish creation myth, their romantic escapades and their forays into monotheism. They also appear to have imitated the division of authority into a visible ruler buttressed by hidden coteries of priest-scribes. These latter were the knowledgeable scholars who transformed commonly believed mythologies into something unique for the subject population.

Callahan recognises that reassessment of biblical origins is of more concern among Christians than the Jewish faithful. He shows how fundamentalist Christian commentators in the USA bend and twist the myths to suit a local agenda. This is not a widespread movement, no matter how loud its protestations of "authenticity", he notes. His technique recounts how the myth is viewed today, how it was likely dealt with by the Jewish scribes and from where they derived it in other peoples' legends. "Authenticity" is thus smeared thinly over stretches of time and location, rendering "origins" a vague notion.

The author has taken a variety of sources in compiling this study, including ancient writings, monuments, archaeological finds and text analysis. For the "serious" bible student, it's an excellent starting point in understanding how the stories have evolved over time. He is a clear writer, using some good graphic material to enhance the relationships he builds. A worthwhile read for anyone interested in how myths are built from early sources. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Mr. Callahan has compiled an impressive amount of information into an excellent and objective study of the Bible and its antecedents. He exhibits ample knowledge of many subject areas which are necessary to understanding where the Bible and all the stories contained therein originated. Not surprisingly to anyone who has more than topical knowledge of world mythologies, most of the Biblical stories are rooted in age old myths and traditions, and thus cannot rightly be classified as "unique." Mr. Callahan further points out many of the inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and absurdities found in the Bible, implicitly making a strong point that the Bible cannot possibly be the word of an infallible God.

Callahan's chapters on the Gospels are especially illuminating, as these are the biblical books with which Christians are most familiar. Callahan demonstrates clearly that, while the story of Jesus Christ may have been rooted in some kernal of truth, much was added after the fact, including the critically important resurrection, to shoehorn him into ancient prophecies. Most of the work of the Gospel writers was exceedingly clumsy, demonstrating clear historical, geographical, and logical errors, but with the obvious intent to turn Jesus into the long-awaited Messiah predicted by the Old Testament prophets.

No Christian who has devoted his or her life to the teachings of the Bible should pass up reading this book. Many will avoid it because they don't want to riddle their intact faith with doubts and questions, but of what value is any belief that cannot withstand critical scrutiny? Certainly not worth one's lifelong dedication. I hope Christians will read this book carefully, and if they are not satisfied with the research, facts presented, or conclusions drawn, do further research to answer those questions so they can be satisfied that whatever beliefs they wind up with at the end of the day are well grounded.

All that being said, I would agree with one reviewer who criticized Callahan's tendency to speculate over the meaning of certain vague or simply incomprehensible biblical passages. It is generally unnecessary and usually distracting. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that Callahan has done his homework and come up with a very important (if misleadingly titled, for none of this information is "secret") book that is more relevant today than ever.