Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning (Paperback)

~ Edward Carpenter (Author) "THE subject of Religious Origins is a fascinating one, as the great multitude of books upon it, published in late years, tends to show..." (more)
Key Phrases: pagan creeds, simple consciousness, The Golden Bough, Christian Church, Jesus Christ (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Contents: Solar Myths and Christian Festivals; The Symbolism of the Zodiac; Totem-Sacraments and Eucharists; Food and Vegetation Magic; Magicians, Kings and Gods; Rites of Expiation and Redemption; Pagan Initiations and the Second Birth; Myth of the Golden Age; The Saviour-God and the Virgin-Mother; Ritual Dancing; The Sex-Taboo; The Genesis of Christianity; The Meaning of it All; The Ancient Mysteries; The Exodus of Christianity; Conclusion; Appendix on the Teachings of the Upanishads: Rest; The Nature of the Self.

About the Author

Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) was a well-regarded English poet and scholar. He studied at Brighton College and then entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Carpenter was close friend to E. M. Forster and Laurence Houseman and was a member of The Fabian Society. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (January 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564592111
• ISBN-13: 978-1564592118
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,041,467 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fear and Self-Consciousness is the Root of All Religion, April 3, 2002

By	contentgrrl - See all my reviews

Carpenter proposes that self-conciousness and fear led to the entire world pantheon of different faiths.

"Naturally as soon as Man began to think about himself--a frail phantom and waif in the midst of tremendous forces of whose nature and mode of operation he was entirely ignorant--he was BESET with terrors...the natural defence against this state of mind was the creation of an enormous number of taboos...hardened down into very stringent Customs and Laws...avoidance not only of acts which might reasonably be considered dangerous, like touching a corpse, but also things much more remote and fanciful in their relation to danger, like merely...passing a lightning-struck tree; ... and acts which offered any special pleasure or temptation--like sex or marriage or the enjoyment of a meal.

"...Fear does not seem a very worthy motive, but in the beginning it curbed the violence of the purely animal passions, and introduced order and restraint among them. ...(F)rom the early beginnings (in the Stone Age) of self-consciousness in Man there has been a gradual development--from crass superstition, senseless and accidental, to rudimentary observation, and so to belief in Magic; thence to Animism and personification of nature-powers in more or less human form, as earth-divinities or sky-gods or embodiments of the tribe; and to placation of these powers by rites like Sacrifice and the Eucharist, which in their turn became the foundation of Morality...; observations of plants or of the weather or the stars, carried on by tribal medicine-men for purposes of witchcraft or prophecy, supplied some of the material of Science; and humanity emerged by faltering and hesitating steps on the borderland of these finer perceptions and reasonings which are supposed to be characteristic of Civilisation."

Carpenter goes on to compare Christian tenets with pagan practices around the world. You can see how fear of neverending winter, starvation, and death spurred belief in magic, ritual, animism, anthromomorphism, and today's conventional religions.

In his British imperialistic furor to spread civilization, Carpenter also predicts the emergence of a "Common Life" beyond self-consciousness, blasting the selfish motives of capitalism and actually hailing the practices of early Christian communities and the movements of the Communists in eastern Europe.

Granted, Carpenter's book was first published in 1920, just after WWI, before we could see Communism fall, and before Ayn Rand could inspire anyone to Constructivism. But Carpenter's view of religious history is useful. It certainly predates Campell's Hero of a Thousand Faces but has similar depth and scope.

I recommend this book along with:

* Joan O'Grady's "Early Christian Heresies" which examines the philosophies and turning points that molded Christian tenets during its birth and growth so that it could promise salvation to the masses. The scope includes Gnosticism, Marcionites, Montanists, Manichaeism, Donatists, Arianism, Nestorians, Pelagius, and more.
* Erik Davis' "Techgnosis: myth, magic + mysticism in the age of information" which proposes that forms of communication shape social and individual consciousness of reality. "It follows that when a culture's technical structure of communication mutates quickly and significantly, both social and individual 'reality' are in for a bit of a ride. ...The social imagination leaps into the breach, unleashing a torrent of speculation, at once cultural, metaphysical, technical, and financial."

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating reading uncovering some truths, June 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning (Paperback)

I very much enjoyed reading this book, which, for its age, has held up rather well. I had always known that Early Christianity 'borrowed' from pagan religions some holidays and practices, but it was not until I read this book did I know the depth of theft. Almost like a plaigarism of faith intended to convert the masses (which it sadly succeeded in doing). The only part of the book I disliked was the final material, in which the author offers a new religion of sorts which is very metaphysical and a little dull. But the rest of the book is a keeper.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars religion is allegory based on astrology, January 5, 2004

By	Daryl (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning (Paperback)

This book demonstrates how christianity and paganism are based on astrology and natural processes. It is truly astounding and is of the utmost significance to those wishing to debunk christian foolishness. Also check out "The Jesus Mysteries" by Freke and Gandy. For information on how the cross symbol was derived from astrology, see "Occultism Simplified or the Mystic Thesaurus" by Willis F. Whitehead. "Pagan and Christian Creeds" is greatly needed in the battle for truth in the face of christian literalism.