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This collection of essays was Carpenter's attempt to make an objective comparison between the origins and practices of pagan religions and Christianity.
Pagan and Christian Creeds: Their Origin and Meaning is an early religious history text by Edward Carpenter.A fascinating study of Paganism and the origins of Christianity, including sections on Solar Myths, the Zodiac, ritual dancing, totem sacraments, ancient mysteries, and many other interesting subjects.
This groundbreaking work delves into the depths of religious history, uncovering the very origins of Christian beliefs. The author embarks on a journey to unravel the mysteries of the past, revealing a surprising evolutionary sequence that stretches back centuries before the birth of Christianity. With a systematic and logical approach, the author uncovers common themes between Christianity and ancient Pagan religions, tracing the roots of many Christian religious concepts to paganistic practices.
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First published in 1921, this vintage book looks at paganism and Christianity, exploring their various connections and analysing where these similarities came from and what they mean. Edward Carpenter (1844 – 1929) was an English philosopher, poet, and pioneering activist for gay rights. He had many notable friends including the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore and celebrated American poet Walt Whitman; and also corresponded with many famous figures, including Jack London, Mahatma Gandhi and Annie Besant, amongst others. Contents include: “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 Savior-god and the Virgin-mother”, “Ritual Dancing”, “The Sex-Taboo”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.
This collection of essays was Carpenter's attempt to make an objective comparison between the origins and practices of pagan religions and Christianity.
The subject of Religious Origins is a fascinating one, as the great multitude of books upon it, published in late years, tends to show. Indeed the great difficulty to-day in dealing with the subject, lies in the very mass of the material to hand--and that not only on account of the labor involved in sorting the material, but because the abundance itself of facts opens up temptation to a student in this department of Anthropology (as happens also in other branches of general Science) to rush in too hastily with what seems a plausible theory.
Meanwhile the Christian Church from these speculations has kept itself severely apart-as of course representing a unique and divine revelation little concerned or interested in such heathenisms; and moreover (in this country at any rate) has managed to persuade the general public of its own divine uniqueness to such a degree that few people, even nowadays, realize that it has sprung from just the same root as Paganism, and that it shares by far the most part of its doctrines and rites with the latter. Till quite lately it was thought (in Britain) that only secularists and unfashionable people took any interest in sungods; and while it was true that learned professors might point to a belief in Magic as one of the first sources of Religion, it was easy in reply to say that this obviously had nothing to do with Christianity! The Secularists, too, rather spoilt their case by assuming, in their wrath against the Church, that all priests since the beginning of the world have been frauds and charlatans, and that all the rites of religion were merely devil's devices invented by them for the purpose of preying upon the superstitions of the ignorant, to their own enrichment. They (the Secularists) overleaped themselves by grossly exaggerating a thing that no doubt is partially true.Thus the subject of religious origins is somewhat complex, and yields many aspects for consideration. It is only, I think, by keeping a broad course and admitting contributions to the truth from various sides, that valuable results can be obtained. It is absurd to suppose that in this or any other science neat systems can be found which will cover all the facts. Nature and History do not deal in such things, or supply them for a sop to Man's vanity.
Meanwhile the Christian Church from these speculations has kept itself severely apart-as of course representing a unique and divine revelation little concerned or interested in such heathenisms; and moreover (in this country at any rate) has managed to persuade the general public of its own divine uniqueness to such a degree that few people, even nowadays, realize that it has sprung from just the same root as Paganism, and that it shares by far the most part of its doctrines and rites with the latter. Till quite lately it was thought (in Britain) that only secularists and unfashionable people took any interest in sungods; and while it was true that learned professors might point to a belief in Magic as one of the first sources of Religion, it was easy in reply to say that this obviously had nothing to do with Christianity! The Secularists, too, rather spoilt their case by assuming, in their wrath against the Church, that all priests since the beginning of the world have been frauds and charlatans, and that all the rites of religion were merely devil's devices invented by them for the purpose of preying upon the superstitions of the ignorant, to their own enrichment. They (the Secularists) overleaped themselves by grossly exaggerating a thing that no doubt is partially true.Thus the subject of religious origins is somewhat complex, and yields many aspects for consideration. It is only, I think, by keeping a broad course and admitting contributions to the truth from various sides, that valuable results can be obtained. It is absurd to suppose that in this or any other science neat systems can be found which will cover all the facts. Nature and History do not deal in such things, or supply them for a sop to Man's vanity.