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The Egyptian Origin of Christianity

by Lisa Ann Bargeman

100 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0318; ISBN 1-55369-505-4; US$14.50, C$16.75, EUR12.00, £8.50

This book is a comparison of the Egyptian religion to Christianity, noting the prime similarities.

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About the Book A breakthrough book affecting the scientific, religious and literary communities, The Egyptian Origin of Christianity is a comprehensive look at the history of religion through the Literary Canon. As a culmination of years of research, this book fills the gaps between modern and ancient religious thought, providing us wih the most valuable view of the Egyptian religion to date when compared with the The Bible and other classic literature. No other book has explored so well the origins of modern theology. This is done not only in terms of language, but also in terms of education, cosmology, physical symbolism and tradition. As the first book to, in a scientific sound way, challenge the ecumenical system, The Egyptian Origin of Christianity represents the fulfillment of strategy that calls for a comprehensive shift in the way religion is presently understood. For additional information, please go to http://ancientnile.co.uk/lb.html. Or visit the author's website at www.egyptiantheology.com/. "I must admit that your ideas are very interesting, more fascinating [than I had anticipated.] I have read it with great interest. You illustrate your ideas [with] the Egyptian texts. The Egyptian Origin of Christianity can fill 'the scientific hole' in this problem." Dr. Roman Szmurlo - PhD and Professor of Ancient Theology and Coptic Language at Warsaw University "Lisa Ann Bargeman's The Egyptian Origin Of Christianity offers an informative, iconoclastic analytical survey of those non-Biblical contributions to the concepts and ecumenical development of Christianity drawn from the Egyptian religious myths and rituals of antiquity. The juxtaposing of texts from the Bible and from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the comparison of similarities between the story of Osiris and the story of Jesus, the observations of cosmology, physical symbolism, and tradition, are all revealed in startling and unexpected ways that will give serious students of both Egyptian and Christian metaphysics a great deal of food for thought and reflection. Lisa Bargeman adheres to a very high standard of scholarship both in her presentation and in her interpretative commentary. The Egyptian Origin Of Christianity is a welcome and much appreciated contribution to Metaphysical Studies." Midwest Book Review's Small Press Bookwatch

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Reviews

"This book should be a welcome addition to the TO DO list of all (not yet satisfied) avid readers of the now famous 'The Da Vinci Code'.

-The Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities

"This book will be used for the global restructuring of textbooks everywhere on religious history."

-Jessica Jannicelli, Editor, Humana Press

"Bargeman's text illustrates many interesting parallels between Christianity and Egyptology. The Egyptian Origin of Christianity is a fascinating and scholarly sourcebook for those interested in either Egyptology or religious scholarship."

-Adrienne Howell, Writer/Editor, Connectivity

"It is apparent that this writer has done an excellent job in putting the book together, given the lack of readily available sources. Her contribution to scholarship is not the originality of the idea of the Egyptian Origin of Christianity, but her skill in juxtaposing texts from the Bible and from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which makes it impossible to impugn the authenticity of her thesis."

-from review by Harrison Ola. Akingbade

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Excerpt

Imagine, if you will, opening the doors to a shrine, and blessing yourself with holy water as you enter. You prepare to sit and pray, for God can provide solace from all earthly problems. Once you have confided in statues (imbued with the spirit of the living God) and sung the hymn, others join you in the chant with relics and devotional items. Litanies are read. A priest gives the sermon, makes the Sign of the Peace, and prepares the celebrant for communion. The morning hymn in an Egyptian church was: Awake graciously, which meant in peace; thou awakest graciously so let us awaken graciously in peace. These are Egyptian rites, and it is tradition rather than coincidence that have made then so. Astoundingly these rituals have been flawlessly perpetuated for five thousand years. But even more astounding is the fact that this miracle has gone for the more part unrecognized.

Papal custom rejects change. Modern governments have been much more amendment-worthy than papal law through time. But rigidity has its benefits, for it is successfully preserved such theological solemnity from before the third and fourth centuries BCE to the present.

Nowhere can this be better demonstrated than through the mass service.

"The priest opens the shrine containing the image, prostrates himself before it, cleanses and perfumes it with incense, adorns and embellishes it, places crowns upon it, anoint it and beautifies it with cosmetic. Finally he wipes away his prints."

The sounds like the Roman Catholic tabernacle rather than as ancient Egyptian rite, and indeed, these customs can be compared to the daily cleansing of the monstrance and cup, as well as that of daily elaborate adornment.

The tabernacle (which houses the monstrance and cup) is a version of another Middle Eastern relic, the Judaic Ark of the Covenant. The Most-Holy-of-Holies contained therein is preserved in the sanctity of darkness. "The Egyptian gods would have shared Yahveh's wish 'that he would dwell in the thick darkness' (I Kings viii, 12)". This is also true of the Indian Bhagavadgita, for "at midnight, in the thickest darkness, the Dweller in every heart revealed Himself in the divine."

Egyptian serdab-statues were locked away behind closed doors and kept in barely-illumined rooms. Seen only by gazing through peepholes provided for the purpose, clergy were permitted the privilege of gazing upon the dark storehouses of sacred items.

Today the Ark of the Covenant is not usually moved from the sanctum of the church, but traditionally the Egyptian Ark was quite mobile. Both priests and statuary were floated in symbolic barks across the water, and the "communion" came to everybody. Presently Christian festivals of the saints parallel those of the ancient local gods. The true meaning of praise through communion is the unification of multifarious peoples to god through the use of a symbolic or sacred food. Communion is not a new idea; Hatshepsut wrote of Amon, he "is my bread and I drink from its dew. I am of one body with him." Meals could be used as commemorative memorials, and provisions after Egyptian burial rites were much like our protocol for funeral repasts.

As communion invokes fasting, a devout Roman Catholic fasts for an hour before communion's receipt and consumes particular fish rather than meat on Fridays. Of Egyptian derivation are such fasts as those to and from fish, resulting from legend of holy sacrament; "Osiris...was torn [apart] by Set...When Isis reassembled the pieces...[part of the body] had disappeared, eaten by a letos-fish. This accounts for the priestly fish-taboo in Egypt, relaxed only one day in the year."

The nexus of communion is personal fulfillment through renewal, most clearly expressed through a sacred prophet's ressurrection. As Christians celebrate Jesus, Egyptians celebrated Osiris. Both unjustly-persecuted patriarchs, braving death for the glory of resurrection, attracted worshippers re-enacting or "going through the motions" of their martyrdom. Known as experiencing "mysteries" (The Stations of the Cross are libations of this type), such involvement promotes both patronage and drama by reinforcing a Freudian system of punishment and reward.

Between the two evangelists there are vivid similarities. The divine son comes down from heaven. God came down to earth to guide the world: "I am Thoth, the eldest son of Re, whom Atum has fashioned... I descended to earth with the secrets of 'what belongs to the horizon'." The aspects of his godliness are, in some way deified, a Christian example being The Bible's Sofia, or Wisdom, and an Egyptian example being Toth - female and male aspects of the same prinicple; "wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets."

The word "god" is itself an Egyptian innovation and was written NTR in their language. It is supposed that the substance natron (a natural salt from which soap is made) forms the root, symbolizing purity and renewal. NTR is the primary self-produced producer, and it is also a quality which the gods possess greater than the gods themselves; an essential energy.

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Catalogue Information

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