Tom Harpur

Tom Harpur's "The Pagan Christ" presents a convincing and lucid case that Christianity (and religion in general) can be revived by a return to its spiritual roots. He believes that the spirituality of Christianity has been eroded by the elevation of Jesus to equivalence with God. In fact, the myth of Jesus' virgin birth, martyr's death on the cross and Resurrection is common to ancient pagan myths, specifically of ancient Egypt. It was intended, like all myths, to be allegorical, and in this show more case the message is that the suffering of Jesus, like the suffering of man, leads to a spiritual oneness with God. As St. Paul said, "The spirit of God dwells in you," meaning that every person is "imbued with a latent divinity" (Carl Jung). Assigning divinity to Jesus alone detracts from this powerful spiritual concept. Jesus never claimed that he was the son of God, and believing it dilutes his message of love and forgiveness and humility.
The idea that God is within every man is also the central tenet of Gnosticism and Sufism. Hindus also believe that in their Heaven, Nirvana, the human soul is united with the World-Soul or supreme God.
A return to the spiritual basis of religions will combat the fundamentalist trend of today, not only within Islam, but also within Christianity and other religions. Dogmatic adherence to ancient religious dogma and scriptures is not the way to spiritual revival. show less

This is an easy to read, fully referenced argument that provides a a fascinating and soulful insight into the deeper meaning of ancient scriptures.

This is not an anti-God book, but it does challenge the edifice of religion beautifully, leaving anyone who feels confused about religion and what religion tells us about the world, enlightened and lifted.

Not the first of his books a person should read, but a very good book to read after some of his other work. The in and outs of Theological College both as a student and as a teacher are grim and fascinating. He isn't exactly an atheist but he isn't an Anglican priest either.

This book could have been written in less pages. It felt like the author was trying too hard to write his own words when all the ideas were someone else's.