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Indlæser... The Obelisk and the Cross: An Alternative History of God, Myth and Meaning in the Western Worldaf Tony Sunderland
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Hæderspriser
Why does an ancient Egyptian obelisk celebrating the god of the sun stand in the centre of St Peter's Square in Vatican City, the home of the Pope and the heartland of Catholicism? Taking this mysterious fact as his starting point, Tony Sunderland examines the history of religious belief in an attempt to understand how what has happened in the past continues to exert a ghostly influence in the present. Going right back to the voluptuous mother goddess figures of our ancestors, the pantheons of the Greeks and Romans, the wisdom of the Hebrew Bible, the birth of Christ, the radical heresies of the Gnostics and the Esoterics, the consolidation of a Catholic orthodoxy and the Protestant revolution, Sunderland traces a history of ideas that shines a light on how and why belief systems are constructed and the role they play in providing meaning and order in a dangerous, volatile world. Over this long and fascinating history the figure of the first monotheist, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, casts his long shadow. Where did we come from? Why are we here? What happens when we die? Many alternative explanations of how 'things came to be' in the Western world have either been ignored or suppressed by dominate and overpowering narratives of what can be termed as consensus history. This book blends the orthodox view of Western history with alternative interpretations and propositions of historical events. The metaphors of the obelisk and the cross have been used to illustrate the interdependent relationship between the 'other' and the 'orthodox' respectively. One cannot dominate the other; rather they can only be defined through an understanding of what they are not. Only then, can bridges be made to create a vision of 'what could be'. "The bleeding of different belief systems into each other is a very important issue to understand, especially in our rather divided modern world in which religions have become enemies all over again." No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)201Religions Religion Religious mythology, general classes of religion, interreligious relations and attitudes, social theologyVurderingGennemsnit:
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We travel through religions and spiritual practices from ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, through Judaism, the Roman Empire, the Gnostics and Christianity to the Renaissance and beyond, and each step of the way, Tony Sunderland illustrates how past spiritual beliefs and practices merged into the next. Along the way, three questions are asked with regards to what each religion believes: Where did we come from? Why are we here? And: What happens when we die? Using these questions as the three main facets which underlie any religion, the author manages to summarise each one in a handy soundbite for readers to simply understand the driving forces behind each one.
Having read quite a lot of stuff about these subjects before, I didn’t see the book as quite as alternative as it sets out to be, but if you’re new to how religious practices blended into one another, then this is the ideal book to start with.
I would have liked to have heard more about the specific uses and meanings of the cross and obelisk, as what is touched upon at the beginning and end of the book, I felt, could have been written about in much more detail – especially such things as the Freemasonic use of obelisk placements, such as the one in Washington. But nit-picking to one side, this was a superbly written and enjoyable read. ( )