Reveals how Christian mythology has more to do with long-standing pagan traditions than the Bible • Explains how the church fathers knowingly incorporated pagan elements into the Christian faith to ease the transition to the new religion • Identifies pagan deities that were incorporated into each of the saints • Shows how all the major holidays in the Christian calendar are modeled on pagan rituals and myths, including Easter and Christmas In this extensive study of the Christian mythology that animated Europe in the Middle Ages, author Philippe Walter reveals how these stories and the holiday traditions connected with them are based on long-standing pagan rituals and myths and have very little connection to the Bible. The author explains how the church fathers knowingly incorporated pagan elements into the Christian faith to ease the transition to the new religion. Rather than tear down the pagan temples in Britain, Pope Gregory the Great advised Saint Augustine of Canterbury to add the pagan rituals into the mix of Christian practices and transform the pagan temples into churches. Instead of religious conversion, it was simply a matter of convincing the populace to include Jesus in their current religious practices. Providing extensive documentation, Walter shows which major calendar days of the Christian year are founded on pagan rituals and myths, including the high holidays of Easter and Christmas. Examining hagiographic accounts of the saints, he reveals the origin of these symbolic figures in the deities worshipped in pagan Europe for centuries. He also explores how the identities of saints and pagan figures became so intermingled that some saints were transformed into pagan incarnations, such as Mary Magdalene’s conversion into one of the Celtic Ladies of the Lake. In revealing the pagan roots of many Christian figures, stories, and rituals, Walter provides a new understanding of the evolution of religious belief.

“Our main object will be to describe one of the most incomparably beautiful myths that has ever flowered from the mind of man, or from the unconscious processes which shape it and which are in some sense more than man.… This is, furthermore, to be a description and not a history of Christian Mythology.… After description, we shall attempt an interpretation of the myth along the general lines of the philosophia perennis, in order to bring out the truly catholic or universal character of the symbols, and to share the delight of discovering a fountain of wisdom in a realm where so many have long ceased to expect anything but a desert of platitudes.” —from the Prologue

"The famous Bible stories are explored through a secular lens, providing secular families a guide to modern Christianity."--Publisher website.

Renowned historian, Jeffrey Burton Russell, famous for his studies of medieval history, sets the record straight against the New Atheists and other cultural critics who charge Christianity with being outdated, destructive, superstitious, unenlightened, racist, colonialist, based on fabrication, and other significant false accusations.

Ladd's commentaries on the mythological aspects of Judaism and Christianity are illuminated by his depth of scriptural knowledge and thorough researches. This eclectic work examines extant writings of a variety of ancient civilizations to shed light upon the myths and stories of the Hebrews. Ladd looks into the ancient Chaldeans, the Egyptians, the Greeks and even the Hindus of the East to arrive at his conclusions. The author's desire is to uncover how Judaism and later on Christianity began, in the context of the religious and cultural events which preceded their establishment. Spending years amid volumes of disparate and obscure sources, Ladd sought to condense and combine their insights into this single book, that curious readers may discover such history with relative ease. Individual monuments and stone tablets, plus surviving examples of writing upon papyrus, are among the original sources Ladd consults. The Bible, from the life of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt onwards, is examined at length. The author disagreed with the conventional explanations, whether regarding the life of certain figures, or the authorship and origins of various texts. Thus, much of this work seeks to validate and support the author's assertions to the farthest extent possible.