This study examines how the cultures of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece, with their highly developed senses of religion and spirituality, provide a useful and even crucial context for a fuller study and understanding of the Bible. The beliefs and practices of these ancient civilizations embodied in such important literary works as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Sumerian/Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, and Homer’s perennially sublime Iliad and Odyssey, as well as the great Hellenic tragedies, are major cultural legacies that have enriched civilization and indubitably deepen our understanding of the Biblical Books, their cultural location, and their enduring moral authority.

This groundbreaking, first basic reference work on ancient religious beliefs collects and organizes available information on ten ancient cultures and traditions, including Greece, Rome, and Mesopotamia, and offers an expansive, comparative perspective on each one.

Reproduction of the original: The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia by Archibald Henry Sayce

Leading evangelical scholar John Walton surveys the cultural context of the ancient Near East, bringing insight to the interpretation of specific Old Testament passages. This new edition of a top-selling textbook has been thoroughly updated and revised throughout to reflect the refined thinking of a mature scholar. It includes over 30 illustrations. Students and pastors who want to deepen their understanding of the Old Testament will find this a helpful and instructive study.

This study presents the Pentateuch in both a wider Biblical context and in a more specific close reading of the five initial books of Scripture. The differing approaches to exploring and understanding these books through time is considered, with special emphasis on the changing approaches of the last two centuries, both in terms of the historical-critical approach and the more literary analysis of structuralism. These diachronic and synchronic approaches are synthesized in the canonical method which looks at the books in the wider and more specific context of the formation of the biblical canon and the relationship of these books to one another. There is an investigation into the aspects of these fundamental texts that still render them challenging and helpful for anyone searching for enlightenment and the path of faith.

Contends that the roots of Christian belief come not from Judaea but from Egypt • Shows that the Romans fabricated their own version of Christianity and burned the Alexandrian library as a way of maintaining political power • Builds on the arguments of the author's previous books The Hebrew Pharaohs of Egypt, Moses and Akhenaten, and Jesus in the House of the Pharaohs In Christianity: An Ancient Egyptian Religion author Ahmed Osman contends that the roots of Christian belief spring not from Judaea but from Egypt. He compares the chronology of the Old Testament and its factual content with ancient Egyptian records to show that the major characters of the Hebrew scriptures--including Solomon, David, Moses, and Joshua--are based on Egyptian historical figures. He further suggests that not only were these personalities and the stories associated with them cultivated on the banks of the Nile, but the major tenets of Christian belief--the One God, the Trinity, the hierarchy of heaven, life after death, and the virgin birth--are all Egyptian in origin. He likewise provides a convincing argument that Jesus himself came out of Egypt. With the help of modern archaeological findings, Osman shows that Christianity survived as an Egyptian mystery cult until the fourth century A.D., when the Romans embarked on a mission of suppression and persecution. In A.D. 391 the Roman-appointed Bishop Theophilus led a mob into the Serapeum quarter of Alexandria and burned the Alexandrian library, destroying all records of the true Egyptian roots of Christianity. The Romans' version of Christianity, manufactured to maintain political power, claimed that Christianity originated in Judaea. In Christianity: An Ancient Egyptian Religion Osman restores Egypt to its rightful place in the history of Christianity.

Religious beliefs and practices, which permeated all aspects of life in antiquity, traveled well-worn routes throughout the Mediterranean: itinerant charismatic practitioners peddled their skills as healers, purifiers, cursers, and initiators; and vessels decorated with illustrations of myths traveled with them. This collection of essays, drawn from the groundbreaking reference work Religion in the Ancient World, offers an expansive, comparative perspective on this complex spiritual world.