THE RELIGION OF THE OCCIDENT: THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ESSENE-CHRISTIAN FAITH
Book Details + Condition: Peter Owen Limited (London). Scarce First UK Edition, 1959. Hardcover. 695 pages with Bibliography, Notes and Index. Martin A. Larson offers a comprehensive, scholarly work arguing that Christianity originated directly from the Essene sect, a Jewish community active during the Second Temple period. The book analyzes the development of Western theology, bridging Essene beliefs, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and early Christian doctrines. Chapters include:
- The Pagan Origins
- The Original Savior-God: Osiris
- Adonis and Aphrodite
- Attis and Cybele
- The Orphean Reconstruction of Dionysus
- The Zoroastrians
- Buddhism: A Revolution in India
- Pythagoras
- Isis and Serapis
- The Jewish Sources
- Judaism
- The Essenes: The External Evidence
- The Essenes: The Internal Evidence
- The Essenes: Analysis and Tradition
- The Inner Meaning of the Gospel Jesus
- Cultic Preparation for Christianity
- The Historicity of Jesus
- The Composition of the Synoptic Gospels
- The Apotheosis of Jesus
- Jesus Rejected in Nazareth
- Miracles in Galilee
- Ethics: Sermons on the Mount
- The First Apocalypse
- The Transformed Christ
- Many are Called, Few are Chosen
- The Kingdom of Heaven
- The Eucharistic Mystery
- Gethsemane
- The Trial and Death of Jesus
- Redevelopment in the Pagan World
- The Earliest Christians
- The Didache
- Paul: The Jew vs. Gentile
The Catholic Epistles
- The Great Synoptical Additions
- Revelation
- Christian Eschatology
- The Search for Authority
- Semitic Christianity
- Hellenic Gnosticism: Maricon
- Mystical-Pythagorean Gnosticism
- The Monarchians
- Manichaeism: The Great Gnostic Synthesis
- The Trinitarian Controversy
- Christian Heresies
- Persecution
- St. Augustine
- Life Under the Catholic Church
- The Christian Mysteries
Firm binding; light normal aging and wear to boards; small bookseller sticker to ffep; interior is clean and free of markings. All books are carefully packed, and shipped in boxes.
