The Origin of all Religious Worship

Book excerpt: This is a re-publication of the work of Charles-Francois Dupuis (1742 - 1809) who wrote this book in 1795 (French). It was translated into English in 1872. Dupuis argued that Christianity was an amalgamation of various ancient mythologies and that Jesus was a mythical character. He argued also that Jewish and Christian scriptures could be interpreted according to the solar pattern, e.g. the Fall of Man in Genesis being an allegory of the hardship caused by winter, and the resurrection of Jesus an allegory for the growth of the sun's strength in the sign of Aries at the spring equinox. He relates the various poems of Hercules and Bacchus to the position of the sun in the zodiac. Purpose od the republication is to contribute to the spiritual enlightenment of man and to keep its information alive."