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Mythology's Last Gods: Yahweh and Jesus »

Book cover image of Mythology's Last Gods: Yahweh and Jesus by William Harwood

Authors: William Harwood
ISBN-13: 9780879757427, ISBN-10: 0879757426
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Date Published: June 1992
Edition: (Non-applicable)

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Author Biography: William Harwood

Book Synopsis

More than 100 years ago, historians began applying critical methods of documentary analysis to the Judaeo-Christian Bible. To scholars who had hoped to prove the Bible's authenticity, the results were traumatic.

One by one, the various books of the Bible were discovered to contain errors of fact, inaccurate guesses, rationalizations, prophecies ex post facto (usually combined with prophecies of the future that proved inaccurate), and unmistakable, deliberate lies. Such was the power of the churches that, despite the publication of thousands of scholarly books and articles refuting every part of the Judaeo-Christian Bible, to this day the existence of unchallengeable proof that the Bible is a work of fiction is unknown to ninety percent of the population of Christian-dominated societies.

For a century this information has been available only to students willing to wade through dozens of books, each of which deals with only one aspect of Judaeo-Christian mythology. It is hoped that, by bringing together information on the origin and development of every part of the Yahweh- and Jesus-myths, Mythology's Last Gods will make the facts available to a large enough segment of the population to end the equation of god-mythology with history permanently. This is the first book to critically analyze, and take issue with, every section of the Judaeo-Christian Bible from a wholly skeptical, utterly scholarly perspective.

Mythology's Last Gods is a comprehensive history of the development of Judaeo-Christian god-mythology. Harwood traces the beginning of the "god" concept, the evolution of Judaism to the first century, and the evolution of Christianity from its monotheistic beginnings to its emergence as a three-god creed in A.D. 325. Harwood's work reveals many things including that Jesus the Nazarite preached only Essene Judaism, and that every teaching attributed to him can be traced to a pre-Christian source.

Booknews

A textual analysis of the Bible leading to a conclusion of errancy and close relation to earlier myth. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Table of Contents

Preface13
Introduction15
1And Woman Created Goddess: The Origin of Religion21
2Creation and Sin: The God Who Invented Death57
3Cain and Abel: The Sacrifice of the Sacred King72
4Incest: The Abolition of Endogenous Marriage80
5Jews, Israelites and History94
6The Yahwist108
7The Yahwist's Tales128
8The Elohist144
9The Deuteronomist154
10The Priestly Author168
11The Redactor184
12Judges, Kings and Prophets191
13From David to Jesus: The Age of the Messiah226
14Requiem for a Dead Jew256
15The Making of a God293
Appendix A: The Koran371
Appendix B: The Judaeo-Christian Bible Fully Translated375
Bibliographical Note381
Bibliography385
Index393

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