Tom Harpur was a columnist for the Toronto Star, Rhodes scholar, former Anglican priest, and professor of Greek and the New Testament, and was an internationally renowned writer on religious and ethical issues. He was the author of ten bestselling books, including For Christ's Sake and The Pagan Christ. He hosted numerous radio and television programs, including Life After Death, a ten-part series based on his bestselling book of the same name. He passed away in 2017.
The Pagan Christ reminds us that beneath our political and economic
systems, beneath both culture and character, lies the spiritual
imagination.-- "The Republic"
The Pagan Christ...challenges complacency and opens new vistas of
insight to the serious thinker.-- "The Toronto Star"
Of special interest to Christians, [The Pagan Christ] provides
nourishing food for thought for questing members of all religious
faiths.-- "The Hamilton Spectator"
The message of The Pagan Christ, if we choose to hear it, is
ultimately one of hope and liberation.-- "FFWD"
Harpur, a former Anglican priest and professor of Greek and New Testament at the University of Toronto, delves into the foundations of the Christian faith, questioning the historicity of the Bible, reinterpreting the familiar stories and restoring what he considers the inner meaning of scriptural texts. "Taken literally, they present a world of abnormal events totally unrelated to people's authentic living today." He documents the many traditions that predate Christianity and parallel the familiar Bible story. He sees Christianity, and the Bible itself, as a rehash of these traditions, merely imitative rather than a record of actual, historical events. He goes so far as to question the existence of the historical Jesus. Harpur believes that the early church establishment, through deliberate acts of suppression and the destruction of books that might challenge the orthodox view (most famously in the Alexandrian Library), shaped a rigid institution unable to cope with an evolving world. He insists that a major change must take place in order for Christianity to survive. His solution is termed "Cosmic Christianity"-a radical reinterpretation not just of the Bible but of the nature of the Christian faith and its links to the world's great spiritual traditions. Harpur's arguments, themselves a rehash of earlier scholarship, are unlikely to convince readers who are not already inclined to his views. (Mar. 27) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
The Pagan Christ reminds us that beneath our political and
economic systems, beneath both culture and character, lies the
spiritual imagination.-- "The Republic"
The Pagan Christ...challenges complacency and opens new
vistas of insight to the serious thinker.-- "The Toronto Star"
Of special interest to Christians, [The Pagan Christ] provides nourishing food for thought for questing members of all religious faiths.
-- "The Hamilton Spectator" |
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