Gods of Our Fathers: The Memory of Egypt in Judaism and Christianity

Richard A. Gabriel

Jan 2002 · Greenwood Publishing Group

About this ebook

Gabriel offers a startling new look at Judaism and Christianity by attempting to trace their historical theological roots, not to the revelations of God, but to the common theological ancestor, the religions of ancient Egypt. Using new material only recently made available by archaeology, Gabriel shows how the theological premises of Christianity were in existence three thousand years before Christ and how the heresy of Akhenaten became the source for Moses' Judaism.

Gabriel begins with the challenge that the dawn of man's ethical conscience began in Egypt by 3400 BCE, long before the age of revelation in the West. Over the course of 3000 years, Egyptian theologians developed a complete theology of trinitarian monotheism, immortality of the soul, resurrection, and a post-mortem judgment within the Osiris myth. These concepts existed nowhere else in the ancient world and were passed directly to Christianity. In 1200 BCE, the heretic pharaoh Akhenaten abandoned Egyptian tradition and invented his own theology of a single god, no immortal soul, no resurrection, and no post-mortem judgment. This tradition was passed to the West through Moses whose Judaic theology is identical to Akhenaten's.

About the author

RICHARD A. GABRIEL is an historian and Adjunct Professor of Humanities and Ethics at Daniel Webster College. He is the author of more than 30 books, including From Sumer to Rome: The Military Capabilities of Ancient Armies, Great Battles of Antiquity, and Great Captains of Antiquity (Greenwood Press, 1991, 1994, and 2000 respectively). Dr. Gabriel was a professor at St. Anselm College for more than 20 years before assuming the position of Professor of History and Politics at the US Army War College. He is a frequent lecturer to the academic, governmental, and military establishments of Canada, the United States, Germany, China, and Israel.