When the apostle Paul proclaimed the new Christian Mystery to the factious congregation at Corinth, it was clear that this Eucharist was meant to replace the pagan Mystery that had been celebrated for over a millennium just a short distance away at the sanctuary of Eleusis. Christianity evolved within the context of Judaic and Hellenistic healing cults, magic, shamanism, and Mystery initiations. All four of these inevitably imply a sacred ethnopharmacology, with traditions going back to earlier ages of the ancient world. The essays in The Apples of Apollo edited by Ruck, Staples and Heinrich attempt to uncover the original food of the sacramental communion. After a preliminary review of the rites and etiquette of the sacramental wine of the god Dionysos, whom Christ would replace as sacrificial offering, the myth of Ixion (who is named for the semi-parasitic plant called mistletoe) is linked to Apollo's role in demanding human victims and the persistence of such rites in the Druidic solstice sacrifice of the "wicker man." Behind the symbolism of the mistletoe and other psychoactive plants lurks the Soma of the Vedic tradition and its botanical original, the fly-agaric mushroom. Rather than being marginal to Classical culture, the fly-agaric, and the array of metaphors its amazing transmutations suggest, is central to the myths of the Greek heroes, and in particular to the first of them all, the hero Perseus, who reformed the religion practiced at the ancient city of Mycenae.

A scholarly and masterful exploration of the meaning and importance of 'mystery' and 'mysticism' to the Christian revelation, offering a fuller understanding of Christian spirituality down the ages and a firmer grasp of what it means to be a Christian.

Drawing on the cutting edge of modern scholarship, this astonishing book completely undermines the traditional history of Christianity that has been perpetuated for centuries by the Church and presents overwhelming evidence that the Jesus of the New Testament is a mythical figure. “Whether you conclude that this book is the most alarming heresy of the millennium or the mother of all revelations, The Jesus Mysteries deserves to be read.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram Far from being eyewitness accounts, as is traditionally held, the Gospels are actually Jewish adaptations of ancient Pagan myths of the dying and resurrecting godman Osiris-Dionysus. The supernatural story of Jesus is not the history of a miraculous Messiah but a carefully crafted spiritual allegory designed to guide initiates on a journey of mystical discovery. A little more than a century ago, most people believed that the strange story of Adam and Eve was history; today it is understood to be a myth. Within a few decades, authors Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy argue, we will likewise be amazed that the fabulous story of God incarnate—who was born of a virgin, who turned water into wine, and who rose from the dead—could have been interpreted as anything but a profound parable.

The Mysteries of Mithras presents a revival of this ancient Roman mystery religion, popular from the late second century B.C. Payam Nabarz reveals the history and tenets of Mithraism, its connections to Christianity, Islam, and Freemasonry, and the modern neo-pagan practice of Mithraism today. Included are seven of its initiatory rituals.

Essays by Julius Baum, C. G. Jung, C. Kerényi, Hans Leisegang, Paul Masson-Oursel, Fritz Meier, Jean de Menasce, Georges Nagel, Walter F. Otto, Max Pulver, Hugo Rahner, Paul Schmitt, and Walter Wili.

Imagine the dangerous life of an early Christian. You've embraced your newfound faith in Christ but fear the risk of persecution or death at the hands of the pagans living around you. Then a trusted friend tells you about some of Jesus' followers who secretly meet. He whispers into your ear, "Look for a fish carved in a paving stone" by a certain home on the Via Tiburtina. You smile in gratitude. Still today, modern society recognizes those Christian symbols that kept the early Christians safely connected: they appear on churches, bumper stickers, mugs -- even mints and stuffed animals. Yet we are often ignorant of the rich meaning of these symbols: their origins in Scripture, in ancient culture, and in the preaching of the Church Fathers. In this book, noted author Mike Aquilina conducts an intriguing and insightful tour of the symbols that expressed the life and devotion of the Church through the first four centuries of its existence. He explains how Christians freely borrowed pagan and Jewish symbols, giving them new, distinctly Christian meanings. Recover the zeal of our spiritual ancestors as you learn to read their symbolic language -- and discover the impact the symbols still have on your life today. More than a hundred illustrations, reproduced by artist Lea Marie Ravotti from the ancient originals, beautifully complement the text. View a mulitmedia presentation and listen to an interview of the author here.

Classic study explores the Eleusinian mysteries of ancient Greece; Asiatic cults of Cybele, the Magna Mater, and Attis; Dionysian groups; Orphics; Egyptian devotees of Isis and Osiris; Mithraism; and others.

Traditionalist Christians who oppose same-sex marriage and other cultural developments in the United States wonder why they are being forced to bracket their beliefs in order to participate in public life. This situation is not new, says Steven D. Smith: Christians two thousand years ago faced very similar challenges. Picking up poet T. S. Eliot’s World War II–era thesis that the future of the West would be determined by a contest between Christianity and “modern paganism,” Smith argues in this book that today’s culture wars can be seen as a reprise of the basic antagonism that pitted pagans against Christians in the Roman Empire. Smith’s Pagans and Christians in the City looks at that historical conflict and explores how the same competing ideas continue to clash today. All of us, Smith shows, have much to learn by observing how patterns from ancient history are reemerging in today’s most controversial issues.