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Title: The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerbe ISBN: 0-9644873-4-9 Publisher: Morningstar Books Pub. Date: July, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.56 (64 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Western culture has inherited an enduring legacy of pain.
Comment: Occasionally, a book comes along which belongs in every Pagan's personal library, but if it were up to me "The Dark Side of Christian History" would be required reading for the general population as well. Author, Helen Ellerbe, has written precisely the book I've been waiting for, and in fact would like to have written myself. While others before her have covered one or two of Christianity's more shameful exploits in a given volume, she has gathered together in one work, a definitive chronicle of events from each period from 100ce to the present day. She explains the evolution of the Christian world view and how this doctrine manifested itself in church policy, driving every aspect of its behavior. By viewing each step of this process in sequence, we see that the episodes of tyranny and oppression were not mere isolated incidents in an otherwise distinguished career of benevolence, but rather they were part of an ongoing process whereby each and every obstacle to hegemony was systematically subjugated, subdued, subverted and destroyed. In the chapter concerning modern times, entitled "A World Without God", Ellerbe demonstrates that while the power of the church is mostly gone, the effects of its doctrine in the form of a persistent world view are with us still. Western attitudes toward gender, race, sexuality and the environment have all been shaped by that doctrine created by the evolving church in its effort to impose rigid hierarchy on the entire world and everything in it. She goes on to show that while the rise of modern science has done much to strip the church of its power, most of the science of the last 500 years is in certain ways an extension of the Christian world view, rather than an affront to it, and we are only now just beginning to break free of this limitation. "The Dark Side of Christian History" though thoroughly researched and documented, is not difficult to read but it IS painful to read. I found myself hurting for all of humanity - past, present and future and asking myself the question "What if none of it ever happened?".
Rating: 4
Summary: A good, quick read on church history
Comment: I'm certainly no scholar on church history, so I don't know what Ellerbe has left out or misrepresented. I will say that this book was easy to read and offered an overview of the most heinous acts of the "Christian" church. She portrays the church's maneuvering and grasping after control, power, property, and money, its devaluing of the earth and its cycles, women, sexuality, freedom of thought, enjoyment in life and its celebration, etc. It's a sad book and a sad history.
I had difficulty with the second-to-last chapter. It attempted to show the current mechanistic world view as having evolved from the hierarchical church structure. It was far too brief.
In summary she wrote: "Unity and oneness within an orthodox Christian belief system are perceived to come from sameness and conformity, not from the synergy and harmony of difference." As a Christian of 25 years I can attest to the truth of this statement (and so also can the thousands of sects and denominations under the Christian umbrella) and it is in conflict with the teachings of the man it hopes to emulate. The man Jesus taught that the greatest shall be the least and serve others, that no man should judge another, that God's message was Peace on earth, good will toward men, and that the kingdom of heaven is within us. That the "Christian" religion as depicted in this book should represent itself as based upon Christ's teachings is inconceivable. There truly is evil in this world.
I imagine if you're already versed in church history that this book won't add anything, because it is very brief, but if you've never read anything about it you can get a good overview.
Rating: 5
Summary: Stay Away Christians
Comment: A wonderful book about the truth behind Christianity's History. In fact, so ture, that our everyday narrow-minded christians may want to skip it, they can't handle the truth about their holidays once being pagan, the persecution of witch's etc.
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Title: The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Acharya S ISBN: 0932813747 Publisher: Adventures Unlimited Press Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read by Tim C. Leedom ISBN: 0939040158 Publisher: Truth Seeker Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: The Jesus Mysteries : Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God? by Peter Gandy, Timothy Freke ISBN: 0609807986 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 25 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Born Again Skeptic's Guide To The Bible by Ruth Hurmence Green ISBN: 1877733016 Publisher: Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. Pub. Date: 15 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: The Jesus Puzzle. Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? : Challenging the Existence of an Historical Jesus by Earl Doherty ISBN: 0968601405 Publisher: Canadian Humanist Publications Pub. Date: 19 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.50 |
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