PAGAN & CHRISTIAN CREEDS: THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING By Edward Carpenter "The different religions being lame attempts to represent under various guises this one root-fact of the central universal life, men have at all times clung to the religious creeds and rituals and ceremonials as symbolising in some rude way the redemption and fulfilment of their own most intimate natures--and this whether consciously understanding the interpretations, or whether (as most often) only doing so in an unconscious or quite subconscious way." The Drama of Love and Death, p. 96. CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTORY II. SOLAR MYTHS AND CHRISTIAN FESTIVALS III. THE SYMBOLISM OF THE ZODIAC IV. TOTEM-SACRAMENTS AND EUCHARISTS V. FOOD AND VEGETATION MAGIC VI. MAGICIANS, KINGS AND GODS VII. RITES OF EXPIATION AND REDEMPTION VIII. PAGAN INITIATIONS AND THE SECOND BIRTH IX. MYTH OF THE GOLDEN AGE X. THE SAVIOUR-GOD AND THE VIRGIN-MOTHER XI. RITUAL DANCING XII. THE SEX-TABOO XIII. THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIANITY XV. THE MEANING OF IT ALL XV. THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES XVI. THE EXODUS OF CHRISTIANITY XVII. CONCLUSION APPENDIX ON THE TEACHINGS OF THE UPANISHADS: I. REST II. THE NATURE OF THE SELF PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CREEDS: THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING I. INTRODUCTORY The subject of Religious Origins is a fascinating one, as the great multitude of books upon it, published in late years, tends to show. Indeed the great difficulty to-day in dealing with the subject, lies in the very mass of the material to hand--and that not only on account of the labor involved in sorting the material, but because the abundance itself of facts opens up temptation to a student in this department of Anthropology (as happens also in other branches of general Science) to rush in too hastily with what seems a plausible theory. The more facts, statistics, and so forth, there are available in any investigation, the easier it is to pick out a considerable number which will fit a given theory. The other facts being neglected or ignored, the views put forward enjoy for a time a great vogue. Then inevitably, and at a later time, new or neglected facts alter the outlook, and a new perspective is established.