Christianity: The Great Lie

Part of this differentiation was the overthrow of the goddess Asherah, the consort of Yahweh. At some point, perhaps during the time of the prophet Jeremiah, the priests ordered the destruction of all statues of Asherah and temples devoted to her. However some survived and archaeologists now believe that her worship was quite extensive. It would seem that the worship of the feminine never quite disappeared, despite the efforts of patriarchal monotheists. The goddess reappears in Gnostic narratives, is retained as the Shekinah, the mystical power that fills the Temple and as hokmah, or Wisdom in Kabbalah.

The next big cultural shift came when the Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the first Temple and enslaved the Jews. It is during this period of the Babylonian exile that the Jews absorbed much of the Sumerian mythology (or consolidated aspects already in Judaism), including the Garden of Eden motif, the Flood story and very likely, the story of Abraham as a derivation of the Primal Man motif. Another intriguing suggestion is that Jewish mysticism (Merkabah and Kabbalah) is derived from Sumerian mysticism (a variation on this is that both the Canaanites and Hebrews were a branch of the Sumerian cultural matrix). This opens up the greater possibility of an Indian link because we know that Sumeria traded with India. This cross fertilization caused interesting resonances. As I will explain later there are aspects of Gnosticism that bear close relation to Tantrism. This is not an argument for an original, single source in India, rather an argument for millennia of cultural exchange. It has to be remembered that at one time Rome had a trade deficit with India and Indian diplomats and priests traveled throughout the region (there is even the suggestion that the early Christian monastic tradition in Egypt was inspired by visiting Buddhist emissaries).

Another important cultural shift came with the conquest of Alexander and the subsequent Greek influence. Greek became the second language of Palestine and Jewish thinkers engaged directly with Greek philosophy. All the Greek philosophical schools had a presence in Palestine and Egypt, especially the important cultural centre of Alexandria, which grew to have a large and important Jewish population. There was therefore a vital exchange between Egyptian, Jewish and Greek traditions (Pythagoras is said to have spent time in Egypt). As a result of this exchange there was a vibrant religious debate with numerous teachers and philosophers setting up schools or going from city to city preaching. Some cities in Palestine were predominantly Greek, with sections of the population sympathetic to Greek cults.