Christian Mythology

by George Every

The author describes the origins and developments of the stories about the creation, the flood, the fall of Adam and Eve, the Tower of Babel, and the Cross in history and myth. He discusses the pseudo-gospels containing legends about the Virgin Mary's life and death and about Christ's birth and childhood.

Contains 24 pages in color, over 100 b&w illustrations, and index.

Genres: Religion

141 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Brother George Every, a lay member of the (Anglican) Society of the Sacred Mission, was born in England in 1909 and educated at what is now the University of Exeter. He wrote widely on liturgical topics.

Reviews

[Ivana Books Are Magic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christian Mythology by George Every is an interesting read, if this is the an area that interest you. It can be a good starting point, especially if you don't have anything better at hand. However, it is not a very detailed and/or elaborate take on Christian mythology. It will probably leave you hungry for more, if you're interested in this topic. I've always been fascinated by mythology. Generally speaking, I did find this book interesting but I also felt that it could have been better written. I would have liked to learn more about Judaism, and its mythology, because that's obviously the basis for Christian mythology. It would also be interesting to study how different pagan religions got reflected in Christian mythology.

Christian mythology by George Every is not a particularly well written and/or researched book. The writing isn't very engaging, and the writer assumes you're already familiar with the topic. I was familiar and interested in the theme, but I found my attention drifting. I think that the information in this book could have been better organized. I do own a copy of this book, a hardcover Croatian edition and it's lovely. It's over one hundred pages long (not 24 pages as the English edition goodreads describes is) and it includes many famous classical Christian painting and art. That's perhaps the best part of the book for me, the illustrations. To conclude, I'm happy to own a copy, and I think I did learn a few things from it. I can recommend Christian Mythology, but it is a lukewarm recommendation, if you understand what I mean.

[Matty Lapointe-Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this as a means of reading the "mythological" stories of Christianity with some thoughtful annotation. I was particularly looking forward to versions of Lucifer's fall and the war with the angels which seem to be common knowledge (especially for people educated in Catholic schools)but as far as I know aren't actually IN the Bible.

This book was pretty much a Master's Degree Thesis about the symbolism of myths which it assumed the reader was already fairly familiar with. Provided a good feel for how deeply pagan mythology influenced medieval Christianity, but very dry and presupposed a lot of fore-knowledge.