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Izak Botha

Goodreads Author

Born

in South Africa

Website

https://izakbotha.com

Genre

Nonfiction, Fiction, Thriller

Member Since

June 2017

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Izak Botha is a perpetual student of life, a former artist, athlete, principal performer with the Cape Town City Ballet, counselor, architect, media entrepreneur, successful litigator versus national corporations, and now author of three titles: Homo Angelicansis, Angelicals Reviewed, and Blood Symbols, which made Semi Finalist in Publishers Weekly’s Book Life Prize 2017. Settled on South Africa’s Garden Route, Botha is presently working on his new novel.

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Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Izak Botha Blood Symbols, a religious conspiracy thriller, arose from an unresolved issue in my dissertation on spirituality, Homo Angelicansis: Spiritual Anthro…moreBlood Symbols, a religious conspiracy thriller, arose from an unresolved issue in my dissertation on spirituality, Homo Angelicansis: Spiritual Anthropology and the Evolution of the Soul. Quite a title, I know, but it does explain what the book is about. And yes, it is not an easy read—hence a rewrite, which I published earlier this year, Angelicals Reviewed.

The first half of Homo Angelicansis summarizes the disciplines that have focused on spirituality and the soul since the urbanization of humanity nearly ten thousand years ago: a time when humanity began to record its history. Of these four disciplines: religion, esoteric occultism, philosophy, and science (neurosciences in particular), the last two have discarded the notion of soul, while the credibility of the first two rests solely on belief—something I cannot do.

Much of my research includes the views of great thinkers, some of whom have set the tone within their respective fields. Perhaps the most influential trendsetter of the Christian ethic is self-appointed apostle Paul, from Tarsus, Turkey. Comprising 13 books, the greatest part of the New Testament is the Epistles of Paul, which have for centuries greatly influenced Christian thought and behavior. As a founding father of the world’s greatest religion, one would expect Paul to understand spirituality. Sadly, that seems not to be the case.

In a classification known as trichotomy, Paul in his Epistle to the Thessalonians, describes the perfect human as having a threefold constitution of body, soul, and spirit. Paul’s concept of a three-way division is endorsed by the Holy Roman Catholic Church and adopted by millions of Catholics and other Christians. But Paul’s viewpoint is distinctly different from that of Jesus. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is recorded as saying the first great commandment is that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. For Jesus, mind takes precedence over spirit. Mind and spirit are clearly different, so both cannot be right. But if Jesus is indeed the Son of God, man as God incarnate, surely His teaching should take precedence over Paul’s, but it does not. The paradox can be explained, but the outcome is far-reaching.

Blood Symbols examines the mystery surrounding Paul’s part in the origin of the gentile faith, as well as the clandestine role of Imperial Rome in the rise of Catholic Christianity. What I found blew my mind. And now, in reading the book, I hope it will do the same for you.(less)

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Izak Botha’s books

Average rating: 3.9 · 216 ratings · 53 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	Blood Symbols 3.89 avg rating — 210 ratings — published 2017 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Angelicals Reviewed 4.17 avg rating — 6 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Izak Botha's Blog

Making #1 feels great.

The free eBook campaign with Amazon is still running and already I have great feedback.

Blood Symbols and Angelicals Reviewed both jumped to #1 in their respective genres and scoring high on the all genres Best Sellers lists. It just goes to show that marketing sells.

One cannot introduce titles to the readers if they don’t get to see what is on offer. Make no mistake, word of mouth works great, but

Izak’s Quotes

“Religions build theories about the world and then prevent them from being tested. Religions provide nice, appealing, and comforting ideas, and cloak them in a mask of “truth, beauty, and goodness.” The theories can then thrive despite being untrue, ugly, or cruel. In the end, there is no ultimate truth to be found and locked up forever, but there are truthful theories and better or worse predictions. I do defend the idea that science, at its best, is more truthful than religion.”
― Suzan Blackmore

tags: logic-reason

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