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Forgery of the Old Testament and Other Essays
In these three classic essays "The Forgery of the Old Testament," "The Myth of Immortality," and "Lies of Religious Literature," Joseph McCabe (1867-1955), ex-priest and the "world's greatest scholar," exposes the inconsistencies, absurdities, and outright mendacity that lie behind the most revered texts and "truths" of Christianity. With forcefulness, clarity, and often biting humor, McCabe attacks two millennia of Christian tradition which, he says, must withdraw before the weapons of science and reason.
150 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1993
37 people want to read
About the author
Joseph McCabe
894 books26 followersJoseph McCabe was born in Cheshire, England, on November 12, 1867 to Catholic parents. His father, William McCabe, was born in Ireland and had inherited the faith. He fled famine and poverty in Ireland and wound up in the Lancaster slums of England. Joseph's mother, Harriet Kirk, was English and converted to Catholicism when she married William. Harriet named her second son Joseph, hoping he would follow his namesake's lead and enter the church.
The McCabe children attended the local Catholic schools where Joseph attained the stature of a model pupil and a zealous believer. (The details of McCabe's early life are in his autobiography and literary classic, Eighty Years a Rebel, published by E. Haldeman-Julius.) At the age of 16 (1883) McCabe entered the preparatory college at the Gorton Franciscan Monastery. He was ordained at age 23 (1890) and became a Catholic priest. Then, in recognition of his outstanding intellectual prowess, he was appointed to a prominent post of "professor of philosophy." However, as his knowledge deepened his doubts grew.
At the age of 23 he renounced the church and thereafter dedicated his life to promoting intellectual emancipation. It was during the Christmas break of 1895, while at the Franciscan Monastery, that he "descended" into the final crisis of faith.
McCabe was a very popular lecturer and gave many thousands of lectures for over five decades throughout the world, including frequent lecture tours in the United States. McCabe himself stated that, "At least one million folk have heard me lecture in America and Britain."
McCabe exchanged many letters with well-known politicians, scientists (most notably, Ernst Haeckel), and writers of his time. This correspondence included such famous men as Bertrand Russell, Arthur Conan Doyle, Francisco Ferrer, a Spanish anarchist, and the famous historian and writer, H.G. Wells, among many others.
It was McCabe's influence that is largely credited with convincing H.G. Wells of the nefarious nature of the Catholic church, to such an extent that Wells went on to write, "The most evil institution in the world is the Roman Catholic Church."
Haldeman-Julius, once wrote that, "If I had done nothing more than bring McCabe's talents to the attention of what has become a world-wide audience--if I had done only this job, I believe I'd have established myself as a force for mass education and enlightenment with immediate and constructive effects on the thinking portion of the population. My association with McCabe has been enough to build a career for anyone."
McCabe was an ardent student and supporter of the theory of evolution. His translation of Ernst Haeckel's work on evolution in 1900 (McCabe retitled it The Riddle of the Universe) put McCabe on the world's literary map. McCabe's translation sold an astonishing number of copies for that or any other period of time--over half a million copies in Germany alone and a quarter of a million copies elsewhere!
In 1949 Haldeman-Julius stated that by his own reckoning McCabe had written 121 "Little Blue Books" and 122 "Big Blue Books," for a total of some 7,600,000 words. For this monumental output the author was paid a total of about $100,000. McCabe, according to his own estimate, claimed that in his 50 years of writing he had penned the astonishing total of 15 million words--a record that may never be equaled in all of literary history!
You owe it to yourselves to acquaint and reacquaint and enrich and enlighten your life by learning more about this most remarkable man, Joseph McCabe.
More: https://ffrf.org/publications/freetho...
http://infidels.org/library/historica...
http://www.philosopedia.org/index.php...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M...
The McCabe children attended the local Catholic schools where Joseph attained the stature of a model pupil and a zealous believer. (The details of McCabe's early life are in his autobiography and literary classic, Eighty Years a Rebel, published by E. Haldeman-Julius.) At the age of 16 (1883) McCabe entered the preparatory college at the Gorton Franciscan Monastery. He was ordained at age 23 (1890) and became a Catholic priest. Then, in recognition of his outstanding intellectual prowess, he was appointed to a prominent post of "professor of philosophy." However, as his knowledge deepened his doubts grew.
At the age of 23 he renounced the church and thereafter dedicated his life to promoting intellectual emancipation. It was during the Christmas break of 1895, while at the Franciscan Monastery, that he "descended" into the final crisis of faith.
McCabe was a very popular lecturer and gave many thousands of lectures for over five decades throughout the world, including frequent lecture tours in the United States. McCabe himself stated that, "At least one million folk have heard me lecture in America and Britain."
McCabe exchanged many letters with well-known politicians, scientists (most notably, Ernst Haeckel), and writers of his time. This correspondence included such famous men as Bertrand Russell, Arthur Conan Doyle, Francisco Ferrer, a Spanish anarchist, and the famous historian and writer, H.G. Wells, among many others.
It was McCabe's influence that is largely credited with convincing H.G. Wells of the nefarious nature of the Catholic church, to such an extent that Wells went on to write, "The most evil institution in the world is the Roman Catholic Church."
Haldeman-Julius, once wrote that, "If I had done nothing more than bring McCabe's talents to the attention of what has become a world-wide audience--if I had done only this job, I believe I'd have established myself as a force for mass education and enlightenment with immediate and constructive effects on the thinking portion of the population. My association with McCabe has been enough to build a career for anyone."
McCabe was an ardent student and supporter of the theory of evolution. His translation of Ernst Haeckel's work on evolution in 1900 (McCabe retitled it The Riddle of the Universe) put McCabe on the world's literary map. McCabe's translation sold an astonishing number of copies for that or any other period of time--over half a million copies in Germany alone and a quarter of a million copies elsewhere!
In 1949 Haldeman-Julius stated that by his own reckoning McCabe had written 121 "Little Blue Books" and 122 "Big Blue Books," for a total of some 7,600,000 words. For this monumental output the author was paid a total of about $100,000. McCabe, according to his own estimate, claimed that in his 50 years of writing he had penned the astonishing total of 15 million words--a record that may never be equaled in all of literary history!
You owe it to yourselves to acquaint and reacquaint and enrich and enlighten your life by learning more about this most remarkable man, Joseph McCabe.
More: https://ffrf.org/publications/freetho...
http://infidels.org/library/historica...
http://www.philosopedia.org/index.php...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M...
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 18, 2023
This book is a collection of 3 essays by Joseph McCabe:
1) The Forgery of the Old Testament
2) The Myth of Immortality
3) Lies of Religious Literature
These essays are aimed at a general audience, although some of the terminology is outdated and some of the language is more suitable for an adult audience. The writing is entertaining, educational, and easy to read.
These books were originally published in the 1920s as "Little Blue Books". In order corresponding to the above list, they were:
1) Little Blue Book No. 1066 (published 1926)
2) Little Blue Book No. 1059 (published 1926)
3) Little Blue Book No. 1248 (published 1927)
It took some digging on my part to find the information above because the editor who compiled this trilogy of essays didn't include this info.
The Forgery of the Old Testament argues "...the Old Testament is a forgery".[p.17]
McCabe rips through each book of the OT and in my opinion, given the date of publication, does a good job at arguing that they were intentionally made to be deceptive. I think some of the information is outdated, such as the dates of writing for the OT books, but I don't know enough off the top of my head to say one way or the other.
The Myth of Immortality was also decent but I found it to be the least persuasive essay of the bunch. He closes the chapter with an optimistic view of the future, saying "...I assume that within a century or two life will be worth living for everybody: no poverty, no crime, no violence, no stupidity, very little disease, and a long life for the majority".[p.106] This essay was published in 1926 and I'm reviewing it in 2023, so it's almost been a century. We are far from meeting McCabe hopeful outlook, but since he did say "a century or two", we do have about another hundred years to see his utopist civilization meet fruition.
The final essay, Lies of Religious Literature, was mainly McCabe's critique of contemporary religious literature. I found myself rechecking to make sure I had the publication date correct due to the fact that a lot of what he said in 1927 can be applied today in 2023.
1) The Forgery of the Old Testament
2) The Myth of Immortality
3) Lies of Religious Literature
These essays are aimed at a general audience, although some of the terminology is outdated and some of the language is more suitable for an adult audience. The writing is entertaining, educational, and easy to read.
These books were originally published in the 1920s as "Little Blue Books". In order corresponding to the above list, they were:
1) Little Blue Book No. 1066 (published 1926)
2) Little Blue Book No. 1059 (published 1926)
3) Little Blue Book No. 1248 (published 1927)
It took some digging on my part to find the information above because the editor who compiled this trilogy of essays didn't include this info.
The Forgery of the Old Testament argues "...the Old Testament is a forgery".[p.17]
McCabe rips through each book of the OT and in my opinion, given the date of publication, does a good job at arguing that they were intentionally made to be deceptive. I think some of the information is outdated, such as the dates of writing for the OT books, but I don't know enough off the top of my head to say one way or the other.
The Myth of Immortality was also decent but I found it to be the least persuasive essay of the bunch. He closes the chapter with an optimistic view of the future, saying "...I assume that within a century or two life will be worth living for everybody: no poverty, no crime, no violence, no stupidity, very little disease, and a long life for the majority".[p.106] This essay was published in 1926 and I'm reviewing it in 2023, so it's almost been a century. We are far from meeting McCabe hopeful outlook, but since he did say "a century or two", we do have about another hundred years to see his utopist civilization meet fruition.
The final essay, Lies of Religious Literature, was mainly McCabe's critique of contemporary religious literature. I found myself rechecking to make sure I had the publication date correct due to the fact that a lot of what he said in 1927 can be applied today in 2023.
Displaying 1 of 1 review