Izak Botha
Blood 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.
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.
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