Research Paper on:
Review of The Mystery Religions by Samuel Angus

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
their times. These mystery cults have intrigued mankind for centuries. For many years, there simply was no answer to this question, until Samuel Angus managed to compile a scholarly work  called: The Mystery Religions and Christianity. This books intent is to take the reader on a journey from the earliest glimmers of organized religion and compares/contrasts the similarities and  differences. It also seeks in an unabashed way to show how Christianity may have emerged from basic Pagan mystery cults, may have been one itself, and in the end, why  most of the earlier mystery cults failed in the face of Christianity. Angus asks provocative questions such as: how did people separated by incredible distances, with little or no communication,  still manage to develop some of the same characteristics and stories about their Gods and Goddesses? What each new mystery cult did offer its devotees, he chronicles, was a  new sense of worth for the individual as opposed to the collective society. But for all this appeal, the mystery cults would be absorbed and replaced by Christianity. What cycle  of events made this happen? What did Christianity offer that the mystery cults did not? These provocative questions and more are answered by Angus and supported with ample evidence to  maintain his claims. As one becomes lost in the unraveling of a very ancient tale, one becomes aware that the author is purposely remaining (thankfully) objective in his accounts.  He neither espouses one mystery cult over another, nor does he make value or judgment statements about the ensuing popularity of Christianity. Though the title suggests that there might be  overt bias on the side of Christianity, one is refreshed to note that this book is written in textbook fashion and does not appear to be biased toward one form