Ancient Faiths And Modern: A Dissertation upon Worships, Legends and Divinities in Central and Western Asia, Europe, and Elsewhere, Before the Christian Era. Showing Their Relations to Religious Customs as They Now Exist

In Short

This book functions as a polemic dissection of religious history, written by a physician who applies clinical skepticism to the origins of Western faith. The work attempts to prove that the structures, rituals, and narratives of Christianity are not unique revelations but are instead evolutionary echoes of older, shared traditions from Asia, Egypt, and beyond. By comparing the lives of figures like Jesus and Buddha, and analyzing the development of practices such as baptism and the Sabbath, the author argues that organized religion is largely a product of political ambition, human credulity, and the tendency to mythologize the ordinary. It has remained a noteworthy artifact of the nineteenth-century secularist movement, capturing the intellectual tension between traditional dogma and the rise of comparative religious studies.

The Story

The narrative arc of the book is essentially the progression of a systematic investigation into the "homely truths" of human belief. The author begins by recounting his professional evolution as a physician, noting how he learned that medical cures were rarely the result of the practitioner’s intervention. This realization triggers a broader inquiry into how people cling to authority figures—be they doctors or priests—to solve problems they could either resolve themselves or accept as natural.

Moving from medicine to theology, the author turns his critical gaze toward the Bible. He describes a long, reluctant internal struggle, eventually deciding that intellectual honesty requires him to subject the New Testament to the same scrutiny he has already applied to the Old. He posits that Christianity, once it became a political power, adopted the same patterns of tyranny, persecution, and myth-building found in all other empires.

The argument then expands outward, surveying the religious customs of Mexico, Peru, and India to demonstrate that "Christian" ideas—such as a virgin birth, a savior sacrificed on a cross, or a three-fold future state—existed across cultures long before the Christian era. By comparing the life and trials of Buddha with those of Jesus, the author aims to show how ordinary historical events were transformed into miraculous narratives through the natural, iterative process of storytelling among the common people.

As the book nears its conclusion, the author addresses the social utility of religion, questioning whether society truly requires a belief in an afterlife to maintain order. He compares humans to animals, suggesting that many of our instincts, including our propensity for conflict and hierarchy, are biological rather than divinely inspired. He challenges the reader to look past the "foul rags" of tradition and recognize that human beings have been "grovelling in the dust of a coarse antiquity." The final movement of the book is a call for "reconstruction." The author asserts that true understanding of the human condition can only come once we strip away the "meretricious" inventions of priests and politicians. He concludes by urging his audience to abandon faith in favor of reason, arguing that just as one might save a child from a dangerous impulse, he is attempting to save the modern reader from the "poisonous" influence of superstitious dogma.

How It Unfolds

The clinical beginning The author establishes his methodology by drawing parallels between the medical profession’s tendency to inflate its own importance and the clergy’s hold over the spiritual life. He argues that just as patients often recover without the intervention of a doctor, humanity can navigate life without the crutch of theological doctrine.

The shift to textual criticism The focus turns to the New Testament, where the author asserts that the history of Christianity is characterized by the same corruption and political maneuvering as any secular regime. He argues that the Gospels and Epistles are not divine revelations but documents that must be weighed in the "impartial balance of critical truth."

The comparative anatomy of myth The author explores the striking similarities between Christian stories and the mythologies of the Americas and Asia. He highlights how concepts like the trinity, the virgin birth, and the resurrection are universal themes that predate the Christian era, suggesting a shared human tendency to construct these specific types of legends.

The critique of human instinct The author posits that human behavior—our drive to compete, our social hierarchy, and our religious zeal—is fundamentally no different from the behavior of animals. He argues that our belief in a future state is not a moral necessity but a psychological coping mechanism that does not fundamentally alter the nature of our species.

The final call to reason The book ends with a plea for the reader to abandon the security of traditional faith in favor of a cold, rational analysis of the world. The author contends that only by rejecting the "fairy tales" of antiquity can humanity finally reach a state of mature, independent intellectual life.

The People

The author, Thomas Inman, presents himself as a physician of the mind and spirit, acting as the primary investigator who wants to strip away what he considers the "rubbishy" constructions of religion to reveal a more rational core. He stands in opposition to the traditionalist clergy, whom he views as self-interested gatekeepers of ignorance.

The figures of Jesus and Buddha appear as the central subjects of the author's comparative study. Inman seeks to strip them of their divinity, portraying them as earnest, moral, and influential men whose lives were eventually shrouded in myths—myths that the author contends were added by later followers to suit political or theological ends.

The "orthodox" believer serves as the primary foil to the author’s rationalism. This person is characterized by a "cowardice" of the mind, someone who prefers the comfort of established, albeit "poisonous," stories over the rigorous, often uncomfortable, search for objective truth. The author expresses both frustration and pity for these believers, seeing them as people in need of an intellectual intervention.

Finally, historical figures like the prophets of the Old Testament, the apostles, and various ancient rulers are treated as political actors. Whether it is Ezra or Nehemiah, the author views these men as individuals who, like modern politicians, used religion to solidify their power and manipulate the population, effectively turning them into the architects of the "foul rags" the author seeks to discard.

In Its Own Voice

Describing the disconnect between the gospel narratives and the parents of Jesus, the author suggests a skeptical reading of the Nativity:

The father Joseph knew that he had borne his share in the event, and Mary knew that she had not conversed with any other man; consequently, for her son to indicate another father than Joseph, naturally mystified her.

Reflecting on the tendency of organized religion to replicate similar structures across different cultures, the author notes the parallels between Buddhist and Christian monasticism:

Buddhist monkeries and nunneries are almost as common, and certainly more ancient than Roman Catholic monasteries, and they had very nearly the same numerous accessories in worship, which we are familiar with in papal countries.

Critiquing the reliance on "revelation" as a source of truth, the author challenges the reader to consider the role of human judgment:

How can anything be recognized as divine, unless human judgment is passed upon it? or, How can any revelation be accepted, unless the mind has examined the messenger and the message?

What It's Really About

The central theme of the work is the primacy of human psychology and political structure over divine intervention. The author argues that what we call "religion" is actually an anthropological phenomenon—a set of habits, stories, and rituals that emerge from the human desire to explain the unknown, secure power, and comfort ourselves in the face of death. By framing the world through the lens of comparative history, he argues that the "sacred" is a human construct, not a celestial one. The fundamental question beneath the argument is whether society can remain cohesive, or if individuals can lead meaningful lives, in the absence of a traditional, supernatural framework. The author’s argument is that reason—not faith—is the only reliable path to truth, and that the history of religion is, in reality, the history of human error and self-deception masquerading as divine authority.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy the history of ideas, particularly the nineteenth-century "higher criticism" movement, will find this a fascinating, if aggressive, primary source. It captures the raw, often confrontational spirit of an era when science and secularism were first aggressively challenging the absolute authority of the church. To read it is to step into the study of a mid-Victorian intellectual who is deeply impatient with the status quo and eager to apply the scientific method to the most sensitive subjects imaginable.

However, the modern reader should be prepared for the book's density and its distinctively nineteenth-century prose, which is academic, verbose, and at times quite biting. The author’s tone is rarely neutral; he is writing to dismantle, not merely to explain, and his dismissive attitude toward the "orthodox" can be abrasive to those looking for a dispassionate historical survey. Furthermore, some of his anthropological conclusions—particularly his comparisons of human behavior to animals and his dismissal of certain cultures—reflect the colonial and evolutionary attitudes of his time. The text is not for those seeking an easy, balanced account of religious history. Rather, it is a document of its age, rewarding for those who want to understand the intellectual origins of modern skepticism. It remains a powerful reminder of how questions about the nature of truth, the authority of institutions, and the role of faith in society have remained largely unchanged for over a century. You will likely walk away from it with a clearer understanding of the "rationalist" tradition, even if you find the author's clinical, often cold approach to human spiritual life challenging to reconcile with your own perspective.