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Revilo P. Oliver

Classic EssaysRevilo P. Oliver

The natural Aryan conception of god is quite different from those posited by Zoroaster and later Semitic religions such as Christianity. by Revilo P. Oliver CHAPTER TEN:
ZOROASTER’S CREATION ZOROASTER’S RELIGION, often called Mazdaism, is the greatest religion ever created by one man. It is the…
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Classic EssaysRevilo P. Oliver

A modern Iranian depiction of Zoroaster by Revilo P. Oliver ZOROASTER
continued IT IS A GENERAL RULE that Saviours should disdain females,(9) but Zoroaster was an exception, as befits one who, by his laughter at birth, affirmed that life is worth living. As soon as he had established himself at the…
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Classic EssaysRevilo P. Oliver

A depiction of Ahura Mazda by Revilo P. Oliver CHAPTER NINE:
ZOROASTER WITH SO MUCH of a prolegomenon, and with an iteration of the proviso that we are trying only to summarize the bare essentials of a subject that is almost infinitely complex, we may turn to Christianity, which, as everyone should know,…
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Classic EssaysRevilo P. Oliver

by Revilo P. Oliver CHAPTER EIGHT:
THEOKTONY
and
BELIEF _______
  THEOKTONY IN CONCLUDING this highly, and perhaps excessively, condensed prolegomenon, we must notice a fact of the utmost importance in the history of religions. There is a relatively high mortality rate among the immortals. The basis…
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Classic EssaysRevilo P. Oliver

by Revilo P. Oliver CHAPTER SEVEN:
LYING FOR THE LORD WHEN PROFESSIONAL PRIESTS undertake to bolster the faith of their congregations by producing historical documents to substantiate their doctrines they face obstacles that are inversely proportional to the ignorance of their customers. The…
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Classic EssaysRevilo P. Oliver

by Revilo P. Oliver CHAPTER SIX:
SHAMANS WHATEVER the origin of professional priesthoods and their claim that a strange expertise is necessary to mediate between their human customers and the invisible supernatural beings that are supposed to have power over nature, that origin was also the beginning…
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Classic EssaysRevilo P. Oliver

by Revilo P. Oliver CHAPTER FIVE:
RITUAL AND ARYAN WORSHIP
_______ RITUAL A RELIGIOUS RITUAL is a fixed sequence of acts (often including speech) performed to make magic by influencing supernatural forces. Most rituals began at a time so remote and among men so primitive that they may antedate our race;…
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Classic EssaysRevilo P. Oliver

by Revilo P. Oliver CHAPTER THREE:
MONOTHEISM MONOTHEISM is a quite unusual form of religion and one which creates difficulties for even its most adroit theologians. If it is a theism, its god must be a superhuman person, conscious and accessible to his votaries. Thus religions which posit an impersonal…
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Classic EssaysRevilo P. Oliver

Robert Ardrey by Revilo P. Oliver CHAPTER TWO:
THE TRIPLE FUNCTION
WE LIVE IN A TIME in which there is much talk about “religious freedom.” It is assumed that beliefs about the supernatural are a “private matter” which every individual has a right to determine for himself.…
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Classic EssaysRevilo P. Oliver

by Revilo P. Oliver CHAPTER ONE:
RELIGION RELIGION, which we may define as a belief in the existence of praeter-human and supernatural beings, is a phenomenon limited to several human species, since it depends on rudimentary powers of reason and relatively developed powers of imagination. We may…
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