Gerald Massey
Gerald Massey (/ˈmæsi/; 29 May 1828 – 29 October 1907) was an English poet and writer on Spiritualism and Ancient Egypt.
Early life
Massey was born near
Later life
From about 1870 onwards, Massey became increasingly interested in Egyptology and the similarities that exist between
Writing career
Massey's first public appearance as a writer was in connection with a journal called the Spirit of Freedom, of which he became editor, and he was only twenty-two when he published his first volume of poems, Voices of Freedom and Lyrics of Love (1850). These he followed in rapid succession with The Ballad of Babe Christabel (1854), War Waits (1855), Havelock's March (1860), and A Tale of Eternity (1869).[1]
In 1889, Massey published a two-volume collection of his poems called My Lyrical Life. He also published works dealing with
Massey's poetry has a certain rough and vigorous element of sincerity and strength which easily accounts for its popularity at the time of its production. He treated the theme of Sir Richard Grenville before Tennyson thought of using it, with much force and vitality. Indeed, Tennyson's own praise of Massey's work is still its best eulogy, for the Laureate found in him a poet of fine lyrical impulse, and of a rich half-Oriental imagination.[1] The inspiration of his poetry is a combination of his vast knowledge based on travels, research and experiences; he was a patriotic humanist to the core. His poem "The Merry, Merry May" was set to music in 1894 by the composer Cyril Rootham and then in a popular song by composer Christabel Baxendale.
Massey was a believer in spiritual evolution; he opined that Darwin's theory of evolution was incomplete without spiritualism:
The theory contains only one half the explanation of man's origins and needs spiritualism to carry it through and complete it. For while this ascent on the physical side has been progressing through myriads of ages, the Divine descent has also been going on – man being spiritually an incarnation from the Divine as well as a human development from the animal creation. The cause of the development is spiritual. Mr. Darwin's theory does not in the least militate against ours – we think it necessitates it; he simply does not deal with our side of the subject. He can not go lower than the dust of the earth for the matter of life; and for us, the main interest of our origin must lie in the spiritual domain.[4][full citation needed]
In regard to Ancient Egypt, Massey first published The Book of the Beginnings, followed by The Natural Genesis. His most important work is Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World, published shortly before his death.[1]
Like Godfrey Higgins a half-century earlier, Massey believed that Western religions had Egyptian roots. Massey wrote,
The human mind has long suffered an eclipse and been darkened and dwarfed in the shadow of ideas the real meaning of which has been lost to moderns. Myths and allegories whose significance was once unfolded in the Mysteries have been adopted in ignorance and reissued as real truths directly and divinely vouchsafed to humanity for the first and only time! The early religions had their myths interpreted. We have ours misinterpreted. And a great deal of what has been imposed on us as God’s own true and sole revelation to us is a mass of inverted myths.[5][6]
One of the more important aspects of Massey's writings were his assertions that there were parallels between
Christian ignorance notwithstanding, the Gnostic Jesus is the Egyptian Horus who was continued by the various sects of gnostics under both the names of Horus and of Jesus. In the gnostic iconography of the Roman Catacombs child-Horus reappears as the mummy-babe who wears the solar disc. The royal Horus is represented in the cloak of royalty, and the phallic emblem found there witnesses to Jesus being Horus of the resurrection.[10]
Criticism
Christian theologian W. Ward Gasque, a PhD from
Theologian
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Massey, Gerald". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 867. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Tom Harpur, 2004, The Pagan Christ
- ^ Gerald Massey Collection-Upper Norwood Joint Library
- ^ Gerald Massey, Concerning evolution, p. 55
- ^ Harpur, 2004, p. 30
- ^ Massey, Gerald (1883). "The Kamite Typology". The Natural Genesis: Or, Second Part of A Book of the Beginnings, Containing an Attempt to Recover and Reconstitute the Lost Origines of the Myths and Mysteries, Types and Symbols, Religion and Language, with Egypt for the Mouthpiece and Africa as the Birthplace. Vol. 1. Williams and Norgate. p. 13.
The human mind has long suffered an eclipse and been darkened and dwarfed in the shadow of ideas, the real meaning of which has been lost to the moderns. Myths and allegories whose significance was once unfolded to initiates in the mysteries have been adopted in ignorance and re-issued as real truths directly and divinely vouchsafed to mankind for the first and only time: The earlier religions had their myths interpreted. We have ours mis-interpreted. And a great deal of what has been imposed on us as God's own true and sole revelation to man is a mass of inverted myth.
- ^ Massey, Gerald. The Natural Genesis. Cosimo Classics, 2007.
- ^ Maurice Casey Jesus: Evidence and Argument or Mythicist Myths? T&T Clark 2014 p21-22
- ^ Parallels between the Lives of Jesus and Horus, an Egyptian God
- ^ Massey, Gerald (1907). "Child-Horus". Ancient Egypt, the Light of the World: A Work of Reclamation and Restitution in Twelve Books. Vol. 2. T. F. Unwin. p. 752.
Christian ignorance notwithstanding, the Gnostic Jesus is the Egyptian Horus who was continued by the various sects of gnostics under both the names of Horus and of Jesus. In the gnostic iconography of the Roman Catacombs child-Horus reappears as the mummy-babe who wears the solar disc. The royal Horus is represented in the cloak of royalty, and the phallic emblem found there witnesses to Jesus being Horus of the resurrection.
- ^ a b The Leading Religion Writer in Canada ... Does He Know What He's Talking About?
- ^ "Harpur's archived response to Gasque". Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David Thomas L. Thompson, 2005
- ^ ISBN 1894667719pages 18–29
- ISBN 1595476067page 661
- ISBN 1599868148page 674
- ISBN 0-86554-373-9page 142
Further reading
- Flower, B. O. (1895). Gerald Massey: Poet, Prophet, and Mystic. Boston: Arena Publishing Company.
External links
- Ancient Egypt, Light of the World, 12 books on Egypt.
- Africa Within, many of Massey's articles and poems relating to Egypt.
- Works by or about Gerald Massey at Internet Archive
- Works by Gerald Massey at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)