Larue

Several New Age magazines have devoted stories to a burgeoning ＂Cult of the Goddess.＂ But this cult isn’t a result of the women’s movement or the product of environmental consciousness - nor is it really new. In fact, the Catholic Church has been making use of a similar cult for two thousand years.In this book, Gerald A. Larue examines the scriptural underpinnings of occult and supernaturalistic notions that survive in contemporary society. The Supernatural, the Occult, and the Bible is based on the author’s thorough knowledge of the history of ancient Near-Eastern cultures and their mythology.Larue argues that biblical supernaturalism and modern occultism are two sides of the same coin, and illustrates in fascinating detail how they engender and support each other. He suggests that contemporary religions cannot shirk responsibility for some of the more foolish excesses of occult practice.Larue points out that present-day churchgoers are not as a matter of course made aware of archaeological findings that shed light on scriptural teachings - research into biblical and related languages, literary analyses of biblical texts, and studies of the relationship between concepts found in the Bible and aspects of contemporary occult beliefs and practices - and explains why this is so. The breadth of Larue’s research and depth of insight, and his common sense approach, make this book both engrossing and important.

Gerald A. Larue (1916 - 2014) was an American scholar of religion and professor emeritus of gerontology, a former ordained minister who became an agnostic, archeologist, debunker of biblical stories and accounts of miracles, and humanist. He was a professor of biblical history and archaeology at the University of Southern California and later a member of the gerontology faculty. He was on the editorial board of Skeptic magazine from its founding in 1992 to the time of his death.