In sharing his personal exploration of spirituality, Tom Harpur has guided thousands of readers on subjects as controversial as the true nature of Christ and life after death. In The Pagan Christ, his most radical and groundbreaking work to date, Harpur digs deep into the origins of Christianity. What he has discovered will change the way we think about religion. Long before the advent of Christ, the Egyptians and other peoples believed in the coming of a messiah, a Madonna and her child, a virgin birth, and the incarnation of the spirit in flesh. The early Christian church accepted these ancient truths as the very tenets of Christianity, but disavowed their origins. What began as a universal belief system based on myth and allegory became instead a ritualistic institution headed by ultraconservative literalists. As he reconsiders a lifetime of worship and study, Harpur reveals a cosmic faith based on ancient truths that the modern church has renounced. His message is clear: our blind faith in literalism is killing Christianity. Only with a return to an inclusive religion where Christ lives within each of us will we gain a true understanding of who we are and who we are intended to become.