Thanks for the suggestions, and yes, this is the type of stuff I want.I'll assume you already have Schweitzer's Quest section on fictitious lives.
Anna Katharina Emmerich (ed. C. Brentano), if that meets your criteria.
Wichtige historische Enthüllungen...Todesart Jesu (mid 19th-c.) and
Historische Enthüllungen... were often reprinted and translated; much more biblio in S. Wagner, Die Essener in der wissenschaftlichen Diskussion, BZAW 79, 1960.
WorldCat/OCLC, once you select the Library of Congress subject headings that suit you (maybe including Jesus Christ--Biography), though not all books are so indexed, and maybe date range, may be helpful.
Ill have to look into the UFO cults. Im only somewhat knowledgeable about the more modern varieties (thank you trashy television when I was a child).Hello Jarate,
I would look further into Latter Day Saints lore. Joseph Smith "translated" several real Egyptian Hieroglyphics and published several apocalyptic revelations as appendices to their editions of Doctrine & Covenants. There were enough English translations (18th century) of actual apocrypha (Greek usually) to inspire him to create his translations. Some of them are uncannily like the real ones, although I really doubt a man, even with urim & thummim, could detect signs that explained the hidden meaning that were not the meaning that Egyptologists had finally figured what they really said. I think early 19th century is modern enough, though.
There will be some interesting stuff if you decide to look at the books produced by "Automatic Writing" like the book of Oahaspe or the Urantia book. Some of it is pretty damn strange, yes.
There was a thread here:
viewtopic.php?p=129294#p129294
Look up Bogomils or Cathars from late medieval times. Slavonic Enoch (2Enoch) may lie behind much of the B & C apocrypha, so it does precede the reformation.
Ahh, look up Edmond Bordeaux Szekely who published a book he says someone found in the Vatican Library secret archives, called "The Essene Gospel of Peace," which along with the original Aramaic was saved with a German translation (IIRC), but when Szekely went back after the man's death to see if he could get it, he only found the German translation in his papers, which he took away and translated into English. It was especially new wave and appealed to the trendy/hollywood types, who also use crystals and "weird yoga."
And then there is "the sleeping prophet," Edgar Cayce, who channeled ancient beings when asleep, with these beings dictating to stenographers wisdom from the spirit world.
Don't forget the North American Flying Saucer culture of the 1950s-60s. They came up with some pretty bizarre claims, and stories of alien abductions, attempts by aliens to warn us against nuclear proliferation, experiments to breed hybrid Hum-aliens, etc. Some of this (including the UFO cult that was studied by Festinger et al, in "When Prophesy Fails") were influenced by the book of Oahaspe (or was it Urantia?).
Have fun ...
DCH
The fun thing about the Mormons is they have their own apocrypha written from various different sources. For instance, the Book of Jeraneck is purported to have been written by Ancient British isrealites who moved to that region. It is also, the single worst thing ive ever read from a writing standpoint (It really makes you appreciate the other writings that generally survived.) The Dan Vogel series on Joseph Smith is a must read if you're interested in the man or religion. I know one is "The Making of a Prophet" and the Other is "Charisma Under Pressure".
Statistics: Posted by Jarate — Fri Jun 21, 2024 1:52 am
