Publisher's Synopsis
Most of us know little of Zoroastrianism and its prophet Zoroaster. For many he is merely Nietzsche's mouthpiece Zarathustra. R.C. Zaehner's book strips away the myth and reveals a monotheistic religion which bore remarkable similarities to Christianity. His book is divided into two parts. The first describes the message of the prophet Zoroaster - his proclamation in a pagan society of one true God who is just and good and who rewards and punishes men in accordance with their deeds, his insistence that all must make their choice between Truth and the Lie, and his vision of heaven and hell and the judgement that awaits the soul after death. The second part of the book describes how various Persian rulers attempted to absorb this inheritance into a society which was not yet ready for monotheistic religion. At all times the author emphasises the vigorous optimism, love of life, the whole-hearted acceptance of this world as something very good that is characteristic of Zoroastrianism in all its phases, and this in turn leads up to the account of the final rehabilitation of all things when the powers of evil rend each other asunder and hell is forever closed. First pub 1961.
