Publisher's Synopsis
Klein presents the origins of the Jewish religion's God, finds it in the Name of Aten, introduces its history from the hieroglyphic forms through the paleo-Hebrew letters up to its reading as Greek and Latin words. Klein's assertion that Yahweh never was a name of God leads to hitherto unknown, silenced, or ignored elements in the theology, practices, rituals, and ritualistic objects of Judaism and Christianity.
Klein begins with the graphic demonstration that the four-letter Hebrew name of God, the Tetragrammaton, had been copied in paleo-Hebrew letters as if it corresponded to the hieroglyphs that spelled the name of the Egyptian God, Aten. He then follows the history of these letters as they became an icon and read by Greeks and Christians as the name of Jesus in Greek and Latin.
Through the discovery that the orthography of God's name originated during the Amarna period in Egypt's history, Dr. Klein is able to further unveil the background of many contemporary Jewish and Christian practices. The material's presentation follows the principles of rationalism that underlaid the religious innovations of Akhenaten. Klein's reexamination of biblical, postbiblical Jewish and non-Jewish, Greek, and Latin texts peels off layers of mysticism, unintentional and intentional distortions, and explanations that resulted from lack of knowledge and neglect. A provocative analysis for scholars, students, and researchers dealing with Judaism and Christianity, comparative religion, and Egyptology.
