The Origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by John Pickard

The Origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by John Pickard* is a fantastic book. The description of the book mentions that this is “a book by a non-believer for other non-believers, and it will be a revelatory read, even to those already of an atheist, agnostic, or secularist persuasion”. I disagree, I think this book is just as important for believers. Besides a few funny remarks, which might raise an eyebrow from believers, this book is a great piece of scholarly work. He spent a lot of time researching the topic and that is visible throughout.

Pickard analyses the origins of the three Abrahamic religions by looking at the economic and social aspects, at the political struggles. He draws on aspects such as archaeological findings to support claims made in the holy books, and, on top of that, he looks at linguistic analysis of the text and how they relate to other writings from that period. It was so interesting to read about these aspects.

In the book he uses long quotes from other historians and while I usually frown at that, in this case I think it works nicely as it presents exactly what they meant and with such a controversial topic I think the author made the right decision. He also deals with how Said’s view on Orientalism can be skewed to silence the ones doing research into the origins of Islam or any talk about Islam.

The only downside of the book is that the font is quite small. It is a scholarly work, so it will not have a wide market. I can only hope that he will write another book, shorter, with the main points described in a commercial way so more people could have the opportunity to read it. This is a thought provoking book, for many reasons, including his references to Marx and Engels, and his views on class struggles.

The Origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by John Pickard

Details about the picture: –
My rating: 5/5 Stars
Would I recommend it: yes
Published by: Pen & Sword History
Year it was published: 2021
Format: Hardback
Genre(s): History
Pages: 352

About the author: John Pickard has worked as a research scientist in the pharmaceutical industry, as a school science teacher and as a political journalist. In his work as a journalist he has written many articles, features and magazine contributions on science and materialism. This book is the fruit of many years of literature research and will be an interesting and valuable read to atheists from all cultural and religious backgrounds.
Website & Social Media Links: Pen and Sword

*I was sent a copy of The Origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam by John Pickard for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.