Alexander Hislop

Alexander Hislop ( 1807 in Duns , Berwickshire , † March 13, 1865 in Arbroath ) was a pastor of the Free Church of Scotland . He became known through publications attacking the Roman Catholic Church as pagan .

Life

Alexander Hislop was a son of Stephen Hislop († 1837), a bricklayer and elder of the Relief Church . Alexander's brother, who was also named Stephen Hislop (1817–1863), was known as a missionary to India and a naturalist.

Alexander was initially the community school director in Wick (Highlands, Caithness ). In 1831 he married Jane Pearson. For a while he worked as the editor of the Scottish Guardian . As Vicar ( probationer ) of the Church of Scotland, he decided in the church split in 1843 for the Free Church of Scotland . In 1844 he was ordained pastor of the East Free Church in Arbroath, and in 1864 he became a senior pastor. A year later, after two years of illness, he died of a paralytic stroke .

The Two Babylons

Hislop wrote several books. Most famous was his work The Two Babylons: Papal worship Revealed to be the worship of Nimrod and His wife. (The two Babylons: Adoration of the Pope revealed as the worship of Nimrod and his wife). The book was originally published as a treatise in 1853 and, after major revisions and additions, appeared as a book in 1858.

content

Hislop makes the claim that the Catholic Church is a Babylonian mystery cult , whereas the Protestants represent true Christianity . Catholic religious practices are actually pagan practices that were grafted onto Christianity during the reign of Emperor Constantine . At this point in time the mixture of the Roman state religion and its worship of mother and child had been transferred to Christianity, mixing with pagan mythology. The goddess was renamed “Maria” and the boy (“ Jupiter- Puer”, “the boy Jupiter”) was renamed Jesus .

The worship of Venus or Fortuna was the Roman form of the even older Babylonian cult of the Ištar , the origin of which goes back to Semiramis .

Semiramis was an extraordinarily beautiful, blond, blue-eyed, white woman who had given birth to a son named Nimrod , a tall, ugly, black man, and who later married him in order to found Babylon and its religion including an alleged virgin birth . This was a "foreshadowing" the birth of Christ caused by Satan . Later, Nimrod was killed, and Semiramis alleged that the child she gave birth shortly afterwards was Nimrod's rebirth.

The cult and worship of the Semiramis have spread worldwide, with their name changing with the respective culture. In Egypt she was Isis , in Greece and Rome Venus , Diana , Athena and a number of other goddesses, but everywhere she was worshiped and was central to the belief that was based on the Babylonian mystery religion.

Constantine claimed to have converted to Christianity , but he remained a pagan and only named the gods and goddesses with Christian names in order to unite the two religions under Satan's guidance for his political advantage.

criticism

The book has been widely criticized for its lack of evidence and in many cases contradicts current knowledge. The Roman state religion before Christianity did not worship a central mother goddess and Jupiter was never called "Jupiter-Puer". Likewise, Semiramis lived centuries after Nimrod and could neither have been his mother nor have married him. In addition, Hislop makes unacceptable linguistic connections and makes illogical puns. The letters IHS, which are on the hosts in Catholic Holy Communion, are said to refer to Isis , Horus and Seth ; in reality it is an abbreviation for IHSOUS, the Latinized spelling of the name Jesus in Greek (ἰησοῦς, in capital letters: ΙΗΣΟΥΣ). In popular parlance, the letters also stand for "Iesus Hominum Salvator" ("Jesus Savior of Humanity").

If Hislop's criticism were justified, his book would discredit Christian traditions as a whole, since the positions it attacks with the Catholic Church are also held by some Protestants.

Despite numerous reviews, Hislop's book is still widely regarded by many as an authoritative work of Protestant apologetics . Hislop is a popular resource for Jack Chick , who had his book reprinted, and Dave Hunt , who occasionally referred to Hislop.

In 2011 a critical edition of the work was published with comments by Ralph Woodrow and Eddy Lanz.

Publications

• Christ's Crown and Covenant: or national covenanting essentially connected with national revival , Arbroath and Edinburgh 1860.
• Infant Baptism, according to the Word of God and confession of faith. Being a review, in five letters, of the new theory of Professor Lumsden, as advocated in his treatise entitled, “Infant baptism: its nature and objects” , Edinburgh 1856
• The Light of Prophecy let in on the dark places of the Papacy , Edinburgh 1846 (interpretation of 2 Thess 2: 3–12).
• The Moral Identity of Babylon and Rome , London 1855.
• The Red Republic; or Scarlet Colored Beast of the Apocalypse , Edinburgh 1849.
• The Rev. EB Elliott and the “Red Republic” , Arbroath around 1850.
• The Scriptural Principles of the Solemn League and Covenant: in their bearing on the present state of the Episcopal churches , Glasgow 1858.
• The Trial of Bishop Forbes , Edinburgh 1860 (story from the East Free Church in Arbroath).
• Truth and Peace (in reply to a pamphlet, entitled “Charity and mutual forbearance” by “Irenicus”) , Arbroath 1858.
• The Two Babylons; or, the Papal Worship proved to be the worship of Nimrod and his wife , Edinburgh ¹ 1853, ² 1858, ISBN 1-881316-36-X
• Unto the Venerable the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland: the petition of the undersigned , Edinburgh 1860 (the work refers to James Lumsden's Infant Baptism ; Hislop was one of the signatories of the petition).

literature

• Ewing, William: Annals of the Free Church of Scotland 1843–1900 , Edinburgh 1914.
• The Monthly Record of the Free Church of Scotland , April 1, 1865, Obituary.
• Article Stephen Hislop in: Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. 9, London 1908.
• Smith, George: Stephen Hislop, Pioneer Missionary & Naturalist in Central India from 1844 to 1863 , London 1888.
• Ralph Woodrow: The Babylon Connection? , 1997, ISBN 0-916938-17-4 .
• From Babylon to Rome? The Two Babylons? A critical edition of the work of Alexander Hislop with the addition of the work of Ralph Woodrow and Eddy Lanz , Gersam, Birkenau 2011, ISBN 978-3-9811529-5-1 .

Web links

• From Babylon to Rome (.pdf) (2.10 MB)
• Literature by and about Alexander Hislop in the catalog of the German National Library
• The Two Babylons
• Genealogical page on Jamie Hayter's family history site Note: shows different date of birth for Alexander Hislop - clarification being sought
• Critical appreciation of life and work by the Worldwide Church of God .