Jeremy Naydler writes of the ancient Egyptian experiences of religion and spirituality not from the standpoint of academic archeologists, but from the standpoint of philosophers and religious historians. He does not write from the viewpoint of Western culture, but rather extrapolates and tries to explain the experience from an ancient Egyptian's point of view. Naydler does his research well, citing sources and references as he formulates theories, and talks of the ancient concepts of the divine, religion and spirituality.

Naydler begins by explaining different concepts within the ancient Egyptian culture -- such as magic, deities, the Egyptian concepts of ma'at (balance), the soul (ba, ka, akh), and time -- then begins to intertwine them so that they start to form a picture from which the reader can start to form a valid understanding of the ancient religion of Egypt.

Naydler goes beyond the research of academic archeologists; he moves beyond Western concepts of right, wrong, time and religion, and offers up to us a clearer understanding of the ancient Egyptians.

This book is an important source of information for the Egyptology student. As the religion of ancient Egypt is so ingrained in their culture, to start understanding the religion is to begin to understand ancient Egypt. I highly recommend this book, and give it 7 stars out of 10.

[ by Jade Falcon ]