by Robert Taylor

The Devil’s Pulpit is a collection of sermons delivered by reverend Robert Taylor outlining the parallels between the Bible and the Zodiac, with the suggestion that Christianity is only thinly-disguised paganism, and that worshipping God and Jesus is effectively worshipping the sun. Written and read in the mid-19th century, it was because of a number of these sermons that Taylor was tried and imprisoned on grounds of blasphemy, which doesn’t come across at all surprising to a modern reader, though Taylor asserts that by his thorough analysis of the very word of the Bible he is more pious than any other preacher at the time.

I find Taylor’s writings oftentimes compelling and always at least interesting, but it occasionally becomes concerning, in both the delivery and content. In the language he employs, he starts off very abrasive toward those who disagree with him, turns to a scholarly tone during the heart of his argument, and then showers those who agree or purport to understand him with praise as he continues. This was likely an effective method of both immediately filtering away those who may be unresponsive to his message and cultivating those who remain to his way of thinking. For, remember that these sermons were originally delivered, I assume, to a roomful of his followers, so any hapless wanderer finding himself thrust within such a place would likely listen and at least pretend to follow this line of thinking in order to find acceptance within the mob. And, of course, employing a scholarly tone lends a feeling of knowledge to the subject, no matter the content, and potentially––though, I hope not––acts to hide the true message at the heart of these “proofs.”

And the “proofs” themselves are concerning in at least a few ways. That Taylor reaches into a variety of sources to come to his conclusions, part of me wonders whether his thorough research allowed him to arrive at different, legitimate origins for all the Biblical names and stories, or if it’s more starting with a conclusion and finding whatever he can that supports it, for I really don’t know. I, personally, neither know what would be the original passages nor do I have the means to translate them, so I find myself at Taylor’s mercy, having to trust myself with how truthful he remains, and remain at least a bit skeptical. These “proofs,” as well, consist largely of a play on words, which is susceptible to massive differences in interpretations, with someone so inclined having a lot to work with in regards to stretching and altering meanings. And Taylor isn’t always consistent in his interpretations. Oftentimes, I found myself following his reasoning that caused him to arrive at one “irrefutable proof,” only for him to wind up with a completely different explanation for the same reference immediately afterward. (He actually very briefly addressed this criticism in one of his sermons. His simple explanation is that I’m stupid.)

I will say that my favourite passages involved a fine dissection of Biblical passages, taking a Hitchens-esque tone in the process. (Given their places in history, I suppose it would seem more accurate to suggest that Christopher Hitchens was often Taylor-esque in his delivery, but then I suspect that no one would understand what I’m getting at.) And I’m very serious when I say that The Devil’s Pulpit remained interesting throughout. By the end of it, however, though I find myself believing that the Biblical stories Taylor takes us through either take great inspiration from or at least have much closer similarities to pagan myths and the Zodiac than I’ve been previously led to believe, I find myself doubting that early Christians necessarily intended on worshipping the sun.