When I first encountered The Immortality Key, I was skeptical. Proving that the earliest religions used psychedelics? Was this written by Timothy Leary? No, it turns out that the author, Brian Muraresku, is a brilliant man trained in the classics (Latin, Greek) and got a law degree to earn a living. He then traveled the world to investigate whether ancient man spiked their beer and wine with mind-altering drugs.
The book spends the first third working with archeologists who have been able to determine that, indeed his premise in likely. Then, the author explores his Catholic roots, or rather, the early Christian church. This was the most interesting part. He explores the gospel of John, setting Mathew, Mark, and Luke aside, because John parallels the Greek myths so closely, particularly that of Dionysus, right down to the Last Supper.
The author also notes how the early church was woman-centric, a far cry from today’s.
He does all this keeping the writing lively, using modern lingo, not scholarly prose. He takes the reader along, setting a pace that is close to adventure fiction.
It’s a long read, but worth it.
