Alexander Hislop

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{{Short description|Free Church of Scotland minister (1807–1865)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{refimprove|date=July 2022}}
[[File:Alexander Hislop.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Alexander Hislop]]
'''Alexander Hislop''' (1807 – 13 March 1865) was a [[Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)|Free Church of Scotland]] [[Minister of religion|minister]] known for his criticisms of the [[Catholic Church]]. He was the son of Stephen Hislop (died 1837), a mason by occupation and an elder of the [[Relief Church]]. Alexander's brother was also named [[Stephen Hislop]] and became well known in his time as a missionary to India and a naturalist.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

Alexander was born and raised in [[Duns, Scottish Borders|Duns]], [[Berwickshire]]. He was for a time parish schoolmaster of [[Wick, Highland|Wick, Caithness]]. In 1831 he married Jane Pearson. He was for a time editor of the ''Scottish Guardian'' newspaper. As a [[Ministers and elders in the Church of Scotland|probationer]] he joined the [[Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900)|Free Church of Scotland]] at the [[Disruption of 1843]]. He was ordained in 1844 at the East Free Church, [[Arbroath]], where he became senior minister in 1864. He died of a paralytic stroke in Arbroath the next year after being ill for about two years.{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}}

He wrote several books, his most famous being ''[[The Two Babylons|The Two Babylons: Papal Worship Proved to be the Worship of Nimrod and His Wife]]''.

==''The Two Babylons''==
{{main|The Two Babylons}}

This book, initially published in 1853 as a [[pamphlet]], was greatly revised {{Citation needed|date=August 2014}} and expanded and released as a book in 1858.

In the book, Hislop argued that the Catholic Church was a Babylonian [[mystery religion|mystery cult]] and pagan, but Protestants worshipped the true Jesus and the true God. He believed that Catholic religious practices are pagan practices that were grafted onto true Christianity during the reign of [[Constantine I (emperor)|Constantine]]. Then, the merger between the Roman state religion and its adoration of the mother and child was transferred to Christianity, merging Christian characters with pagan mythology. The goddess was renamed ''[[Mary, the mother of Jesus|Mary]]'', and Jesus was the renamed ''[[Jupiter-Puer]]'', or "Jupiter the Boy".

Hislop believed that the goddess, in Rome called [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] or [[Fortuna (mythology)|Fortuna]], was the Roman name of the more ancient Babylonian cult of [[Ishtar]], whose origins began with a blonde-haired and blue-eyed woman named [[Semiramis]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2014}}

According to Hislop, Semiramis was an exceedingly beautiful woman, who gave birth to a son named [[Tammuz (deity)|Tammuz]], was instrumental as the queen, and wife of [[Nimrod]] the founder of [[Babylon]], and its religion, complete with a pseudo-[[Virgin birth of Jesus|Virgin Birth]]. Later, Nimrod was killed, and Semiramis, pregnant with his child, claimed the child was Nimrod reborn. {{Citation needed|date=August 2014}}

Hislop attempted to show that the cult and worship of Semiramis spread globally, her name changing with the culture. In Egypt she was [[Isis]], in Greece and Rome she was called [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]], [[Diana (goddess)|Diana]], [[Athena]], and a host of other names, but was always prayed to and central to the faith which was based on Babylonian mystery religion. According to Hislop, Constantine, though claiming to convert to Christianity, remained pagan but renamed the gods and goddesses with Christian names to merge the two faiths for his political advantage.{{Citation needed|date=August 2014}}

Constantine's endorsement of the tradition was a turning point for [[Early Christianity]]. In 313, Constantine issued the [[Edict of Milan]] legalizing Christian worship. The emperor became a great patron of the Church,{{Citation needed|date=August 2014}} and set a precedent for the position of the Christian Emperor within the Church and the notion of [[orthodoxy]], [[Christendom]], and [[ecumenical councils]] that would be followed for centuries as the [[State church of the Roman Empire]].

==Books by Alexander Hislop==
(Sources of information include [http://copac.ac.uk COPAC])
* 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 (exposition of 2 Thess 2: 3–12) (Edinburgh, 1846)
* The Moral Identity of Babylon and Rome (London, 1855)
* The Red Republic; or Scarlet Coloured Beast of the Apocalypse (Edinburgh, 1849)
* The Rev. E.B. Elliott and the "Red Republic" (Arbroath, circa 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 (A lecture delivered in East Free Church, Arbroath) (Edinburgh, 1860)
* 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, 1853 & 1858)
* Unto the Venerable the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland: the petition of the undersigned (relates to James Lumsden on "Infant Baptism": Hislop was head signatory of this petition) (Edinburgh, 1860)

==References==
{{reflist}}
* Ewing, William: ''Annals of the Free Church of Scotland 1843–1900'' (Edinburgh, 1914)

==External links==
* {{Gutenberg author | id=31827| name=Alexander Hislop}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Alexander Hislop}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050203181254/http://philologos.org/__eb-ttb/ ''The Two Babylons'' by Alexander Hislop (online)]
*[[Ralph Woodrow]], ''The Babylon Connection?'', 1997, {{ISBN|0-916938-17-4}} (critique from former advocate).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060516021135/http://www.hayterz.bravehost.com/f149.htm Genealogical page on Jamie Hayter's family history site] ''Note: shows different date of birth for Alexander Hislop - clarification being sought''

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hislop, Alexander}}
[[Category:1807 births]]
[[Category:1865 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century ministers of the Free Church of Scotland]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish male writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers]]
[[Category:British conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:British propagandists]]
[[Category:Christian conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Critics of the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Inanna]]
[[Category:Presbyterian writers]]
[[Category:Pseudohistorians]]
[[Category:Scottish male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Scottish newspaper editors]]

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Alexander Hislop