TABOO AND GENETICS 157 



(17.) One of the great difficulties was the 

 reconcihation of the biological process of pro- 

 creation with divinity. But there had for ages 

 been among primitive peoples the belief that 

 impregnation was caused by spirit possession 

 or by sorcery. This explanation had survived 

 in a but slightly altered form in the ancient 

 mythologies, all of which contained traditions 

 of heroes and demi-gods who were born super- 

 naturally of a divine father and a human 

 mother. In the myths of Buddha, Zoroaster, 

 Pythagoras and Plato, it was intimated that the 

 father had been a god or spirit, and that the 

 mother had been, and moreover remained after 

 the birth, an earthly virgin. These old and 

 precious notions of the supernatural origin of 

 great men were not willingly renounced by 

 those who accepted the new religion ; nor was 

 it necessary to make such a sacrifice, because 

 men thought that they could recognize in the 

 Jewish traditions something corresponding to 

 the heathen legends. (18.) 



The proper conditions for the development 

 of a mother cult within Christianity existed 

 within the church by the end of the second 

 century. At the Council of Nicaea (325 A. D.) it 

 was settled that/the Son was of the same nature 

 as the Father. The question of the nature of 

 Mary then came to the fore. The eastern 

 fathers, Athanasius, Ephraim Syrus, Eusebius 



