Budge was also a prolific author, and he is especially remembered today for his works on Egyptian religion and his hieroglyphic primers. Budge’s works on Egyptian religion were unique in that he claimed that the religion of Osiris had emerged from an indigenous African people. He said of Egyptian religions in Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection (1911):
“There is no doubt that the beliefs examined herein are of indigenous origin, Nilotic or Sundani in the broadest signification of the word, and I have endeavored to explain those which cannot be elucidated in any other way, by the evidence which is afforded by the Religions of the modern peoples who live on the great rivers of East, West, and Central Africa…Now, if we examine the Religions of modern African peoples, we find that the beliefs underlying them are almost identical with those Ancient Egyptian ones described above. As they are not derived from the Egyptians, it follows that they are the natural product of the religious mind of the natives of certain parts of Africa, which is the same in all periods.”
Budge’s beliefs of the origin of Egyptian religions was regarded by his colleagues as impossible, since all but a few followed Flinders Petrie in his contention that the culture of Ancient Egypt was derived from an invading Caucasian “Dynastic Race” which had conquered Egypt in late prehistory and introduced the Pharaonic culture. Petrie was a dedicated follower of the pseudo-science of Eugenics, believing that there was no such thing as cultural or social innovation in human society, but rather that all social change is the result of biological change, such as migration and foreign conquest resulting in interbreeding. Budge and Petrie thus clashed on the mentioned issue.
Budge was interested in the paranormal and believed in the reality of spirits and hauntings. He had a number of friends in the Ghost Club, a group of Londoners committed to the study of alternative religions and the spirit world. Many people in his day who were involved with the occult and spiritualism after losing their faith in Christianity were dedicated to Budge’s works. Budge was a strong proponent of liberal Christianity and was devoted to comparative religions.
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