Introduction to Religion January 18, 2013 Review of Wednesday

Activities of Ancients Hunting & Gathering Farming (Agriculture) Male & Female Calendar/Seasons More Leisure “Civilization” Writing (Scribal Tradition) For Posterity ~3,200 BCE in Mesopotamia ~2,200 BCE in Indus Valley ~ 600 BCE in MesoAmerica Orality Generation to Generation Face to Face

Critical Theory Says What? Hegemony Artificial Social Constructs That Dominate Diverse Cultures

So-Called Civilization

Enuma Elish & Gilgamesh Stories Discovered in Library Ruins of Assyrian King, Ashurbanipal. ~629 BCE Hebrew Scriptures Include Genesis, Accounts of Creation and Flood, which seem to be in dialogue with both Assyria’s and Babylon’s religious myths & symbols. ____________________________ Genesis & Other Texts Compiled After Return from Exile in Babylon

Ancient Egypt 3100 BCE to 30 BCE

Egyptian Rise & Rule Individual City States: ~3000 BCE Old Kingdom: 2700--2200 BCE Middle Kingdom: 2000--1800 BCE New Kingdom: 1550--1225 BCE Egypt Occupied: ~1200 BCE

Polytheism

Imposition of Monotheism Pharoah Amenophis IV 1375--1350 BCE Aten, the Sun God

Socially & Societally What May Be The Effect of Transitions From Polytheism to Monotheism and... Back Again?

Life & Death Near The Nile Nile River Goddess

The Book of the Dead

Notions of After-Life Mummification/Embalming Process... Why? First Associated with Pharaohs and Priest-Kings Relationship Between Body & Spirit “The Opening of the Mouth” Ceremony

Body & Spirit Body Is A Vehicle or Container for Spirit Body Is A Seed of the Spirit Body Is Forerunner of the Spirit Body Is Immortal and Will Be Restored, Resuscitated or Resurrected Body Is Waste. Spirit Is Eternal

GODS to HEROES to PHILOSOPHERS Ancient Greece GODS to HEROES to PHILOSOPHERS

The Temples Give Way Become The Backdrop To Religious Conversation

Philosophy’s Impact On Religion Socrates: “Know yourself...” Plato: “Is what is holy holy because the gods approve it, or do they approve it because it is holy?” Aristotle: “The unmoved mover...” How might statements like these have influenced “religious practice” and “religious thinking”?

Ancient Rome The communal religion was related to the basic agricultural economy, and so was dependent upon the Etruscans and others, for Rome developed too late to foster more than the mythology of her own creation. This religion was primarily that of the state, with the city personified as the chief deity. The Romans were aware of the need to accept some foreign gods, especially Greek, into their state-cult, and they modified these deities to fit their functional need (p. 84).

Saturnalia Ancient Festival In Honor of Saturn, held from December 17 thru 25 Any Thoughts?

To exist as a human being is to be a body-in-the-world, and having a body is the vehicle for being in the world, and having a body is to be interactively involved with a definite environment... ~J. Wentzel Van Huyssteen

“In that nanosecond of enlightenment I knew that the human spirit survives the death of the physical body and I understood that my wandering soul needed to get back into its earthly habitat.” ~ Janet Bettag

For Wednesday Read Partridge, pp. 89--99 2-Page Paper is Due on January 23 Your Response to the Question: Are Human Beings Inherently Religious?