Chapter 9: Early Christianity - Organizing a New Religion

Fall and Rebirth of Rome  

One thousand years before the birth of Christ, Rome, the city that became the capital of the known world, conquest was established and men and intellect had maintained it. It was founded by survivors of Troy and begun with the adaptation of Greek culture, to include the concept of a republic and a senate.
Four hundred years after Christ’s birth, once again a great change had occurred and the greatest civilization in the world came to an end; but out of the ashes arose the beginning of another and the Christians who had struggled for so long to exist became the founders of the new Rome. The once persecuted people called Christians became the founding principle of the new Rome under the leadership of bishops and cardinals who had been ordained by the Apostles of Christ, all under the prime leadership of the Papal authority. The Church converted the barbarians who were instrumental in the fall of the Roman Empire; but unlike its previous society, superstition and the papal power would replace science, educational thought and republican senatorial government, which had been weakened by emperors and military coups. [I]

DaVinci Code Revisited

I have written in the past matters concerning The DaVinci Code novel and film, written by Dan Brown, who uses his theory and beliefs and produces it in fiction form for readers to speculate on their own – causing a stir within Christendom and something to buzz about in blogs across cyberspace. Indeed, National Geographic made it a centerpiece for articles and a newer program concerning The Lost Gospel of Judas that is available on DVD. I wondered what the buzz was all about, considering it was written as a “what if” murder/mystery novel that takes place in modern times using excerpts from history and mysteries therein to create an interesting story and a movie of intrigue and action. 

Chapter 2 - Ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Zarathustra

 Chapter 2 

Phenomenology of World Religion ©

 Ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Zarathustra

The learning and knowledge that we have, is, at the most, but little compared with that of which we are ignorant.
Plato [Philosopher, Teacher, Founder of the Athens Academy]

   In this chapter, discussion will focus on the Greek and Hebrew religions, but will occasionally contain discussion about other religious cultures of the ancient world because of their impact and cross-culture sharing of ideas, et cetera. It is basically an overview. The original biblical texts known as the Old Testament [I] were written in Hebrew and later, when the Greek civilization grew to influence other cultures in the Greek language. The Greek translated biblical texts are known as Septuagint Bible, and later when translated to Latin, Vulgate.