Chapter 4: Hebrews: Ancient Historians - Part A

Of the three great monotheistic religions, Judaism is the oldest of the other two major monotheistic religions – Christianity and Islam; except in the case of Zoroastrianism. Christianity really an extension of the story of the Hebrews because the founder and his disciples were Jewish.

Hebrew Sacred Texts

The Hebrew, actually what the language is known as are the Jewish people, have a strong belief in one true God who is the creator, ruler of this world and the entire universe who knows everything and sees everything. He has revealed the sacred laws of Jews in the Torah and has chosen Hebrews (Jews)  and those that follow those laws and preserves the Torah and history has come to know them as the Chosen People or as Mohammed, the founder/prophet of Islam called them: “The People of the Book".   But the first issue to discuss refers to that holy book, the sacred texts of Judaism and use it in the proper terminology used to describe the 38 books that make up the Hebrew Canon (Bible),  referred to as the Old Testament. However, this is not entirely true and has been a point of a theological discussion and argument since the inception of Christianity and Islam. And as mentioned in the title page, archaeology has been a significant aid in constructing the past in human history, and validating what scholars and historians have written about in the course of examining theological history and philosophy.
The Hebrew Scriptures are: (1) Genesis, (2) Exodus, (3) Leviticus, (4) Numbers, (5) Deuteronomy, (6) Joshua, (7) Judges, (8) Ruth, (9) First Samuel, (10) Second Samuel, (11) First Kings, (12) Second Kings, (13) First Chronicles, (14) Second Chronicles, (15) Ezra, (16) Nehemiah, (17) Esther, (18) Job, (19) Psalms, (20)Proverbs, (21) Ecclesiastes, (22) Song of Solomon, (23) Isaiah, (24) Jeremiah, (25) Lamentations, (26) Ezekiel, (27) Daniel, (28) Hosea, (29) Joel, (30) Amos, (31) Obadiah, (32) Jonah, (33) Micah, (34) Nahum, (35) Habakkuk, (36) Zephaniah, (37) Haggai, and (38) Malachi. The Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical books are not in the Hebrew Bible, but can be found in the Catholic and Protestant bibles. The New Testament concerns Jesus of Nazareth, his life and his teachings, and is not found in the Hebrew Canon.

Chapter 3: Religion of the Pharaohs, Part B - Dynasties

Continuation of Part A - Chapter 3, Religion of the Pharaohs

Early Dynastic Period (c.2925 to c. 2575 BC)

In the pre-dynastic period Paleolithic inhabitants settled in the fertile Nile Valley. The early period of rulers seemed to have grown and matured during the Naqãda rulers from Badarian. By the time the 1st Dynasty between 2925 through 2775 BC came, the kings introduced writing, bureaucratic administration, and organized religion. The beginning of this historical period there are writings that were collected as documents and transferred to monuments such as the Palermo Stone. The first real king of Egyptian history, Menes, was given credit for founding the capital of Memphis and elaborates irrigation canals. He was followed by a king named Ahas whose tomb at Abydos was more elaborate than previous tombs. During the 1st Dynasty papyrus was invented for writing and there was an increase in prosperity. Thousands of tombs of the wealthy have been found throughout the country from this period. The richest tombs contained metal, ivory, and other materials, such as stone vases. The titles Golden Horus and Dual King were given to the kings during this period, which was associated with Upper and Lower Egypt. Later these would be written in a cartouche.

Chapter 3: Religion of the Pharaohs, Part A

Phenomenology - Religion of the Pharaohs 

Chapter 3, Part A- Religion and Culture ©

To discuss Egypt’s religious history one must look at its overall history, for religion has been an intricate part of Egypt’s every day life since the forming of its magnificent ancient empire. The Greek Historian marveled at the Egyptian’s religious devotion and loyalty to his family and traditions. As Will Durant explains so well concerning the wonders of Egypt discovered through texts, tomb paintings, tablets and monument inscriptions in his book Our Oriental Heritage [1] –

The recovery of Egypt is one of the most brilliant chapters in archaeology. The Middle Ages knew of Egypt as a Roman colony and a Christian settlement; the Renaissance presumed that civilization had begun with Greece; even the Enlightenment, though it concerned itself intelligently with China and India, knew nothing of Egypt beyond the Pyramids. Egyptology was a by-product of Napoleonic imperialism. When the great Corsican led a French expedition to Egypt in 1798 he took with him a number of draughtsmen and engineers to explore and map the terrain, and made place also for certain scholars absurdly interested in Egypt for the sake of a better understanding of history. It was this corps of men who first revealed the temples of Luxor and Karnak to the modern world; and the elaborate Description de L'Egypte (1809-13) which they prepared for the French Academy was the first milestone in the scientific study of this forgotten civilization.

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.

Chapter 1 - Intro to Phenomenology of World Religion

Chapter 1

Introduction to Phenomenology of World Religion ©

The modern world is the child of doubt and inquiry, as the ancient world was the child of fear and faith.
Clarence Darrow, 1929

Foreword: In studying the different religions as an historical investigator, one can find parallels and become entrapped in comparative theology. Historically, religion goes well into the time of prehistory – before any written account occurred.

Beatification of Pope Pius XII

In an Associated Press/Reuters report, the Vatican The Holy See] has been considering Beatification of Pope Pius XII, the preliminary procedure to canonization declaring sainthood to a person. He was the Pope during the time of the Holocaust period in Nazi Germany and there have been arguments over whether or not Pope Pius XII had turned his head during the persecution of Jews or whether he remained prudent in order to secretly save Jews through his diplomacy. According to an article at MSNBC: [See also

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano dedicated an entire page to praising Pius, including an impassioned tribute from the Holy See’s secretary of state, Italian Cardinal Tarcisco Bertone.
“It was precisely by means of a prudent approach that Pius XII protected Jews and refugees,” Bertone wrote in an introduction to a book by a nun about the late pontiff.
Last month, Pope Benedict XVI made one of the strongest defenses yet of Pius, whose death 50 years ago is being marked at the Vatican. … Pius, as Italian prelate Eugenio Pacelli, had served as a Vatican diplomat in Germany and as the Vatican’s secretary of state before becoming pope in 1939, a few months before World War II erupted in Europe. The Vatican has started the process for Pius’ beatification, the last formal step before possible sainthood. Jews and others have accused Pius of not speaking out forcefully enough against the Holocaust. Bertone contended that research has shown that Pius “was neither silent nor anti-Semitic. He was prudent. If he had made a public intervention, he would have endangered the lives of thousands of Jews, who, upon his directive, were hidden, in 155 convents and monasteries in Rome alone …
Earlier this week, an Israeli rabbi [Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen] who became the first Jew to address bishops’ gatherings at the Vatican pointedly omitted Pius when he spoke of the change in Catholic-Jewish relations from a “long, hard and painful history.”… The rabbi said some religious leaders “did not raise a voice in the effort or save our brethren, but chose to keep silent and help secretly.”

Turkish Theologians Begin Hadith Research Project

The Turkish Republic may be in for a Religious Reformation according to Daniel Pipes, Jerusalem Post, May 22^nd 2008 …

Accounts from Turkey suggest that the government is attempting a bold re-interpretation of Islam. Its unusually named ministry of religion, the "Presidency of Religious Affairs and the Religious Charitable Foundation," has undertaken a three-year "Hadith Project" systematically to review 162,000 hadith reports and winnow them down to some 10,000, with the goal of separating original Islam from the accretions of fourteen centuries. The hadith reports contain information about the sayings and actions of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. They augment the Koran and have had a major role in shaping the Shari‘a (Islamic law), thereby deeply influencing Muslim life. Despite their importance, Muslim reformers have devoted little scrutiny to them, due to their vast size, unwieldy nature, and the challenge of discerning "sound" from "weak" hadiths.
One of the project's 85 theology professors, Ismail Hakki Unal of Ankara University, explains its goal: "The Koran is our basic guide. Anything that conflicts with that, we are trying to eliminate." The project website explained that its work is "an important step for carrying the universal message of the Prophet of Islam to the twenty-first century."