Quotes & Sayings


We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

We become who we are by what we believe and can justify. - R.E. Slater

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall

Without Love there is no Truth. And True Truth is always Loving. There is no dichotomy between these terms but only seamless integration. This is the premier centering focus of a Processual Theology of Love. - R.E. Slater

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Note: Generally I do not respond to commentary. I may read the comments but wish to reserve my time to write (or write from the comments I read). Instead, I'd like to see our community help one another and in the helping encourage and exhort each of us towards Christian love in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. - re slater

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Where in Time and Place Might Eden Be? Part III



Where in Time and Place Might Eden Be?
Part III

by R.E. Slater


To ask the question of where Eden might be is to ask what cultures and in what time periods might have an "Eden-like place" in their origin-creation stories. If we include African lore we might be looking in the East Africa or East-Central Africa area. But if we limit our search to the Semitic civilizations of the Mesopotamian area (and not the Levant region as the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are not found there) then we may be looking in the mid-central mountainous areas of Turkey or somewhere in the northern plains of the Upper Fertile Crescent Region. Personally, I like either East Africa or secondarily, the cool, lush mountains of Central Turkey.

Let us assume however that locating the Garden of Eden is irrelevant. Perhaps a more meaningful research might be to ask the kinds of creation stories we might find in the major civilizations across the paleolithic to mesolithic to neolithic timelines. Each time era will have its version of "Eden" even as mine our the Rocky mountains from Colorado up into Alberta. Otherwise it is of home and the farm I lived on. These are my "Edens".

Geographic Cultures to examine for Creation Stories

  • the Mesopotamian origin stories of Sumeria, Canaan, Akkadia/Assyria, Babylon,
  • the Mediterranean cultures such as Carthage, Phoenician, and Hittite civilizations,
  • the Egyptian dynasties, and
  • the African cultures such as Kush of East Africa and the East-Central African cultures.

And the one thing which binds all these regions together is that they each occurred in earlier timelines enriched Israel's Semitic heritance from which it wrote it's own own distinctive creation story that we are familiar with in the OT book of Genesis. And because of this we may assume that earlier cultures were closer in time to mythical "Eden" than Israel's own generational eras; and that each earlier civilization had an opportunity to describe an origin story for its culture and geographical region. And though Israel's story is unique, so are all earlier ones preceding Israel's creation story.

Now many Christians bypass questions of authenticity, historical fact, or likelihood of occurrence, by baldly stating that God revealed only to Israel how creation began  - but had withheld this same information from earlier cultures which preceded Israel by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of years. However, it would not be surprising to learn that every previous culture had claimed divine revelation of a kind even as Israel did to its people. And so, we're left with the question of who to believe? Israel? Babylon? Akkadia/Assyria? Sumeria? Egypt? Kush? Except for the Genesis narrative the agnostic may appropriately say "We do not know."

However, there is one way to know... a process which the church will not acknowledge... but one which is the only proper way of discovering the question of where-and-what is Eden. Now the "what" was answered in Part I. Today we'll answer in Part III the "where".

Using Nature's Voice

To begin, my sideways argument is to refer to the earthy records of natural, processual evolutionary science to tell us about the beginnings of the Universe and Earth and also of Earth's development in its seas, lands, flora, and fauna. Then to turn to the paleontologists to describe how homo sapien sapiens evolved genetically, in anatomy of tongue and brain, in conscience and awareness of reality as they understood it, and in its civilizations as it left hunter-gathering clans for villages and communities.

The complex evolution of homo sapiens
1,000,000 to 30,000 years ago
by Stefan Milo   |   Sep 17, 2021



My next sideways observation is to reset Hebraic Origin Stories within it's own evolutionary journey so that we might understand that Israel first had a polytheistic pantheon before it had a monotheistic God. And that this God was at first a Storm God before it became a Jewish God and later a Christian God.


History of Israel Documentary  |   37.40 min
IntroBooks Education  |  Jul 22, 2017

Transcript link found below "Key Moments".

Error in documentary -  @ 8:21 minutes it states "found around 1.4 billion not billion but million years old such as Acheulean Industry, the Bizat Ruhama group and Gesher Bnot Yaakav."

Britannica - During the Acheulean Stage of the early Paleolithic Period, which began between 1.7 million and 1.5 million years ago and lasted until 250,000 to 200,000 years ago, the presence of good tool stone was probably an important determining factor in the distribution of early humans. 

Hence, while God was revealing God's Self to evolutionary humanity through it's many journeys and displacements so too were paleo humans attempting to discover who and what this God was - or even, whether there was any God or simply a bare (evolutionary) natural process allowing early man to perhaps entertain thoughts of theism and deity (as evidenced by burials and paintings).

The God of Agency Becomes in Us

I, for one, am of the theistic side of belief as versus agnosticism or atheism. However, I do not mind living in tension with uncertainty, unknowing and doubt. This is what allows for the greatest kind of faith-exploration. Without questioning everything I am hide-bound to the old ways of traditional beliefs and thinking

However, my personal psyche doesn't wind this way... I resist authoritarianism and following the groupings of mankind. My inner being thrives on adventure, exploration, and rethinking everything I come across. So this makes me the worse kind of traditionalist even though I love traditionalism within my family's own heritage's memories and the retelling of its generational stories. And thanks to my mom intensive genealogical studies, my story on her side and my dad's side goes way, way back to Sweden, Scotland, and early Canada/America.

So then, my studies in science and old Semitic/Grecian cultures in university before I attended bible college/seminary - including my actions and my internal thinking processes - are all prejudiced towards the living God who has made the heavens and the earth, sustains them, and abides with his creation without every leaving it.  And though my family was nominally Christian in my youth, it was the Living God by whose Spirit wrestled with my own heart to cause me to seek out my faith heritage from within the  public school and university settings I was placed in. And because of this it has given me an ease to communicate with those different from me. Public education gave me access to knowledge beyond my church's interest... which was a God thing which made it a very good thing.

And so, the arguments I have put forth over the past 13 years from various perspectives - both societally and theologically are there because I have a broad background. I am not confined to adaptive, structured thinking from a Christian perspective but have a flexible, open mindset from which I may explore, examine, and determine how to help my Christian brothers and sisters as well as those from secularism or other religions and beliefs. And when looking at man's evolutionary journey I see in it the hand of God guiding man's evolutionary processualism even as God guided my own storyline.

Asking Good Questions - Not Guiding Questions

But this does not mean that I shouldn't ask dissettling questions of God, the bible, the church, or of our beliefs. Nor does this mean that I turn from science to some form of mystical religion as today's Christianity has become when limiting itself from discussing science. To believe in God is to be mystical but it also means to me that in the mystery there are many things we now know through science that we didn't know before. And because of this I want to know how to fit my supernatural theology within the processual natural world we live in. Thus I have been developing a process-based Natural Theology to help with my received Bible Theology. Which is also why I find myself discussing philosophic-theological questions more than redacting and expositing Bible passages (which I can ably do).

This requires an evolving science, philosophy, language, and ways of becoming with evolving events. Never should religion be static... least of all Christianity. Religion may be old but this doesn't mean that age, era, and event cannot give way to new facts and new ways of belief. My faith differs buy degree and in substance from its earlier heritage of preachers and philosophers and scientists. And as it does it also means I let go of some things while expanding others things.

This too is the meaning of processualism in that all that is and exists, is  in it's self or it's being, is continually becoming or adapting to processual events - as all things interact with all things re "cause and effect". Which is why the Christian faith cannot remain static but become like it's God who Is and Is Becoming to creation's wants and needs (Exodus 3.14, "I AM WHO I AM BECOMING") God isn't static, God's creation isn't static, nor are we and our outlooks static. All is processual. All is novel. All is different from moment to moment. Our faith must lean into the kind of God who God is. God is steady in love but his love reaches out in sundry ways to an evolving world.

We Live in a Processual World

Therefore, Process theology is fit for this task of adaptation. As God and creation operate processually then so must we and our beliefs. I find Whitehead's .  process philosophy . theology . and process science . the best tool in the toolbox upon which to build a contemporary Christian faith.

And just because technology changes how we look at things doesn't mean that God is regulated to the past. Rather, technology-and-all-other-human-endeavors are teaching us more about God rather than less. And why? Because in our faith we learn to discern how to proceed, then move forward, testing along the way if what we think is right or wrong. Theology then is like science: Test. Observe. Reject. Improve. Expand. Test. and Observe. How 21st century humanity see itself is different from 2000 BC humanity.

LOVE Defines Being and Becoming

One last, I have made my task simple and not overcomplicated. I wish to follow a loving God and not a God of wrath and vengeance. A God who is present and presently helps as God can in a world of unloving agency. Knowing this, it helps me know the kind of faith and religion to follow, accede to, or acknowledge.

Meaning, if a religion produces a loving humanitarianism than I know that God is behind it. If not, than an unloving religion derives from our own unloving souls. Hence, my Christianity does not exclude other religions like Buddhism, Islam or Judaism. It simple makes room for them while holding to Christ as center and meaning for all religions.

This then is what I am learning when looking for the Garden of Eden. I'm looking at man's journey with God, at man's deviations from God, and how to relocate our journey that it seeks love, produces love, and imitates the loving God of Creation.

Below, please find and study how the timelines and languages have come together over the ancient years past. I will use these in my next articles, Part IV - VI.

BE love as GOD is love, 

and Happy Valentine's Day,

R.E. Slater
February 14, 2024

* * * * * * 


expandable timeline link

The Paleolithic era actually goes back to 115,000 BC as marked by the Last Glacial Ice Age which marked the end of the interglacial periods known as the Quaternary glaciation which started around 2,588,000 million years ago as was composed of multiple ice ages of varying lengths. The Last Glacial Maximum ran between 26,000-20,000 BC and the Younger Dryas Ice Age from 12,800 to 11,550 BC. - Wikipedia


Wikipedia - Proto-Afroasiatic (PAA), also known as Proto-Hamito-SemiticProto-Semito-Hamitic, and Proto-Afrasian, is the reconstructed proto-language from which all modern Afroasiatic languages are descended. Though estimations vary widely, it is believed by scholars to have been spoken as a single language around 12,000 to 18,000 years ago (12 to 18 kya), that is, between 16,000 and 10,000 BC. Although no consensus exists as to the location of the Afroasiatic homeland, the putative homeland of Proto-Afroasiatic speakers, the majority of scholars agree that it was located within a region of Northeast Africa.[1]

The reconstruction of Proto-Afroasiatic is problematic and has not progressed to the degree found in Indo-European linguistics.[2] The immense amount of time over which the branches have been separated, coupled with the wide gap between the attestations of the original branches (3rd millennium BC for Egyptian and Semitic, 19th and 20th centuries for many Chadic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages) mean that determining sound correspondences has not yet been possible. In addition to more traditional proposed consonant correspondences, there is also a divergent proposal that has become popular among Egyptologists; there is no agreement about PAA's vowels, the existence of tone, or its syllable structure. At the same time, scholars disagree to whether and to what extent the classical Semitic languages are a conservative, faithful representation of PAA morphology. This is particularly important for the question of whether the lexical roots in the language were originally mostly biradical or triradical, that is, whether they originally had two or three consonants. It also plays into the question of the degree to which Proto-Afroasiatic had root-and-pattern morphology, as most fully displayed in the Semitic, Egyptian, and Cushitic branches.



Wikipedia - The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic, sometimes Afrasian), also known as Hamito-Semitic or Semito-Hamitic, are a language family of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West AsiaNorth Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahara and Sahel.[2] Over 500 million people are native speakers of an Afroasiatic language, constituting the fourth-largest language family after Indo-EuropeanSino-Tibetan, and Niger–Congo.[3] Most linguists divide the family into six branches: BerberChadicCushiticEgyptianSemitic, and Omotic.[4] The vast majority of Afroasiatic languages are considered indigenous to the African continent, including all those not belonging to the Semitic branch.

Arabic, if counted as a single language, is by far the most widely spoken within the family, with around 300 million native speakers concentrated primarily in the Middle East and North Africa.[2] Other major Afroasiatic languages include the Chadic Hausa language with over 34 million native speakers, the Semitic Amharic language with 34 million, the Cushitic Oromo language with 35 million, and the Cushitic Somali language with 22 million. Other Afroasiatic languages with millions of native speakers include the Cushitic Sidaama language, the Semitic Tigrinya language and the Omotic Wolaitta language, though most languages within the family are much smaller in size.[5] There are many well-attested Afroasiatic languages from antiquity that have since died or gone extinct, including Egyptian and the Semitic languages AkkadianBiblical HebrewPhoenicianAmorite, and Ugaritic. There is no consensus among historical linguists as to precisely where or when the common ancestor of all Afroasiatic languages, known as Proto-Afroasiatic, was originally spoken. However, most agree that the Proto-Afroasiatic homeland was located somewhere in northeastern Africa, with specific proposals including the Horn of Africa, Egypt, and the eastern Sahara. A significant minority of scholars argues for an origin in the Levant. The reconstructed timelines of when Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken vary extensively, with dates ranging from 18,000 BC to 8,000 BC. Even the latest plausible dating makes Afroasiatic the oldest language family accepted by contemporary linguists.[6]

Comparative study of Afroasiatic is hindered by the massive disparities in textual attestation between its branches: while the Semitic and Egyptian branches are attested in writing as early as the fourth millennium BC, Berber, Cushitic, and Omotic languages were often not recorded until the 19th or 20th centuries.[7] While systematic sound laws have not yet been established to explain the relationships between the various branches of Afroasiatic, the languages share a number of common features. One of the most important for establishing membership in the branch is a common set of pronouns.[8] Other widely shared features include a prefix m- which creates nouns from verbs, evidence for alternations between the vowel "a" and a high vowel in the forms of the verb, similar methods of marking gender and plurality, and some details of phonology such as the presence of pharyngeal fricatives. Other features found in multiple branches include a specialized verb conjugation using suffixes (Egyptian, Semitic, Berber), a specialized verb conjugation using prefixes (Semitic, Berber, Cushitic), verbal prefixes deriving middle (t-), causative (s-), and passive (m-) verb forms (Semitic, Berber, Egyptian, Cushitic), and a suffix used to derive adjectives (Egyptian, Semitic).





Wikipedia - Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples or Proto-Semitic people were speakers of Semitic languages who lived throughout the ancient Near East and North Africa, including the LevantMesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula and Carthage from the 3rd millennium BC until the end of antiquity, with some, such as ArabsArameansAssyriansJewsMandaeans, and Samaritans having a continuum into the present day.

Their languages are usually divided into three branches: EastCentral and South Semitic languages. The Proto-Semitic language was likely first spoken in the early 4th millennium BC in Western Asia, and the oldest attested forms of Semitic date to the early to mid-3rd millennium BC (the Early Bronze Age).

Speakers of East Semitic include the people of the Akkadian EmpireEblaAssyriaBabylonia, the latter two of which eventually switched to East Aramaic and perhaps Dilmun. Central Semitic combines the Northwest Semitic languages and Arabic. Speakers of Northwest Semitic were the Canaanites (including the PhoeniciansPunicsAmoritesEdomitesMoabites and the Hebrews), Arameans and the Ugarites. South Semitic peoples include the speakers of Modern South Arabian languages and Ethiopian Semitic languages.



WikipediaThe Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Aramaic, Hebrew, and numerous other ancient and modern languages. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, North Africa,[a] the Horn of Africa,[b][c] Malta,[d] and in large immigrant and expatriate communities in North America, Europe, and Australasia. The terminology was first used in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen school of history, who derived the name from Shem, one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis.

Semitic languages occur in written form from a very early historical date in West Asia, with East Semitic Akkadian and Eblaite texts (written in a script adapted from Sumerian cuneiform) appearing from c. 2500 BCE in Mesopotamia and the northeastern Levant respectively. The only earlier attested languages are Sumerian and Elamite (2800 BCE to 550 BCE), both language isolates, and Egyptian (c. 3000 BCE), a sister branch within the Afroasiatic family, related to the Semitic languages but not part of them. Amorite appeared in Mesopotamia and the northern Levant c. 2000 BC, followed by the mutually intelligible Canaanite languages (including Hebrew, Phoenician, Moabite, Edomite and Ammonite, and perhaps Ekronite, Amalekite and Sutean), the still spoken Aramaic, and Ugaritic during the 2nd millennium BC.

Most scripts used to write Semitic languages are abjads – a type of alphabetic script that omits some or all of the vowels, which is feasible for these languages because the consonants are the primary carriers of meaning in the Semitic languages. These include the UgariticPhoenicianAramaicHebrewSyriacArabic, and ancient South Arabian alphabets. The Geʽez script, used for writing the Semitic languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea, is technically an abugida – a modified abjad in which vowels are notated using diacritic marks added to the consonants at all times, in contrast with other Semitic languages which indicate vowels based on need or for introductory purposes. Maltese is the only Semitic language written in the Latin script and the only Semitic language to be an official language of the European Union.

The Semitic languages are notable for their nonconcatenative morphology. That is, word roots are not themselves syllables or words, but instead are isolated sets of consonants (usually three, making a so-called triliteral root). Words are composed from roots not so much by adding prefixes or suffixes, but rather by filling in the vowels between the root consonants, although prefixes and suffixes are often added as well. For example, in Arabic, the root meaning "write" has the form k-t-b. From this root, words are formed by filling in the vowels and sometimes adding consonants, e.g. كِتاب kitāb "book", كُتُب kutub "books", كاتِب kātib "writer", كُتّاب kuttāb "writers", كَتَب kataba "he wrote", يكتُب yaktubu "he writes", etc.




expandable map link

Wikipedia - The Canaanite languages, sometimes referred to as Canaanite dialects,[1] are one of three subgroups of the Northwest Semitic languages, the others being Aramaic and Amorite. These closely related languages originate in the Levant and Mesopotamia, and were spoken by the ancient Semitic-speaking peoples of an area encompassing what is today IsraelJordan, the Sinai PeninsulaLebanonSyriaPalestine, as well as some areas of southwestern Turkey (Anatolia), western and southern Iraq (Mesopotamia) and the northwestern corner of Saudi Arabia.

The Canaanites are broadly defined to include the Hebrews (including IsraelitesJudeans and Samaritans), AmalekitesAmmonitesAmoritesEdomitesEkronitesHyksosPhoenicians (including the Carthaginians), MoabitesSuteans and sometimes the Ugarites.

The Canaanite languages continued to be everyday spoken languages until at least the 2nd century AD. Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language today. It remained in continuous use by many Jews well into the Middle Ages and up to the present day as both a liturgical and literary language and was used for commerce between disparate diasporic Jewish communities. It has also remained a liturgical language among Samaritans. Hebrew as a secular language in daily use was revived by Jewish political and cultural activists, particularly through the revitalization and cultivation efforts of Zionists throughout Europe and in Palestine, as an everyday spoken language in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the mid-20th century, Modern Hebrew had become the primary language of the Jews of Palestine and was later made the official language of the State of Israel.

Classification

Analogous to the Romance languages, the Canaanite languages operate on a spectrum of mutual intelligibility with one another, with significant overlap occurring in syntax, morphology, phonetics, and semantics. This family of languages also has the distinction of being the first historically attested group of languages to use an alphabet, derived from the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, to record their writings, as opposed to the far earlier Cuneiform logographic/syllabic writing of the region, which originated in Mesopotamia and was used to record Sumerian, Akkadian, Eblaite, Elamite, Hurrian and Hittite.

They are heavily attested in Canaanite inscriptions throughout the LevantMesopotamiaAnatolia and the East Mediterranean, and after the founding of Carthage by Phoenician colonists, in coastal regions of North Africa and Iberian Peninsula also. Dialects have been labelled primarily with reference to Biblical geographyHebrew (Israelian, Judean/BiblicalSamaritan), Phoenician/PunicAmoriteAmmoniteMoabiteSutean and Edomite; the dialects were all mutually intelligible, being no more differentiated than geographical varieties of Modern English.[2]

The Canaanite languages or dialects can be split into the following:[1][3]

North Canaan

South Canaan

Other

Other possible Canaanite languages:



expandable map link




Semitic languages


Semitic languageslanguages that form a branch of the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. Members of the Semitic group are spread throughout North Africa and Southwest Asia and have played preeminent roles in the linguistic and cultural landscape of the Middle East for more than 4,000 years.

Languages of the past


Written records documenting languages belonging to the Semitic family reach back to the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE. Evidence of Old Akkadian is found in the Sumerian literary tradition. By the early 2nd millennium BCE, Akkadian dialects in Babylonia and Assyria had acquired the cuneiform writing system used by the Sumerians, causing Akkadian to become the chief language of Mesopotamia. The discovery of the ancient city of Ebla (modern Tall Mardīkh, Syria) led to the unearthing of archives written in Eblaite that date from the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE.


Personal names from this early period, preserved in cuneiform records, provide an indirect picture of the western Semitic language Amorite. Although the Proto-Byblian and Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions still await a satisfactory decipherment, they too suggest the presence of Semitic languages in early 2nd-millennium Syro-Palestine. During its heyday from the 15th through the 13th century BCE, the important coastal city of Ugarit (modern Raʾs Shamra, Syria) left numerous records in Ugaritic. The Egyptian diplomatic archives found at Tell el-Amarna have also proved to be an important source of information on the linguistic development of the area in the late 2nd millennium BCE. Though written in Akkadian, those tablets contain aberrant forms that reflect the languages native to the areas in which they were composed.

From the end of the 2nd millennium BCE, languages of the Canaanite group began to leave records in Syro-Palestine. Inscriptions using the Phoenician alphabet (from which the modern European alphabets were ultimately to descend) appeared throughout the Mediterranean area as Phoenician commerce flourished; Punic, the form of the Phoenician language used in the important North African colony of Carthage, remained in use until the 3rd century CE. The best known of the ancient Canaanite languages, Classical Hebrew, is familiar chiefly through the scriptures and religious writings of ancient Judaism. Although as a spoken language Hebrew gave way to Aramaic, it remained an important vehicle for Jewish religious traditions and scholarship. A modern form of Hebrew developed as a spoken language during the Jewish national revival of the 19th and 20th centuries.


Early in the 1st millennium BCE, documents in the Aramaic languages appeared. Isolated inscriptions in Old Aramaic dialects date back to the 9th century BCE. Under the Achaemenian Empire, varieties of Imperial Aramaic were used throughout the region for administrative purposes. As a result, dialects of Aramaic came to supplant local languages in many areas of the Middle East. Among the several forms of Aramaic that left written records were Hatran, Mandaic, Nabatean, Palmyrene, and, in particular, Syriac in Edessa. The Galilean and Babylonian dialects played important roles in the transmission of the traditions of Judaism.

In the Arabian Peninsula, written records date back to the middle of the 1st millennium BCE. The kingdoms of ancient South Arabia (Sabaʾ, Minaea, Qataban, and Ḥaḍramawt) left numerous inscriptions in the Old South Arabian (OSA) languages; a descendant of the OSA alphabet was used for the composition of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic) literature and is still used by the modern Ethiopic languages. In the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula, traces of early North Arabian languages, including Liḥyanite, Safaitic, and Thamudic, have been uncovered. Closely akin to these languages was Arabic, which, with the advent of Islam and the conquests of the 7th century, was carried as far as Spain and Central Asia. As a literary language, Arabic produced an immense amount of scholarly and artistic literature, much of which was recorded in Kūfic script, the earliest form of Arabic calligraphy. In its numerous regional dialects, Arabic came to be used as the spoken language throughout North Africa, Syro-Palestine, Mesopotamia, and beyond (see also history of Arabia).

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Ancient Semitic religion


Ancient Semitic religion encompasses the polytheistic religions of the Semitic peoples from the ancient Near East and Northeast Africa.

Since the term Semitic itself represents a rough category when referring to cultures, as opposed to languages, the definitive bounds of the term "ancient Semitic religion" are only approximate...

but exclude the religions of "non-Semitic" speakers of the region such as Egyptians, Elamites, Hittites, Hurrians, Mitanni, Urartians, Luwians, Minoans, Greeks, Phrygians, Lydians, Persians, Medes, Philistines and Parthians.

Semitic traditions and their pantheons[1] fall into regional categories:

Semitic polytheism possibly transitioned into the Semitic originating Abrahamic monotheism (JudaismChristianityGnosticism and Islam) by way of the god El, whose name "El" אל, or elohim אֱלֹהִים is a word for "god" in Hebrew, cognate to Arabic ʼilāh إله, which means god.

Akkad, Assyria and Babylonia

The five planets visible to the naked eye and the sun and moon are connected with the chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon. A list now held in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order:[2]

The religion of the Assyrian Empire (sometimes called Ashurism) centered on Ashurpatron deity of the city of Assur, and Ishtar, patroness of Nineveh. The last positively recorded worship of Ashur and other Assyrian-Mesopotamian gods dates back to the 3rd century AD in the face of the adaptation of Christianity from the 1st century AD onwards, although there is evidence of isolated pockets of worship among Assyrian people as late as the 17th century AD..[3][4]

Ashur, the patron deity of the eponymous capital of Assur from the Early Bronze Age (circa. 22nd century BC), was in constant rivalry with the later emerging Marduk (from circa. 19th century BC), the patron deity of Babylon. In Assyria, Ashur eventually superseded Marduk, even becoming the husband of Ishtar.

The major Assyro-Babylonian-Akkadian gods were:

Major Assyro-Babylonian demons and heroes were:

Canaan

The Canaanite religion was practiced by people living in the ancient Levant throughout the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Until the excavation (1928 onwards) of the city of Ras Shamra (known as Ugarit in antiquity) in Northern Syria and the discovery of its Bronze Age archive of clay tablet alphabetic cuneiform texts,[10] scholars knew little about Canaanite religious practice. Papyrus seems to have been the preferred writing material for scribes at the time. Unlike the papyrus documents found in Egypt, ancient papyri in the Levant have often simply decayed from exposure to the humid Mediterranean climate. As a result, the accounts in the Bible became the primary sources of information on ancient Canaanite religion. Supplementing the Biblical accounts, several secondary and tertiary Greek sources have survived, including Lucian of Samosata's treatise De Dea Syria (The Syrian Goddess, 2nd century CE), fragments of the Phoenician History of Sanchuniathon as preserved by Philo of Byblos (c. 64 – 141 CE), and the writings of Damascius (c. 458 – after 538). Recent study of the Ugaritic material has uncovered additional information about the religion,[11] supplemented by inscriptions from the Levant and Tel Mardikh archive[12] (excavated in the early 1960s).

Like other peoples of the ancient Near East, the Canaanites were polytheistic, with families typically focusing worship on ancestral household gods and goddesses while acknowledging the existence of other deities such as BaalAnath, and El.[13][failed verification] Kings also played an important religious role and in certain ceremonies, such as the sacred marriage of the New Year Festival; Canaanites may have revered their kings as gods.[citation needed]

According to the pantheon, known in Ugarit as 'ilhm (Elohim) or the children of El (compare the Biblical "sons of God"), the creator deity called El, fathered the other deities. In the Greek sources he was married to Beruth (Beirut, the city). The pantheon was supposedly obtained by Philo of Byblos from Sanchuniathon of Berythus (Beirut). The marriage of the deity with the city seems to have biblical parallels with the stories that link Melkart with TyreYahweh with Jerusalem, and Tanit and Baal Hammon with CarthageEl Elyon is mentioned (as God Most High) in Genesis 14.18–19 as the God whose priest was Melchizedek, king of Salem.[citation needed]

Philo states that the union of El Elyon and his consort resulted in the birth of Uranus and Ge (Greek names for Heaven and Earth). This closely parallels the opening verse of the Hebrew Bible, Genesis 1:1—"In the beginning God (Elohim) created the Heavens (Shemayim) and the Earth" (Eretz). It also parallels the story of the Babylonian Anunaki gods.

Abrahamic religions

Many scholars believe that the Assyro-Babylonian Enuma Elish influenced the Genesis creation narrative.[14][15][16] The Epic of Gilgamesh influenced the Genesis flood narrative. The Sumerian myth of Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta also had influence on the Tower of Babel myth in Genesis. Some writers trace the story of Esther to Assyrio-Babylonian roots.[17]

El Elyon also appears in Balaam's story in Numbers and in Moses song in Deuteronomy 32.8. The Masoretic Texts suggest:

When the Most High ('Elyōn) divided to the nations their inheritance, he separated the sons of man (Ādām); he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel.

Rather than "sons of Israel", the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament, suggests the "angelōn theou," or "angels of God", and a few versions even have huiōn theou (sons of God). The Dead Sea Scrolls version of this suggests that there were in fact 70 sons of the Most High God sent to rule over the 70 nations of the Earth. This idea of the 70 nations of Earth, each ruled over by one of the Elohim (sons of God), is also found in Ugaritic texts. The Arslan Tash inscription suggests that each of the 70 sons of El Elyon was bound to their people by a covenant. Thus, Crossan[who?] translates:

The Eternal One ('Olam) has made a covenant oath with us,
Asherah has made (a pact) with us.
And all the sons of El,
And the great council of all the Holy Ones (Qedesh).
With oaths of Heaven and Ancient Earth.

See also

References

  1. ^ Noll, K. L. (2001). Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction. A&C Black. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-84127-258-0Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2018[A patron god in an ancient Near Eastern religion held a unique position among the gods] as the most powerful and the most just of the gods, who ruled the divine realm as he ruled the human realm, often with the approval of a council of divine 'elders' who legitimated his right to rule as patron god (as in the book of Job 1—2). [...] Other gods were subordinate to, and partners with, the divine patron, just as the human aristocracy and commoners were expected to be subordinate to, and supportive of, the human king. The pantheon was usually quite complex, often including hundreds or even thousands of gods.
  2. ^ Mackenzie, p. 301.
  3. ^ "Brief History of Assyrians". AINA Assyrian International News Agency. Archived from the original on 28 April 1999. Retrieved 22 August 2007.
  4. ^ Parpola, Simo (1999). "Assyrians after Assyria"Assyriologist. Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies, Vol. XIII No. 2. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 22 August 2007The gods Ashur, Sherua, Ishtar, Nanaya, Bel, Nabu and Nergal continued to be worshiped in Assur at least until the early 3rd century AD; the local cultic calendar was that of the imperial period; the temple of Ashur was restored in the 2nd century AD; and the stelae of the local rulers resemble those of Assyrian kings in the imperial period.
  5. ^ Dalley, StephanieMari and Karana: Two Old Babylonian Cities (2002), ISBN 1-931956-02-2[page needed]
  6. ^ Dalley (2002)[page needed]
  7. ^ Robert Francis Harper (1901). Assyrian and Babylonian literature. D. Appleton and company. p. 26. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  8. ^ Thorkild Jacobsen (1978). The treasures of darkness: a history of Mesopotamian religion. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-02291-9Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  9. ^ "ETCSLhomepage". Etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk. 24 October 2006. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  10. ^ Gray, John, "The Legacy of Canaan the Ras Shamra Texts and Their Relevance to the Old Testament", No. 5. Brill Archive, 1957; for a more recent discussion see Yon, Marguerite, The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra, Eisenbrauns, 2006.
  11. ^ Smith, Mark S., The origins of biblical monotheism: Israel's polytheistic background and the Ugaritic texts, Oxford University Press, 2001.
  12. ^ J. Pons, Review of G. Pettinato, A. Alberti, Catalogo dei testi cuneiformi di Tell Mardikh - Ebla, MEE I, Napoli, 1979, in Études théologiques et religieuses 56 (1981) 339—341.
  13. ^ "Canaanite religion". Encyclopædia Britannica. 17 April 2014. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  14. ^ "The Enuma Elish: The Babylonian Creation Myth". Crivoice.org. 11 November 2011. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  15. ^ "ENUMA ELISH - Babylonian Creation Myth - Theories". Stenudd.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2011. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  16. ^ Sharpes, Donald K. 'Lords of the scrolls: literary traditions in the Bible and Gospels'. Peter Lang, 2005. ISBN 0-8204-7849-0, 978-0-8204-7849-4
  17. ^ Gunkel, Hermann (2006). Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton: Religio-Historical Study of Genesis 1 and Revelation 12William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. p. 198. ISBN 978-0802828040Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2020.

Further reading

  • Donald A. Mackenzie, Myths of Babylonia and Assyria (1915).
  • Moscati, Sabatino (1968), The World of the Phoenicians (Phoenix Giant)
  • Ribichini, Sergio "Beliefs and Religious Life" in Moscati Sabatino (1988), The Phoenicians (by L.B. Tauris in 2001)
  • Thophilus G. Pinches, The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, The World Wide School, Seattle (2000)
  • van der Toorn, Karel (1995). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. New York: E. J. Brill. ISBN 0-8028-2491-9.

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