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.

Where in Time and Place Might Eden Be? Part II



Where in Time and Place Might Eden Be?
Part II

by R.E. Slater
Genesis 2.1-14  ESV

The Seventh Day, God Rests

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

The Creation of Man and Woman

4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5 When no bush of the field[a] was yet in the land[b] and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist[c] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 14 And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

 

Map with Explanation by Gleason L. Archer who circles two locations of interest



Wikipedia - The Garden of Eden

In Abrahamic religions, the Garden of Eden (Biblical Hebrew: גַּן־עֵדֶן‎, romanized: gan-ʿĒḏen; Greek: Εδέμ; Latin: Paradisus) or Garden of God (גַּן־יְהֹוֶה‎, gan-YHWH and גַן־אֱלֹהִים‎, gan-Elohim), also called the Terrestrial Paradise, is the biblical paradise described in Genesis 2–3 and Ezekiel 28 and 31.[1][2]

The location of Eden is described in the Book of Genesis as the source of four tributaries. Various suggestions have been made for its location:[3] at the head of the Persian Gulf, in southern Mesopotamia where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers run into the sea;[4] and in Armenia.[5][6][7] Others theorize that Eden was the entire Fertile Crescent[8] or a region of "considerable size" in Mesopotamia, where its native inhabitants still exist in cities such as Telassar.[9][10]

Like the Genesis flood narrative, the Genesis creation narrative and the account of the Tower of Babel, the story of Eden echoes the Mesopotamian myth of a king, as a primordial man, who is placed in a divine garden to guard the tree of life.[11] Scholars note that the Eden narrative shows parallels with aspects of Solomon’s Temple and Jerusalem, attesting to its nature as a sacred place.[12][13] Mentions of Eden are also made in the Bible elsewhere in Genesis,[14] in Isaiah 51:3,[15] Ezekiel 36:35,[16] and Joel 2:3;[17] Zechariah 14 and Ezekiel 47 use paradisical imagery without naming Eden.[18]

The name derives from the Akkadian edinnu, from a Sumerian word edin meaning 'plain' or 'steppe', closely related to an Aramaic root word meaning 'fruitful, well-watered'.[2] Another interpretation associates the name with a Hebrew word for 'pleasure'; thus the Vulgate reads paradisum voluptatis in Genesis 2:8, and the Douay–Rheims Bible, following, has the wording "And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure".[19]


* * * * * * *

Wikipedia - Telassar

Telassar (Tel-as'sar) is mentioned three times in the Bible. First in 2 Kings 19:12 [1](or according to the Greek Septuagint, 4 Kings 19:12), then in Isaiah 37:12[2] and in Ezekiel 27:23.[3]

According to Rashi, [a medieval French rabbi, the author of comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and the Hebrew Bible,], Eden is the name of a kingdom.[4]

According to those two scriptures, Tel-assar was a place inhabited by "the people of Eden" and is mentioned along with Gozan and Haran, which are in northern Mesopotamia, and Rezeph, the exact location of which is not known, several places having had this name.

One such site, thought by some to have been part of an ancient district, is identified with modern Rusa’feh, located West of the Euphrates about 145 km (90 mi) South of modern Haran. It is thus in the vicinity of the suggested site of Gozan, with which Rezeph is mentioned. Sennacherib boasted, through his messengers, that the gods worshiped by the people of these places had been unable to deliver them from his forefathers. This area concurs with T. G. Pinches' etymological explanation in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) as follows:
"As Telassar was inhabited by the 'children of Eden,' and is mentioned with Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph, in Western Mesopotamia, it has been suggested that it lay in Bit Adini, "the House of Adinu," or Betheden, in the same direction, between the Euphrates and the Belikh. A place named Til-Assuri, however, is twice mentioned by Tiglath-pileser IV (Ann., 176; Slab-Inscr., II, 23), and from these passages it would seem to have lain near enough to the Assyrian border to be annexed. The king states that he made there holy sacrifices to Merodach, whose seat it was. It was inhabited by Babylonians (whose home was the Edinu or "plain" see EDEN). Esarhaddon, Sennacherib's son, who likewise conquered the place, writes the name Til-Asurri, and states that the people of Mihranu called it Pitanu. Its inhabitants, he says, were people of Barnaku.[5]

* * * * * * *


Says Gleason L. Archer (1982) - Source

Genesis 2:10–14 furnishes some clues to the general location of Eden, but it presupposes geological conditions that [may] no longer hold. Hence it is hazardous to conjecture any site more precise than the headwaters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the highlands of Armenia (i.e., the eastern border of modern Turkey).

The large river flowing from Eden subdivided into the Tigris and the Euphrates, as well as into two other long rivers (the Pishon, leading down to Havilah, along the southern coast of Arabia, and the Gihon, which went over to Cush—which may have been some Asiatic region lying to the east rather than the African Cush that was Ethiopia).

This indicates that the site was a high plateau or mountainous region (insuring a cool and comfortable temperature for Eden during the summer season), having copious headwaters to supply the four major river systems this passage describes. The Havilah, through which the Pishon flowed, was rich in gold, spices, and deposits of precious stones—which were found in abundance along the southern or southwestern coasts of Arabia.

For the Cush, no such helpful clues are given; the name has been connected by some scholars with Kish in Sumeria or with the Kassites (who are thought to have originated in the Zagros mountain region).

The most plausible explanation for the later complete disappearance of the Pishon and Gihon rivers is the theory that mountain-building activity accompanying continental drift (for Arabia was originally connected with the Somalian and Ethiopian coast during prehistoric times) may have terminated those two river systems in the antediluvian period. This would be analogous to the uplift of the Mount Seir Range in Edom, which prevented the Jordan River from flowing all the way down to the Gulf of Aqaba, as it originally did.[1]

[1]Archer, G. L. (1982). New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. Originally published: Encyclopedia of Bible difficulties. 1982. Zondervan’s Understand the Bible Reference Series (69). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

* * * * * * *


The Garden of Eden
Commentary by R.E. Slater

*highlights in red = emphasis not a weblink


Some Evolutionary Facts

  • Firstly I would not suppose to imagine continental drift due to some earlier antidiluvian time as Gleason Archer does... the earliest of the homo sapien #1 species would've been entering into the Middle East from Africa region may have been 550,000 and 750,000 years ago (Smithsonian, Feb 2021, source). This would not allow enough time for continental drift which requires not millions of years, nor tens of millions of years, but 250 millions of years at a few centimeters per year on average. Further, this dating of the first grouping of early man allowed for travel into Europe, Asia, and Oceania during the last ages of homo erectus, the homo neanderthals and homo denisovans (these are previous homo species from the same line which eventuated to birth homo "sapien" #1)
  • Secondly, the earliest of the homo "sapien sapien" #2 species (= modern man) which left Africa may have been around 300,000 years ago or as recently as 75,000 years. This latest grouping to leave Africa eventually out-populated all earlier forms of the homo species as testified in genomic studies the past twenty years (sic, however, there are admixtures of all earlier homo groupings with modern man).
  • Thirdly, during the past half-million years today's current continents did experience many multiples of ice ages and warming periods. These shaped human + animal (fauna), and flora evolution by diversity per environmental time period.
  • Fourthly, it wasn't until the past 5,000 or 6,000 years ago in which human writing began to occur in the late neolithic age. All earlier mesolithic and paleolithic ages could only pass down their legends orally.
  • Lastly, we need to be mindful of the evolution of the human larynx during the past 50,000 to 100,000 years ago... about the time modern man was migrating from Africa (currently placed around 75,000 years ago). Why? Our species was developing a language beyond grunts and nods, screams and wails. A spoken language in which oral legends could be developed and passed along.

Oral Traditions

Now oral history substantively lasts only so many generations. Think back to your family's lineage. It's oral history holds for three maybe four generations... you might know a few things but most things are lost after great grandma and granddad pass away. To survive it must be sung or written down.

Here are a few factoids regarding (re) oral tradition:


Under optimal conditions, as suggested by science-determined ages for events recalled in ancient stories, orally shared knowledge can demonstrably endure more than 7,000 years, quite possibly 10,000, but probably not much longer. Oct 18, 2018


Volcanic eruptions that occurred in the region about 37,000 years ago appear to have been incorporated into the local aboriginal creation story, or “Dreamtime,” which may be the longest surviving oral history still being passed on from generation to generation.Jul 31, 2020


Oral history is normally not the best method for obtaining factual data, such as specific dates, places or times, because people rarely remember such detail accurately. More traditional historical research methods — courthouse records, club minutes, newspaper accounts — are best for specifics.


A legend is presumed to have some basis in historical fact and tends to mention real people or events. Historical fact morphs into a legend when the truth has been nuanced or exaggerated to the point that real people or events have taken on a romanticized, "larger than life" quality.

5 - For more information on Oral Tradition please refer to Wikipedia on this same subject.


Articles to Date

I began about a year and a half ago in 2021 posting a number of articles on topics such as "God, Man and Evolution; The Evolution of God and Religion; The Evolution of the Earth; The Evolution of Man and Religion"; and such like. Currently I am working through the Evolution of Man from the Neolithic Period to the Paleolithic Period of which these articles will be a part of.


Below is an incomplete listing of past articles

Originally I imagined the Hebraic Origin Stories had their beginning in a combination of Babylonian, Akkadian, and Sumerian Origin Stories. Hence, I stated semi-factually that the earliest date one might give to the Genesis Creation narrative may have been 2500 BC during the Babylonian Kingdom (which, by the way, rose and fell several times in-and-around Israel's own history... that is, it preceded it; then fell immediately after it began; then arose; then fell again... which history I'll recount here someday).

Realize too that the Oral Traditions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob may have occurred generally between 2200 to 1800 BC so my thinking at the time was to state that Genesis' oral traditions may have begun even earlier around the 2500 BC timeline of history when they once tied into Babylons oral traditions. And of that 2500 BC date we might infer to Akkadian and Sumerian Origin stories which are even older and informative of Babylon's own origin story. Thus and thus, Israel's own origin story may circumvent that of Babylon's and inveigh upon even earlier origins. Which is also why Semitic origin stories all seem peculiarly similar to one another having lost their centers and having become disassembled into the regional histories of earlier civilizations.

I find in this then a useful conjecture but when review these I will recount them for that civilization's usage alone and not the next. Hence, Israel's story is not that of Sumeria and Akkadia's story is not that of Israel. They serve their purpose preeminently for that civilization alone. And yet, there seems to be a general nod towards a lost, but familiar center.

I will pursue this line of inquiry because in my curiosity I am asking "what in the world had occurred - and was occuring - before Israel's own origins?" Which then led to my thinking that I would have to explore all the earlier ancient Semitic civilizations in Mesopotamia and necessarily include the non-Semitic civilizations of Egypt, East Africa, Central, South, and NW Africa. Which then lead me to thinking how man's evolutionary history had developed back a half-million years ago or longer. And so, it's taking awhile to collect this information, read, and think through it. But thankfully there is an abundance of resources on the Internet that if found, and found in its truest form, might elicit helpful conjectures.

The Problem of Bible Education

Since evolution nor evolutionary paleontology is not typically taught in conservative bible schools and seminaries I have had to learn this vast subject on my own. My earliest essays on Adam and Eve are found in the early years of my deconstructive phase beginning between the years of 2011 and 2013, though these same subjects have been added too many times over once I brought science into the discussion and began reconciling the bible with science, paleontology, and evolution - and not simply with biblical archaeology.

It was at this point I also realized I needed a new philosophic-theology and not the "Christian Realism" one I was handed. So another deter and more years passed. This too is not a subject taught in bible schools having assumed the philosophic era it is in... is the correct era to continue in.... 

Generally, the church, or school, has called it's own multifaceted era by one descriptor - "secular" - refusing to realize that it too is part of this or that stream of secularity; even though it attempts to give voice against it by isolating itself. But like the ostrich with its "head stuck in the ground" when frightened the church needs to look around itself and determine if it's reaction is reasonable or not. For my part, I think it isn't. Refusing to see oneself, or to acknowledge one's identity and actions by running away and preaching self-righteous apologies of defense (or offense) only mis-leads and mis-grounds itself into backwards lands of unhelpfulness, untruth, and mis-guidance.

Need a present day example? Look at MAGA Christianity = Trumpian Christianity, wherein the church believes it should actively remove the Constitutional democracy it is part of for a neo-fascist would-be dictator who can make all the bad stuff go away. MAGA churches have painted themselves into a corner and will not repent of its wrong-headed beliefs. Rather, they would tear an open and expanding democracy apart to replace it with their own reconstructed dominionism which, history has shown us to be the uncivil and chaining church legalisms placed upon the rights and liberties of people. I call this dictator an antiChrist. But my MAGA friends claim his as their newest Christ-like idol promising them the freedom to remove the rights of the detested other by any abhorrent means possible, including the caging of innocents and children.

A New Era of Leaving and Embracing

And so, here I am in the year 2024 still sorting out how to read the bible and it's earliest oral histories some claim to be real and others mythic, legendary, and folkloric lore. Genesis may be all of the last three descriptors but I believe it also has a more mundane earthy history behind it even as past civilization's many oral histories have had as well. It's just a matter of sorting them out. Look at England - who's perspective do we go with? The Druids who originally inhabited the lands? Invading Anglos and Saxon? The Romans? The French? The Germans? American? Or the extuant Refugees resettled into it? England has a long history formed of many beliefs and cultures.

I recently wrote up a series of articles on Noah and the Ark. I think that makes two, maybe three attempts at the subject from various viewpoints. Accordingly, I now wish to examine and enlarge the hoary histories which lie behind the Old Testament book of Genesis by examining man's religious history and beliefs, his creational-origin stories, and generally, what civilizations may have been like in those earlier time periods before 2500 BC. 

By doing so, I'd like to bring our bible knowledge forwards into the 21st Century and no longer be content to let it rest in its traditional beliefs. Not long ago, when talking to a college-educated young couple, I had mentioned to them that the evolution of man was much older than Bishop Ussher's date of 6000 BC. My listeners snickered at my folly and apparent lack of bible-knowledge... which in turn told me where young, college-educated, working adults were in their bible literacy gained from their Sunday Schools and bible studies in bible churches.

Certainly any parent will draw back when hearing that Adam and Eve never existed. That their story can be held as a metaphor by the ancients for God's (e.g., Israel's) creational narrative of the world. And as a longtime youth, college, and young adult lay pastor and teacher, my concern is to help young people not lose their child-like Christian faith over something so profound as paleological dates-and-timelines not matching up with their own internal beliefs. My spiritual gift is to recreate a contemporary Christian faith which can bode well with the times and eras the church usually manages to mangle however sincere it's "reform".

Conclusion

Thus Relevancy22 was born to help evolve a postmodern/metamodern Christian's faith without having to spin off into La-La land which Christian's have termed as mystical. Hence, behind the oral traditions of the bible lay generations of earlier civilizations dealing with climate change, how to survive insufficient drought-starved crops, and deal with their neighbor in community settings. The Bible is part of this story and I would wish to help fellow Bible-believers to reappraise their faith in less mystical terms.

To do this, I had to find a new philosophic-theology which could keep the Christian faith by updating its faith into the real world of today and no longer on the basis of yesteryear's synthesized-eclectic traditions. To help the traditional Christian church dogmas forwards towards an evolutionary history which could be accepted and understood.

Since 2011, I've come a long way towards developing a feet-on-the grounds Natural Theology while connecting it to a more consistent Supernatural Theology. I am using Whitehead's Process-based Philosophy and its derivative Process Theology (per my own evangelic and old-timey Baptist backgrounds) to help me do this. I believe it to be the best way forward over all that I have learned in various churches, university, bible college and seminary.

And for those who are unafraid to journey with me I will continue an honest expose of more realistic bible studies. A majority of the work has been done and is stored on this site here but there is still more to do. Part 2 will next look at the older cultures mentioned above.

Enjoy,

R.E. Slater
February 14, 2024


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Source via British Bible School


Timeline here is read from right to left


A Zoom-able Timeline


Zoomable - Source


Source


Monday, February 12, 2024

Exploring the Spirit Origins of Eden, Part I



Exploring the Spirit Origins of Eden
Part I

by R.E. Slater

Genesis 2:8-9 NIV

8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.

11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;

12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.

13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.

14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.


A Process-based Exposition

In the bible the Garden of Eden was created by God for humanity (= man). Broadly interpreted, Eden itself bespeaks pleasure, abundance, nourishment (= pleasant, good, life). Within it was a place of temptation (= tree of knowledge of good and evil) to which humanity eventually failed. In 2:15 humanity was called to cultivate and care for Eden's environs.

Essentially, humanity, like nature itself, was given identity, purpose, meaning, community, and structure in which to build community.

That is, man was neither flora nor fauna... man was different from the animals and plants. This does not mean that there was no evolution but simply, the idea was not part of man's psyche.

Further, man's purpose was to care for things. Nourish, cultivate, grow, protect his surroundings... and by assumption, since God is loving, in a loving, redeeming, salvific manner.

As to man's meaning, it was uncovered through man's relations and actions with other humans as well as with nature. This is the idea of a processual creation evolving under humanity's loving care and nourishment. If humanity treated one another unlovingly there would be consequences. Similarly when communities and individuals gave loving thought, acceptance, liberty, and respect to one another. 

Eden then was a mythic place in the Hebrew mindset of national thrival given by God for their benefit. We might call such a place a Utopia or Nirvana or even Camelot. It was an ideal place generated under ideal conditions when agency or freedom was used aright as God intended.

Moreover, in God's image came the ability to live kindly and thoughtfully with one another. However, as time and event, history and narrative have shown, the agency given to nature and to mankind of God's Self was the temptation we could not conquer. In fact, agency is uncontrollable, willful, and wise unto itself. God's greatest gift to creation was also it's greatest downfall.

Not surprisingly, when we use our agency unlovingly we thereby will shut ourselves out from the creaturely-like heaven God provided through God's Expression of God's Self as will as lose our identity, purpose, meaning, community and the structures around which all these elements might occur and thrive.

Finally, God provided sustenance and salvation to creation knowing that divine agency given in love and not by divine fiat would fail. Firstly, God is love and all that God does is in love. Secondly, God does not "order" things in the Protestant sense of ordering but in love persuades, urges, nudges creation forwards towards goodness and love. Still God's immanent interaction with creation understood that agency, like Pandora's Box, was too great a gift to be beheld in. Hence, when removing ourselves from our identity in God we remove ourselves from ourselves.

As in the cosmos, so too in creation and in the human soul, there is no there there without God's presence. As creation was ever in existance (creatio continua as versus the Protestant teaching of creatio ex nihilo) the universe was a hot thermic blob until God "came into relationship with it" to give to the universe it's "being" whereupon it might "become." Similarly with creation and humanity.

Our being is found in God and in becoming more of who we are we may only "become" in yielding to God's ever-present presence. We are not alone, nor does God leave us alone. We are ever in the heart of God who nourishes and provides and protects as God can in an agency-filled world (sic, Arminianism v Calvinism; and Arminianism's updated form known as Open Theology and Relational Theology brought together).

Salvation then becomes known as creation in acknowledged, abiding presence with God (it cannot be otherwise but requires acknowledgement, which Protestantism defines as "faith" in various convoluted descriptions). And further by salvation comes divine help to act in one's agency not perfectly but redemptively.

This means that in the grand scheme of Eden is bourne the narratival concepts of Israel's Creation Story of salvation and redemption. Centuries later the Jewish religion found this narrative centered into the person and divinity of Jesus, known as Christ the Savior, Immanuel who comes incarnately, the sacrificial Lamb of God, and High Priest of creation and humanity's salvation.

And with salvation comes the work - not of necessity but of identity - to redeem all around us. Not by monastic escapism, nor by religious legalism in vain attempts to turn rags to holiness, but by abiding in God's acknowledged presence (= faith) and doing the works of divine relationalism (= works of love).

When redeemed, the redeem then redeem. Tradition may call this "The Roman's Road" or the "Gospel of Salvation" or the "Four Spiritual Laws." But salvific redemption is no more than learning to love and to be love. Not to add to our salvation or to wear brighter robes of white than those around us... but because in our soul we must give the cup or cold water, lose the shirt off our back, and aide and assist those lost to a world of destruction and ruin.

Whether ministers, priest, worker bees, community leaders, or moms and dads... we, who wear the relationship of God's presence within, about, or  around us, are urged forward in our daily lives by the Loving Spirit of God (I prefer this as versus the standard ascription of "Holy Spirit of God" as I wish to underline not legalism but kindness and goodness).

We will fail. This is the way of humility. We will act unlovingly. This is the way of restoring blown relationship as they can be restored. We will withdraw from some elements in our lives which create toxic need, dependence, our enablement within us be these drugs, alcohol, sex addictions, or people. In themselves these are not sin. But in our misuse or abuse of such elements, including those unhealthy to our faith walk to love, they may require abandonment.

And this, in a nutshell is the process theology and story of the Garden of Eden where being is acknowledged and becoming is the goal. How? Through relationships, experience and sensitivity to the presence of God. (Aka, process and processual event is panrelational, panexperiential, and panpsychic, but not in a weird way, but in a lovingly constructive way). Without even there can be no becoming; and without relationship back to God our being-ness is confused and muddled. Like the cosmic process around is ever in a tumult to become so we ourselves as spirit beings boundless to time but held within it's cosmic grip.

My next post will focus on the geographic origins of Eden,

Peace,

R.E. Slater
February 12, 2024

 

I am working on a Westernized description of Whitehead's process philosophy and theology. However, it is a pervasive concept as old as the world itself and in the East, such as in China, the religion of Buddhism also has this center of being-ness and becoming-ness. I wish then to use it as a common ground of understanding  with Asia and to build upon it Christ and His Salvation known. - re slater

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Source  - click here

1) The Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:10-14)

God did not create a garden but ‘planted’ one. But note, the garden is not Eden. The garden was in in the eastern section of Eden (towards the rising sun). Eden was not itself a garden but a fairly large district. The Hebrew word ‘Eden’ means pleasure or delicacy. If Eden was pleasurable, the garden must have been exquisite. Where are those people who talk about the Old Testament God being fierce?! God has never changed from His goodness.

We are surprised at the space taken to describe the rivers. Only one verse is used to describe man’s creation (2:7), but five are used to describe the river. There is a hidden message here.

One river flowed out from Eden. Either it was a spring that came from the ground or a tall mountain stream that flowed down to the garden. Once the river reached the center of the garden, it divided itself into what would become four huge rivers. This would necessitate a huge garden. The names of some of the rivers are familiar to us; others are not. We suspect they are the same but necessary.

  • River #1 was Pishon: flows around Havilah where there is good gold, bedllium and onyx stone.
  • River #2 was Gihon: Flows around Cush (Ethiopia)
  • River #3 was Tigris: Flows east of Assyria
  • River #4 was Euphrates.

There are two Chinese characters for garden. One describes the garden above with its four rivers. The other describes the garden’s occupants.

Chinese radical for enclosure.

Enclosure

The enclosure has a center from where the river flowed and divided into four rivers.

Chinese character for garden or field.

Garden, Field

This Chinese word for garden or field describes what the garden was like. The Hebrew word for garden comes from the word to 'enclose' or 'protect.'

Chinese radical for enclosure.

Enclosure

Chinese indicating ground.

Dirt

Chinese character for mouth, person

Mouth, breath

Two people

Chinese radical for 2 people.(Note: the right one comes from the side).
bracket

Chinese character for garden.

Garden

A second Chinese word for garden describes who lived there. Only two people.

God spoke and formed man from the ground. Eve, the second person, came from the side.


So perhaps the whole of Eden was in a lofty place, but the garden was at a lower plateau where the rivers would gain more momentum as they flowed on out of Eden to the other parts of the world. Because of the identity of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, we suppose this land was near the present day rivers. The whole land of Eden seemed central and all the known world was centered around it. We see one river flowing from God’s new paradise.

The river stood for the blessing that came from God and would bring enriching provisions to the world. One could easily see how the Garden would seem like the throne of the world subjected to a higher throne in heaven. This thought of God’s divine blessing flowing to earth from His above throne is very common in scripture (see Psalm 65:9-13).

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, (Revelation 22:1).

Chinese description of Eden