How did we get from polytheism to the Nicene Creed?
Ancient Religion
dependence on nature
I-Thou encounters: no uniform natural forces
anthropomorphic expectations: appease and be rewarded; ignore and be punished
Monolatry
best bet is to put all your eggs in one basket;
details of covenant appear by revelation
Monotheism
the unavoidable outcome of flattery;
just one real God;
Unintended consequences
a universal God will expect universal worship;
a sole God must be the cause of everything that happens;
how, then, to account for evil? (What is evil?)
The singular God is said by the now authoritative scriptures to follow the anthropomorphic expectation: respect/obedience is followed by reward; other conduct is followed by punishment.
But look around: this this what actually happens?
A fudge: move the deserts down three or four generations.
But the idea of corporate, and even family, responsibility is fading while the idea of an individual, personal relationship (covenant) with God is becoming stronger (prayer, study of Torah).
On a personal level, with the time horizon of a lifetime, divine justice is not being delivered.
Cf. Job; Selucid persecutions of 180-160 BCE;
A solution: Cosmic Dualism and Apocalypticism
an antagonistic force temporarily in control;
God will not let this continue;
a final confrontation is immanent: God will will and forever defeat the demonic forces (one of which is death);
at which time divine justice will be done: universal resurrection and individual just deserts;
the Kingdom of God on earth
Jesus of Nazareth
apocalyptic prophet ("the historical Jesus");
messiah (= "the annointed one" = "Christ")
What those followers who credited the resurrection thought him to be.
This is complicated!
many "Christianities"
one deity: Paul
two deities: Marcion
many deities: Gnosticism
Constantine
Neo-platonism
soul-body dualism added to cosmic dualism
The Preliterate Mind of Ancient Man
The Preliterate Mind of Ancient Man
Ong:
spoken words only: they have power;
a line of thought can't be captured ("a waste of time");
what is learned must be communicated by mnemonic, rythmic patterns ("communal fixed formulas")
Preliterate thought is:
additive: "and"
aggrative: epithets
redundant: "copia" (copious)
conservative: wise old men
analogous to human interactions: nature has a will
agonistic: a context of struggle; violence
live in the present: the irrelevant past disappears
situational (not abstract): similarities relate to action not to analytical categories
The Preliterate Mind of Ancient Man
Frankfort:
Man saw himself as embedded in society (he had a role) and society embedded in nature.
The world of phenomena was experienced aa a Thou.
each experience was singular
Thou is experienced emotionally as a dynamic, reciprocal relationship.
there is no inanimate world. (HAAD)
"A myth claims recognition by the faithful; it does not pretend to justification before the critical."