notes on

GENESIS

Learning Objective: To gain a deeper understanding of Judeo-Christian culture by analyzing

the form and function of the Jewish Torah and Christian Bible’s Book of Genesis.

To explain the significant implications of shifting from polytheistic towards monotheism belief systems

  Judeo-Christian

• Judeo-Christian is a term used in a historical sense to refer to the connections between the beginnings of

________________________________________ and ________________________________________

• Each faith offers an explanation of how the cosmos came to be within their religious text:

o Jewish Bible: Tanaka (Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim)

o Christian Bible: Old and New Testament

Book of Genesis (Genesis: derives from Greek ‘gignomai’ meaning “to be born, become”)

• Genesis is the first book of the Jewish Torah and the Christian Old Testament.  

Genesis explains:

— how God creates the world and man

— the fall of man (original sin)

— Cain/Abel, the Great Flood, and Noah’s Arc

— the beginnings of civilization

— the decedents of Abraham

Significance of Genesis

• Possibly derived from Mesopotamian myth

(i.e. _________________________________)

• Conflict and Violence does NOT drive process of creation

• Monotheistic: God is the _____________________________________________ Creator

— Supports ________________________________________________________ Ruler

— No ambiguity, allowing social ___________________________ (i.e. Roman Empire)

— Beginnings of religious __________________________________________________

• Original _______________ and Continuous Search for _____________________________

• God removed from __________________________________________________________

notes on

ÉMILE DURKEIM Learning Objective:

To explain the complex relationship between religion and society, and how myth portrays moral duality that promotes a collective social ethical behavior.

David Émile Durkeim (1858—1917)

was a French ___________________________________ concerned with how

societies could maintain their integrity and coherence in modernity;

an era in which traditional social and religious ties are

_______________________________________________ assumed,

and in which new social institutions have come into being.

Durkheim's The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912)

presented a theory of religion, comparing the

social and cultural lives of native and modern societies.

He attributes the development of religion to the desire for emotional

______________________________________ attained through

______________________________________________ living.

.

notes on

NIHONGI Learning Objective:

To gain a deeper understanding of Ancient Japanese culture by analyzing the form and function of the Ancient Japan’s Nihongi.

                  Shinto

…is adopted from the written Chinese shén (spirit or dieties) and dào (philosophical path or study)

…is the native spirituality of Japan, consisting of a set of practices establishing a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past.

…practices were first recorded in the written historical records of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki in the 8th century.

However, these Japanese writings should NOT be compared to texts like the Bible,

as they do not refer to a unified "Shinto religion,” rather to disorganized folklore, history, and mythology.

The Nihongi, or the “Japanese Chronicles,” is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history (720 CE).

• It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki ( 711 ), and provides the most complete historical record of ancient Japan.

• The Nihongi begins with the Japanese creation myth, explaining the origin of the world and the first seven generations of divine

beings, and goes on with a number of myths and continues its account through to events of the 8th century.

Emperor Tenmu (r. 673–686) declared that the histories of the various clans were accumulating errors and ordered the

commencement of an official project to consolidate and __________________________________ the true history of Japan.

In fact, this was a project not to correct errors but to __________________________ history. Tenmu had come to power in

after a bloody civil war. The newly produced histories would be designed to strengthen the __________________________

of Tenmu’s rule. While religious matters were likely included from the beginning—they were unavoidable, since every

major clan traced its lineage back to a deity—this was a very political project.

Significance of Genesis

• Establishes ______________________, the first emperor of Japan,

as a descendant of ______________________________________.

• Establishes the mysterious creating and harmonizing power of

_____________________, whose nature transcends understanding

• Man is kami’s _______________________________________

(all worthy of respect) each destined to carry on tradition

notes on

MARK / RIDLEY Learning Objective:

To explain how myth reinforces the continued exploitation of the poor and inequitable power structures.

“Socialism is a system which in politics expresses itself as republicanism, in economics as communism, and in religion as atheism.” —August Bebel

Socialism: theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

(Political) Republicanism: power is held by the people and their elected representatives (Economic) Communism: property is publicly owned, each individual works and is paid according to their abilities and needs (rather than contribution). (Religious) Atheism: disbelief in the existence of God or gods.

Karl Marx (1818—1883) was a German economist and sociologist, and revolutionary socialist.

• His work in economics laid the basis for current understanding of labor and its relation to wealth.  

• His most notable works are The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Capital (1867–1894).

• He proposed that the motivating force of capitalism is in the ___________________________________

of labor, whose unpaid work is the ultimate source of profit.

• Employers claim the profits, because they own the productive capital assets.

• He saw social progression through _______________________________ struggle…

between those who control production (________________________________),

and those providing the labor (_______________________________________).

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) was a German philosopher

• His “Elements of the Philosophy of Right” (1820) argues that

__________________________________________ can only realize itself in the complicated

__________________________________ context, and that a person is not truly free, unless he

is a participant in ___________________________________ aspects of the life of the state.

• He believed that with the rise and fall of empires, the course of history is moving toward the

ever-increasing actualization of _____________________________________, and that “the

existence of the state is the presence of _____________________________ upon the earth"

In “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right (1844), Marx criticizes Hegel’s

because too many of his arguments begin in abstraction (i.e. _________________________).

Francis Ambrose Ridley (1897—1994), or Frank Ridley, was a United Kingdom politician, and marxist.

His “Socialism and Religion” extends on the beliefs of Karl Marx, explaining religion’s connection to

social warfare, the attempts to establish legitimacy of power, and the oppression of the masses.

notes on

VÖLUSPÁ Learning Objective:

To gain a deeper understanding of Norse culture by analyzing the form and function of the Poetic Edda’s “Völuspá”.

                 

Norseman (Northmen), or Vikings, were people of Scandinavia, a

peninsula in N. Europe consisting of the countries of Norway, Sweden,

and Denmark and also Iceland, Finland (during the Medieval period).

They were seafaring Germanic people who raided, explored, and

settled areas of Europe, Asia, and the N. Atlantic (750—1050 BC).

Norse Mythology

• Our understanding of Norse mythology is primarily attested in Old Norse texts created in Iceland, where the oral tradition

stemming from the pre-Christian inhabitants of the island was collected and recorded (c. ________________________________)

• Two significant primary sources include (1) the Poetic Edda and (2) the Prose Edda

• Poetic Edda (c. 900-1200) comprises of anonymous poems, composed when Scandinavia was being __________________________

Christian Influences

Writing in ___________________________ was introduced to Scandinavia with Christianity, so there are few native documentary

sources from Scandinavia. Consequently, scholars debate the ____________________________________________ of Norse texts,

as segments may have been _______________________________________________________ as a result of Christian influences

“Völuspá” (The Wise-Woman's Prophecy) is the first and best-known poem of the

Poetic Edda. It tells of Othin, chief of the gods, conscious of impending disaster

and eager for knowledge, who calls on a "völva," or wise-woman, who tell him…

…the origin of the world from the flesh of the primordial being ______________,

…the origin of the first humans, _______________________________________

…a world of which comprises of the Nine Worlds that flank a cosmological tree,

_________________________________________________________________

…the prophecy that these worlds are to be destroyed and reborn after the events of

___________________________________________, the battle between the gods

Significance of Völuspá

• Cyclical Transformation and Cyclical Violence towards Order & Fate

• Morality/Values: vengeance as being embraced; revealing the value placed on

___________________________________, and the condemnation of murder

• Seeing that the poet was heathen and not Christian, and the fact that evidence

of Christian influence, shows the evolving nature of mythology.

notes on

MARTA WEIGLE Learning Objective:

To explain how myth portrays female figures and the impact these portrayals have on how female figures are perceived in society.

Marta Weigle has served as an anthropology professor at the University of New Mexico since 1972.

She has provided feminist reflections on the mythologies of various cultures in her text, Spiders & Spinsters: Women and Mythology

Rorschach Test

…is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions

of inkblots are analyzed to examine a person's

personality characteristics and emotional functioning.

“Myths can be viewed as cultural ‘Rorschach tests’”  

.