The Vanquished Gods
The Vanquished Gods

Author: Richard H. Schlagel

Publisher: Prometheus Books

Published: 2011-02-02

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1615927174

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The greatest influence on Western civilization during the past two millennia has been the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. Besides its influence on religious beliefs, it has also shaped Western values, conceptions of origins, customs, political systems, and overall worldview. But today, owing to the unprecedented scientific and technological advances in the 20th century, this influence has greatly diminished. Developments in the natural sciences have radically altered our understanding of human existence and the universe; biblical scholarship has demystified the Bible; and scientific inquiry has superseded biblical and church authority. Despite this dramatic shift in our frame of reference, the public seems largely unaware of the radical conceptual implications of scientific discoveries and explanations.The aim of this clearly written, engaging work by philosopher Richard Schlagel is to provide the open-minded reader with the necessary historical, biblical, and scientific background for understanding and evaluating this crucial development. Reviewing both the history of science and the history of Judaism and Christianity as uncovered by modern scholarship, Schlagel comes to the conclusion that the religious viewpoint has been rendered obsolete by the scientific method. Following Socrates' dictum that "the unexamined life is not worth living," Schlagel exhorts us all to leave outmoded tradition behind and accept the rationally compelling evidence of the scientific worldview.

Ancient Near Eastern Seals in a Danish Collection
Ancient Near Eastern Seals in a Danish Collection

Author: Eva Møller

Publisher: Museum Tusculanum Press

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 106

ISBN-13: 9788772890807

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Identification and classification of a private Danish collection of seals, which were acquired in Baghdad over a number of years more than 30 years ago. The collection covers a period extending from the late Ubaid to the Sasanian dynasty, c. 4000 BC -- 642 AD, and includes twenty-five cylinder seals from the Late Uruk period to Early Dynastic I, nine Early Dynastic II-III seals, eleven Akkadian and Post-Akkadian, six Neo-Sumerian, eight Old Babylonian, three seals of the second half of the second millennium BC, thirteen Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian stamp and cylinder seals, three seals of the second half of the first millennium BC, three bullae and a stamp seal of Seleucid date, thirty Sasanian stamp seals, and finally four fragmentary seals of uncertain date. The seals are listed in chronological order by period. The middle chronology has been used for dating.

Praying in God’s Theater
Praying in God’s Theater

Author: Joel L. Watts

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2014-03-10

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1630871591

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Much like the book of Revelation, Joel L. Watts' Praying in God's Theater aims to pull readers into a deeper spirituality to confront the daily struggles of Christian life. Drawing from the rich well of Christian mystics and theologians from across the ecumenical experience, Watts uses the Apocalypse to build a series of prayers and devotions aimed at increasing what he identifies as the contemplative unity and the certain unity between the individual and Christ. He urges a radical vision of the prayer and the sacrament of the Eucharist. Each chapter of Revelation is considered, explored, and finally used as a basis to draft prayers. Added to this is an application commentary that explores ancient liturgical practices similar to the scenes in Revelation while looking at Revelation in a mystical manner. Watts offers Revelation as an early liturgy, using this proposition as a catalyst for building prayers and a vision of life based on the Eucharist as the emblem of how we are to approach God. What emerges is a profound view on how we envision Scripture, prayer, and the book of Revelation.

Gods of this World
Gods of this World

Author: Shandon L. Guthrie

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2018-10-30

Total Pages: 424

ISBN-13: 153263305X

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Philosophers of religion have focused almost exclusively on the existence and nature of God and the nature and destiny of human beings. But these philosophers have been remiss in engaging discussions about the possibility of there being adverse gods of this world (demonic beings) despite being a doctrine that comprises a significant part of the Christian confession. This drought in the literature has left a number of questions unaddressed, including: Hasn't science buried the demonic? Are there any successful philosophical arguments for the existence of Satan? What kind of being is Satan? Is he the fallen angel of lore? Is it reasonable for Christians to say that demons are purely immaterial spirits? Can demons causally interact with the physical world and its inhabitants? Can demons perform diabolical miracles? Shandon Guthrie broaches new territory beginning with a rigorous defense for the existence of Satan and his cohorts. He then advances and defends a model for how to understand their nature in terms of their ontology and causal powers. No other book has attempted a full-fledged natural diabology on behalf of Christian orthodoxy. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the dark side of Christian theology and metaphysics.

Scholars and Scholarship in Late Babylonian Uruk
Scholars and Scholarship in Late Babylonian Uruk

Author: Christine Proust

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-01-08

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 303004176X

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This volume explores how scholars wrote, preserved, circulated, and read knowledge in ancient Mesopotamia. It offers an exercise in micro-history that provides a case study for attempting to understand the relationship between scholars and scholarship during this time of great innovation. The papers in this collection focus on tablets written in the city of Uruk in southern Babylonia. These archives come from two different scholarly contexts. One is a private residence inhabited during successive phases by two families of priests who were experts in ritual and medicine. The other is the most important temple in Uruk during the late Achemenid and Hellenistic periods. The contributors undertake detailed studies of this material to explore the scholarly practices of individuals, the connection between different scholarly genres, and the exchange of knowledge between scholars in the city and scholars in other parts of Babylonia and the Greek world. In addition, this collection examines the archives in which the texts were found and the scribes who owned or wrote them. It also considers the interconnections between different genres of knowledge and the range of activities of individual scribes. In doing so, it answers questions of interest not only for the study of Babylonian scholarship but also for the study of ancient Mesopotamian textual culture more generally, and for the study of traditions of written knowledge in the ancient world.

God for All
God for All

Author: Arch B. Taylor

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2013-09-24

Total Pages: 411

ISBN-13: 1620329395

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"God our Savior desires everyone to be saved (1Tim 2:4). Does God get what God wants? ""Yes, but--"" depending on how we read the Bible. The Bible is universal: One God, Sovereign Creator of everything, especially humanity in God's image, God's partner to manage creation. Science and evolution say humanity evolved, gradually acquiring superior capabilities. We have yet to transcend animal nature and acknowledge oneness of creation under God. Humans exploited our semi-divine status, becoming alienated. God chose Israelites/Jews for blessing and reconciling humanity. They exploited chosenness, so God sent the Jew Jesus to reveal God's gracious concern for all people. Roman political and Jewish religious power killed Jesus, but he appeared resurrected to his disciples, who proclaimed him Savior. God gave another Jew, Paul, a vision of Jesus resurrected and appointed him to proclaim God's reconciliation to Gentiles. Paul taught that through the faithfulness of Jesus, Gentiles too become God's people and share Israel's blessings without becoming Jews. All who experience reconciliation share Jesus's partnership with God. ""We toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe"" (1 Tim 4:10). "

The City of God
The City of God

Author: St. Augustine of Hippo

Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 965

ISBN-13: 3849621138

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This volume is accurately annotated, including * an extensive biography of the author and his life * working interactive footnotes De Civitate Dei, (full title: De Civitate Dei contra Paganos), translated in English as The City of God, is a book of Christian philosophy written in Latin by Augustine of Hippo in the early 5th century AD. It is one of Augustine's major works, standing alongside his The Confessions, On Christian Doctrine, and On the Trinity. Augustine is considered the most influential Father of the Church in Western Christianity, and The City of God profoundly shaped Western civilization. Augustine wrote the treatise to explain Christianity's relationship with competing religions and philosophies, as well as its relationship with the Roman government, with which it was increasingly intertwined. It was written soon after Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410. This event left Romans in a deep state of shock, and many saw it as punishment for abandoning traditional Roman religion for Catholic Christianity. It was in this atmosphere that Augustine set out to console Christians, writing that, even if the earthly rule of the Empire was imperiled, it was the City of God that would ultimately triumph. Augustine's eyes were fixed on Heaven, a theme of many Christian works of Late Antiquity. (from wikipedia.com)

The Babylonian Genesis
The Babylonian Genesis

Author: Alexander Heidel

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2009-06-24

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 022611242X

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Here is a complete translation of all the published cuneiform tablets of the various Babylonian creation stories, of both the Semitic Babylonian and the Sumerian material. Each creation account is preceded by a brief introduction dealing with the age and provenance of the tablets, the aim and purpose of the story, etc. Also included is a translation and discussion of two Babylonian creation versions written in Greek. The final chapter presents a detailed examination of the Babylonian creation accounts in their relation to our Old Testament literature.