Tangents
 Created
 29 Feb 2000 
Copyright © 2000-2012 by owner.
Standard citation permissions apply.
Modified 
 22 May 2012 

NOTES ON RELIGION
OR
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO ASK


|

The following informational vignettes were initially intended solely as footnotes to other articles.  However, it was felt that some readers might find them of interest in and of themselves.  Thus, besides pertinent links to each item, the entire group is now listed as an article on the Philosophy & Religion menu.  Due to the primary function of these items as footnotes, the list can be expected to grow as new articles requiring such references are added.

Items are arranged roughly in the chronological order of the historical events or scriptural references to which they pertain.


 

(Use your browser's BACK feature to return to your previous location.)

Multiple O.T. traditions:  The fact that the early books of the Old Testament exhibit many inconsistencies is in part due to their being a combination of three separate traditions.  One of these, embodied in the "J document" compiled about the 9th century BCE, reflected the monotheistic legends of the kingdom of Judah.  Though probably more ancient in origin, the arguably polytheistic tradition of Israel was compiled a century or so later in the "E document."  During the Persian Period (beginning ca. 538 BCE), the "J" and "E" legends were interwoven with more recent and scholarly material, usually referred to as the "P document."  This process inevitably produced many of the duplications and contradictions incorporated into the early O.T. books as we know them today.

(Use your browser's BACK feature to return to your previous location.)

The oldest book of the Bible:  Deuteronomy, the "Book of the Law" was allegedly discovered in the Temple of Jerusalem during the reign of Josiah.  It is the only book of the Pentateuch which does not use a style recognizable as "J," "E," and "P" material, and is thus designated as the "D-document" by some.  The fact that the language used in that work is significantly more modern than would be expected in a document from the time of Moses, plus the extreme unlikelihood of such an important artifact's having remained intact and undetected in the Temple for three centuries since the reign of Solomon, have led many serious scholars to conclude that Deuteronomy was actually written by monotheistic reformers just prior to its suspiciously serendipitous "discovery."  Unfortunately, no fragment of the original document has survived for radiometric verification.  But even in light of its likely origin in the 7th century BCE, the Book of Deuteronomy is the oldest biblical text in its current form.

(Use your browser's BACK feature to return to your previous location.)

Isaiah's anachronisms:  The prophet Isaiah lived during the 8th century BCE, yet some prophecies ascribed to him were not rendered until centuries after his death.  Thus much of what is ascribed to Isaiah is either partially or wholly the work of others.  (As some will astutely note, this arrangement offers a most convenient and effective way of making purportedly ancient prophecies, actually made much later or even after-the-fact, appear to have miraculously come true.  The mention of Cyrus of Persia as liberator of the Jews is an example.)

An allusion to Lucifer (Latin translation of the Greek Phosphoros, from the Hebrew helel or "bright one") in the Book of Isaiah was probably a reference to a contemporary oppressor, most likely Sennacherib of Assyria (or possibly Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, if the remark was inserted after Isaiah's death).  The popular notion that the name Lucifer applied to Satan is erroneous, for the concept of Satan as a distinct entity did not arise until centuries later.

(Use your browser's BACK feature to return to your previous location.)

Heaven and Hell:  The dualistic concept of opposing forces of good and evil took hold in Jewish religion during the 6th century BCE under the influence of the Zoroastrian tradition of Persia.  This is when the legend of Satan (e.g., the Book of Job) began to take shape.  Prior to that time the Hebrew belief had been that the souls of the dead were transported to Sheol ("The Pit"), a somber but not particularly fearsome realm not unlike the Hades of Greek religion, without distinction as to whether one's earthly life had been virtuous or iniquitous.  The idea of separate afterlives of heavenly reward and hellish retribution is a fairly recent one, formed only during the last few centuries of the pre-Christian era.

Use your browser's BACK feature to return to your previous location.)

The Immaculate Conception:  This is the idea that Mary, mother of Jesus, was herself conceived by her mother, St. Anne, free of original sin.  Many people (including Christians) confuse the Immaculate Conception with the Virgin Birth, but they are two separate episodes, the first concerning the origin of Mary, the second the origin of Jesus.  The notion of the Immaculate Conception of Mary became an accepted part of Roman Catholic dogma only relatively recently, within the last couple of centuries.

(Use your browser's BACK feature to return to your previous location.)

The Virgin Birth:  The Gospel of Matthew cites the prophecy of Isaiah to identify the messiah's mother as a virgin.  However, the term which Matthew quotes as "virgin" actually means "young woman," with no implication as to that person's state of chastity.  Isaiah's original prophecy in fact made no mention of a virgin; if he had actually meant "virgin," he certainly would have used the appropriate term.  The mangling of the quote was likely intentional, for the tendency of the author of Matthew to embellish the "facts" as reported in other gospels is well demonstrated on more than just this occasion (the star of Bethlehem, not mentioned in any other gospel, being perhaps the most glaring example).  It was around this key misinterpretation that the entire mythology concerning the Annunciation and Virgin Birth was constructed.

The compilers of the King James Version of the Bible later helped Matthew out in this instance, by purposefully mistranslating the crucial word in Isaiah's O.T. prophecy as "virgin," so as to smooth over this little awkwardness.  (Another example of the "miracle" of prophecy cleverly doctored after-the-fact.)

((Use your browser's BACK feature to return to your previous location.)

The time of Jesus's birth:  To free Christianity from the indignity of using the "pagan" Roman calendar, 6th-century historian Dionysius Exiguus attempted to calculate the year of Jesus's birth and designated it as "1 AD" (Anno Domini, "the Year of the Lord").  When later established in 1582, the Gregorian calendar continued that tradition.  However, subsequent study of historical records has revealed that King Herod died in the year 749 AUC (Roman calendar), equivalent to 4 BC by Dionysius's reckoning.  Therefore, if the biblical account of Herod's order of infanticide is to be believed, Jesus must have been born no later than 4 BCE and probably before, perhaps as early as 17 BCE by some accounts.  This presents us with the awkward reckoning of the period of Jesus's childhood and perhaps even adolescence, using the Christian calendar, as BC, "before Christ."

(Use your browser's BACK feature to return to your previous location.)


|
 
  MAIN     ISSUES     LINKS     RINGS  
Philosophy & Religion: Articles