Secrecy And The Gods

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Secrecy and the Gods

Author : Alan Lenzi
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 496 pages
Book Rating : 4.F/5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Secrecy and the Gods by : Alan Lenzi

Download or read book Secrecy and the Gods written by Alan Lenzi and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secrecy and the Gods is a comparative mythological study of the human reception and treatment of divine secret knowledge in ancient Mesopotamia and biblical Israel. The human royal council was the social model for ancient ideas about divine knowledge being secret - just as human kings had secrets so too did the gods. Diviners who received this knowledge from the gods in an on-going, ad hoc manner were an essential link between the divine assembly and the human royal council for whom such knowledge was intended. Scribes eventually adapted the ad hoc divinatory means of receiving divine communications to their culturally significant texts. By discursively asserting a historical connection between themselves and unique mediators with a close divine affiliation (the apkallus and Moses), the scribes constructed myths that legitimated their texts as divine revelation and claimed these were received in history through normal scribal channels. In this manner, scribes fixed the secret of the gods permanently among humans in textualized form that valorized their own position within society. Although the origin of divine secret knowledge was rooted in a common mythological idea of the divine assembly, its treatment was quite distinct. The Mesopotamians guarded divine secret knowledge through various scribal means, including the attachment of a Geheimwissen colophon to certain tablets (treated exhaustively), whereas biblical Israel published it openly. The contrast in treatment of divine secret knowledge was directly related to different mytho-political self-understandings: Mesopotamia's imperial aspirations versus biblical Israel's vassaldom. As vassals to Yahweh, the divine imperial king, the kings of Judah and Israel as presented in the biblical material were not to formulate secret orders; they were only to obey them.

Secrets, Gossip, and Gods

Author : Paul Christopher Johnson
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 9780195188226
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (882 download)

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Book Synopsis Secrets, Gossip, and Gods by : Paul Christopher Johnson

Download or read book Secrets, Gossip, and Gods written by Paul Christopher Johnson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2002 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this wide-ranging book Paul Christopher Johnson explores the changing, hidden face of the Afro-Brazilian indigenous religion of Candomblé. Despite its importance in Brazilian society, Candomblé has received far less attention than its sister religions Vodou and Santeria. Johnson seeks to fill this void by offering a comprehensive look at the development, beliefs, and practices of Candomblé and exploring its transformation from a secret society of slaves--hidden, persecuted, and marginalized--to a public religion that is very much a part of Brazilian culture. Johnson traces this historical shift and locates the turning point in the creation of Brazilian national identity and a public sphere in the first half of the twentieth century. His major focus is on the ritual practice of secrecy in Candomblé. Like Vodou and Santeria and the African Yoruba religion from which they are descended, Candomblé features a hierarchic series of initiations, with increasing access to secret knowledge at each level. As Johnson shows, the nature and uses of secrecy evolved with the religion. First, secrecy was essential to a society that had to remain hidden from authorities. Later, when Candomblé became known and actively persecuted, its secrecy became a form of resistance as well as an exotic hidden power desired by elites. Finally, as Candomblé became a public religion and a vital part of Brazilian culture, the debate increasingly turned away from the secrets themselves and toward their possessors. It is speech about secrets, and not the content of those secrets, that is now most important in building status, legitimacy and power in Candomblé. Offering many first hand accounts of the rites and rituals of contemporary Candomblé, this book provides insight into this influential but little-studied group, while at the same time making a valuable contribution to our understanding of the relationship between religion and society.

Slave Species of the Gods

Author : Michael Tellinger
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1591438071
Total Pages : 529 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (914 download)

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Book Synopsis Slave Species of the Gods by : Michael Tellinger

Download or read book Slave Species of the Gods written by Michael Tellinger and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-09-10 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our origins as a slave species and the Anunnaki legacy in our DNA • Reveals compelling new archaeological and genetic evidence for the engineered origins of the human species, first proposed by Zecharia Sitchin in The 12th Planet • Shows how the Anunnaki created us using pieces of their own DNA, controlling our physical and mental capabilities by inactivating their more advanced DNA • Identifies a recently discovered complex of sophisticated ruins in South Africa as the city of the Anunnaki leader Enki Scholars have long believed that the first civilization on Earth emerged in Sumer some 6,000 years ago. However, as Michael Tellinger reveals, the Sumerians and Egyptians inherited their knowledge from an earlier civilization that lived at the southern tip of Africa and began with the arrival of the Anunnaki more than 200,000 years ago. Sent to Earth in search of life-saving gold, these ancient Anunnaki astronauts from the planet Nibiru created the first humans as a slave race to mine gold--thus beginning our global traditions of gold obsession, slavery, and god as dominating master. Revealing new archaeological and genetic evidence in support of Zecharia Sitchin’s revolutionary work with pre-biblical clay tablets, Tellinger shows how the Anunnaki created us using pieces of their own DNA, controlling our physical and mental capabilities by inactivating their more advanced DNA--which explains why less than 3 percent of our DNA is active. He identifies a recently discovered complex of sophisticated ruins in South Africa, complete with thousands of mines, as the city of Anunnaki leader Enki and explains their lost technologies that used the power of sound as a source of energy. Matching key mythologies of the world’s religions to the Sumerian clay tablet stories on which they are based, he details the actual events behind these tales of direct physical interactions with “god,” concluding with the epic flood--a perennial theme of ancient myth--that wiped out the Anunnaki mining operations. Tellinger shows that, as humanity awakens to the truth about our origins, we can overcome our programmed animalistic and slave-like nature, tap in to our dormant Anunnaki DNA, and realize the longevity and intelligence of our creators as well as learn the difference between the gods of myth and the true loving God of our universe.

Secrets, Gossip, and Gods

Author : Paul Christopher Johnson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198034296
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Secrets, Gossip, and Gods by : Paul Christopher Johnson

Download or read book Secrets, Gossip, and Gods written by Paul Christopher Johnson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2002-08-15 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this wide-ranging book Paul Christopher Johnson explores the changing, hidden face of the Afro-Brazilian indigenous religion of Candomblé. Despite its importance in Brazilian society, Candomblé has received far less attention than its sister religions Vodou and Santeria. Johnson seeks to fill this void by offering a comprehensive look at the development, beliefs, and practices of Candomblé and exploring its transformation from a secret society of slaves--hidden, persecuted, and marginalized--to a public religion that is very much a part of Brazilian culture. Johnson traces this historical shift and locates the turning point in the creation of Brazilian national identity and a public sphere in the first half of the twentieth century. His major focus is on the ritual practice of secrecy in Candomblé. Like Vodou and Santeria and the African Yoruba religion from which they are descended, Candomblé features a hierarchic series of initiations, with increasing access to secret knowledge at each level. As Johnson shows, the nature and uses of secrecy evolved with the religion. First, secrecy was essential to a society that had to remain hidden from authorities. Later, when Candomblé became known and actively persecuted, its secrecy became a form of resistance as well as an exotic hidden power desired by elites. Finally, as Candomblé became a public religion and a vital part of Brazilian culture, the debate increasingly turned away from the secrets themselves and toward their possessors. It is speech about secrets, and not the content of those secrets, that is now most important in building status, legitimacy and power in Candomblé. Offering many first hand accounts of the rites and rituals of contemporary Candomblé, this book provides insight into this influential but little-studied group, while at the same time making a valuable contribution to our understanding of the relationship between religion and society.

Divine Secrets and Human Imaginations

Author : Angelika Berlejung
Publisher : Mohr Siebeck
ISBN 13 : 3161600347
Total Pages : 695 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (616 download)

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Book Synopsis Divine Secrets and Human Imaginations by : Angelika Berlejung

Download or read book Divine Secrets and Human Imaginations written by Angelika Berlejung and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 695 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The articles in this volume of collected essays, written over the last two decades and all revised, updated, and supplemented with unpublished material, are grouped around two themes: Divine Secrets and Human Imaginations. The first essays deal with the production, initiation, use and function, the abduction, repatriation, and the replacement of divine images, their outer appearance, and the many facets of the divine presence theology in Ancient Mesopotamia. The essays on the second topic deal with human imaginations, human constructs, and constructed memories, which assign meaning to the past or to things or experiences that are beyond human control. Thematically, several aspects of the human condition are examined, such as the ideas associated in the Old Testament and the Ancient Near East with death, corporeality, enemies, disasters, utopias, and passionate love.

Secrecy and Concealment

Author : Hans Kippenberg
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004378871
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (43 download)

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Book Synopsis Secrecy and Concealment by : Hans Kippenberg

Download or read book Secrecy and Concealment written by Hans Kippenberg and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume deals with secrecy and concealment in the history of mediterranean religions as pattern of social interaction. Secrecy is a powerful means in establishing identity and interaction as G. Simmel has demonstrated. Using his approach the scholars of this volume describe and explain the practical meaning of concealment in two different religious systems: in Egyptian and Greek polytheism and in Jewish, Christian, Gnostic and Shi'i monotheisms. This point of view reveals that all these religions shaped social norms concerning public and private aspects of the human self.

Vodún

Author : Timothy R. Landry
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 0812295633
Total Pages : 214 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (122 download)

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Book Synopsis Vodún by : Timothy R. Landry

Download or read book Vodún written by Timothy R. Landry and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tourists to Ouidah, a city on the coast of the Republic of Bénin, in West Africa, typically visit a few well-known sites of significance to the Vodún religion—the Python Temple, where Dangbé, the python spirit, is worshipped, and King Kpasse's sacred forest, which is the seat of the Vodún deity known as Lokò. However, other, less familiar places, such as the palace of the so-called supreme chief of Vodún in Bénin, are also rising in popularity as tourists become increasingly adventurous and as more Vodún priests and temples make themselves available to foreigners in the hopes of earning extra money. Timothy R. Landry examines the connections between local Vodún priests and spiritual seekers who travel to Bénin—some for the snapshot, others for full-fledged initiation into the religion. He argues that the ways in which the Vodún priests and tourists negotiate the transfer of confidential, sacred knowledge create its value. The more secrecy that surrounds Vodún ritual practice and material culture, the more authentic, coveted, and, consequently, expensive that knowledge becomes. Landry writes as anthropologist and initiate, having participated in hundreds of Vodún ceremonies, rituals, and festivals. Examining the role of money, the incarnation of deities, the limits of adaptation for the transnational community, and the belief in spirits, sorcery, and witchcraft, Vodún ponders the ethical implications of producing and consuming culture by local and international agents. Highlighting the ways in which racialization, power, and the legacy of colonialism affect the procurement and transmission of secret knowledge in West Africa and beyond, Landry demonstrates how, paradoxically, secrecy is critically important to Vodún's global expansion.

The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy

Author : Hugh B. Urban
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1000556182
Total Pages : 621 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy by : Hugh B. Urban

Download or read book The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy written by Hugh B. Urban and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-03-29 with total page 621 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secrecy is a central and integral component of all religious traditions. Not limited simply to religious groups that engage in clandestine activities such as hidden rites of initiation or terrorism, secrecy is inherent in the very fabric of religion itself. Its importance has perhaps never been more acutely relevant than in our own historical moment. In the wake of 9/11 and other acts of religious violence, we see the rise of invasive national security states that target religious minorities and pose profound challenges to the ideals of privacy and religious freedom, accompanied by the resistance by many communities to such efforts. As such, questions of secrecy, privacy, surveillance, and security are among the most central and contested issues of twenty-first century religious life. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy is the definitive reference source for the key topics, problems, and debates in this crucial field and is the first collection of its kind. Comprising twenty-nine chapters by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into five parts: Configurations of Religious Secrecy: Conceptual and Comparative Frameworks Secrecy as Religious Practice Secrecy and the Politics of the Present Secrecy and Social Resistance Secrecy, Terrorism, and Surveillance. This cutting-edge volume discusses secrecy in relation to major categories of religious experience and individual religious practices while also examining the transformations of secrecy in the modern period, including the rise of fraternal orders, the ongoing wars on terror, the rise of far-right white supremacist groups, increasing concerns over religious freedom and privacy, the role of the internet in the spread and surveillance of such groups, and the resistance to surveillance by many indigenous and diasporic communities. The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies, comparative religion, new religious movements, and religion and politics. It will be equally central to debates in the related disciplines of sociology, anthropology, political science, security studies and cultural studies.

Thirty Thousand Gods Before Jehovah

Author : Henry Binkley Stein
Publisher : Health Research Books
ISBN 13 : 9780787310905
Total Pages : 98 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (19 download)

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Book Synopsis Thirty Thousand Gods Before Jehovah by : Henry Binkley Stein

Download or read book Thirty Thousand Gods Before Jehovah written by Henry Binkley Stein and published by Health Research Books. This book was released on 1940 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Making the Gods Work for You

Author : Caroline Casey
Publisher : Harmony
ISBN 13 : 0307421244
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis Making the Gods Work for You by : Caroline Casey

Download or read book Making the Gods Work for You written by Caroline Casey and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making the Gods Work for You presents internationally renowned author Caroline W. Casey's remarkable doctrine of Visionary Activist Astrology. In this reverently irreverent mystery school disguised as a book (in which each of the planetary gods is a professor), we are invited to think of our lives as spiritual detective novels. For example, Venus teaches us that our affinities and quirks are clues to our unique mission and contribution to the world. The astrological language of the psyche is a tool for deciphering and revitalizing this sense of mission. Casey teaches you how to expand your range of intimacy with the ten parts of yourself represented by the planets, here called gods. You will learn how to use this language to reverence and feed the forces of your psyche that connect you to very real external forces. This book intends to catalyze a movement to engage the imagination of all people with a sense of humor and a desire to do collaborative good in the world. Expanding on the ideas first presented in her popular audiotape series, Inner and Outer Space, Casey explores the archetypes at the heart of human relationships, aspirations, and spiritual quests. In an engaging narrative enlivened by stories, fables, exercises, and meditations developed through her work as an astrological counselor, she provides a practical system of personal and collective liberation. Making the Gods Work for You provides us with innovative principles to live by and rituals inviting us to become active, dynamic participants in the dance of life. We can then become increasingly conscious players on the team of creation, capable of sharing our gifts with the world at this crucial historical time. From the Trade Paperback edition.

God Secrets

Author : Shawn Bolz
Publisher : Newtype
ISBN 13 : 9781942306931
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (69 download)

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Book Synopsis God Secrets by : Shawn Bolz

Download or read book God Secrets written by Shawn Bolz and published by Newtype. This book was released on 2017-06-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In order to have a close relationship with God, we must be able to hear Him clearly. Bolz offers the tools to make a heart connection with God, so that you can gain access to his deep knowledge and wisdom, as well as connect with His love for all creation. By following after love and desiring the gifts of the Spirits, you can activate the worlds of knowledge in your life and release their power in relatable ways. -- adapted from jacket

God's Bankers

Author : Gerald Posner
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439109869
Total Pages : 703 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis God's Bankers by : Gerald Posner

Download or read book God's Bankers written by Gerald Posner and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-02-03 with total page 703 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller: A “deeply researched” exposé of the money and the clerics-turned-financiers at the heart of the Vatican (Chicago Tribune). From a master chronicler of legal and financial misconduct, a magnificent investigation nine years in the making, God’s Bankers traces the political intrigue of the Catholic Church in “a meticulous work that cracks wide open the Vatican’s legendary, enabling secrecy” (Kirkus Reviews). Decidedly not about faith, belief in God, or religious doctrine, this book is about the church’s accumulation of wealth and its byzantine financial entanglements across the world. Telling the story through two hundred years of prelates, bishops, cardinals, and the popes who oversee it all, Gerald Posner uncovers an eyebrow-raising account of money and power in one of the world’s most influential organizations. God’s Bankers is a revelatory and astounding saga marked by poisoned business titans, murdered prosecutors, and mysterious deaths written off as suicides; a carnival of characters from popes and cardinals to financiers and mobsters to kings and prime ministers; and a set of moral and political circumstances that not only clarify the church’s aims and ambitions, but reflect the larger tensions of more recent history. Posner also assesses Pope Francis’s potential to overcome the resistance to change in the Vatican’s Machiavellian inner court and rein in the excesses of its seemingly uncontrollable financial quagmire. “As exciting as a mystery thriller” (Providence Journal), this book reveals with extraordinary precision how the Vatican has evolved from a foundation of faith to a corporation of extreme wealth and power. “Reads like a sprawling novel, full of complex characters and surprising twists. . . . Readers interested in issues involving religion and international finance will find Posner’s work a compelling read.” —Library Journal “An extraordinarily intricate tale of intrigue, corruption and organized criminality. . . . Posner’s gifts as a reporter and storyteller are most vividly displayed in a series of lurid chapters on the American archbishop Paul Marcinkus, the arch-Machiavellian who ran the Vatican Bank from 1971-1989.” —The New York Times Book Review

God in Context

Author : Karel van der Toorn
Publisher : Mohr Siebeck
ISBN 13 : 3161564707
Total Pages : 394 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (615 download)

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Book Synopsis God in Context by : Karel van der Toorn

Download or read book God in Context written by Karel van der Toorn and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2018-11-13 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this work, Karel van der Toorn explores the social setting, the intellectual milieu, and the historical context of the beliefs and practices reflected in the Hebrew Bible. While fully recognizing the unique character of early Israelite religion, the author challenges the notion of its incomparability. Beliefs are anchored in culture. Rituals have societal significance. God has a history. By shifting the focus to the context, the essays gathered here yield a deeper understanding of Israelite religion and the origins of the Bible.

The Lives of the Wise in an Anti-God World

Author : Michael Kenneth Wilson
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1725288168
Total Pages : 186 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (252 download)

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Book Synopsis The Lives of the Wise in an Anti-God World by : Michael Kenneth Wilson

Download or read book The Lives of the Wise in an Anti-God World written by Michael Kenneth Wilson and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-12-21 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A world in which the lives of people are threatened and controlled either by an unpredictable megalomaniac or by a cold, unyielding legal system. A world of political skulduggery. A world in which people experience a personal identity crisis and the rejection of their values and beliefs. A world in which they face intimidation and bullying and an intense pressure to conform. A world of ominous dreams and life-threatening situations. Sound familiar? This book will help you to negotiate your way through such a world because it is the very world which confronted Daniel and his friends.

The Silent God

Author : M.C.A. Korpel
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004203907
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis The Silent God by : M.C.A. Korpel

Download or read book The Silent God written by M.C.A. Korpel and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-03-24 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like the biblical Job, many people suffer under the silence of God. This book shows that it is enlightening to retrace the origins of the concept of divine speech and silence in the ancient Near East and Greece.

The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion

Author : Bernhard Scheid
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 113416873X
Total Pages : 398 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (341 download)

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Book Synopsis The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion by : Bernhard Scheid

Download or read book The Culture of Secrecy in Japanese Religion written by Bernhard Scheid and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-04-22 with total page 398 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Japanese Middle Ages were a period when forms of secrecy dominated religious practice. This fascinating collection traces out the secret characteristics and practices in Japanese religion, as well as analyzing the decline of religious esotericism in Japan. The essays in this impressive work refer to Esoteric Buddhism as the core of Japan’s "culture of secrecy". Esoteric Buddhism developed in almost all Buddhist countries of Asia, but it was of particular importance in Japan where its impact went far beyond the borders of Buddhism, also affecting Shinto as well as non-religious forms of discourse. The contributors focus on the impact of Esoteric Buddhism on Japanese culture, and also include comparative chapters on India and China. Whilst concentrating on the Japanese medieval period, this book will give readers familiar with present day Japan, many explanations for the still visible remnants of Japan’s medieval culture of secrecy.

Such a Mind as This

Author : Richard L. Smith
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1666732168
Total Pages : 446 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (667 download)

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Book Synopsis Such a Mind as This by : Richard L. Smith

Download or read book Such a Mind as This written by Richard L. Smith and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-12-17 with total page 446 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our intellectual context is very complicated. There are competing pedagogues, divergent epistemological agendas, and flawed participants. The mind is a warzone. The Old Testament depicts a battlefield between the sinful mind and God’s revelation. Today, many Christians minimize the intellect and do not recognize how sin impacts thinking. Many do not know how to love God with the mind. Many suffer from anti-intellectual inertia. They think like consumers shopping for knowledge, learning formats, and instructors that conform to their buying preferences. They prefer junk food for their minds. They often fulfill the role assigned to them by the world—intellectual simplicity, private religiosity, and subjective spirituality. By comprehensively examining Old Testament teaching concerning the mind, this book promotes a spirituality that puts thinking in its proper place. It explains what God requires intellectually of his vice-regents. It shows that our world is a labyrinth, but that God’s revelation is our reliable guide. This book motivates readers to strive for mental piety, wisdom, and intellectual development, for the glory of God and the fulfillment of our mandate on earth. Readers will learn from their ancient brethren how to better steward their minds.