Blog 4- Comments, Creation Myths, Etiologies
855 words by Denika_T
I commented to the Projects of following Students:
1) Renita Clark
2) Ashley Bickham
3) Ebony Cook
4) Sonya Gray
5) Shemika Sample
6) Nhi Tran
7) Tristan Davis
Dorthea Dixon
9) Michael Hooker
10) Brittany Scott
The Theology of Memphis, Enuma Elish, Theogony of Hesoid and Creation by Atum are four creation accounts or myths that were created in ancient Near Easter. These creation myths were created for two reasons; curiosity that stems from trying to figure out the meaning of life and also to validate their present social and political order. The Theology of Memphis consists of a God name Ptah who was credited for creating the other gods and therefore indirectly, creating the world. Enuma Elish is the Babylion Creation story that was written on seven tablets (which symbolized the 7 planets that could seen with the naked eye during that time) and speaks of the bringing together of APSU (fresh h20) and Tiamat (salt h20) who were god-like sea cretures. Theogony of Hesoid speaks of older gods fighting against younger gods and The Creation of Atum speaks of the Atum who was able to simply think of what he wanted to be and it was. Each creation story begins with there being nothing but pure emptiness one powerful God creating the elements of nature. Out of the four creation myths, I find the creation of Atum the most interesting because of the way in which things were created. When Atum spat he was able to create Tefnut (moisture or water) and when he sneezed he was able to created Shu( air). I also find the fact that there were Nine gods and that it was used to give legitimacy to the Enneah of Heliopolis.
Tiglath-Pileser I, “Hebraic for Tukulti-apil- Eshara” which means “my trust is in the Esharra“ was the king of Assyria from 1115BC-1076BC. He is a king who is known for exaggerating his story of defeat against the Muskayans and their 5 kings. He claims that he fought their army of 20,000 and killed approximately 14,000 of the opposing soldiers and enslaved the remaining 6,000. He goes on to brag about how their carcasses covered the ground from the highest mountains to the lowest valleys. It’s obvious that Tiglath-Pileser I could not have possibly killed 20,000 soldiers, but realistically it could’ve been about 300-500, and there certainly weren’t bodies from the highest mountains to the lowest valleys so when Bible Scholars are doing biblical research they have to be reasonable and simply know that these numbers and phrases are exaggerations.
Some similarities between the Bible and Epic of Giglamesh are the event of the Great Flood that took place in the Bible and when Noah was assigned to create a large Arc and bring two creatures of every kind aboard with him and they would go at sea while all the land of the world was flooded and practically all life on land was ended and the event in which it rained for six days and six nights and Giglamesh, like Noah was assigned to create an Arc and bring two of every living creature while a big storm came and flooded the land.
An etiology is a story that is used to explain the origin of or reason why certain things are the way the way they are. Naturally, several etiologies are formed from the Bible considering that it consist of what actually happened in the beginning of life. Three etiologies from the book of Genesis are why snakes are legless, why women experience excruciating pain during birth and why men must experience labor on the fields. After Adam and Eve eat from “The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” God punishes Adam, Eve and the serpent who deceived them. God says to the serpent “You will go about on your belly and eat dirt of the ground.”(The Bible for Dummies pg 44) This explains why snakes have no legs, which lets us know that once upon a time snakes actually had legs. For Eve and all women that would ever come to existence, God says “With pain you will give birth to children” and “Your desire will be for husband and he will rule over you” (The Bible for Dummies pg 45). For Adam and all men that would ever come into existence, God punished him to the pain of laboring in the fields and that man will constantly have to work for all his needs and desires.
An etiology that explains why students must take Theology occurred long ago during the earlier days when Xavier University was first established. Considering that Xavier is a Catholic institution, many students are encouraged to study the Bible and the word of God as often as possible. Considering that Theology is the study of God it was the best way to make sure that all students got their study of God in somehow and so Theology was declared to be the way to go about doing this. When
June 17th, 2006 at 9:16 am
At this point (midterm) you are caught up and doing well.