All around them natural phenomena released destructive energy that they could not understand. Ancient peoples tended to be highly superstitious. Their communities, or their lives without understanding their spiritual attitudes.Īt the outset the profound uniformity of ancient religious beliefs needs to be confronted. It is difficult to appreciate how ancient peoples went about organizing their societies, Hopefully what will come from this discussion is an appreciation for the manner in which the ancient religious world view not only fulfilled the needs of past societies but also formed part of the essential fabric of their inhabitants' daily lives. Last we will consider ancient views of afterlife, since the manner in which ancient societies revered their dead saysĪ great deal about what they cherished in life. The ability to communicate with deities meant that they could to some degree control these and through them the natural environment.
Will examine the ways in which inhabitants of ancient societies communicated with their deities. The fact that this world view was consistent and coherent demonstrates that its believers gave it considerable thought. Generally perceive the universe to be organized? We will then examine the inherent logic to this world view. We are going to examine first the cosmology or world view of the polytheistic mindset. Nonetheless, a template must be furnished for the chapters to follow. The texture of all religious world views is complex and multifaceted, making it difficult to do justice in broad strokes. GeneralizationsĪre necessary yet inevitably unsatisfactory. This chapter will present a reduced, distilled model for ancient polytheistic world views. Otherwise, much of what they have to relate will seem unintelligible or illogical. the Old Testament, Demosthenes ’ speeches, Plutarch's lives, the Rg Veda or the Egyptianīook of the Dead - need to be cognizant of the inherent organization and logic of ancient religious Modern readers of ancient texts of all kinds Obviously fundamental to the formation of these cultures, we need to address the reasons for thisĪs well as for the tendency of religious authority to become transformed into political, social, and legal power. Such as Göbekli Tepe already by 9600 BC indicates that leadership cadres acquired their elite status based to large degree their claim to religious authority. 3000 BC) the earliest records and the earliest recorded hierarchies in nearly every instance were religious. By the time that fully developed civilizations emerged in each of these places (ca. Sedentism was emerging in the Nile river basin, the Tigris-Euphrates, the Indus, the Yangtze, and the Huang- gu. CWC Primer Chapter 4: Ancient Religious World Viewsīy 4000 BC patterns of dense human settlement were occurring in large river basins throughout Eurasia and North Africa.
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