posted
1) On a deeper level, beyond word lending to what extent do you think Egyptian religion had on Judaism, Christianity and Islam, each one respectively. Big influence or superficial?
2) Also to what extent do you think Egyptian religion is a compilation of other African religions (spirituality if you prefer) and to what extent does it have unique features?
3) Is henotheism accurate to describe Egyptian religion? (henotheism, worship of a single god while not denying the existence or possible existence of other deities.)
4) Are there other texts beyond the 42 Negative Confessions and The Wisdom of Ptahhotep that you think are useful for the average person in everyday life?
5) Is it proper to look at some things in pyramid funerary texts as talking about science or is that stretching? Could a lot of other clearly scientific or engineering sort of texts like the the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus have been lost rather than trying to link things like funerary texts and myths to things like quantum physics etc. ?
___________________________________
people, please let Asar answer some of this first before commenting. Thanks
Asar Imhotep Member # 14487
posted
Greetings. Give me til this weekend to answer your questions. I am doing some school related work at the moment and it is time consuming. Just want to acknowledge your post. Peace and blessings.
Asar Imhotep Member # 14487
posted
1) I don't think there are superficial influences. You were either influenced or not. I think Judaism has more influence than Christianity. Islam has influence only by proxy of borrowing from Judaism and Christianity.
2) There is no singular Egyptian religion. There were many African tribes who lived in the same territory whose spiritual traditions and ancestors were different. So it is at once a homegrown entity, but at the same time is a combination of the different tribes who shaped the system to their needs. The Yoruba system is the same way and is a good case-study to compare with ancient Egyptian.
3) In African systems, there is only one God and it is existence. Everything that we see or don't see is simply a manifestation of God. God is the only thing, because it is existence/life itself.
4) The entirety of Egyptian texts are useful for humans today. What you have is a collection of texts of an ancient culture that recorded a variety of ways to be human and how to solve problems of the time. You get a glimpse of their worldview and what is useful to you is subjective.
5) I don't know if any funerary texts focus on creations as how we would consider in a quantum mechanical sense. But they definitely had their theory of quantum mechanics. But these would be in the creation narrative.
the lioness, Member # 17353
posted
thanks
the lioness, Member # 17353
posted
quote:Originally posted by Asar Imhotep:
3) In African systems, there is only one God and it is existence. Everything that we see or don't see is simply a manifestation of God. God is the only thing, because it is existence/life itself.
this seems to correspond to what some some call pantheism
quote:At its most general, pantheism may be understood positively as the view that God is identical with the cosmos, the view that there exists nothing which is outside of God, or else negatively as the rejection of any view that considers God as distinct from the universe.
The problem I have with this is that it seems to me more like using the word "god" as a synonym for the word "everything" (or specifically "everything in the universe")
Somebody might say "everything is sacred"
why is the word "God" used is my question
Some have suggest that pantheism is just another word for atheism (see brother Ankh)
But another way of looking at it is everything has a spirit, rivers , mountains, wind etc.
However what about man made objects? Would be included, plastic bags, gummy bears, skyscrapers?
do all of these have spirit?
and does it mean associated deities?
I don't know if everything applies. However many African religions do have various spirit-deities
the term polytheism comes up
But can we generalize about African religion when there are so many?
And where does Atenism fit in? Was it an improvement or a wrong turn?
posted