(no subject)

[Ian Livingston]

Of course, there might be another way of looking at it. (At least
one.) To say that the later Jewish offspring are fallacious copies of
the original, in the context of the religions themselves, suggests
that the original is more pure, therefore more true, while, in fact,
the later religions grew out of a no-longer adequate set of metaphors.
Judaism could not answer the question of why there came to be a Rome,
or of how to live with Roman hegemony in the Med. Christianity offered
a way to adapt to Rome, and eventually adopt it and give it a new life
in a further changing world. Protestantism and Islam, of course,
evolved in the same way. Christianity meant little to drifters and
herdsmen in the decaying post-Seleucid / post-Roman desert where
Zoroastrianism was busily decaying; and Rome was taking away too much
dough from northern Europe in the form of imposed tithes and phony
indulgences for the purpose of funding the Renaissance in the Papal
States and what would one day become northern Italy. So, each evolved
to accommodate pressures from the outside, not to copy a purer
original. People need a central organizing idea, or they cannot form
themselves into nations, the fractability of Protestantism and Islam
made nations possible by supplying a steadily morphing moral center
for each evolving group. In other words, to say that religions copy
better originals is approximately parallel to saying that evolving
species copy better originals. And one could say that, though
believing it might prove difficult.

On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 11:39 PM, Richard Ryan <himself at richardryan.com> wrote:
> Christianity has characteristically been regarded as either a radical
> and inspired re-vision of Judaism or a grotesque and heretical
> spin-off of it.  You're right, Ed, that the
> Judaism>Catholicism>Protestantism sequence traces the distorted copy
> of a distorted copy.
>
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 4:39 PM,  <edmoorester at gmail.com> wrote:
>> TR
>>
>> I get the impression Judaism was in part a streamlined monotheism meme that
>> spread relatively well
>> drawing from various tribal myths
>>
>> . . .then a "copy" or Jewish cult aka Christianity/Catholicism arose
>> (rejecting certain aspects of "original")
>>
>> . . .then a "copy" called Protestantism arose (rejecting certain aspects of
>> "original")
>>
>> . . .also a "copy" came about called Islam (uhh I am nervous about
>> mentioning that one)
>>
>> Prophets typically hate phonies so Gaddis has that quality
>>
>> Just before GR's balloon scene (cannot find my copy right now) Pynchon goes
>> into some detail on his
>> family's involvement with the Salem witch trials and I bet some of those
>> accusers considered themselves
>> prophets
>>
>> ed
>
>
>
> --
> Richard Ryan
> New York and the World
> ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
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> www.kingstheplay.com
>



-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant