1.
Divine Retribution (TV series)
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Divine Retribution is a TV drama series broadcast by ATV in Hong Kong on 11 September 2000. The series is supposed to be a sequel to TVBs 1992 series The Greed of Man, part of the reason for the name change was said to be due to legal rights disputes. While Douban reviews have suggested that the sequel to a TVB series being adopted by a rival channel ATV was actually not one of major controversy. The series takes place in the year of 2003, where the stock market has created financial crisis that caused complete chaos in the Asia pacific regions. Ting Yeh and Fong San-hap now renew their battle and continue where they left off, the roles by Sean Lau and Adam Cheng are mainly unchanged from the previous series despite the name change. Other characters from The Greed of Man were portrayed by different actors cast by ATV, while Amy Kwok, who had a role in The Greed of Man, portrays a different character in this series
2.
Oil painting
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Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. Commonly used drying oils include linseed oil, poppy seed oil, walnut oil, the choice of oil imparts a range of properties to the oil paint, such as the amount of yellowing or drying time. Certain differences, depending on the oil, are visible in the sheen of the paints. An artist might use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular consistency depending on the medium, the oil may be boiled with a resin, such as pine resin or frankincense, to create a varnish prized for its body and gloss. Its practice may have migrated westward during the Middle Ages, Oil paint eventually became the principal medium used for creating artworks as its advantages became widely known. In recent years, water miscible oil paint has come to prominence and, to some extent, water-soluble paints contain an emulsifier that allows them to be thinned with water rather than paint thinner, and allows very fast drying times when compared with traditional oils. Traditional oil painting techniques often begin with the artist sketching the subject onto the canvas with charcoal or thinned paint, Oil paint is usually mixed with linseed oil, artist grade mineral spirits, or other solvents to make the paint thinner, faster or slower-drying. A basic rule of oil paint application is fat over lean and this means that each additional layer of paint should contain more oil than the layer below to allow proper drying. If each additional layer contains less oil, the painting will crack. This rule does not ensure permanence, it is the quality and type of oil leads to a strong. There are many media that can be used with the oil, including cold wax, resins. These aspects of the paint are closely related to the capacity of oil paint. Traditionally, paint was transferred to the surface using paintbrushes. Oil paint remains wet longer than other types of artists materials, enabling the artist to change the color. At times, the painter might even remove a layer of paint. This can be done with a rag and some turpentine for a time while the paint is wet, Oil paint dries by oxidation, not evaporation, and is usually dry to the touch within a span of two weeks. It is generally dry enough to be varnished in six months to a year, art conservators do not consider an oil painting completely dry until it is 60 to 80 years old
3.
Canvas
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Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also used by artists as a painting surface. It is also used in such objects as handbags, electronic device cases. The word canvas is derived from the 13th century Anglo-French canevaz, both may be derivatives of the Vulgar Latin cannapaceus for made of hemp, originating from the Greek κάνναβις. Modern canvas is made of cotton or linen, although. It differs from other cotton fabrics, such as denim. Canvas comes in two types, plain and duck. The threads in duck canvas are more tightly woven, the term duck comes from the Dutch word for cloth, doek. In the United States, canvas is classified in two ways, by weight and by a number system. The numbers run in reverse of the weight so a number 10 canvas is lighter than number 4, canvas has become the most common support medium for oil painting, replacing wooden panels. One of the earliest surviving oils on canvas is a French Madonna with angels from around 1410 in the Gemäldegalerie, however, panel painting remained more common until the 16th century in Italy and the 17th century in Northern Europe. Mantegna and Venetian artists were among those leading the change, Venetian sail canvas was readily available, as lead-based paint is poisonous, care has to be taken in using it. Early canvas was made of linen, a sturdy brownish fabric of considerable strength, linen is particularly suitable for the use of oil paint. In the early 20th century, cotton canvas, often referred to as cotton duck, linen is composed of higher quality material, and remains popular with many professional artists, especially those who work with oil paint. Cotton duck, which stretches more fully and has an even, mechanical weave, the advent of acrylic paint has greatly increased the popularity and use of cotton duck canvas. Linen and cotton derive from two different plants, the flax plant and the cotton plant, respectively. Gessoed canvases on stretchers are also available and they are available in a variety of weights, light-weight is about 4 oz or 5 oz, medium-weight is about 7 oz or 8 oz, heavy-weight is about 10 oz or 12 oz. They are prepared with two or three coats of gesso and are ready for use straight away, artists desiring greater control of their painting surface may add a coat or two of their preferred gesso
4.
John Martin (painter)
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John Martin was an English Romantic painter, engraver and illustrator. He was celebrated for his typically vast and melodramatic paintings of subjects and fantastic compositions. Martin was born in July 1789, in a cottage, at Haydon Bridge, near Hexham in Northumberland, the fourth son of Fenwick Martin. His leisure was occupied in the study of perspective and architecture, Martin began to supplement his income by painting sepia watercolours. He sent his first oil painting to the Royal Academy in 1810, in 1811 he sent the painting once again, when it was hung under the title A Landscape Composition as item no.46 in the Great Room. Thereafter, he produced a succession of large exhibited oil paintings, some landscapes, in the years of the Regency from 1812 onwards there was a fashion for such ‘sublime’ paintings. Martins first break came at the end of a season at the Royal Academy and he brought it home, only to find there a visiting card from William Manning MP, who wanted to buy it from him. This promising career was interrupted by the deaths of his father, mother, grandmother, another distraction was William, who frequently asked him to draw up plans for his inventions, and whom he always indulged with help and money. But, heavily influenced by the works of John Milton, he continued with his grand themes despite setbacks, in 1816 Martin finally achieved public acclaim with Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon, even though it broke many of the conventional rules of composition. Martins triumph was Belshazzars Feast, of which he boasted beforehand, only dont tell anyone I said so. Five thousand people paid to see it and it was later nearly ruined when the carriage in which it was being transported was struck by a train at a level crossing near Oswestry. In private Martin was passionate, a devotee of chess—and, in common with his brothers, swordsmanship and javelin-throwing—and a devout Christian, Martin became the official historical painter to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, later the first King of Belgium. Leopold was the godfather of Martins son Leopold, and endowed Martin with the Order of Leopold, Martin was defender of deism and natural religion, evolution and rationality. Georges Cuvier became an admirer of Martins, and he enjoyed the company of scientists, artists and writers—Dickens, Faraday. At one time the Martins took under their wing a young woman called Jane Webb, a socially optimistic but satirical vision of a steam-driven world in the 22nd century. Another friend was Charles Wheatstone, professor of physics at King’s College, Wheatstone experimented with telegraphy and invented the concertina and stereoscope, Martin was fascinated by his attempts to measure the speed of light. At various points Martins brothers were also among the guests, their eccentricities and his profile was raised further in February 1829 when his elder brother, non-conformist, Jonathan Martin deliberately set fire to York Minster. The fire caused damage and the scene was likened by an onlooker to Martins work
5.
Babylon
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Babylon was a major city of ancient Mesopotamia in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city was built upon the Euphrates and divided in parts along its left and right banks. Babylon was originally a small Semitic Akkadian city dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c.2300 BC, the town attained independence as part of a small city-state with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BC. Babylon grew and South Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia, the empire quickly dissolved after Hammurabis death and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BC, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, and Sassanid empires. It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c.1770 to 1670 BC and it was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000. Estimates for the extent of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometres south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings, the English Babylon comes from Greek Babylṓn, a transliteration of the Akkadian Babili. The Babylonian name in the early 2nd millennium BC had been Babilli or Babilla, by the 1st millennium BC, it had changed to Babili under the influence of the folk etymology which traced it to bāb-ili. The Gate of God or Gate of El being from the Aramaic Hebrew Bab for Gate and El for God and this being similar to the Hebrew word for confusion Balal. In the Bible, the name appears as Babel, interpreted in the Hebrew Scriptures Book of Genesis to mean confusion, the modern English verb, to babble, or to speak meaningless words, is popularly thought to derive from this name, but there is no direct connection. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris. The site at Babylon consists of a number of mounds covering an area of about 2 by 1 kilometer, oriented north to south, along the Euphrates to the west. Originally, the river roughly bisected the city, but the course of the river has since shifted so that most of the remains of the western part of the city are now inundated. Some portions of the city wall to the west of the river also remain, remains of the city include, Kasr—also called Palace or Castle, it is the location of the Neo-Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki and lies in the center of the site. Amran Ibn Ali—the highest of the mounds at 25 meters, to the south and it is the site of Esagila, a temple of Marduk which also contained shrines to Ea and Nabu. Homera—a reddish colored mound on the west side, most of the Hellenistic remains are here
6.
Edinburgh
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Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 local government council areas. Located in Lothian on the Firth of Forths southern shore, it is Scotlands second most populous city and the seventh most populous in the United Kingdom. The 2014 official population estimates are 464,990 for the city of Edinburgh,492,680 for the authority area. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is home to the Scottish Parliament and it is the largest financial centre in the UK after London. Historically part of Midlothian, the city has long been a centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scots law, literature, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1582 and now one of four in the city, was placed 17th in the QS World University Rankings in 2013 and 2014. The city is famous for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe. The citys historical and cultural attractions have made it the United Kingdoms second most popular tourist destination after London, attracting over one million overseas visitors each year. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, the churches of St. Giles, Greyfriars and the Canongate, Edinburghs Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. It appears to derive from the place name Eidyn mentioned in the Old Welsh epic poem Y Gododdin, the poem names Din Eidyn as a hill fort in the territory of the Gododdin. The Celtic element din was dropped and replaced by the Old English burh, the first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is a royal charter, c. 1124–1127, by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline. In modern Gaelic, the city is called Dùn Èideann, the earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond, where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c.8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have found on Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat, Craiglockhart Hill. When the Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, at some point before the 7th century AD, the Gododdin, who were presumably descendants of the Votadini, built the hill fort of Din Eidyn or Etin. Although its location has not been identified, it likely they would have chosen a commanding position like the Castle Rock, Arthurs Seat. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria and it thenceforth remained under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, in 1638, King Charles Is attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. In the 17th century, Edinburghs boundaries were defined by the citys defensive town walls
7.
Book of Revelation
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Its title is derived from the first word of the text, written in Koine Greek, apokalypsis, meaning unveiling or revelation. The Book of Revelation is the apocalyptic document in the New Testament canon. The author names himself in the text as John, but his identity remains a point of academic debate. Modern scholarship generally takes a different view, and many consider that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet, Some modern scholars characterise Revelations author as a putative figure whom they call John of Patmos. The bulk of traditional sources date the book to the reign of the emperor Domitian, the book spans three literary genres, the epistolary, the apocalyptic, and the prophetic. It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean and he then describes a series of prophetic visions, including figures such as the Whore of Babylon and the Beast, culminating in the Second Coming of Jesus. The title is taken from the first word of the book in Koine Greek, ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis, the author names himself as John, but it is currently considered unlikely that the author of Revelation was also the author of the Gospel of John. All that is known is that this John was a Jewish Christian prophet, probably belonging to a group of such prophets and his precise identity remains unknown, and modern scholarship commonly refers to him as John of Patmos. 70 AD is the date of writing according to Martha Himmelfarb in the recently published Blackwell series. Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, Apocalypse means the revealing of divine mysteries, John is to write down what is revealed and send it to the seven churches. The entire book constitutes the letter—the letters to the seven churches are introductions to the rest of the book. While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author himself as a Christian prophet, Revelation uses the word in various forms twenty-one times. The predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the number of allusions or the allusions themselves. Revelation rarely quotes directly from the Old Testament, almost every verse alludes to or echoes older scriptures. Over half of the stem from Daniel, Ezekiel, Psalms. He very frequently combines multiple references, and again the style makes it impossible to be certain to what extent he did so consciously. Revelation was the last book accepted into the Christian biblical canon and it was considered tainted because the heretical sect of the Montanists relied on it and doubts were raised over its Jewishness and authorship. Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, disciple of Origen wrote that the Book of Revelation could have been written by Cerinthus although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was the writer and he regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired man but not of an Apostle
8.
New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion
9.
God in Christianity
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In Christianity, God is the eternal being who created and preserves all things. Christians believe God to be both transcendent and immanent, although the Judæo-Christian sect of the Ebionites protested against this apotheosis of Jesus, the great mass of Gentile Christians accepted it. This began to differentiate the Gentile Christian views of God from traditional Jewish teachings of the time, in the 8th century, John of Damascus listed eighteen attributes which remain widely accepted. As time passed, theologians developed systematic lists of these attributes, some based on statements in the Bible and this never becomes a tritheism, i. e. this does not imply three Gods. The doctrine of the Trinity can be summed up as, The One God exists in Three Persons and One Substance, as God the Father, God the Son, Trinitarians, who form the large majority of Christians, hold it as a core tenet of their faith. Nontrinitarian denominations define the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in a number of different ways, early Christian views of God are reflected in Apostle Pauls statement in 1 Corinthians, written ca. In John 14,26 Jesus also refers to the Holy Spirit, by the middle of the 2nd century, in Against Heresies Irenaeus had emphasized that the Creator is the one and only God and the maker of heaven and earth. These preceded the presentation of the concept of Trinity by Tertullian early in the 3rd century. This did not exclude either the fact the father of the universe was also the Father of Jesus the Christ or that he had even vouchsafed to adopt as his son by grace. Eastern creeds began with an affirmation of faith in one God and almost always expanded this by adding the Father Almighty, as time passed, theologians and philosophers developed more precise understandings of the nature of God and began to produce systematic lists of his attributes. These varied in detail, but traditionally the attributes fell into two groups, those based on negation and those based on eminence. Throughout the Christian development of ideas about God, the Bible “has been, in Christian theology the name of God has always had much deeper meaning and significance than being just a label or designator. It is not an invention, but has divine origin and is based on divine revelation. This is reflected in the first petition in the Lords Prayer addressed to God the Father, in Revelation 3,12 those who bear the name of God are destined for Heaven. John 17,6 presents the teachings of Jesus as the manifestation of the name of God to his disciples, the Bible usually uses the name of God in the singular, generally using the terms in a very general sense rather than referring to any special designation of God. However, general references to the name of God may branch to other forms which express his multifaceted attributes. Scripture presents many references to the names for God, but the key names in the Old Testament are, God the High and Exalted One, El-Shaddai, in the New Testament Theos, Kyrios and Pater are the essential names. The theological underpinnings of the attributes and nature of God have been discussed since the earliest days of Christianity
10.
Sacred
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Objects are often considered sacred if used for spiritual purposes, such as the worship or service of gods. The property is often ascribed to objects, or places, the word sacred descends from the Latin wikt, sacer, that is consecrated, or dedicated to the gods or anything in their power, and to sacerdos and sanctum, set apart. Although there are similarities between the sacred and holy and they are sometimes used interchangeably, there are subtle differences. Holiness is generally the term used in relation to persons and relationship, while sacredness is used in relation to objects, places, thus a saint may be considered as holy, but he is not viewed as sacred. However, there are things that are holy and sacred such as the holy bible. The Scottish hale is the most complete form of this Old English root. The word holy in its modern form appears in Wycliffes Bible of 1382, in non-specialist contexts, the term holy is used in a more general way, to refer to someone or something that is associated with a divine power, such as water used for baptism. While both words denote something or someone set apart to the worship of God and therefore worthy of respect and in some cases veneration, Holiness originates in God and is communicated to things, places, times, and persons engaged in His Service. Thus holiness or sanctity is the outcome of sanctification, that Divine act by which God freely justifies a person, hierology is the study of sacred literature or lore. Mircea Eliade outlines that religion should not be interpreted only as belief in deities and he analyses the dialectic of the sacred. The sacred is presented in relation to the profane, the relation between the sacred and the profane is not of opposition, but of complementarity, as the profane is viewed as a hierophany. In Durkheims theory, the sacred represented the interests of the group, especially unity, the profane, on the other hand, involved mundane individual concerns. Durkheim explicitly stated that the dichotomy sacred/profane was not equivalent to good/evil, the sacred could be good or evil, and the profane could be either as well. In Theravada Buddhism one finds the designation of noble person or ariyapuggala, the Buddha described four grades of such person depending on their level of purity. This purity is measured by which of the ten fetters and klesha have been purified and integrated from the mindstream and these persons are called Sotāpanna, Sakadagami, Anāgāmi and Arahant. Catholicism has inherited much of the Jewish vision of the world in terms of holiness, the calendar gives shape to Catholic practice, which tends to focus on the Eucharist, in which the Real Presence of Christ is manifested. Holy days, celebrating events of the life of Christ and the lives of Catholic saints officially recognized as holy, are celebrated throughout the year, in extension of this focus on the Sacrament as holy, many objects in Catholicism are also considered holy. They are called sacramentals and are blessed by a priest
11.
Incorporeality
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Incorporeal or uncarnate means without a physical body, presence or form. It is often used in reference to souls, spirits, and God in many religions including Judaism, Christianity, in ancient philosophy, any attenuated thin matter such as air, ether, fire or light was considered incorporeal. In modern philosophy, a distinction between the incorporeal and immaterial is not necessarily maintained, a body is described as if it is not made out of matter. In the problem of universals, universals are separable from any particular embodiment in one sense, while in another, Aristotle offered a hylomorphic account of abstraction in contrast to Platos world of Forms. Aristotle used the Greek terms soma and hyle, the notion that a causally effective incorporeal body is even coherent requires the belief that something can affect whats material, without physically existing at the point of effect. A ball can directly affect another ball by coming in contact with it. An incorporeal field of influence, or immaterial body could not perform these functions because they have no physical construction with which to perform these functions. Following Newton, it became customary to accept action at a distance as brute fact and we find at least a tendency towards monotheism, One god, greatest among gods and men, in no way similar to mortals either in body or in thought. A god who is the cause of all, Always he remains in the place, moving not at all. But without toil he shakes all things by the thought of his mind, in Physics VIII,5, speaks favorably of Anaxagoras Mind in so far as it is impassive and unmixed. How can Aristotle have held both that God is immanent and also impassive and unmixed, much of his argument depends on an analogy drawn from geometry. Aristotle rejects the notion that God might think of something other than himself precisely because this would be to diminish his power, the power that Aristotle is concerned about is the power whereby God has an effect in the world. So, we must conceive of Gods thoughts about himself as bound up with his immanency, Aristotle offers an explanation of how this works, just as our intentions are their external objects less their matter, so God thinks himself in the things that depend on him. The interpretation of Thomas Aquinas would appear then to be correct, a Platonic incorporeal is necessarily imperceptible to all the senses, and it does not occupy space. Alcuin also carefully specifies that the soul is circumscribed but nonetheless whole in every part of the body. In other words, the soul is neither diffused throughout the universe as God is or as a world-soul would be, nor is it distributed throughout a space in such a way that it can be divided. If incorporeality makes the soul imperceptible to the senses, it is more important that incorporeality allows the soul to apprehend other things that are imperceptible to the senses. The idea that like perceives like goes back to the Greek Presocratics, traditional forms of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each conceive of God as an immaterial, nonphysical reality
12.
Love of God in Christianity
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‹See Tfd› The love of God is a prevalent concept both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Love is a key attribute of God in Christianity, even if in the New Testament the expression God is love explicitly occurs only twice, the love of God has been the center of the spirituality of a number of Christian mystics such as Teresa of Avila. The Old Testament uses a rich vocabulary to express the love of God, for example, the prophet Hosea saw Gods love as the basis for the election of Israel. In Isaiah 38, God expresses his love for individuals as well, many Christians see Solomon as symbolizing Christs relation to his church. According to Psalms 5, God hates all workers of iniquity For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, the foolish shall not stand in thy sight, thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing, the Lord will abhor the bloody, but as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Psalms 5, 4-7 Both the terms love of God and love of Christ appear in the New Testament, in cases such as in Romans 8,35 and Romans 8,39 their use is related in the experience of the believer, without asserting their equality. In John 14,31 Jesus expresses his love for God the Father and this verse includes the only direct statement by Jesus in the New Testament about Jesus love for the God the Father. The love of the Father for his Son is expressed in Matthew 3,17 by a voice from Heaven during the Baptism of Jesus. The same sentiment is expressed during the Transfiguration of Jesus in Mark 9,7. Love is a key attribute of God in Christianity,1 John 4,8 and 16 state that God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. John 3,16 states, God so loved the world, in the New Testament, Gods love for humanity or the world is expressed in Greek as agape. The experience of Gods love is a part in most traditions of Christian mysticism. This experience of Gods love plays a role in the Spiritual Exercises. Gods love also plays an important part in the writings of Medieval German mystics, such as Mechthild of Magdeburg and Hildegard von Bingen, julian of Norwich expresses the same sentiment in her Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love. Thomas Aquinas taught that the essence of sanctity lies in love of God, agape Love of Christ Love of God WELS Topical Q&A, God in Old Testament / God in New Testament, by Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod God Is Love, His Love in Action
13.
Omniscience
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Omniscience /ɒmˈnɪʃəns/, mainly in religion, is the capacity to know everything that there is to know. In particular, Dharmic religions and the Abrahamic religions believe that there is a divine being who is omniscient, an omniscient point-of-view, in writing, is to know everything that can be known about a character, including past history, thoughts, feelings, etc. In Latin, omnis means all and science means knowing, there is a distinction between, inherent omniscience - the ability to know anything that one chooses to know and can be known. Total omniscience - actually knowing everything that can be known, in Jainism, omniscience is considered the highest type of perception. In the words of a Jain scholar, The perfect manifestation of the nature of the self. Jainism views infinite knowledge as an inherent capability of every soul, arihanta is the word used by Jains to refer to those human beings who have conquered all inner passions and possess Kevala Jnana. They are said to be of two kinds, Sāmānya kevali – omniscient beings who are concerned with their own liberation, tirthankara kevali – human beings who attain omniscience and then help others to achieve the same. Omnipotence is sometimes understood to imply the capacity to know everything that will be. Nontheism often claims that the concept of omniscience is inherently contradictory. Whether omniscience, particularly regarding the choices that a human will make, is compatible with free will has been debated by theists, the argument that divine foreknowledge is not compatible with free will is known as theological fatalism. Generally, if humans are free to choose between different alternatives, it is very difficult to understand how God could know what this choice will be. Some theists argue that God created all knowledge and has ready access thereto, alternately if knowledge was not a creation but merely existed in Gods mind for all time there would be no contradiction. In Thomistic thought, which holds God to exist outside of time due to his ability to perceive everything at once, the circular time contradiction can suppose anything concerning God, such as the creation of life, meaning before God created life, he wasnt alive. These apparent contradictions, however, presuppose that such attributes are defined and detached from God. It is not a given that attributes which can be assigned to or used to describe mankind, a similar argument could be laid down concerning Gods omniscience. It even eludes the idea a lot more even to assume the concept of nothing or negation was created, assuming that the creator and creation is separate, and not the same one thing, or process. That it is a this or that notion, instead of a this, one verse God created man in his own Image states that God imagined the form of humans, taking image as a root word for imagine, mistakenly understood as man to look like God. [this verse from Genesis 1 is in the Hebrew Scriptures, the word Image is translated from two Hebrew words demuth - likeness or similitude and tselem- an obscure word which translates as image or idol
14.
Monotheism
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Monotheism has been defined as the belief in the existence of only one god that created the world, is all-powerful and interferes in the world. Another, more broad definition of monotheism, is the belief in one god, a distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, and both inclusive monotheism and pluriform monotheism which, while recognising various distinct gods, postulate some underlying unity. There are also monotheistic parody religions, such as Pastafarianism, the word monotheism comes from the Greek μόνος meaning single and θεός meaning god. The English term was first used by Henry More, according to Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition, monotheism was the original religion of humanity. Scholars of religion largely abandoned that view in the 19th century in favour of a progression from animism via polytheism to monotheism. Austrian anthropologist Wilhelm Schmidt had postulated an Urmonotheismus, original or primitive monotheism in the 1910s and it was objected that Judaism, Christianity, and Islam had grown up in opposition to polytheism as had Greek philosophical monotheism. Some writers believe that the concept of monotheism sees a gradual development out of notions of henotheism and monolatrism, quasi-monotheistic claims of the existence of a universal deity date to the Late Bronze Age, with Akhenatens Great Hymn to the Aten. A possible inclination towards monotheism emerged during the Vedic period in Iron-Age South Asia, the Rigveda exhibits notions of monism of the Brahman, in particular, in the comparatively late tenth book, dated to the early Iron Age, e. g. in the Nasadiya sukta. While all adherents of the Abrahamic religions consider themselves to be monotheists, Judaism does not consider Christianity to be monotheistic, Judaism is one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world. God in Judaism is strictly monotheistic, a one, indivisible. The Babylonian Talmud references other, foreign gods as non-existent entities to whom humans mistakenly ascribe reality, One of the best-known statements of Rabbinical Judaism on monotheism is the Second of Maimonides 13 Principles of faith, God, the Cause of all, is one. This does not mean one as in one of a pair, nor one like a species, nor one as in an object that is made up of many elements, rather, God is a unity unlike any other possible unity. Judaism and Islam reject the Christian idea of monotheism, Judaism uses the term shituf to refer to the worship of God in a manner which Judaism does not deem to be monotheistic. During the 8th century BCE, the worship of YHWH in Israel was in competition with other cults. Some scholars hypothesize that Judaism was originally a form of monolatrism or henotheism, in this hypothesis both the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah had YHWH as their state god, while also acknowledging the existence of other gods. Shema Yisrael are the first two words of a section of the Torah, and is the title of a prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services. Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the service in Judaism. It is traditional for Jews to say the Shema as their last words, despite at least one earlier local synod rejecting the claim of Arius, this Christological issue was to be one of the items addressed at the First Council of Nicaea
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Divine providence
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In theology, divine providence, or just providence, is Gods intervention in the world. The term Divine Providence is also used as a title of God, miracles generally fall in the latter category. The word comes from Latin providentia foresight, prudence, from pro- ahead, the current use of the word has the sense of knowledge of the future or omniscience, understood as an attribute of God. In Acts 17 Paul says, t is he who gives to life and breath. In him we live and move and have our being, augustine of Hippo is perhaps most famously associated with the doctrine of Divine Providence in the Latin West. However, Christian teaching on providence in the high Middle Ages was most fully developed by Thomas Aquinas in the Summa Theologica. The concept of providence as care exercised by God over the universe, his foresight, in it, he presents and solves, according to Catholic doctrine, the most difficult issues as related to providence. This term is an part of John Calvins theological framework known as Calvinism, which emphasizes the total depravity of man. Gods plan for the world and every soul that he has created is guided by his will, in this mode of thought, providence is related to predestination. This concept remains prominent among many Protestant denominations that identify with Calvinism, in Lutheran theology, divine providence refers to Gods preservation of creation, his cooperation with everything that happens, and his guiding of the universe. While God cooperates with both good and evil deeds, with the deeds he does so only inasmuch as they are deeds. God concurs with an effect, but he does not cooperate in the corruption of an act or the evil of its effect. Lutherans believe everything exists for the sake of the Christian Church, according to Martin Luther, divine providence began when God created the world with everything needed for human life, including both physical things and natural laws. Of the services others provide us through family, government, and work, he writes, we receive these blessings not from them, since God uses everyones useful tasks for good, people should look not down upon some useful vocations as being less worthy than others. Instead people should honor others, no matter how lowly, as being the means God uses to work in the world, Divine Providence is a book published by Emanuel Swedenborg in 1764 which describes his systematic theology regarding providence, free will, theodicy, and other related topics. Both meanings of providence are applicable in Swedenborgs theology, in that providence encompasses understanding, intent, Divine providence relative to man is foresight, and relative to the Lord is providence. Swedenborg proposes that one law of divine providence is that man should act from freedom according to reason, Divine providence is discussed throughout Rabbinic literature, and in particular by the classical Jewish philosophers. These writings maintain that divine providence means that God is directing every minute detail of creation and this analysis thus underpins much of Orthodox Judaisms world view, particularly as regards questions of interaction with the natural world
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Trinity
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The Christian doctrine of the Trinity holds that God is three consubstantial persons or hypostases—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—as one God in three Divine Persons. The three persons are distinct, yet are one substance, essence or nature, in this context, a nature is what one is, whereas a person is who one is. Reflection, proclamation, and dialogue led to the formulation of the doctrine that was felt to correspond to the data in the Bible. The simplest outline of the doctrine was formulated in the 4th century, further elaboration continued in the succeeding centuries. Scripture contains neither the word Trinity, nor an expressly formulated doctrine of the Trinity, rather, according to the Christian theology, it bears witness to the activity of a God who can only be understood in Trinitarian terms. The doctrine did not take its shape until late in the fourth century. During the intervening period, various solutions, some more. Trinitarianism contrasts with nontrinitarian positions which include Binitarianism, Unitarianism, Oneness Pentecostalism or Modalism, the word trinity is derived from Latin trinitas, meaning the number three, a triad. This abstract noun is formed from the adjective trinus, as the word unitas is the noun formed from unus. The corresponding word in Greek is tριάς, meaning a set of three or the number three, the first recorded use of this Greek word in Christian theology was by Theophilus of Antioch in about 170. He wrote, In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth is the type of man, who needs light, that so there may be God, the Word, wisdom, man. The Ante-Nicene Fathers asserted Christs deity and spoke of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Trinitarians view these as elements of the codified doctrine. Ignatius of Antioch provides early support for the Trinity around 110, exhorting obedience to Christ, and to the Father, and to the Spirit. Justin Martyr also writes, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, the first of the early church fathers to be recorded using the word Trinity was Theophilus of Antioch writing in the late 2nd century. He defines the Trinity as God, His Word and His Wisdom in the context of a discussion of the first three days of creation, the first defence of the doctrine of the Trinity was in the early 3rd century by the early church father Tertullian. He explicitly defined the Trinity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, St. Justin and Clement of Alexandra used the Trinity in their doxologies and St. Basil likewise, in the evening lighting of lamps. The highly allegorical exegesis of the Valentinian school inclined it to interpret the relevant scriptural passages as affirming a Divinity that, the Valentinian Gospel of Phillip, which dates to approximately the time of Tertullian, upholds the Trinitarian formula
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Religious views on truth
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Religious views on truth vary from religion and cultures around the world. The Four Noble Truths are the most fundamental Buddhist teachings and appear countless times throughout the most ancient Buddhist texts, therefore, they are called noble truths. The Four Noble Truths are as follows, The truth that suffering exists, the truth that suffering exists with a root cause. The truth that suffering can be eliminated, the truth that there is a way to eliminate suffering known as the Noble Eightfold Path. The Two Truths Doctrine in Buddhism differentiates between two levels of truth in Buddhist discourse, a relative, or commonsense truth, and an ultimate or absolute spiritual truth. Stated differently, the Two Truths Doctrine holds that truth exists in conventional and ultimate forms, other schools, such as Dzogchen, hold that the Two Truths Doctrine are ultimately resolved into nonduality as a lived experience and are non-different. The doctrine is an important element of Buddhism and was first expressed in complete modern form by Nagarjuna. Christian truth is based upon the history, revelation and testimony from the Bible, the central person in Christianity, Jesus, claimed to be Truth when he said, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through me. Truth is thus considered to be an attribute of God, in Christian Science, Truth is God. Christian philosopher William Lane Craig notes that the Bible typically uses the true or truth in non-philosophical senses to indicate such qualities as fidelity, moral rectitude. However, it does use the word in the philosophical sense of veracity. Some Christian traditions hold a doctrine called Biblical inerrancy, which believes that the Bible is without error, various interpretations have been applied, depending on the tradition. According to some interpretations of the doctrine, all of the Bible is without error, i. e. is to be taken as true, the notion of the Pope as infallible in matters of faith and morals is derived from this idea. Truthfulness is the ninth of the ten attributes of dharma, in the Upanishads of ancient India, truth is Sat, the One Reality and Existence, which is directly experienced when the vision is cleared of dross. The Rishi discovers what exists, Sat, as the truth of ones own Being, the Self or Atma, and as the truth of the Being of God, Ishvara. In this usage, the truth is used to refer to not merely a derived quality true rather than false. This is described by Ramana Maharshi, There is no greater mystery than that we keep seeking reality, though, in fact, although, historically, Jain authors have adopted different views on truth, the most prevalent is the system of anekantavada or not-one-sidedness. This idea of truth is rooted in the notion that there is one truth, anekantavada works around the limitations of a one-sided view of truth by proposing multiple vantage points from which truth can be viewed
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Supernatural
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One complicating factor is that there is disagreement about the definition of natural and the limits of naturalism. Concepts in the domain are closely related to concepts in religious spirituality. Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things, as when we say that nature makes the night succeed the day, nature hath made respiration necessary to the life of men. Sometimes we take nature for the universe, or system of the works of God, as when it is said of a phoenix, or a chimera. And sometimes too, and that most commonly, we would express by nature a semi-deity or other kind of being. Parapsychologists use the term psi to refer to a unitary force underlying the phenomena they study. Views on the supernatural vary, for example it may be seen as, from this perspective, some events occur according to the laws of nature, and others occur according to a separate set of principles external to known nature. For example, in Scholasticism, it was believed that God was capable of performing any miracle so long as it didnt lead to a logical contradiction, others believe that all events have natural and only natural causes. They believe that human beings ascribe supernatural attributes to purely natural events, such as lightning, rainbows, floods, the supernatural is a feature of the philosophical traditions of Neoplatonism and Scholasticism. In contrast, the philosophy of Metaphysical naturalism argues for the conclusion that there are no supernatural entities, objects, most religions include elements of belief in the supernatural while also often featuring prominently in the study of the paranormal and occultism. Process theology is a school of thought influenced by the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. It is not possible, in process metaphysics, to conceive divine activity as an intervention into the “natural” order of events. Process theists usually regard the distinction between the supernatural and the natural as a by-product of the doctrine of creation ex nihilo, in process thought, there is no such thing as a realm of the natural in contrast to that which is supernatural. On the other hand, if “the natural” is defined more neutrally as “what is in the nature of things, in Whiteheads words, “It lies in the nature of things that the many enter into complex unity”. It is tempting to emphasize process theisms denial of the supernatural, dreams as a Source of Supernatural Agent Concepts. Riekki T, Lindeman M, Raij T. T, Supernatural Believers Attribute More Intentions to Random Movement than Skeptics, An fMRI Study. CS1 maint, Multiple names, authors list Purzycki Benjamin G, the Minds of Gods, A Comparative Study of Supernatural Agency. Unresolved Mourning, Supernatural Beliefs and Dissociation, A Mediation Analysis, vail K. E, Arndt J, Addollahi A
19.
Punishment
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Punishment may be self-inflicted as with self-flagellation and mortification of the flesh in the religious setting, but is most often a form of social coercion. The unpleasant imposition may include a fine, penalty, or confinement, the individual may be a person, or even an animal. The authority may be either a group or a single person, negative consequences that are not authorized or that are administered without a breach of rules are not considered to be punishment as defined here. Research into punishment often includes similar research into prevention, justifications for punishment include retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation. The last could include such measures as isolation, in order to prevent the wrongdoers having contact with potential victims, if only some of the conditions included in the definition of punishment are present, descriptions other than punishment may be considered more accurate. Inflicting something negative, or unpleasant, on a person or animal, in addition, the word punishment is used as a metaphor, as when a boxer experiences punishment during a fight. In other situations, breaking a rule may be rewarded, finally the condition of breaking the rules must be satisfied for consequences to be considered punishment. Corporal punishment refers to punishments in which pain is intended to be inflicted upon the transgressor. Punishments may be judged as fair or unfair in terms of their degree of reciprocity and proportionality to the offense, Punishment can be an integral part of socialization, and punishing unwanted behaviour is often part of a system of pedagogy or behavioral modification which also includes rewards. Various philosophers have presented definitions of punishment, introduced by B. F. Skinner, punishment has a more restrictive and technical definition. Along with reinforcement it belongs under the operant conditioning category, operant conditioning refers to learning with either punishment as a negative rienforcer or a reward that serves as a positive reinforcement of the lesson to be learned. In psychology, punishment is the reduction of a behavior via application of an unpleasant stimulus or removal of a pleasant stimulus, extra chores or spanking are examples of positive punishment, while removing an offending students recess or play privileges are examples of negative punishment. The definition requires that punishment is only determined after the fact by the reduction in behavior, if the behavior of the subject does not decrease. There is some conflation of punishment and aversives, though an aversion that does not decrease behavior is not considered punishment in psychology, additionally, aversive stimulus is a label behaviorists generally apply to negative reinforcers, rather than punishers. During a period of heavy fishing and tourism that encroached on their territory, they started to live in groups, learning from each other, especially hunting techniques. Small, younger octopuses could be near the fully grown octopuses without being eaten by them, even though they, the authors also note that the octopuses adopted observational learning without any evolutionary history of specialized adaptation for it. There are also arguments against the notion of punishment requiring intelligence, there is proof of honey bee workers with mutations that makes them fertile laying eggs only when other honey bees are not observing them, and that the few that are caught in the act are killed. The authors argue that this falsifies the claim that punishment evolved as a strategy to deal with individuals capable of knowing what they are doing, certain scientists argue that this disproves the notion of humans having a biological feeling of intentional transgressions deserving to be punished
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Deity
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A deity is a concept conceived in diverse ways in various cultures, typically as a natural or supernatural being considered divine or sacred. A male deity is a god, while a female deity is a goddess, the Oxford reference defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. Various cultures have conceptualized a deity differently than a monotheistic God, a plain deity need not be omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, or eternal, however an almighty monotheistic God generally does have these attributes. Monotheistic religions typically refer to God in masculine terms, while other religions refer to their deities in a variety of ways – masculine, feminine, androgynous, some Avestan and Vedic deities were viewed as ethical concepts. In Indian religions, deities have been envisioned as manifesting within the temple of every living beings body, as sensory organs, but in Indian religions, all deities are also subject to death when their merit runs out. The English language word deity derives from Old French deité, the Latin deitatem or divine nature, deus is related through a common Proto-Indo-European language origin to *deiwos. Deva is masculine, and the feminine equivalent is devi. Etymologically, the cognates of Devi are Latin dea and Greek thea, in Old Persian, daiva- means demon, evil god, while in Sanskrit it means the opposite, referring to the heavenly, divine, terrestrial things of high excellence, exalted, shining ones. The closely linked term god refers to supreme being, deity, which states Douglas Harper, is derived from Proto-Germanic *guthan, from PIE *ghut-, guth in the Irish language means voice. The term *ghut- is also the source of Old Church Slavonic zovo, Sanskrit huta-, from the root *gheu- An alternate etymology for the term god traces it to the PIE root *ghu-to-, the term *gheu- is also the source of the Greek khein to pour. Originally the German root was a noun, but the gender of the monotheistic God shifted to masculine under the influence of Christianity. In contrast, all ancient Indo-European cultures and mythologies recognized both masculine and feminine deities, the term deity often connotes the concept of sacred or divine, as a god or goddess, in a polytheistic religion. However, there is no accepted consensus concept of deity across religions and cultures. Huw Owen states that the deity or god or its equivalent in other languages has a bewildering range of meanings. Some engravings or sketches show animals, hunters or rituals, the Venus of Willendorf, a female figurine found in Europe and dated to about 25,000 BCE has been interpreted as an exemplar of a prehistoric divine feminine. In Buddhist mythology, devas are beings inhabiting certain happily placed worlds of Buddhist cosmology and these beings are mortal and numerous. It is also common for iṣṭadevatās to be called deities, although the nature of Yidams is distinct from what is meant by the term. Buddhism does not believe in a creator deity, however, deities are an essential part of Buddhist cosmology, rebirth and Saṃsāra doctrines
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Culture
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Culture can be defined in numerous ways. In the words of anthropologist E. B, Tylor, it is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. The Cambridge English Dictionary states that culture is the way of life, especially the customs and beliefs. As a defining aspect of what it means to be human, culture is a concept in anthropology. The word is used in a sense as the evolved ability to categorize and represent experiences with symbols. The level of cultural sophistication has also sometimes seen to distinguish civilizations from less complex societies. Mass culture refers to the mass-produced and mass mediated forms of culture that emerged in the 20th century. When used as a count noun, a culture is the set of customs, traditions, in this sense, multiculturalism is a concept that values the peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between different cultures inhabiting the same planet. Sometimes culture is used to describe specific practices within a subgroup of a society. Samuel Pufendorf took over this metaphor in a context, meaning something similar. His use, and that of many writers after him, refers to all the ways in which human beings overcome their original barbarism, and through artifice, become fully human. To be cultural, to have a culture, is to inhabit a place sufficiently intensive to cultivate it—to be responsible for it, to respond to it, thus a contrast between culture and civilization is usually implied in these authors, even when not expressed as such. Cultural invention has come to any innovation that is new and found to be useful to a group of people and expressed in their behavior. Humanity is in a global accelerating culture change period, driven by the expansion of commerce, the mass media, and above all. Culture repositioning means the reconstruction of the concept of a society. Cultures are internally affected by both forces encouraging change and forces resisting change, Social conflict and the development of technologies can produce changes within a society by altering social dynamics and promoting new cultural models, and spurring or enabling generative action. These social shifts may accompany ideological shifts and other types of cultural change, for example, the U. S. feminist movement involved new practices that produced a shift in gender relations, altering both gender and economic structures. Environmental conditions may also enter as factors, Cultures are externally affected via contact between societies, which may also produce—or inhibit—social shifts and changes in cultural practices
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Flood myth
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A flood myth or deluge myth is a narrative in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Most flood myths also contain a culture hero, who represents the human craving for life, the Mesopotamian flood stories concern the epics of Ziusudra, Gilgamesh, and Atrahasis. In the Sumerian King List, it relies on the motif to divide its history into preflood and postflood periods. The preflood kings had enormous lifespans, whereas postflood lifespans were much reduced, in the Atrahasis version, the flood is a river flood. In the Genesis mythology of the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh decides to flood the earth because of the depth of the state of mankind. Righteous Noah is given instructions to build an ark, when the ark is completed, Noah, his family, and representatives of all the animals of the earth are called upon to enter the ark. When the destructive flood begins, all life outside of the ark perishes, after the waters recede, all those aboard the ark disembark and have Gods promise that he will never judge the earth with a flood again. He gives the rainbow as the sign of this promise, in the 19th century, Assyriologist George Smith translated the Babylonian account of a great flood. Further discoveries produced several versions of the Mesopotamian flood myth, with the account closest to that in Genesis found in a 700 BCE Babylonian copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the vessel would save Utnapishtim, his family, his friends, and the animals. In Platos Timaeus, Timaeus says that because the Bronze race of Humans had been making wars constantly Zeus was angered and decided to punish humanity by a flood. Prometheus the Titan knew of this and told the secret to Deucalion, after 9 nights and days, the water started receding and the ark was landed at Mount Parnassus. In ancient Mesopotamia, the Sumerian King List reads After kingship came down from heaven, the kingship was taken to Shuruppak. In Shuruppak, Ubara-Tutu became king, he ruled for 5 sars and 1 ner, in 5 cities 8 kings, they ruled for 241,200 years. Excavations in Iraq have revealed evidence of localized flooding at Shuruppak, a layer of riverine sediments, radiocarbon dated to about 2900 BC, interrupts the continuity of settlement, extending as far north as the city of Kish, which took over hegemony after the flood. Polychrome pottery from the Jemdet Nasr period was discovered immediately below the Shuruppak flood stratum, other sites, such as Ur, Kish, Uruk, Lagash, and Ninevah, all present evidence of flooding. However, this comes from different time periods. Geologically, the Shuruppak flood coincides with the 5.9 kiloyear event at the end of the Older Peron, in Israel, there is no such evidence of a widespread flood. Given the similarities in the Mesopotamian flood story and the Biblical account, floods in the wake of the last glacial period may have inspired myths that survive to this day
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Epic of Gilgamesh
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The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia that is often regarded as the earliest surviving great work of literature. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about Bilgamesh, king of Uruk and these independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic. The first surviving version of this epic, known as the Old Babylonian version, dates to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incipit. Only a few tablets of it have survived, the later Standard version dates from the 13th to the 10th centuries BC and bears the incipit Sha naqba īmuru. Approximately two thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been recovered, some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BC Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. The first half of the story discusses Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and Enkidu, after an initial fight, Gilgamesh and Enkidu become close friends. Together, they journey to the Cedar Mountain and defeat Humbaba, later they kill the Bull of Heaven, which the goddess Ishtar sends to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. As a punishment for actions, the gods sentence Enkidu to death. In the second half of the epic, distress about Enkidus death causes Gilgamesh to undertake a long and he eventually learns that Life, which you look for, you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let death be his share, however, because of his great building projects, his account of Siduris advice, and what the immortal man Utnapishtim told him about the Great Flood, Gilgameshs fame survived his death. His story has been translated into many languages, and in recent years has featured in works of popular fiction, distinct sources exist from over a 2000-year timeframe. The earliest Sumerian poems are now considered to be distinct stories. They date from as early as the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Old Babylonian tablets, are the earliest surviving tablets for a single Epic of Gilgamesh narrative. The older Old Babylonian tablets and later Akkadian version are important sources for modern translations, although several revised versions based on new discoveries have been published, the epic remains incomplete. Analysis of the Old Babylonian text has been used to reconstruct possible earlier forms of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The most recent Akkadian version, also referred to as the standard version, the Epic of Gilgamesh was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in 1853. The central character of Gilgamesh was initially reintroduced to the world as Izdubar, the first modern translation was published in the early 1870s by George Smith. Smith then made further discoveries of texts on his later expeditions, the most definitive modern translation is a two-volume critical work by Andrew George, published by Oxford University Press in 2003
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Hindu
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Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
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Vedas
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The Vedas are a large body of knowledge texts originating in the ancient Indian subcontinent. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature, Hindus consider the Vedas to be apauruṣeya, which means not of a man, superhuman and impersonal, authorless. Vedas are also called śruti literature, distinguishing them from religious texts. The Veda, for orthodox Indian theologians, are considered revelations seen by ancient sages after intense meditation, in the Hindu Epic the Mahabharata, the creation of Vedas is credited to Brahma. The Vedic hymns themselves assert that they were created by Rishis, after inspired creativity. There are four Vedas, the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda, each Veda has been subclassified into four major text types – the Samhitas, the Aranyakas, the Brahmanas, and the Upanishads. Some scholars add a fifth category – the Upasanas, the various Indian philosophies and denominations have taken differing positions on the Vedas. Schools of Indian philosophy which cite the Vedas as their authority are classified as orthodox. Other śramaṇa traditions, such as Lokayata, Carvaka, Ajivika, Buddhism and Jainism, despite their differences, just like the texts of the śramaṇa traditions, the layers of texts in the Vedas discuss similar ideas and concepts. The Sanskrit word véda knowledge, wisdom is derived from the root vid- to know and this is reconstructed as being derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *u̯eid-, meaning see or know. The noun is from Proto-Indo-European *u̯eidos, cognate to Greek εἶδος aspect, not to be confused is the homonymous 1st and 3rd person singular perfect tense véda, cognate to Greek οἶδα oida I know. Root cognates are Greek ἰδέα, English wit, etc, the Sanskrit term veda as a common noun means knowledge. The term in some contexts, such as hymn 10.93.11 of the Rigveda, means obtaining or finding wealth, property, a related word Vedena appears in hymn 8.19.5 of the Rigveda. It was translated by Ralph T. H. Griffith as ritual lore, as studying the Veda by the 14th century Indian scholar Sayana, as bundle of grass by Max Müller, Vedas are called Maṛai or Vaymoli in parts of South India. Marai literally means hidden, a secret, mystery, in some south Indian communities such as Iyengars, the word Veda includes the Tamil writings of the Alvar saints, such as Divya Prabandham, for example Tiruvaymoli. The Vedas are among the oldest sacred texts, the Samhitas date to roughly 1700–1100 BC, and the circum-Vedic texts, as well as the redaction of the Samhitas, date to c. 1000-500 BC, resulting in a Vedic period, spanning the mid 2nd to mid 1st millennium BC, or the Late Bronze Age, Michael Witzel gives a time span of c.1500 to c. Witzel makes special reference to the Near Eastern Mitanni material of the 14th century BC the only record of Indo-Aryan contemporary to the Rigvedic period
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Book of Genesis
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The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. The basic narrative expresses the theme, God creates the world and appoints man as his regent. The new post-Flood world is also corrupt, God does not destroy it, instead calling one man, Abraham, to be the seed of its salvation. At Gods command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan, given to him by God, Genesis ends with Israel in Egypt, ready for the coming of Moses and the Exodus. The narrative is punctuated by a series of covenants with God, the books author or authors appear to have structured it around ten toledot sections, but modern commentators see it in terms of a primeval history followed by the cycle of Patriarchal stories. In Judaism, the importance of Genesis centers on the covenants linking God to his chosen people. It is not clear, however, what this meant to the original authors, while the first is far shorter than the second, it sets out the basic themes and provides an interpretive key for understanding the entire book. The primeval history has a symmetrical structure hinging on chapters 6–9, God creates the world in six days and consecrates the seventh as a day of rest. God creates the first humans Adam and Eve and all the animals in the Garden of Eden but instructs them not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. A talking serpent portrayed as a creature or trickster, entices Eve into eating it anyway. Eve bears two sons, Cain and Abel, Cain kills Abel after God accepts Abels offering but not Cains. Eve bears another son, Seth, to take Abels place, after many generations of Adam have passed from the lines of Cain and Seth, the world becomes corrupted by the sin of man and Nephilim, and God determines to wipe out mankind. First, he instructs the righteous Noah and his family to build a huge boat, then God sends a great flood to wipe out the rest of the world. When the waters recede, God promises that he not destroy the world a second time with water with the rainbow as the symbol of his promise. But upon seeing mankind cooperating to build a great tower city, God instructs Abram to travel from his home in Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan. Abrams name is changed to Abraham and that of his wife Sarai to Sarah, because Sarah is old, she tells Abraham to take her Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar, as a second wife. God resolves to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sins of their people, Abraham protests and gets God to agree not to destroy the cities if 10 righteous men can be found. Angels save Abrahams nephew Lot and his family, but his wife back on the destruction against their command and is turned into a pillar of salt
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Noah
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In the Abrahamic religions, Noah was the tenth and last of the pre-flood Patriarchs. The story of Noahs Ark is told in the Bibles Genesis flood narrative, the biblical account is followed by the story of the Curse of Canaan. Noah was the subject of much elaboration in the literature of later Abrahamic religions, the primary account of Noah in the Bible is in the Book of Genesis. Noah was the tenth of the pre-flood Patriarchs and his father was Lamech and his mother is unknown. When Noah was five hundred years old, he begat Shem, Ham, the Genesis flood narrative makes up chapters 6–9 in the Book of Genesis, in the Bible. Thus, the flood was no ordinary overflow but a reversal of creation, and God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. They were also told that all fowls, land animals, furthermore, as well as green plants, every moving thing would be their food with the exception that the blood was not to be eaten. Mans life blood would be required from the beasts and from man, whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man. Noah died 350 years after the flood, at the age of 950, the maximum human lifespan, as depicted by the Bible, diminishes rapidly thereafter, from almost 1,000 years to the 120 years of Moses. After the flood, Noah became a husbandman and he planted a vineyard, and he drank of the wine, and was drunken, and was uncovered within his tent. Noahs son Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his brethren, in Jewish tradition and rabbinic literature, rabbis blame Satan for the intoxicating properties of the wine. In the field of biblical criticism, J. H. Ellens and W. G. Rollins address the narrative of Genesis 9. Because of its brevity and textual inconsistencies, it has suggested that this narrative is a splinter from a more substantial tale. A fuller account would explain what exactly Ham had done to his father, or why Noah directed a curse at Canaan for Hams misdeed, or how Noah came to know what occurred. The narrator relates two facts, Noah became drunken and he was uncovered within his tent, and Ham saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. Thus, these passages revolve around sexuality and the exposure of genitalia as compared with other Hebrew Bible texts, such as Habakkuk 2,15 and Lamentations 4,21. Genesis 10 sets forth the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, among Japheth’s descendants were the maritime nations. Ham’s son Cush had a son named Nimrod, who became the first man of might on earth, a mighty hunter, king in Babylon, from there Asshur went and built Nineveh
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Quran
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The Quran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God. It is widely regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic literature, the Quran is divided into chapters, which are then divided into verses. The word Quran occurs some 70 times in the text of the Quran, although different names, according to the traditional narrative, several companions of Muhammad served as scribes and were responsible for writing down the revelations. Shortly after Muhammads death, the Quran was compiled by his companions who wrote down and these codices had differences that motivated the Caliph Uthman to establish a standard version now known as Uthmans codex, which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran known today. There are, however, variant readings, with minor differences in meaning. The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in the Biblical scriptures and it summarizes some, dwells at length on others and, in some cases, presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events. The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance and it sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events, and it often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence. The Quran is used along with the hadith to interpret sharia law, during prayers, the Quran is recited only in Arabic. Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz, some Muslims read Quranic ayah with elocution, which is often called tajwid. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers, in order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse, most Muslims rely on the tafsir. The word qurʼān appears about 70 times in the Quran itself and it is a verbal noun of the Arabic verb qaraʼa, meaning he read or he recited. The Syriac equivalent is qeryānā, which refers to reading or lesson. While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac, regardless, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammads lifetime. An important meaning of the word is the act of reciting, as reflected in an early Quranic passage, It is for Us to collect it, in other verses, the word refers to an individual passage recited. Its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages, for example, So when al-qurʼān is recited, listen to it, the word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel. The term also has closely related synonyms that are employed throughout the Quran, each synonym possesses its own distinct meaning, but its use may converge with that of qurʼān in certain contexts. Such terms include kitāb, āyah, and sūrah, the latter two terms also denote units of revelation. In the large majority of contexts, usually with an article, the word is referred to as the revelation
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God
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In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, divine simplicity, many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent and all loving. Furthermore, some religions attribute only a purely grammatical gender to God, incorporeity and corporeity of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the immanent transcendence of Chinese theology. God has been conceived as personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, in pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism, God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God, there are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about Gods identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one true Supreme Being and creator of the universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, He Who Is, I Am that I Am, in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, in Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a concept of God. In Chinese religion, God is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it, other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Baháí Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus, the English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau-, in the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic God and gods in polytheism. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, in many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Allāh is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God, Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning placing ones mind, Waheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God
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Noah's Ark
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Noahs Ark is the vessel in the Genesis flood narrative by which God spares Noah, his family, and a remnant of all the worlds animals from the flood. According to Genesis, God gave Noah instructions for building the ark, seven days before the deluge, God told Noah to enter the ark with his household and the animals. The story goes on to describe the ark being afloat for 150 days and then coming to rest on the Mountains of Ararat, the story is repeated, with variations, in the Quran, where the ark appears as Safina Nuh. The Genesis flood narrative is similar to other flood myths from a variety of cultures. The earliest known written flood myth is the Sumerian flood myth found in the Epic of Ziusudra, searches for Noahs Ark have been made from at least the time of Eusebius to the present day. There is no evidence for a global flood, and despite many expeditions. The challenges associated with housing all living animal types, and even plants, would have made building the ark a practical impossibility. The Hebrew word for the ark, teba, occurs twice in the Bible, in the narrative and in the Book of Exodus. In both cases teba has a connection with salvation from waters, Noah is warned of the coming flood and told to construct the ark. God spells out to Noah the dimensions of the vessel,300 cubits in length,50 cubits in width and 30 cubits in height and it had three internal divisions, a door in the side, and a tsohar, which may be either a roof or a skylight. God instructs Noah to kapar the ark with koper, in Hebrew the first of these words is a formed from the second and, like gopher. Noah is instructed to take on board his wife, his three sons, and his sons wives and he is also to take two of every living thing, and seven pairs of every clean creature and of every bird, together with sufficient food. The story of the flood closely parallels the story of the creation, a cycle of creation, un-creation, the universe as conceived by the ancient Hebrews comprised a flat disk-shaped habitable earth with the heavens above and Sheol, the underworld of the dead, below. These three were surrounded by an ocean of chaos, protected by the firmament, a transparent. Noahs three-deck ark represents this three-level Hebrew cosmos in miniature, the heavens, the earth, there is a consensus among scholars that the Pentateuch was the product of a long and complex process that was not completed until after the Babylonian exile. For well over a century scholars have recognised that the Bibles story of Noahs ark is based on older Mesopotamian models. Because all these stories deal with events that allegedly happened at the dawn of history. But in fact, the myth of the flood that destroys all life only begins to appear in the Old Babylonian period
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Hebrews
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Hebrews is a term appearing 34 times within 32 verses of the Hebrew Bible. By the Roman Empire, Greek Hebraios could refer to the Jews in general, as Strongs Hebrew Dictionary puts it any of the Jewish Nation, in Early Christianity, the Greek term Ἑβραῖος refers to Jewish Christians as opposed to the gentile Christians and Judaizers. Ἰουδαία is the province where the Temple was located, the name corresponding for Hebrew is used also in the Kurdish and was once used also in French. With the revival of the Hebrew language and the emergence of the Hebrew Yishuv, the origin of the term remains uncertain. The Biblical term Ivri, meaning to traverse or pass over, is rendered as Hebrew in English, from the ancient Greek Ἑβραῖος. In the plural it is Ivrim, or Ibrim, in Genesis 10,21 Shem, the elder brother of Ham and Japheth, first-born son of Noah, is referred to as the father of the sons of Eber, which may have a similar meaning. Some authors argue that Ibri denotes the descendants of the biblical patriarch Eber, son of Shelah, a grandson of Noah. The hieroglyphic rendering of the Egyptian word š3sw means those who move on foot, the name Shasu of Yhw, e. g. the name rings from Soleb and Amarah-West, corresponds very precisely to the Tetragrammaton in the Hebrew Bible. The Shasu are mostly depicted hieroglyphically with a determinative indicating rather a land than a people, since the discovery of the second millennium inscriptions mentioning the Habiru, there have been many theories linking these to the Hebrews. This is rebutted by others who propose that the Hebrews are mentioned in texts of the 3rd Intermediate Period of Egypt as Shasu of Yhw. According to Anson F. Rainey, modern scholars conclude that the attempts to relate apiru to the Hebrew word ibri are not fruitful. The Jewish historian Josephus maintains that the Hyksos were in fact the children of Jacob who joined his son Joseph in Egypt to escape a famine in the land of Canaan, the Hyksos first appeared in Egypt during the Eleventh Dynasty. They came out of the intermediate period in control of Avaris. Kamose, the last king of the Theban 17th Dynasty, refers to the Hyksos King Apophis as a Chieftain of Retjenu, at the end of the Seventeenth Dynasty of Egypt, they were expelled by an ethnic Egyptian pharaoh. The term Hyksos derives from the Egyptian expression heka khasewet, in the Hebrew Bible, the term Hebrew is normally used by Israelites when speaking of themselves to foreigners, or is used by foreigners when speaking about Israelites. In fact, the Torah in parashat Lekh Lekha calls Abraham Avram Ha-Ivri, Israelites are defined as the descendants of Jacob, son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham. Eber, an ancestor of Jacob, is a distant ancestor of many people, by the Roman period, Hebrews could be used to designate the Jews, who use the Hebrew language. The Epistle to the Hebrews was probably written for Jewish Christians, among certain left-wing or liberal circles of Judaic cultural lineage, the word Hebrew is used as an alternatively secular description of the Jewish people
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Tower of Babel
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The Tower of Babel is a Near Eastern etiological myth that is recorded in the Jewish Tanakhs first book, it is meant to explain the origin of different languages. According to the story, a united humanity of the following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating eastward. The Great Ziggurat of Babylon was 91 metres in height, Alexander the Great ordered it demolished circa 331 BCE in preparation for a reconstruction that his death forestalled. A Sumerian story with similar elements is told in Enmerkar. The story of the city of Babel is recorded in Genesis 11, everyone on earth spoke the same language. As people migrated east, they settled in the land of Shinar, People there sought to make bricks and build a city and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for themselves, so that they not be scattered over the world. God came down to look at the city and tower, and remarked that as one people with one language, nothing that they sought would be out of their reach. God went down and confounded their speech, so that they could not understand each other, and scattered them over the face of the earth, thus the city was called Babel. As it appears in the King James version of the Bible,1. Now the whole world had one language, as people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 2. They said to other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly. ”They used brick instead of stone. 3 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens, let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. ”4 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 5 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do, now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 6 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. ”7 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 8 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, the phrase Tower of Babel does not appear in the Bible, it is always the city and the tower or just the city. The original derivation of the name Babel is uncertain, but it may come from bab-ilum, according to the Bible, the city received the name Babel from the Hebrew word balal, meaning to jumble or to confuse. The story of the Tower of Babel explains the confusion of tongues, the storys theme of competition between God and humans appears elsewhere in Genesis, in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The 1st-century Jewish interpretation found in Flavius Josephus explains the construction of the tower as an act of defiance against God ordered by the arrogant tyrant Nimrod. There have, however, been some challenges to this classical interpretation, with emphasis placed on the explicit motive of cultural
