The Sons Of Noah: The Mythological Construction Of Religion

During this time period, people of color were often used in comedy as a stupid and undeveloped figure. To further negative views, Black people were rarely depicted in a religious setting and were often associated with unholiness. According to Johnson, European Christians during this time period believed black people were the descendants of Ham, who was Noah’s son that was cursed by God and thought to be black. Due to this thought, people believed that black people's were derived from evil and their for were inherently villainous. This preconceived notion of black people was displayed in literature and art. The color of black was often associated with things that were ugly and evil. As early as the 4th-century ideas of

One of the main reasons Europeans sought to explore the world was to spread Christianity. As far as they knew, the New World had never heard of Christianity, and the Spanish Cardinal Trinlini said that this made them “heathens [who] live a barbarous life”. His motivation for exploring these new lands was to save the natives from their ignorance

Europeans were bound to give more justifications on why slavery was only intended for Africans, thus they turned to the Bible. The controversial “Story of Ham”, from Genesis 9-10, reads the tale of Ham, a son of Noah, who saw his father intoxicated and sleeping bare (source C). When Noah awoke, he claimed, “Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves shall he be to his brothers” (source C). In the passage, he cursed Ham’s son, Canaan, and his descendants to be the slaves of his own brothers, Shem and Japheth (source C). Historians have debated about the story, in which some believed Ham or Canaan was of African descent, even though it was never mentioned (source C). Others supported the idea that Noah’s sons symbolized a continent’s residents; Ham personified Africa, Shem of Asia, and Japheth of Europe. Ham was also supposedly derived from the ancient Hebrew words that meant black, brown, or dark. Philosopher Robert Boyle from 1644 is one to oppose the theory of Ham’s descent

“Culture is sometimes described as a lens through which we view the world, meaning that one’s culture influences their perceptions and interactions in everyday life” (Davis, 2006). Every culture has different beliefs and customs

Religious motives of the ‘Old Land’ of Europe’s exploration can be traced back to the days of the Crusades down to the 11th and 15th century, where the European Christians tried to invade and claim the city of Jerusalem from its Muslim control. The struggle between the Islamic rule and the European Christians planted the ideology of ‘Reconquista’ in the latter’s religion. It influenced the Christian religion with an air of religious intolerance. With the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, European Catholic’s interests in colonizing newer lands and declare global dominance earned a new momentum. And strong Catholic nations of Spain and Portugal were the

John Oswalt, in his book The Bible Among the Myths, presents his position to the reader that the bible is different and separate from other writings of the Ancient Near East. He asserts the Bible is both historically accurate and theologically sound. He makes the defense the Bible was divinely inspired and revealed to humanity and unique from other Ancient Near East literature. There was a time when the Bible, and the Israelite religion was different from its neighboring societies. But as times have changed, many people now lump the bible with other Ancient Near East myths.

One of mankind’s greatest achievements is the development and organization of diversified societies that regulate life and ethical values for those enticed within it. Societies bring interpersonal relationships that expand within a geographical region, usually populated by a collection of people sharing the same cultural, spiritual or ethical expectations. Today, we can be thankful for some of histories earliest civilizations, for they passed on diverse aspects of ethnicity into the everyday life of humanity. These ancient peoples were the building blocks for trial and error, contributing to modern day care and how we govern today’s most successful societies. Surprisingly enough, they were great educators of how societies can rise with control and authority but, even more; on how societies can weaken and crumble when negligent to the environment.

During this unit of human geography, I have learned so much about religions, ethnicities, and even culture. For example, I learned about the religion Islam and how it is a religion of peace just like the Hindu religion and as well as the Buddhist religion and much more others. These religions and some others have much in common whether they accept it , these religions and some more are all peaceful religions and all teach good morals and principles to the followers, everyone following footsteps of good people and their good actions and/or deeds. When I was reading chapter 7 ( ethnicity) I learned that ethnicity also has to do with culture and that the chapter before that one, we were reading about ( folk culture) and how it much ties in with

The rise and fall of different civilizations and empires is caused by various social, political, and cultural factors that affect its societies. One of the most important concepts seen in empires are the creation of its culture and its relation to the beliefs of its society. Religion plays an enormous role in understanding the purpose behind the actions of the people in a civilization. Religion and culture are dependent of each other as it reflects the ideas and values that society has agreed upon. As a new urban civilization during 2500 B.C, The Indus Valley Civilization created a sociopolitical system that

This paper, is an in depth comparison of the similarities and differences between the Bible characters Adam and Noah. Furthermore, this paper will examine the lives of both men as well as God’s influence in their lives. In addition, this will allow the reader to come to the conclusion that Noah is “A Second Creation”, a new beginning of mankind.

Someone once wrote “The Lord saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how every plan devised by his mind was nothing but evil all the time”(Noah and the flood pg.171). “ The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel” (the Epic of Gilgamesh pg.147). Both stories from two different cultures but despite the differences in the heroes, their gods, and the flood stories in “Noah and the Flood” and “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” both of these stories appear to refer to the same historical event the great flood.

A secondary cause of European exploration during the 15th and 16th century was the desire to spread and expand Christianity. In the early 1400s, Christianity was the only religion in Europe, and European rulers desired to make it the global religion by endeavoring to convert the worldly population to Christianity. This desire motivated religious Europeans to search and explore new lands for new people to convert. When the Ottoman Turks had conquered Constantinople in 1453, the territory that was previously the Christian Byzantine Empire had become Muslim. Therefore, European Christians, mainly Catholics, wanted to cease the expansion of Islam and convert non-Christians around the world to the faith, leading to the exploration of new lands. Also during the 15th century, many Christian missionaries called Jesuits, such as Francis Xavier, focused on missionary work in order to gain new followers. The Jesuits’ dedication to missionary work resulted in them travelling to and exploring unknown areas in order to find new people to convert to Christianity. Thus, the

Cultural myths affects how people act and also affects their beliefs. It can also make people not fully understand some things due to being limited by their cultural beliefs. To think more critically a person must look beyond more than cultural myths. The author gives an example which

Myths are not silly or superstitious tales they are Myths that give us insight into the nature of the world. This story is like the Noah's Ark story, how it deals with a flood and everything is wiped clean. In this case, it's not a god causing the flood, its objects that want revenge. The objects feel they were so mistreated and physically hurt. This isn't silly or superstitious because this has happened even in the slightest relevance to the story.

The conquests of Alexander the Great spread Hellenism immediately over the Middle East and far into Asia. After his death in 323 B.C., the influence of Greek civilization continued to expand over the Mediterranean world and W Asia. The wars of the Diadochi marked, it is true, the breakup of Alexander's brief empire, but the establishment of Macedonian dynasties in Egypt, Syria, and Persia (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae) helped to mold the world of that day into a wider unity of trade and learning.