Gospel & Universe 🌎 Many Tribes
Overview
of Currents of Religion & Many Tribes
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Currents of Religion
In Part 2: Currents of Religion I explore the relation between agnosticism and religion in terms of 1) history, comparative religion, & Assyriology, 2) fictional scenarios set in Babylon & Paris, 3) writing which straddles doubt in various ways (Zhuanghzi’s Daoism, Whitman’s Transcendentalism, & Rushdie’s mysticism), and 4) a positive attitude toward death.
🌎 Many Tribes is the introductory chapter to Part 2. It provides an outline of global religions as well as an argument against religious exclusivity. In ♒️ The Currents of Sumer I then go back to the Ancient systematized religion of early Mesopotamia. I use Peter Enns and Jean Botteró to explore exclusive biblical viewpoints in terms of Mesopotamian history, language, narrative, religion, math, astronomy, and culture. ⏯ Systems and ✝︎ St. Francis continue this archaeology of Western belief by arguing that Christianity should separate itself from its exclusionary origins. I suggest a more agnostic — yet still Christian — alternative: an inclusive and open belief system, where Jesus is a historical figure and a mystical option, but not the only truth.
🍎 The Apple-Merchant of Babylon picks up on the Mesopotamian theme of ♒️ Currents by depicting a comic fictional take on the Bible’s origins: Moe, frustrated by the inability of his fellow merchants to stand up to foreign competition, devises a new religion. This is followed by a more serious chapter, 🇫🇷 The Priest’s Dilemma, which is an internal monologue dramatizing a contemporary priest’s struggle with 1) Mesopotamian roots, which was the focus of ♒️ Currents, and 2) the challenge of evolution, which was central to my argument in 🦖 At the Wild & Fog (in Part 1: Philosophy, Science, & Literature).
The next two chapters explore the relation between theism and doubt in four different writers. 💫 Believing in the Mystery examines in detail the way Walt Whitman, Laozi, and Zhuangzi allow doubt to operate within their theistic belief systems. 🇮🇳 The Fiction of Doubt examines — again, in detail — the way Rushdie allows doubt to permeate his early novels. This doubt becomes both a criticism of dogma and a method of cultural expansion and mystical connection.
Finally, as a coda to Gospel & Universe, ☠️ Ars Moriendi is a personal look at agnosticism & death.
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Many Tribes
This chapter looks at religion from a historical and global perspective. I start with Six Versions of Infinity, which outlines the six major world religions in terms of their degrees of exclusivity. The Creation of Outcasts & A Specific Version of Infinity then argues that the particular type of exclusivity we find in Christianity is both divisive and unnecessary. I argue that Christianity should 1) become more agnostic by erasing (or at least blurring) the line between religion & doubt, and 2) become more ecumenical by discarding (or at least sidelining) the old Jewish antagonism between one religion & another.
I then create a fictional scenario in which Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism interact with each other in the Middle East: in Nothing in Damascus math, theology, and love intersect, which allows for a collapse of religious categories as well as a mystical union of categories.
In Myth & Religion, East & West, One God, and Anti-Definitions I look at the historic shift from polytheistic uncertainty to monotheistic certainty in Western religion (Judaism, Christianity, & Islam). I contrast Eastern continuity with Western change, and I argue against the innate superiority of monotheism. This will be helpful background to the next chapters — ♒️ The Currents of Sumer, ⏯ Systems, and ✝︎ St. Francis — in which I take a positive look at the Mesopotamian roots of Judaeo-Christianity, and suggest ways in which Christianity might become more open and inclusive.
Finally, All Those Things the Wise Men Say contains poems that emphasize differences and similarities in global religions.
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Next: Six Versions of Infinity
Table of Contents - Annotated Contents - Layout - Core Beliefs