1: The current state of affairs:
A: Progress:
1: economic; 2. scientific
B: Problems:
1: nuclear capacity; 2: environmental issues; 3: religious terrorism; 4:
irrelevance of religion; 5: secularization; 6: fundamentalism;
C: Solutions:
1: insights from the axial age and Karl Jaspers;
a: Four distinct regions and traditions: 900-200 BCE
1: China: Confucianism and Daoism;
2: India: Hinduism and Buddhism;
3: Israel: Monotheism;
4: Greece: Philosophical rationalism;
key quote: “The Axial Age was one of the most seminal periods of intellectual,
psychological, philosophical, and religious change in recorded society”
2: Why study the Axial Age religions?
A: “we have never surpassed the insights of the Axial Age” (xvii)
B: Rabbinic Judaism, Christianity, and Islam “all latter day flowerings of the
original Axial Age” (xvii)
C: “the prophets, mystics, philosophers, and poets were so advanced and their
vision so radical that later generations tended to dilute it” (xvii)
1: discovered a transcendent dimension in the core of their being;
2: not a matter of believing certain propositions;
3: silence the only correct attitude;
4: not be imposed on others;
5: behavior mattered most;
6: ritual downplayed;
7: ethics and compassion most important;
8: commitment and change required;
9: a spirituality of empathy and compassion developed;
10: benevolence was for all;
11: the golden rule ruled;
D: The Axial Age ethos needs to be rediscovered;
E: “the consensus of the Axial Age is an eloquent testimony to the unanimity of
the spiritual quest of the human race” (xix)
3: A study of the pre-Axial religion of antiquity is needed:
A: importance of a High God/Sky God;
B: importance of animal sacrifice;
C: importance of the perennial philosophy: “every single person, object, or
experience on earth was a replica—a pale shadow---of a reality in the divine world” (xxi)
4: The Axial Age was not perfect:
A: indifference to women; no female axial age sages;
B: did not evolve in a uniform way;
5: Plan of Book: a: chart the progress of four axial age peoples; b: adapt insights;
A: chart the progress of the four axial age peoples (China; India; Israel; Greece)
side by side;
B: adopt insights to ourselves;
The Great Transformation: The Beginning of our Religious Traditions, 2006. An outline
by Dr. Kenney (this first installment includes Introduction, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2).
Introduction:
1: The current state of affairs:
A: Progress:
1: economic; 2. scientific
B: Problems:
1: nuclear capacity; 2: environmental issues; 3: religious terrorism; 4:
irrelevance of religion; 5: secularization; 6: fundamentalism;
C: Solutions:
1: insights from the axial age and Karl Jaspers;
a: Four distinct regions and traditions: 900-200 BCE
1: China: Confucianism and Daoism;
2: India: Hinduism and Buddhism;
3: Israel: Monotheism;
4: Greece: Philosophical rationalism;
key quote: “The Axial Age was one of the most seminal periods of intellectual,
psychological, philosophical, and religious change in recorded society”
2: Why study the Axial Age religions?
A: “we have never surpassed the insights of the Axial Age” (xvii)
B: Rabbinic Judaism, Christianity, and Islam “all latter day flowerings of the
original Axial Age” (xvii)
C: “the prophets, mystics, philosophers, and poets were so advanced and their
vision so radical that later generations tended to dilute it” (xvii)
1: discovered a transcendent dimension in the core of their being;
2: not a matter of believing certain propositions;
3: silence the only correct attitude;
4: not be imposed on others;
5: behavior mattered most;
6: ritual downplayed;
7: ethics and compassion most important;
8: commitment and change required;
9: a spirituality of empathy and compassion developed;
10: benevolence was for all;
11: the golden rule ruled;
D: The Axial Age ethos needs to be rediscovered;
E: “the consensus of the Axial Age is an eloquent testimony to the unanimity of
the spiritual quest of the human race” (xix)
3: A study of the pre-Axial religion of antiquity is needed:
A: importance of a High God/Sky God;
B: importance of animal sacrifice;
C: importance of the perennial philosophy: “every single person, object, or
experience on earth was a replica—a pale shadow---of a reality in the divine world” (xxi)
4: The Axial Age was not perfect:
A: indifference to women; no female axial age sages;
B: did not evolve in a uniform way;
5: Plan of Book:
A: chart the progress of the four axial age peoples (China; India; Israel; Greece)
side by side;
B: adopt insights to ourselves;
Chapter 1: The Axial Peoples: (1600-900 BCE);
1: The Early Aryans (the noble); Indo-Europeans:
A: loose-knit network of tribes with common culture
B: From Caucasian Steppes to Greece, Italy, Scandanavia and Germany;
C: 2 distinct groups:
1. Avestan dialect;
2. Sanskrit;
D: Quiet farmers, herders;
E: acknowledged an invisible force: Mainyu/Manya;
F: A formal pantheon:
1: Dyaus Pitr=creator;
2: Varuna=order;
3: Mazda=justice/wisdom;
4: Indra=warrior;
5: Agni=fire;
6: Soma=hallucinogen;
7: daevas=shining ones;
8: Amesha=immortals;
G: asha/rita=”the sacred order that held the universe together” (4)
1: the force that held all sorts of human commerce together: grazing rights;
herding; marriage; trade; covenant;
a: the force that bound oaths;
1: pointed to the inherent force of words;
b: the force to which sacrifices were made;
H: The 7 stage origin of the world and the importance of sacrifice;
1: sky; 2: earth; 3: water; 4: plant; 5: bull; 6: man; 7: fire; (see pages 6-7
for the details on the triple sacrifice that got everything started)
I: The practical benefits of sacrifice;
J: ideas of life after death;
1: initially no hope;
2: later glimmers of hope for the wealthy;
K: The technological revolution of the 1500s
1: bronze weaponry; 2: wooden carts; 3: war chariots; 4: raiding and cattle
rustling:
a: Indra gains prominence;
L: The rise of Zoroaster (1200 BCE)
1: early training in Avestan religion;’
2: encounter with Vohu Manah at age 30;
a: commissioning by Ahura Mazda;
3: elevation of Ahura Mazda to Supreme Ahura;
4: recognition of 7 luminous beings;
5: concern for social justice;
6: evil attributed to Angra Mainyu (hostile spirit)
7: all must make a choice between asha and druj (good and evil)
8: Zoroaster institutes reforms, ritual, doctrinal, and ethical;
a: symbolic purifications; b: prayer 5x a day; c: incense and fire
rituals; d: belief in a day of judgment; e: hope for a Saoshyant; e: mandate for holy living;
2: The Later Aryan Developments of Vedic Religion in India:
A: Aryan Sapta-Sindhu or Land of the Seven Rivers and/or Indus Valley
Civilization (ca: 1500 BCE)
1: evidence:
a: Sanskrit Vedas;
1: similarity to Avestan Gathas;
b: no evidence of fighting, resistance, or wide-spread destruction;
B: Early Indus Valley Civilization (ca: 2300-2000)
1: Mohenyo-Daro and Harappa
a: impressive capital cities built on identical grid patterns;
b: powerful commercial networks:
1: gold; copper; timber; ivory; cotton; etc.
c: little known about religion;
1: mother-goddess figurines;
2: evidence of Shiva?
C: Aryans exalt Indra, the warrior god;
1: some traits of Varuna pass to Indra;
D: oral compilation of the Rig-Vedas;
1: 10 books with 1,028 hymns;
a: songs; mantras;
2: Shruti=that which is heard;
a: revealed to rishis;
b: orally preserved; not written down until ca: 200 BCE;
E: life in the village (grama) and in the jungle (aranya)
1: became a social and spiritual paradigm;
F: sacrifice:
1: at the heart of Aryan society;
a: sacrifices were both celebrations and events of charity;
1: wine, women, song; athletic contests; gambling;
distributions to the poor;
G: Life after death;
1: warriors guaranteed heaven;
H: Developments of caste;
1: kshatriyas=warriors
2: vaishyas=workers;
3: sudras=non-Aryans;
I: further waves of migration ca: 1,000 BCE
1: arya varta-Land of the Arya=the Doab between the Yamuna and
Ganges Rivers (see map page 25)
2: Agni-god of fire rose in prominence;
J: The Agnicayan ritual:
1: new brick altars dedicated to Agni (see illustration page 27)
K: The Soma ritual
L: The development of the concept of Brahman:
1: not a deva but life itself-“the fundamental principle that enabled all
things to become strong and expand” (26);
2: could not be defined;
3: experienced in silence;
a: the brahmodya competition; (see poem on page 29);
4: a tenth century rishi envisions Prajapati, “the All”
5: another rishi developes the concept of the Primordial Purusha (person);
a: allows the gods to kill him (the original sacifice);
6: Parjapati and Purusha “shadowy, remote figures, with no developed
mythology” (29);
3: China, 1600-900: The Shang and Zhou dynasties:
A: Chinese kings of the Shang dynasty
1: thought themselves “sons of God”;
2: thought themselves heirs of the Xia dynasty (2200-1600);
3: legendary figures of the Xia dynasty:
a: Huang-Di, the Yellow Emperor; fought a monster and fixed the
courses of the sun, moon, and stars;
b: Yao and Shun established the golden age;
1: Yu, chief of public works; founder of Xia dynasty;
c: these legendary figures were an inspiration to the Axial Age;
B: Life in the Shang dynasty;
1: beginnings of ancestor worship-“the fate of the living was inextricably
wound up with the spirits of the those who had gone before” (31);
2: geography: from Huai Valley in the SE to Shantung in the E to Wei
Valley in the W;
3: networks of small palace-cities;
a: at Yin, “the walls were a mere 800 yards in perimeter” (31);
b: all dwellings faced south;
4: not egalitarian; hierarchy and rank “one of the hallmarks of Chinese
civilization” (32);
a the king was viewed as “the son of Di”; then princes; then rulers
of cities; then heads of great families; then the warrior class;
5: the city a “small aristocratic enclave, a world unto itself” (32);
6: military protection provided for agricultural surplus;
a: the aristocratic alone could own weapons;
7: concept of yin and yang:
a: begin as a way of comprehending the alternation of seasons,
winter and summer;
b: Yin-female; Yang-male; Yin-winter; Yang-summer; Yin-night;
Yang-day; etc;
8: nature gods arose as a counterpart to Di, the Sky God;
9: ancestor worship “was at the heart of Shang religion” (35);
a: “fate of the dynasty dependent upon the good will of the
deceased kings” (35);
b: deceased were often given new names and assigned a special
day for worship;
C: Evidence for the Shang Dynasty;
1: 150,000 oracle bones; animal bones and turtle shells used for
divination;
D: Invasion of the Shang domain by King Wen of the Zhou in 1054 BCE;
1: the Shang cities conquered;
2: the Shang cities revolt; revolt suppressed by King Wen’s brother, Dan,
the duke of Zhou;
a: Prince Cheng becomes king; territory called “Chengzhou”;
3: Di (Shang high god) merges with Tian (Zhou heaven) to become Tian
Shang Di, Heaven most High;
a: explanation: Di “sometimes used enemy tribes to punish the
Shang” (38; much like in ancient Israel when Yawheh used Assyria, Egypt, or Babylon to
punish his people);
1: explanation found in the Shujing; a transference of
Shang kings as “sons of Di” to Zhou kings as sons of Tian Shang Di;
a: Heaven (Tian) would take its mandate away from
oppressive kings;
1: an ethical component was now introduced
into Chinese religion (similar to Israel’s ethical monotheism);
2: duke of Zhou (Dan) argues with duke of
Shao (Gong, his brother) over whether the mandate of heaven is given to the people as a
whole or the ruler;
3: eventually virtue came to ascendancy
over rank and status later in the Axial Age;
4: The emergence of Israel, 1200 BCE forward;
A: Disintegration of previous empires of Mycenae, Hittites, and Egyptians;
1: beginning of a dark age;
B: Canaan and the emergence of Israel:
1: collapse of Canaan large city-states gradual;
2: evidence for a people called “Israel” distinct from the Canaanites,
Hurrians, and other Bedouin:
a: the Mernepteh Stele of 1210 BCE
b: the biblical record:
1: Abraham the patriarch;
2: migrations to Egypt;
3: Moses and the deliverance from Egypt;
4: the covenant at Sinai;
5: the wandering in the wilderness;
6: the conquest of Canaan;
c: the archaeological record:
1: “no trace of …mass destruction”; “no signs of foreign
invasion”; “no Egyptian artifacts”; “no indication of a change in population”; (page 46)
a: the biblical record reflects the conditions of the
seventh or sixth century …rather than the thirteenth century” (46);
2: Yahweh a god of the southern mountains; the tribe of
Joseph may have come from Egypt; other tribes also may have felt liberated from Egypt;
a: “the biblical writers were not attempting to write
a scientifically accurate account that would satisfy a modern historian….These were epic
stories, national sagas that helped the people to create a distinct identity” (46);
d: evidence of socioeconomic disruption in the highlands;
e: major demographic shifts;
f: “Israel was a newcomer in the family of nations, born of trauma
and upheaval, and constantly threatened with marginality” (47; see whole paragraph here
as it succinctly captures the archaeological explanation for the emergence of Israel);
C: The people of Yahweh (am Yahweh):
1: covenant mentality; hesed=love, loyalty of kin;
2: sporadic warfare; similar to what is described in Judges and 1 Samuel;
a: the Philistines;
3: the palladium or Ark of the covenant;
4: worship of El and the merger of El/Baal and Yahweh;
a: decline of El and emergence of Baal
1: similarities to Babylonian Marduk;
a: Marduk slew Tiamat;
b: Baal slew Lotan and fought Yam;
1: Yahweh imitates these activities;
5: early on there is no central sanctuary;
a: a number of temples at: Shechem, Gilgal, Shiloh, Bethel, Sinai,
and Hebron;
1: the ark carried from shrine to shrine to renew the
covenant;
2: each shrine had its own saga;
a: e.g., Joshua crossing the river Jordan (see page
51);
6: the shift from myth to history;
a: in other words, the stories did not celebrate events in the remote
past but in the recent past; note: this did not guarantee historical accuracy;
b: the Song of the Sea; an adaptation of the crossing of Jordan to
the crossing of the Sea of Reeds (see Exodus 15);
7: Israel not yet monotheists:
a: see Deuteronomy 32:8-9 (text page 54);
b: “It would have seemed odd to the early Israelites to confine the
sacred to a single divine being” (55; see discussion about ilam, divinity at bottom of page
54 and top of page 55);
8: the development of a monarchy;
a: David: 1000-970BCE; Solomon: 970-930BCE;
b: the kingdom splits into North and South (Israel and Judah);
1: Judah focuses upon a king that was “a son of God” (see
Psalm 2);
Chapter 2: Ritual: c. 900-800 BCE.
1: Mycenaean Greece: (see map page 58)
A: possible destroyed Troy back in second half of 13th century;
1: see possible archaeological evidence;
B: Mycenaen and Minoan civilization contrasted;
1: aggressive and martial vs gentle and peaceful
2: Mycenaen had war chariots imported from Hittite empire;
a: ruled Messenia; Pylos; Attica; Boetia; Thessaly; Greek islands;
and Cyprus;
b: began raids on coastal cities of Asia Minor;
C: Mycenae seems to have disappeared overnight;
1: many survivors became the Achaeans of the Northern Peloponnese;
2: Mycenaens develop Minoan script to their own language;
D: Assumed their ancestors had always lived in Greece but probably were a part
of the Indo-Aryan peoples who settled in the region around 2,000 BCE;
1: Minoan culture first, then the mainland;
a: Minoan culture declined due to natural disasters;
2: Minoan religious features: dance; processions; sacred trees; animal
sacrifices; ecstatic visions; goddesses; burial grounds; king in communion with the
goddess; some mention of the Olympians: Zeus; Athena; Poseidon; Dionysus;
E: Collapse of dominance gives rise to dark age but several myths develop:
Trojan War; Agamemnon; Oedipus; etc.
F: Athens/Attica: spoke Ionian; many migrated to coastal cities of Asia Minor;
1: Theseus the mythical king of Athens;
2: Attica originally administered by 4 tribes (phylai);
3: trade developed with Canaanites; Phoenicians were thus called because
“they had the monopoly on the only colorfast purple (phoinix) dye in antiquity” (61);
a: Phoenicians establish Carthage in 814 BCE;
1: jointly Phoenicians, Cypriots, and Greeks found the
commercial center of Al-Mina at the mouth of the Orontes river “which traded slaves and
silver in return for iron, metalwork, ivories, and fabric” (61); (find Orontes river on map)
G: Tragedy and the Greeks: seemed to sense the sacred in catastrophe, “when life
was turned inexplicably upside down, in the breaking of taboos, and whenthe boundaries
that kept society and individuals sane were suddenly torn asunder” (62).
1: tragedy reflected in the turmoil of tales told about the gods;
a: see chart 66-67 and narrative on pages 62-65;
2: tragedy seen in various traditions: (note the concept of miasmuscontagious power-page 64)
a: the house of Atreus; (although not discussed here, one should
read up on the house of Cadmus and the house of ______________);
H: First Greek temple was to Hera on island of Samos; (note the disappearance
and reappearance of the goddesses)
I: Other rites that taught “that it was impossible to achieve life and ecstasy unless
you had experienced the depths of loss” (68):
1: Demeter and Persephone; (the festival of Thesmophoria; note 3 days);
2: “the religious traditions created during the Axial Age in all four regions
were rooted in fear and pain” (69); acceptance of fear and pain, rather than denial of it, is
what leads to enlightenment.
3: The Dionysian rites: the month of Anthesteria festival; (note again the
3rd day-page 71);
a: note the technical terms (t.t.): katharsis, purification and
miasma;
b: note how the Dionysian ritual facilitated an overcoming of death
(see page 71);
2: Canaan:
A: Pharaoh Shishak’s 926 invasion devastated 150 towns of Israel and Judah;
B: Canaanite strongholds collapse;
C: King Omri builds a new capital in Samaria;
1: Ahab marries Jezebeel;
a: Baal worship introduced to Israel initially as a political coup and
as a supplement to Yahweh worship; Baal and Asherah were symbols of fertility;
2: Elijah (Yahweh is my God) and others initiate a Yahweh only
movement (see 1 and 2 Kings);
a: Elijah does battle with the 400 prophets of Baal;
1: Yahweh demonstrates power to produce rain not just
function as a warrior god;
a: yet, on Mount Horeb Yahweh is revealed in the
“sound of a gentle breeze” (76);
D: The movement toward monotheism begins with Elijah; (see also Psalm 82);
E: Monotheism begins to align itself with social justice issues:
1. This is not necessarily new as the emphasis goes all the way back to
Shamash and Hammurabi (see page 78-79) as well as Egypt and the worship of Re.
F: The rise of Assyria.
1: Ahab and the house of Omri come to an end in 853;
a: Jehu, anointed by Elisha (see 2 Kings 9), makes an alliance with
Assyria;
2: Israel begins its long an lonely march to monotheism with its initiation
of monolatry (see Joshua 24 and the covenant ritual there; thought by Armstrong to
reflect the time of the 9th century rather than the actual time of Joshua);
3: China:
A: Old feudal system disintegrating; Zhou domain under attack from barbarian
peoples;
B: A confederation of lords united by ideological loyalty to the Zhou.
1: the rites reminded the king’s vassals that the monarch was the Tianzi,
the ‘son of Heaven’, having received a mandate to rule from Tian Shang Di, Heaven
Most High;
a: Zhouzhuang, the capital in the Wei valley;
b: In Lu, the prince was the direct descendant of the duke of Zhou;
C: By the end of the 8th century, “there would be a dozen of these feudal
principalities in the plain:
1: hierarchy as follows: each walled city (kuo) ruled by a prince who held
his domain as a fief from the king: prince served by barons (dai fu) and great officers;
beneath these, there were the shi, ordinary gentlemen. Hence, King-Prince-Barons-great
officers-ordinary gentlemen;
a: this hierarchy was essentially religious: the king was the Tianzi
or son of Heaven;
1: the king performed the correct rituals (li) that would
ensure that society conformed to the Way (dao) of heaven; the king exercised daode, the
potency of the Way; his very presence could effect desired change; when daode was
exercised properly it ushered in tai-ping, the Great Peace;
a: heaven and earth existed in complimentary
fashion (yin/yang); “without the work of human beings, Heaven could not act” (83); there
was not a gulf between Heaven and earth, but a continuity;
2: Heaven was humanlike but without a distinct personality
or gender;
2: location was everything (fung shway): ancestor altar south of palace;
harvest altar, south of suburbs;
3: the ancient rituals were preserved in the Chinese Classics;
4: elaborate dance in accord with ancient dramas became popular toward
the end of the ninth century;
D: the Zhou reversed the priorities of the Shang dynasty by putting the rites ahead
of the spirits;
1: despite a decline in society and natural disasters, the rites were kept;
4: India:
A: 9th century ritual experts develop the Brahamanas, technical ritual texts,
obsessed with liturgical minutiae;
1: the redeeming feature at this point is the downplaying of violence,
especially and even with regard to ritual sacrifices (sometimes the animal was not even
killed; if killed, not as violently as in times past;
a: ahimsa, non-violence begins to take root;
b: competitive races and mock battles or raids gave way to chants
or symbolic gestures;
1: these reformed rites were claimed as founded by
Prajapati, the creator god of the hymns of the Rig Veda; a story of how Prajapati had
swallowed Death illustrated the point;
a: Prajapati merges with Purusha; Indra, the warrior
deity, seems replaced at this time;
1: these rites were a type of yoga, a yoking of different
levels of reality together (95);
2: the meaning of these rituals found expression in myths regarding
Prajapati and Purusha (see page 96);
a: in essence, the rituals were affirming of “the building of a new
world order” (96);
3: a tiny bit of mysticism seeps into these Brahamanic rituals especially as
seen in the oft phrase “he who knows”; apparently, referring to practitioners of rituals
who were attentive to the deep meanings of the rituals;
a: these rituals were aided by fasting, meditation, other ascetic
practices or emotional trappings of ritual performance;
4: In time the concept of the atman came to refer to “the essential and
eternal core of the human person, which made him or her unique” (98);
a: the concept of atman went through stages: first referring the
trunk of the body, as opposed to the limbs; then, one’s speech (sound); then, one’s breath;
then one’s heat (tapas);
b: once a person realized or developed their atman they no longer
needed to sacrifice to devas but to their own atman;
3: the transition from violence to non-violent ritual and from an emphasis
upon the externals of the ritual to the interior life was a major transition in Axial Age
India;