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Purpose
Purpose
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Purpose is deliberately thought-through goal-directedness.

According to some philosophies, purpose is central to a good human life. Helen Keller wrote that happiness comes from "fidelity to a worthy purpose", and Ayn Rand wrote that purpose must be one of the three ruling values of human life (the others are reason and self-esteem). Some people think that God assigns purposes to people and that it is their mission to fulfill them. Others say that purposes are freely chosen by individuals, or not chosen, in which case their lives lack meaning. Among these, some say that natural propensities may determine what sorts of purposes a person needs to pursue, but do not guarantee that he or she will pursue them, that being dependent on free choice.

Pursuing a career, raising a family, devotion to a creative vocation, and acquiring property are perhaps the most widespread of long-term purposes that make life meaningful in modern times. Public service and helping the needy is an oft-cited, but less popular example.

Purpose is similar to teleology, the idea that a final goal is implicit in all living organisms. Until the modern age, philosophy followed Aristotle's depiction of a teleological cosmos in which all things had a final purpose, (namely, to realise their implicit perfection). Modern science has reversed the idea of purpose inherent in nature; an eye is no longer explicable as being 'in order to see"; instead, a lot of cause-and-effect accidents led to the eye organ, which allows us to see. The difference is between a cause as pushing from behind (movements of billiard balls) and a cause as pulling from within (movement of a growing plant). Without teleology, matter is seen as inert, acting in response. With teleology (purpose) matter is fulfilling some aim from within.

[edit]
External link
Dictionary of the History of Ideas: (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-42) Causation in the Seventeenth Century: Final Causes
This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Purpose&action=edit).

Godel's incompleteness theorem
Gödel's incompleteness theorem
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Incompleteness theorem)
In mathematical logic, Gödel's incompleteness theorems are two celebrated theorems proved by Kurt Gödel in 1930. Somewhat simplified, the first theorem states:

In any consistent formalization of mathematics that is sufficiently strong to define the concept of natural numbers, one can construct a statement that can be neither proved nor disproved within that system.
This theorem is one of the most famous outside of mathematics, and one of the most misunderstood. It is a theorem in formal logic, and as such is easy to misinterpret. There are many statements that sound similar to Gödel's first incompleteness theorem, but are in fact not true. These are discussed in Misconceptions about Gödel's theorems.

Gödel's second incompleteness theorem, which is proved by formalizing part of the proof of the first within the system itself, states:

No consistent system can be used to prove its own consistency.
This result was devastating to a philosophical approach to mathematics known as Hilbert's program. David Hilbert proposed that the consistency of more complicated systems, such as real analysis, could be proven in terms of simpler systems. Ultimately, the consistency of all of mathematics could be reduced to basic arithmetic. Gödel's second incompleteness theorem shows that basic arithmetic cannot be used to prove its own consistency, so it certainly cannot be used to prove the consistency of anything stronger.

Contents [showhide]
1 Meaning of Gödel's theorems

2 Examples of undecidable statements

3 Misconceptions about Gödel's theorems

4 Discussion and implications

5 Proof sketch for the first theorem

6 Proof sketch for the second theorem

7 See also

8 External links and references

[edit]
Meaning of Gödel's theorems
Gödel's theorems are theorems in first-order logic, and must ultimately be understood in that context. In formal logic, both mathematical statements and proofs are written in a symbolic language, one where we can mechanically check the validity of proofs so that there can be no doubt that a theorem follows from our starting list of axioms. In theory, such a proof can be checked by a computer, and in fact there are computer programs that will check the validity of proofs (this is called automated reasoning).

To be able to perform this process, we need to know what our axioms are. We could start with a finite set of axioms, such as in Euclidean geometry, or more generally we could allow an infinite list of axioms, with the requirement that we can mechanically check for any given statement if it is an axiom from that set or not. In computer science, this is known as having a recursive set of axioms. While an infinite list of axioms may sound strange, this is exactly what's used in the usual axioms for the natural numbers, the Peano axioms.

Gödel's first incompleteness theorem shows that any such system that allows you to define the natural numbers is necessarily incomplete: it contains statements that are neither provably true nor provably false.

The existence of an incomplete system is in itself not particularly surprising. For example, if you take Euclidean geometry and you drop the parallel postulate, you get an incomplete system. An incomplete system can mean simply that you haven't discovered all the necessary axioms.

What Gödel showed is that in most cases, such as in number theory or real analysis, you can never discover the complete list of axioms. Each time you add a statement as an axiom, there will always be another statement out of reach.

You can add an infinite number of axioms; for example, you can add all true statements about the natural numbers to your list of axioms, but such a list will not be a recursive set. Given a random statement, there will be no way to know if it is an axiom of your system. If I give you a proof, in general there will be no way for you to check if that proof is valid.

Gödel's theorem has another interpretation in the language of computer science. In first-order logic, theorems are recursively enumerable: you can write a computer program that will eventually generate any valid proof. You can ask if they satisfy the stronger property of being recursive: can you write a computer program to definitively determine if a statement is true or false? Gödel's theorem says that in general you cannot.

Many logicians believe that Gödel's incompleteness theorems struck a fatal blow to David Hilbert's program towards a universal mathematical formalism. The generally agreed upon stance is that the second theorem is what specifically dealt this blow. However some believe it was the first, and others believe that neither did.

[edit]
Examples of undecidable statements
The existence of an undecidable statement within a formal system is not in itself a surprising phenomenon.

The subsequent combined work of Gödel and Paul Cohen has given concrete examples of undecidable statements (statements which can be neither proven nor disproven): both the axiom of choice and the continuum hypothesis are undecidable in the standard axiomatization of set theory. These results do not require the incompleteness theorem.

In 1936, Alan Turing proved that the halting problem—the question of whether or not a turing machine halts on a given program—is undecidable. This result was later generalised in the field of recursive functions to Rice's theorem which shows that all non-trivial decision problems are undecidable in a system that is Turing-complete.

In 1973, the Whitehead problem in group theory was shown to be undecidable in standard set theory. In 1977, Kirby, Paris and Harrington proved that a statement in combinatorics, a version of the Ramsey theorem, is undecidable in the axiomatization of arithmetic given by the Peano axioms but can be proven to be true in the larger system of set theory. Kruskal's tree theorem, which has applications in computer science, is also undecidable from the Peano axioms but provable in set theory. Goodstein's theorem is a relatively simple statement about natural numbers that is undecidable in Peano arithmetic.

Gregory Chaitin produced undecidable statements in algorithmic information theory and in fact proved his own incompleteness theorem in that setting.

One of the first problems suspected to be undecidable was the word problem for groups, first posed by Max Dehn in 1911, which states that there is a finitely presented group that has no algorithm to state whether two words are equivalent. It was not proven to be undecidable until 1952.

[edit]
Misconceptions about Gödel's theorems
Since Gödel's first incompleteness theorem is so famous, it has given rise to many misconceptions. They are summarized here:

The theorem does not imply that every interesting axiom system is incomplete. For example, Euclidean geometry can be axiomatized so that it is a complete system. (In fact, Euclid's original axioms are pretty close to being a complete axiomatization. The missing axioms express properties that seem so obvious that it took the emergence of the idea of a formal proof before their absence was noticed.)
The theorem only applies to systems that allow you to define the natural numbers as a set. It is not sufficient that the system contain the natural numbers. You must also be able to express the concept "x is a natural number" using your axioms and first-order logic. There are plenty of systems that contain the natural numbers and are complete. For example, both the real numbers and complex numbers have complete axiomatizations.
[edit]
Discussion and implications
The incompleteness results affect the philosophy of mathematics, particularly viewpoints like formalism, which uses formal logic to define its principles. One can paraphrase the first theorem as saying that "we can never find an all encompassing axiomatic system which is able to prove all mathematical truths, but no falsehoods."

On the other hand, from a strict formalist perspective this paraphrase would be considered meaningless because it presupposes that mathematical "truth" and "falsehood" are well-defined in an absolute sense, rather than relative to each formal system.

The following rephrasing of the second theorem is even more unsettling to the foundations of mathematics:

If an axiomatic system can be proven to be consistent from within itself, then it is inconsistent.
Therefore, in order to establish the consistency of a system S, one needs to utilize some other system T, but a proof in T is not completely convincing unless T's consistency has already been established without using S. The consistency of the Peano axioms for natural numbers for example can be proven in set theory, but not in the theory of natural numbers alone. This provides a negative answer to problem number 2 on David Hilbert's famous list of important open questions in mathematics (called Hilbert's problems).

In principle, Gödel's theorems still leave some hope: it might be possible to produce a general algorithm that for a given statement determines whether it is undecidable or not, thus allowing mathematicians to bypass the undecidable statements altogether. However, the negative answer to the Entscheidungsproblem shows that no such algorithm exists.

Note that Gödel's theorems only apply to sufficiently strong axiomatic systems. "Sufficiently strong" means that the theory contains enough arithmetic to carry out the coding constructions needed for the proof of the first incompleteness theorem. Essentially, all that is required are some basic facts about addition and multiplication as formalized, e.g., in Robinson arithmetic Q. There are even weaker axiomatic systems that are consistent and complete, for instance Presburger arithmetic which proves every true first-order statement involving only addition.

The axiomatic system may consist of infinitely many axioms (as first-order Peano arithmetic does), but for Gödel's theorem to apply, there has to be an effective algorithm which is able to check proofs for correctness. For instance, one might take the set of all first-order sentences which are true in the standard model of the natural numbers. This system is complete; Gödel's theorem does not apply because there is no effective procedure that decides if a given sentence is an axiom. In fact, that this is so is a consequence of Gödel's first incompleteness theorem.

Another example of a specification of a theory to which Gödel's first theorem does not apply can be constructed as follows: order all possible statements about natural numbers first by length and then lexicographically, start with an axiomatic system initially equal to the Peano axioms, go through your list of statements one by one, and, if the current statement cannot be proven nor disproven from the current axiom system, add it to that system. This creates a system which is complete, consistent, and sufficiently powerful, but not recursively enumerable.

Gödel himself only proved a technically slightly weaker version of the above theorems; the first proof for the versions stated above was given by J. Barkley Rosser in 1936.

In essence, the proof of the first theorem consists of constructing a statement p within a formal axiomatic system that can be given a meta-mathematical interpretation of:

p = "This statement cannot be proven"
As such, it can be seen as a modern variant of the Liar paradox. Unlike the Liar sentence, p does not directly refer to itself; the above interpretation can only be "seen" from outside the formal system.

If the axiomatic system is consistent, Gödel's proof shows that p (and its negation) cannot be proven in the system. Therefore p is "true" (p claims not to be provable, and it isn't) yet it cannot be formally proved in the system. Note that adding p to the axioms of the system would not solve the problem: there would be another Gödel sentence for the enlarged theory.

Roger Penrose claims that this (alleged) difference between "what can be mechanically proven" and "what can be seen to be true by humans" shows that human intelligence is not mechanical in nature. This claim is also addressed by JR Lucas in Minds, Machines and Gödel (http://users.ox.ac.uk/~jrlucas/mmg.html).

This view is not widely accepted, because as stated by Marvin Minsky, human intelligence is capable of error and of understanding statements which are in fact inconsistent or false. However, Marvin Minsky has reported that Kurt Gödel told him personally that he believed that human beings had an intuitive, not just computational, way of arriving at truth and that therefore his theorem did not limit what can be known to be true by humans.

The position that the theorem shows humans to have an ability that transcends formal logic can also be criticized as follows: We do not know whether the sentence p is true or not, because we do not (and can not) know whether the system is consistent. So in fact we do not know any truth outside of the system. All we know is the following statement:

Either p is unprovable within the system, or the system is inconsistent.
This statement is easily proved within the system. In fact, such a proof will now be given.

[edit]
Proof sketch for the first theorem
The main problem in fleshing out the above mentioned proof idea is the following: in order to construct a statement p that is equivalent to "p cannot be proved", p would have to somehow contain a reference to p, which could easily give rise to an infinite regress. Gödel's ingenious trick, which was later used by Alan Turing to solve the Entscheidungsproblem, will be described below.

To begin with, every formula or statement that can be formulated in our system gets a unique number, called its Gödel number. This is done in such a way that it is easy to mechanically convert back and forth between formulas and Gödel numbers. Because our system is strong enough to reason about numbers, it is now also possible to reason about formulas.

A formula F(x) that contains exactly one free variable x is called a statement form. As soon as x is replaced by a specific number, the statement form turns into a bona fide statement, and it then is either provable in the system, or not. Statement forms themselves are not statements and therefore cannot be proved or disproved. But every statement form F(x) has a Gödel number which we will denote by G(F). The choice of the free variable used in the form F(x) is not relevant to the assignment of the Gödel number G(F).

By carefully analyzing the axioms and rules of the system, one can then write down a statement form P(x) which embodies the idea that x is the Gödel number of a statement which can be proved in our system. Formally: P(x) can be proved if x is the Gödel number of a provable statement, and its negation ~P(x) can be proved if it isn't. (While this is good enough for this proof sketch, it is technically not completely accurate. See Gödel's paper for the problem and Rosser's paper for the resolution. The key word is "omega-consistency".)

Now comes the trick: a statement form F(x) is called self-unprovable if the form F, applied to its own Gödel number, is not provable. This concept can be defined formally, and we can construct a statement form SU(z) whose interpretation is that z is the Gödel number of a self-unprovable statement form. Formally, SU(z) is defined as: z = G(F) for some particular form F(x), and y is the Gödel number of the statement F(G(F)), and ~P(y). Now the desired statement p that was mentioned above can be defined as:

p = SU(G(SU)).
Intuitively, when asking whether p is true, we ask: "Is the property of being self-unprovable itself self-unprovable?" This is very reminiscent of the Barber paradox about the barber who shaves precisely those people who don't shave themselves: does he shave himself?

We will now assume that our axiomatic system is consistent.

If p were provable, then SU(G(SU)) would be true, and by definition of SU, z = G(SU) would be the Gödel number of a self-unprovable statement form. Hence SU would be self-unprovable, which by definition of self-unprovable means that SU(G(SU)) is not provable, but this was our p: p is not provable. This contradiction shows that p cannot be provable.

If the negation of p= SU(G(SU)) were provable, then by definition of SU this would mean that z = G(SU) is not the Gödel number of a self-unprovable form, which implies that SU is not self-unprovable. By definition of self-unprovable, we conclude that SU(G(SU)) is provable, hence p is provable. Again a contradiction. This one shows that the negation of p cannot be provable either.

So the statement p can neither be proved nor disproved within our system.

[edit]
Proof sketch for the second theorem
Let p stand for the undecidable sentence constructed above, and let's assume that the consistency of the system can be proven from within the system itself. We have seen above that if the system is consistent, then p is not provable. The proof of this implication can be formalized in the system itself, and therefore the statement "p is not provable", or "not P(p)" can be proven in the system.

But this last statement is equivalent to p itself (and this equivalence can be proven in the system), so p can be proven in the system. This contradiction shows that the system must be inconsistent.

[edit]
See also
Consistency
Self-reference
Logicism
Minds, Machines and Gödel
Löb's Theorem
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External links and references
K. Gödel: Über formal unentscheidbare Sätze der Principia Mathematica und verwandter Systeme, I. (http://home.ddc.net/ygg/etext/godel/) Monatshefte für Mathematik und Physik, 38 (1931), pp. 173-198. Translated in van Heijenoort: From Frege to Gödel. Harvard University Press, 1971.
B. Rosser: Extensions of some theorems of Gödel and Church. Journal of Symbolic Logic, 1 (1936), N1, pp. 87-91
Kārlis Podnieks: Around Goedel's Theorem, http://www.ltn.lv/~podnieks/gt.html
D. Hofstadter: Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, 1979, ISBN 0465026850. (1999 reprint: ISBN 0465026567).
Ernest Nagel, James Roy Newman, Douglas R. Hofstadter: Gödel's Proof, revised edition (2002). ISBN 0814758169.
Hilbert's second problem (http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/hilbert/problems.html#prob2) (English translation)
Norbert Domeisen, Logik der Antinomien. Bern etc.: Peter Lang. 142 S. 1990. (ISBN 3-261-04214-1), Zentralblatt MATH (http://www.emis.de/cgi-bin/zmen/ZMATH/en/quick.html?first=1&maxdocs=3&type=html&an=0724.03003&format=complete)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%F6del%27s_incompleteness_theorem"
Categories: Theorems | Mathematical logic | Model theory | Proof theory

The bible and history
The Bible and history
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The article concerns the historicity of the Bible; i.e. in what ways is the Bible historically accurate; to what extent can it be used as a historic source and what qualifications should be applied. It mostly relates to views within the academic community.

This page is not a historical description of Biblical times. For that see History of ancient Israel and Judah.

Contents [showhide]
1 Introduction

1.1 Religious views
1.2 Scientific views

2 Old Testament

2.1 Genesis
2.2 The Patriarchs
2.3 Exodus
2.4 Joshua
2.5 United Monarchy
2.6 Later kings

3 New Testament

4 Marginal views

5 Israel ancient and modern

6 References

7 External links

[edit]
Introduction
[edit]
Religious views
Some people, especially those within Fundamentalist Christianity hold that the Bible is the Word of God, and is therefore inerrant and infallible. The Bible is therefore held to be historically accurate, even down to smallest details. Believers uphold the literal biblical account against any and all scientific claims that conflict with it, as evidenced by the claims of creation science.

Most Christians and Jews however prefer to stress the importance of the moral and religious values inculcated in the Bible, while its accuracy as a historic reference is not necessarily a key part of their faith. Religious scientist often refer to the creation stories as symbolic or intentionally simplified. Judaism in particular rejects the notion of literal interpretation of the Bible, as exemplified in the views of Maimonides who taught that when scientific evidence contradicts an understanding of the Bible, we must re-interpret that verse in accord with science.

[edit]
Scientific views
Within the academic community, the main discussion revolves around how much weight to give the text of the Bible against contradicting evidence or lack of evidence. Generally those giving more weight to the text of the Bible, assuming its correctness unless proven otherwise and tending to interpret it literally are called Biblical maximalists, while the opposing view is Biblical minimalism. The debate between both sides is inextricably tied with modern politics. See below.

As for any other written source, an educated weighting of the Biblical text requires knowledge of when was it written, by whom and for what purpose. For example, academics estimate that the Pentateuch was written somewhere between the 10th century BCE and the 6th century BCE. A popular hypothesis points at the rein of Josiah (7th century BCE). This topic is expanded upon in dating the Bible. This means that the events of, e.g. Exodus happened centuries before they were written down, so one should be prepared — indeed one should expect — that telling and retelling through the centuries accentuated the tale, perhaps merged originally unrelated stories, and so on. Analysis of the text suggests that it was written in the Kingdom of Judah and probably reflects the political ambitions of the kingdom or of the temple. Thus for example one should keep in mind that representing Judah and Israel as a unity throughout history, separated only "recently" fitted in with Josiah's political plans for the remnants of the Kingdom of Israel.

Finally, an important point to keep in mind is the documentary hypothesis, which claims that our current version was based on older written sources that were lost. Most scientist accept this hypothesis. See documentary hypothesis for details.

[edit]
Old Testament
[edit]
Genesis
The Biblical creation tale, up to and including the deluge are not a subject of dispute in the scientific community. They are generally regarded as a myth. The arguments raised come cosmology, geology, evolution (in particular fossil evidence), and textual analysis of the Bible itself, showing similarity to other mythologies.

[edit]
The Patriarchs
The Patriarchs are Abraham, his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. The Biblical narratives about them are generally held to be myths, that is stories which may have a basis in fact but are not themselves historical. (The King Arthur myth is a good example — there is a kernel of historical truth there, though finding it is difficult and requires much archaeological detective work.) No archeological evidence supporting the Bible was found, nor was it likely to expect archeological proof for the existence of a single household in the 18th century BCE.

[edit]
Exodus
The historicity of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is a matter of some speculation. Looking for hints in the extensive Egyptian records, some scholars identify the Israelites with the Hyksos, asian tribes that inhabited Egypt in the 17-16 centuries BCE. Others suggested the Apir which are reminded occasionally between the 15th and 11th centuries BCE. The earliest known reference to "Israel" (c 1200BCE), is the "Victory Stele" (or "Israel Stele") of the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah, in which among other victories it is recorded that "Israel is laid waste; his seed is not".

Some have attempted to relate various plagues to historic events, in particular the palgue of darkness with the volcanic eruption in Thera in the 17th century BCE. See Ten plagues for details.

The number of Israelites stated in the Bible, 600,000 is almost definitely exaggerated, since such a massive migration would leave many traces, none of which was found (see also the next section). Researchers however differ widely in their opinion on the true number, and indeed if the event ever took place.

[edit]
Joshua
The historicity of the book of Joshua is today strongly suspected, as archeological research found no evidence of a massive population increase in Canaan during this time period. At this time the land had a population of between 50,000 and 100,000. Kathleen Kenyon excavated in Jericho from 1952-1958, using improved methods of stratigraphy, and found many details which would seem to conform to the Biblical account of the conquest of Jericho, but she determined that the siege took place 150 years too early for it to have been the city Joshua's army destroyed. She dated the city by the absence of a type of imported pottery common to the era around 1400 B.C. She concluded, as had Sellin and Watzinger before her that the Biblical account of the conquest of Jericho was untenable.

[edit]
United Monarchy
Since the discoverty of a 9th century BCE inscription at Tel Dan probably refering to the house of David, it is more common to assume David was a real historical figure. However, a heated debate extends as to whether the united monarchy and the rebellion of Jeroboam ever existed, or whether they are a late fabrication.

[edit]
Later kings
It is generally assumed that the Biblical account of the history of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel is historic, even if not unbiased. Archeological evidence and chronologies of neighboring countries have corroborated the general picture presented in the Bible, even if not every details. For example, Ahab's participation in the Battle of Karkar is clearly documented in Assyrian chronology.

Despite widespread belief among the academic community that no Assyrian king named Sargon (as recorded in Isaiah 20:1) existed, Sargon's palace was eventually discovered in Khorsabad, Iraq. The event mentioned in Isaiah 20, his capture of Ashdod, was recorded on the palace walls. Fragments of a stela memorializing the victory were found at Ashdod itself.

Another king who was in doubt was Belshazzar, king of Babylon, named in Daniel 5. The last king of Babylon was Nabonidus according to recorded history. Tablets were found showing that Belshazzar was Nabonidus' son who served as coregent in Babylon. Thus, Belshazzar could offer to make Daniel "third highest ruler in the kingdom" (Dan. 5:16) for reading the handwriting on the wall, the highest available position.

[edit]
New Testament
Main article: Historicity of Jesus

A number of scholars have argued that although there may well have been a real person named Jesus, the Jesus we know from the Bible today has many elements that come from myths and religions current at the time, for example Mithraism. It is suggested that this process of assimilation is similar to the way in which peoples in Latin America and Africa have often incorporated elements of their traditional faiths into their newly-adopted Christianity. And they point out that even in European traditions, such fundamentals as the traditional date of Jesus' birth (midnight 24th December) and death (Easter) are taken from pre-existng pagan practices (the winter solstice and the fertility rites of the goddess Eostre).

At the extreme, some scholars, most notably Earl Doherty, have suggested that Jesus Christ never existed at all, that the character is a gestalt of numerous individuals who lived and myths that were common currency during the late Hellenistic age. The early secular references (Tacitus on Jesus, Josephus on Jesus) can be disputed, and once these are discounted little extra-biblical support for Jesus' existence remains (see Jesus).

[edit]
Marginal views
Popular writers such as Immanuel Velikovsky, Lisa Liel, Donovan Courville and others have suggested that the lack of archeological attestation of biblical figures is due to errors in the traditional chronology or the dating of archaelogical strata. Velikovsky's theories were rejected outright by the scientific community and refuted in detail, see Immanuel Velikovsky. More recent theories, notably those of Egyptologists David Rohl and Peter James are viewed with cautious interest by the scientific community but have not gained widespread acceptance. Indeed, a re-dating on the order of 300 years, as they proposed, is strongly rejected by leading Egyptologists, notably Prof. Kenneth Kitchen, although a redating by lesser amounts, such as 50 years, is more widely seen as potentially necessary.

[edit]
Israel ancient and modern
Biblical archaeology is sometimes politically controversial, especially when it touches on the United Monarchy period, as some Israelis seek to use the existence of the Kingdom as support for a Greater Israel today. Arguments against the historicity of the Kingdom (or perhaps an existence in a smaller and less impressive form), or against the historicity of a recognisable Exodus, can lead to charges of anti-Semitism, for example from Hershel Shanks, editor of Biblical Archaeology Review. Nonetheless, since these periods are fundamental to Israelis' understanding of their history, it is understandable that it is an emotive subject for some.

[edit]
References
Sources on Biblical maximalism versus Biblical minimalism:

Biran, Avraham. "'David' Found at Dan." Biblical Archaeology Review 20:2 (1994): 26-39.
Coogan, Michael D. "Canaanites: Who Were They and Where Did They Live?" Bible Review 9:3 (1993): 44ff.
Mazar, Amihai. 1992. Archaeology of the Land of the Bible: 10,000-586 B.C.E. New York: Doubleday.
Na'aman, Nadav. 1996 ."The Contribution of the Amarna Letters to the Debate on Jerusalem's Political Position in the Tenth Century B.C.E." BASOR. 304: 17-27.
Na'aman, Nadav. 1997 "Cow Town or Royal Capital: Evidence for Iron Age Jerusalem." Biblical Archaeology Review. 23, no. 4: 43-47, 67.
Shanks, Hershel. 1995. Jerusalem: An Archaeological Biography. New York: Random House.
Shanks, Hershel. 1997 "Face to Face: Biblical Minimalists Meet Their Challengers." Biblical Archaeology Review. 23, no. 4: 26-42, 66.
Steiner, Margareet and Jane Cahill. "David's Jerusalem: Fiction or Reality?" Biblical Archaeology Review 24:4 (1998): 25-33, 62-63; 34-41, 63. This article presents a debate between a Biblical minimalist and a Biblical maximalist.
Thomas L. Thompson, The Bible in History: How Writers Create a Past, London 1999
William G. Dever, What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 2001
[edit]
External links
The Debate over the Historicity and Chronology of the United Monarchy in Jerusalem (http://www.mediasense.com/athena/jerusalem.htm) by Ong Kar Khalsa
Minimalism, "Ancient Israel", and Anti-Semitism (http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/Minimalism.htm) By Philip Davies.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_history"
Categories: Biblical criticism

Genesis
Genesis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about Genesis, the first book of the Hebrew Bible. See Genesis (disambiguation) for other usages of the word.

Books of the Torah
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
[ edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Template:Books_of_Torah&action=edit) ]

Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of "birth", "creation", "cause", "beginning", "source" and "origin"; translated from Hebrew בראשׁית Bereshit or Bərê?îth) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament.

Contents [showhide]
1 Introduction

2 Dating and history

3 Authorship

4 Christian views

5 Main themes

6 Summary

6.1 Creation according to Genesis
6.2 Adam and Eve
6.3 The Nephilim
6.4 Noah and the great flood
6.5 Abram and Sarai
6.6 Abram and Melchizedek
6.7 Hagar and Ishmael
6.8 Sodom and Gomorrah
6.9 The birth of Isaac
6.10 The Near sacrifice of Isaac
6.11 Esau and Jacob
6.12 Jacob wrestles with God
6.13 Joseph the dreamer

7 References

8 External links

[edit]
Introduction
Genesis is presented as a historical work. Beginning with the creation of the world, it recounts the primal history of humanity and the early history of the people of Israel as exemplified in the lives of its patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and their families. It contains the historical presupposition and basis of the national religious ideas and institutions of Israel, and serves as an introduction to its history, laws, customs and legends.

It is a well-planned and well-executed composition of a writer (or set or writers), who has recounted the traditions of the Israelites, combining them into a uniform work, while preserving the textual and formal peculiarities incident to their difference in origin and mode of transmission.

[edit]
Dating and history
Based on the genealogies in Genesis and later parts of the Bible, both religious Jews and Christians have independently worked backwards to find the implied time of the creation of the world, around the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. This dating is based on a literal reading of the creation account and the assumptions that the six days in which God created the heavens and the earth were 24-hour days, that Adam, Eve, and the Garden of Eden existed, and that a complete trace of events from Creation to a historically verifiable date is listed in the biblical account.

In the medieval era, religious rationalists such as Maimonides held that it was a gross error to read the creation stories literally; in this view, while the Bible is indeed the word of God, it was designed to teach deep metaphysical truths about the universe, and the surface stories were intended to be read as allegories.

The absence of independent evidence confirming the biblical narrative cause many scholars to question the accuracy or even the veracity of the historical account. This subject is discussed in The Bible and history.

[edit]
Authorship
Genesis as a completed book makes no claims about its authorship; Jewish tradition from early on assumed that the book was dictated, in its entirety, by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. For a number of reasons, this view is no longer accepted by many biblical scholars, non-Orthodox Jews, Catholics, and liberal Protestants. Instead, they accept a theory whose roots are based on cultural evolution and philosophical naturalism which teaches that the text of Genesis as we see it today was redacted together around 440 BC from earlier sources. See the Documentary hypothesis entry for more information.

Other scholars note that when Genesis was compiled, it was made up of earlier documents which were so little changed that even their literary tradition, which put the author's name at the end of each document, was preserved, preserving also the authors' true identities. This preserves the traditional concept of Moses being the author of Genesis, though making his role more that of an editor who chose the earlier works to include than as an author of every word.

[edit]
Christian views
Repeated references in the New Testament recognize that Moses was the author of Genesis. These references acknowledge that Genesis is as authoritative as any other book of the Bible.

The author of the gospel of John refers to the opening words of Genesis, personifying the speech of God as the eternal Logos (Greek: λογος "reason", "word", "speech"), that is the origin of all things "with God", and "was God", and "became flesh and tabernacled among us". Christians interpret this as an example of apostolic teaching of the doctrine of the Trinity and the deity of Christ; however, Genesis standing alone does not cleary suggest this teaching, although there are some possible allusions to it, such as in Genesis 1:26 when God refers to Himself in the plural.

[edit]
Main themes
There is only one God, who has created the world. God has called all objects and living beings into existence by his word.

The universe when created was, in the judgment of God, good. Genesis expresses an optimistic satisfaction and pleasure in the world.

God as a personal being, referred to in anthropomorphic and anthropopathic terms. God may appear and speak to mankind.

Genesis makes no attempt to give a philosophically rigorous definition of God; its description is a practical and historical one. God is treated exclusively with reference to his dealings with the world and with man.

Mankind is the crown of Creation, and has been made in God's image.

All people are descended from Adam and Eve; this expresses the unity of the whole human race.

The Earth possesses for man a certain moral grandeur; man must include God's creatures in the respect that it demands in general, by not exploiting them for his own selfish uses.

Unlike other ancient religious texts from the near-east and middle-east, Genesis posits the existence of a one and only being that may properly be called God. All other non-human intelligences implied or stated to exist in the text may only be considered angels or the like. God is presented as being the sole creator of nature, and as existing outside of it and beyond it.

Some historians believe Genesis to be a more recent example of monotheistic belief than Zoroastrianism, interpreting the commandment "have no other gods before me" as an artifact of early henotheism among the Jews -- i.e., as evidence that the Hebrews were not to worship the gods of other peoples, but only their own tribal god. On the other hand, Genesis, in its present form, purports to give record of beliefs prior to any surviving religious texts, describing the worship of other gods and local deities as a gradual development among the nations, who departed from original monotheism.

The primary purpose of the book is not historical or legal, but to explain man's origins, and to describe man's relationship to God, and how man's relationship to man must be seen in that light.

God created an eternal, unbreakable covenant with all mankind at the time of Noah; this is known as the Noachide covenant. This universal concern with all mankind is paralleled by a second covenant made to the descendants of Abraham in particular, through his son Isaac, in which their descendants will be chosen to have a special destiny.

The Jewish people are chosen to be in a special covenant with God; God says to Abraham "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you; and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed". God often repeats the promise that Abraham's descendants shall be as numerous as the stars in heaven and as the sand on the seashore.

(Since the Jewish people are the authors and creators of the First Testament, it is unlikely an outside group would be the Chosen people. In the past all groups of people saw themselves as the Chosen people. It is a polarization and labeling of us and them). It is a common human perception of "in and out" groups even today.

The article on Biblical cosmology discusses the Bible's view of the cosmos, much of which derives from descriptions in Genesis.

[edit]
Summary
[edit]
Creation according to Genesis
Main article: Creation according to Genesis

Creation in genesis can be split into two sections - the first section starts with an account of the creation of the universe by God, which occurs in six days, the second account is more human-oriented, and less concerned with explaining how the Earth, its creatures and its features came to exist as they are today.

Within the first account, on the first day God created light; on the second, the firmament of heaven; on the third, the separation between water and land, and the creation of plant life; on the fourth day the sun, moon, and stars; on the fifth day created marine life and birds; on the sixth day land animals, and man and woman. On the seventh day, the Sabbath, God rested, and sanctified the day. (This leads to the question what the source of light was before day four. A possible answer could be that it is to demonstrate the omnipotence of God. Another possible answer is that it was from a lightbulb.)

Some may wonder whether it was this chapter of the Hebrew Bible that gives us our seven-day week, and may further speculate about the importance of the number seven. However, research into the origin of the week tells us that it was widely spread throughout the ancient world, so widely that apart from claims such as Genesis, its origins cannot be percieved

The second account of creation explains that the earth was lifeless, how God brought moisture to the soil and how man was formed from the dust (Adam translates from Hebrew to mean 'Red Earth').

[edit]
Adam and Eve
God formed Adam out of earth ("adama"), and set him in the Garden of Eden, to watch over it. Adam is allowed to eat of all the fruit within it, except that of the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." God then brings all the animals to Adam, to serve as company for him. Adam gives names to all the animals, but finds no comfort in his loneliness. God then puts him into a deep sleep, takes a rib from his side, and from it forms a woman (called later "Eve"), to be a companion.

Eve is convinced by a talking serpent to eat of the forbidden fruit. Eve wisely questions the serpent and hesitates to take a bite. Eve offers the fruit to Adam to eat it as well (the "original sin"). Adam asks no questions. He immediately takes a bite. As punishment they are driven out of Eden. The entrance to Eden is then guarded by cherubim with a flaming sword.

Adam and Eve initially have two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain grows envious of the favor found by his brother before God, and slays him. The first murder is that of a brother. Cain is sentenced to wander over the earth as a fugitive. He finally settles in the land of Nod.

Enoch, one of Cain's sons, builds the first city. Another descendant, Lamech, takes two wives. Lamech's sons are the first dwellers in tents and owners of herds, and they are the earliest inventors of musical instruments and workers in brass and iron. Cain's descendants know nothing about God.

Another son, Seth, has in the meantime been born to Adam and Eve in place of the slain Abel. Seth's descendants never lose thought of God. The tenth in regular descent is Noah. Adam and Eve also have other sons and daughters.

Note: the stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel also appear in the Qur'an (see Similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an).

[edit]
The Nephilim
The introduction to the story of Noah is one of the more cryptic sections in the Bible. The sons of God (alternatively: "sons of the Rulers") lusted after the daughters of man, and mated with them. The children of these unions were mighty men, called Men of the Name (alternatively: "Men of Renown"). In this time the Nephilim dwelled on the earth. The significance of the Nephilim is not explained.

[edit]
Noah and the great flood
In response to the unfavored union of women and the sons of God, along with possibly other sins, God decides to cleanse the world and start again. God selects one man's family, the family of Noah, to survive the flood, as Noah is the most righteous man of his generation. God commands him to build a large ark, since the work of destruction is to be accomplished by means of a great flood. Noah obeys the command, entering the ark together with his family. Into this ark they bring a mating pair of each kind of animal and bird on Earth. Rain begins, and the world is flooded, destroying all living beings save those in the ark. When it has subsided, Noah's family leaves the ark, and God enters into a covenant with Noah and all his descendants, the entire human race. Noah cultivates a field that has been cursed during Adam's lifetime, and plants a vineyard (ix. 20). When, in a fit of intoxication, Noah is shamelessly treated by his son Ham, he curses the latter in the person of Ham's son Canaan, while his sons Shem and Japheth are blessed.

Chapter 10 reviews the peoples descended from Japheth, Ham, and Shem. The dispersion of humanity into separate races and nations is described in the story of the Tower of Babel. Humanity is dispersed by a "confusion of tongues," which God brought about when men attempted to build a tower that should reach up to heaven (xi. 1-9). A genealogy is given of Shem's descendants.

Note: the story of Noah also appears in the Qur'an (see Similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an).

[edit]
Abram and Sarai
Terah, who lives at Ur of the Chaldees, has three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran's son is Lot. Nahor is married to Milcah, and Abram to Sarai, who has no children. God directs Abram to leave his home. Abram obeys, emigrating with his entire household and Lot, his brother's son, to the land of Canaan. Here God appears to him and promises that the land shall become the property of his descendants.

Abram is forced by a famine to leave the country and go to Egypt. The King of Egypt takes possession of the beautiful Sarai (whom Abram has misleadingly represented as his sister; she was in fact his half-sister). God smites the King with a disease, which the King recognizes as a sign from God; the King returns Sarai to Abram. Abram returns to Canaan, and separates from Lot in order to put an end to disputes about pasturage. He gives Lot the valley of the Jordan near Sodom. God again appears to Abram, and promises to him the whole country.

[edit]
Abram and Melchizedek
Lot is taken prisoner by invading kings from the East during a war between Amraphel, King of Shinar, and Bera, King of Sodom, with their respective allies. Abram pursues the victors with his armed retainers. Returning with his warband after rescuing Lot and his clan, Abram is met by Melchizedek, the king and high priest of Salem (Jerusalem), who blesses him, and in return Abram gives him a tithe of his booty, refusing his share of the same. See Melchizedek and Tithe. After this exploit God again appears to Abram and promises him protection, a rich reward, and numerous progeny. These descendants will pass four hundred years in servitude in a strange land; but after God has judged their oppressors they shall leave the land of their affliction, and the fourth generation shall return to Canaan.

[edit]
Hagar and Ishmael
Sarai is childless, so Sarai and Abram decide that they will produce an heir for Abram though his Egyptian handmaiden, Hagar. Abram takes her as a concubine and has a child with her, Ishmael. God again appears to Abram, and enters into a personal covenant with him securing Abram's future: God promises him a numerous progeny, changes his name to "Abraham" and that of Sarai to "Sarah," and institutes the circumcision of all males as an eternal sign of the covenant.

[edit]
Sodom and Gomorrah
God sends Abraham three angels, whom Abraham receives hospitably. They announce to him that he will have a son within a year, although he and his wife are already very old. Abraham also hears that God's messengers intend to execute judgment upon the wicked inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, whereupon he intercedes for the sinners, and endeavors to have their fate set aside. Two of the messengers go to Sodom, where they are hospitably received by Lot. The men of the city wish to lay shameless hands upon them. Having thus shown that they have deserved their fate, Sodom and Gomorrah are destroyed by fire-and-brimstone.

Only Lot and his two daughters are saved. Lot's incestuous relationship with his daughters, which resulted in the births of Ammon and Moab, is also described.

Abraham journeys to Gerar, the country of Abimelech. Here once again he represents Sarah as his sister, and Abimelech plans to gain possession of her. He desists on being warned by God.

Note: the story of Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah also appears in the Qur'an (see Similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an).

[edit]
The birth of Isaac
At last the long-expected son is born, and receives the name of "Isaac" (Itzhak: "will laugh" in Hebrew). At Sarah's insistence Ishmael together with his mother Hagar is driven out of the house. They also have a great future promised to them by God. Abraham, during the banquet that he gives in honor of Isaac's birth, enters into a covenant with Abimelech, who confirms his right to the well Beer-sheba.

Note: the story of Isaac also appears in in the Qur'an (see Similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an).

[edit]
The Near sacrifice of Isaac
Now that Abraham seems to have all his desires fulfilled, having even provided for the future of his son, God subjects him to the greatest trial of his faith by demanding Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham obeys; but, as he is about to lay the knife upon his son, God restrains him, promising him numberless descendants. On the death of Sarah Abraham acquires Machpelah for a family tomb. Then he sends his servant to Mesopotamia, Nahor's home, to find among his relations a wife for Isaac; and Rebekah, Nahor's granddaughter, is chosen. Other children are born to Abraham by another wife, Keturah, among whose descendants are the Midianites; and he dies in a prosperous old age.

Note: the story of the sacrifice also appears in the Qur'an (see Similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an).

[edit]
Esau and Jacob
After being married for twenty years Rebekah has twins by Isaac: Esau, who becomes a hunter, and Jacob (Ya'akov: "will follow"), who becomes a herdsman. Jacob persuades Esau to sell him his birthright, for which the latter does not care; notwithstanding this bargain, God appears to Isaac and repeats the promises given to Abraham. His wife, whom he represents as his sister, is endangered in the country of the Philistines, but King Abimelech himself averts disaster. In spite of the hostility of Abimelech's people, Isaac is fortunate in all his undertakings in that country, especially in digging wells. God appears to him at Beer-sheba, encourages him, and promises him blessings and numerous descendants; and Abimelech enters into a covenant with him at the same place. Esau marries Canaanite women, to the regret of his parents.

Rebekah persuades Jacob to dress himself as Esau, and thus obtain from his senile father the blessing intended for Esau. To escape his brother's vengeance, Jacob is sent to relations in Haran, being charged by Isaac to find a wife there. On the way God appears to him at night, promising protection and aid for himself and the land for his numerous descendants. Arrived at Haran, Jacob hires himself to Laban, his mother's brother, on condition that, after having served for seven years as a herdsman, he shall have for wife the younger daughter, Rachel, with whom he is in love. At the end of this period Laban gives him the elder daughter, Leah; Jacob therefore serves another seven years for Rachel, and after that six years more for cattle. In the meantime Leah bears him Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; by Rachel's maid Bilhah he has Dan and Naphtali; by Zilpah, Leah's maid, Gad and Asher; then, by Leah again, Issachar, Zebulun, and Dinah; and finally, by Rachel, Joseph. He also acquires much wealth in flocks.

[edit]
Jacob wrestles with God
In fear of Laban, Jacob flees with his family, and soon becomes reconciled with Laban. On approaching his home he is in fear of Esau, to whom he sends presents. While sleeping, a being (variously regarded as God, an angel, or a man), appears to Jacob and wrestles with him. The mysterious one pleads to be released before daybreak, but Jacob refuses to release the being until he agrees to bless him. The being announces to Jacob that he shall bear the name "Israel," which means "one who wrestled with God" and is freed.

The meeting with Esau proves a friendly one, and the brothers separate reconciled. Jacob settles at Shalem. His sons Simeon and Levi take vengeance on the city of Shechem, whose prince has raped their sister Dinah. On the road from Beth-el Rachel gives birth to a son, Benjamin, and dies.

[edit]
Joseph the dreamer
Joseph, Jacob's favorite son, is hated by his brothers on account of his dreams prognosticating his future dominion, and on the advice of Judah is secretly sold to a caravan of Ishmaelitic merchants going to Egypt. His brothers tell their father that a wild animal has devoured Joseph. Joseph, carried to Egypt, is there sold as a slave to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials. He gains his master's confidence; but when the latter's wife, unable to seduce him, accuses him falsely, he is cast into prison (xxxix.). Here he correctly interprets the dreams of two of his fellow prisoners, the king's butler and baker. When Pharaoh is troubled by dreams that no one is able to interpret, the butler draws attention to Joseph. The latter is thereupon brought before Pharaoh, whose dreams he interprets to mean that seven years of abundance will be followed by seven years of famine. He advises the king to make provision accordingly, and is empowered to take the necessary steps, being appointed second in the kingdom. Joseph marries Asenath, the daughter of the priest Poti-pherah, by whom he has two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (xli.).

When the famine comes it is felt even in Canaan; and Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy corn. The brothers appear before Joseph, who recognizes them, but does not discover himself. After having proved them on this and on a second journey, and they having shown themselves so fearful and penitent that Judah even offers himself as a slave, Joseph reveals his identity, forgives his brothers the wrong they did him, and promises to settle in Egypt both them and his father (xlii.-xlv.). Jacob brings his whole family, numbering 66 persons, to Egypt, this making, inclusive of Joseph and his sons and himself, 70 persons. Pharaoh receives them amicably and assigns to them the land of Goshen (xlvi.-xlvii.). When Jacob feels the approach of death he sends for Joseph and his sons, and receives Ephraim and Manasseh among his own sons (xlviii.). Then he calls his sons to his bedside and reveals their future to them (xlix.). Jacob dies, and is solemnly interred in the family tomb at Machpelah. Joseph lives to see his great-grandchildren, and on his death-bed he exhorts his brethren, if God should remember them and lead them out of the country, to take his bones with them.

See also: Tanakh (The Hebrew Bible), The Bible and history, Dating the Bible, Cradle of Humanity

[edit]
References
Bruce Vawter "On Genesis: A New Reading", Doubleday & Co., 1977, An introduction to Genesis by a fine Catholic scholar. Genesis was Vawter's hobby.
E. A. Speiser "Genesis, The Anchor Bible", Volume 1. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1964. (A translation with commentary and philological notes by a noted Semitic scholar. The series is written for laypeople and specialists alike.)
[edit]
External links
Read Genesis at Bible Gateway (http://www.biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible?language=english&version=NIV&passage=gen) (Various versions)
Read Genesis at Wikisource (http://wikisource.org/wiki/Bible%2C_English%2C_King_James%2C_Genesis) (Authorised/King James Version)
A detailed chart of Adam's descendents, as told in the book of Genesis (http://www.threetwoone.org/diagrams/offspring-adam-2x-00.gif)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesis"
Categories: Torah | Christian texts | Old Testament books

Arguments for the existence of God
Arguments for the existence of God
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Many arguments for the existence of God exist.

Contents [showhide]
1 Arguments for the necessity of God

1.1 Metaphysical arguments
1.2 Empirical arguments
1.3 Arguments for the belief in God

2 The theological status of the arguments

3 See also

4 External links

[edit]
Arguments for the necessity of God
These arguments can be classified under two headings. First are the strictly logical or metaphysical arguments; these arguments seek to prove that the existence of a being with at least one attribute that only God could have is logically necessary.

[edit]
Metaphysical arguments
The chief such arguments are:

The Cosmological argument, which argues that God must have been around at the start of things in order to be the "first cause".
The Mathematical argument defines God as the Absolute Infinite, a mathematical concept.
The Ontological argument, based on arguments about the "being greater than which nothing can be conceived".
The Pantheistic argument defines God as All; panentheism and cosmology.
[edit]
Empirical arguments
Other arguments avail themselves of data beyond definitions and axioms. Some of these arguments require only that one assume that a non-random universe able to support life exists. Others are more strongly tied to the testimony of certain witnesses or the propositions of a specific revealed religion. These arguments include:

The Teleological argument, which argues that since the universe is (superficially) non-random, it must have been designed by an intelligent designer, i.e. God.
The Anthropic argument focuses on basic facts, such as our existence, to prove God.
The Witness argument gives credibility to personal witnesses, contemporary and throughout the ages.
The religious or Christological argument is specific to religions such as Christianity, and asserts that for example Jesus Christ's life as written in the New Testament establishes his credibility, so we can believe in the truth of his statements about God.
The Majority argument: people in all times and in different places have believed in God, so it is unlikely that he does not exist.
The Moral argument argues that morality cannot exist without God.
The Anthropological argument, which argues that our conception of perfection can only be possible if such perfection exists.
The Transcendental argument, which argues that logic, science, ethics, and other good things don't make sense if there is no God. Therefore, arguments against the existence of God must ultimately refute themselves if pressed with rigorous consistency.
[edit]
Arguments for the belief in God
There are innumerable informal arguments for belief in God. Some, for example, claim to have had personal experiences with God, or revelations. Some attribute to God miraculous healings, and striking insights gained in response to prayer, worship, or other spiritual circumstances. And some attribute the manner in which events in their lives have unfolded, or fortuitous circumstances in their lives, to the influence of God.

There are also formal arguments for the belief in God. Perhaps the most famous is Pascal's Wager: Rather than arguing that God exists, Pascal seeks to show that belief in God is the best and safest "bet".

The Argument from a Proper Basis argues that belief in God is "properly basic"--that is, similar to statements such as "I see a chair" or "I feel pain." Such beliefs are non-falsifiable and, thus, neither able to be proved nor disproved; they concern perceptual beliefs or indisputable mental states.
[edit]
The theological status of the arguments
The theological standing of arguments for the existence of God is also subject to some debate among believers. Within the Christian tradition there are two sharply opposed viewpoints. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, following the Thomist tradition of St Thomas Aquinas, affirms that it is a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that God's existence can in fact be rationally demonstrated. Other Christians in different denominations hold similar views.

On the other hand, some believers hold a contrary position. These believers note that the Christian faith teaches salvation is by faith, and that faith is reliance upon the faithfulness of God, which has little to do with the believer's ability to comprehend that in which he trusts. In other words, if Christian theology is true, then God's existence can never be demonstrated, either by empirical means or by philosophical argument. The most extreme example of this position is called fideism, which holds that faith is simply the will to believe, and argues that if God's existence were rationally demonstrable, faith in His existence would become superfluous. In The Justification of Knowledge, the Calvinist theologian Robert S. Reymond argues that believers should not attempt to prove the existence of God. Since he believes all such proofs are fundamentally unsound, believers should not place their confidence in them, but rather accept the content of revelation by faith.

There are also several arguments against the existence of God. The most common one is the problem of evil.

[edit]
See also
arguments against the existence of God
apologetics
metaphysics
philosophy of religion
[edit]
External links
Dr. William Lane Craig, Talbot School of Theology. (http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/menus/existence.html) Arguments from a current theologian.
Over Three Hundred Proofs of God’s Existence (http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/GodProof.htm) from the "Atheists of Silicon Valley" website
Twenty Arguments For The Existence Of God (http://www.apologetics.com/default.jsp?bodycontent=/articles/theistic_apologetics/kreeft-arguments.html), by Peter Kreeft & Ronald K. Tacelli

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arguments_for_the_existence_of_God"
Categories: Religious Philosophy | Theology | Jewish mysticism | Jewish philosophy

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Gematria
Gematria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Gematria is numerology of the Hebrew language and Hebrew alphabet. Several forms can be identified: the "revealed" form and the "mystical form".

[edit]
Revealed Gematria
The commonest form of gematria is used occasionally in the Talmud and Midrash and elaborately by many post-Talmudic commentators. It involves converting words and sentences into numbers, usually by assigning numbers to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. When converted to a number, they can be compared to other words and similarities drawn. A commentary almost completely dedicated to gematria is Baal ha-Turim by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher.

Gematria is often used by the Maharal of Prague and hasidic Torah commentators (such as the "Sefath Emmeth" from Gur).

[edit]
Mystical Gematria
Gematria is a system of recognizing a correspondence between the ten sefirot, or fires of God, and the twenty two letters in the Hebrew alphabet. This system is elaborated in many mystical Jewish writings such as the Zohar.

One example of Gematria is that there are twenty-two solid figures that are composed of regular polygons. There are five Platonic solids, four Kepler-Poinsot solids, and thirteen Archimedean solids. Since there are twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet (aleph-beth), a correspondence is possible between these two facts. The art of Gematria is knowing which solid is associated with which letter.

Another example is that of Hebrew numerals. Although there are twenty-two letters, there are twenty-seven numerals necessary to sum each number up to one thousand. (one through nine, ten through ninety, one hundred through nine hundred) The Hebrew numeric system notes that the missing final five letters of the numeral system match exactly with the five 'sofeet' forms of the Hebrew letters, which are alternate forms of particular letters only used when that letter is the last consonant in a hebrew word.

Another use is that words which have the same numerical value, share the same qualities, and reveal still other aspects of the Divine.

[edit]
See also
Jewish mysticism
Kabbalah
Mysticism
Metaphysics
Hebrew language
Hebrew numerals
Hebrew alphabet

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria"
Categories: Judaism

Talmud
Talmud
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The first page of the Talmud, in the standard Vilna edition. The core text of the Mishna and Talmud is in the center; commentaries and notes on either side surround it.The Talmud (התלמוד) is considered an authoritative record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories. It is a fundamental source of legislation, customs, case histories and moral exhortations. The Talmud comprises two components, the Mishnah and the Gemara. It expands on the earlier writings in the Torah in general and in the Mishnah in particular, and is the basis for all later codes of Jewish law, and much of Rabbinic literature. The Talmud is also traditionally referred to as Shas (an abbreviation of shishah sedarim, the "six orders" of the Mishnah).

Contents [showhide]
1 Structure and Function

1.1 Mishna and Gemara
1.2 Orders and Tractates

2 The two Talmuds

2.1 Talmud Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Talmud)
2.2 Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud)
2.3 Comparison of style and subject matter

3 Attitude to the Talmud within Judaism

3.1 Karaism
3.2 Kabbalah
3.3 The Enlightenment
3.4 Jews in Western Culture
3.5 The Talmud in modern-day Judaism

4 Historical study

4.1 Changes within the text of the Talmud

5 External Attacks on the Talmud

5.1 Charges of racism

6 Talmudists

7 The daily page

8 Translations

8.1 Translations of Talmud Bavli
8.2 Translations of Talmud Yerushalmi

9 See also

10 References

10.1 General
10.2 Historical study

11 External links

[edit]
Structure and Function
Rabbinical Judaism has always held that the books of the Tanakh were transmitted in parallel with a living, oral tradition. (The Torah "lists the rules" while the oral law deals with application.) The Talmud, ultimately, constitutes the authoritative redaction of Judaism's oral tradition.

[edit]
Mishna and Gemara
The Jewish Oral law was recorded by Rabbi Judah haNasi and redacted as the Mishnah in 200 CE. The oral traditions were committed to writing to preserve them, as it became apparent that the Palestine community, and its learning, was threatened. The rabbis of the Mishnah are known as Tannaim (sing. Tanna); teachings in the Mishnah are generally reported in the name of a Tanna.

Over the next three centuries the Mishna underwent analysis and debate in Israel and Babylon (the world's major Jewish communities). This analysis is known as Gemara. The rabbis of the Gemara are referred to as Amoraim (sing. Amora). See Gemara for further discussion.

The Mishnah and the Gemara together comprise the Talmud. The Talmud is thus the combination of a core text, the Mishnah, or “redaction” (from the verb shanah שנה, to repeat, revise) and subsequent analysis and commentary, the gemara, or “completion” (from gamar גמר, to complete). It is also in two languages, with the Mishna sections and Bibilical references in Hebrew, and the Gemara sections in Aramaic.

Although the debates between the Amoraim focus on clarifying the words and views of the Tannaim, the Gemara is not strictly limited to an analysis of the Mishnah's text. It also brings in sources from the Mishnaic era, which were not included in the Mishnah compendium, which are called Tosefta (additions); the Talmud refers to these as beraitot, (the word for “outside”). The gemara also supplements the Mishna with haggadic (or aggadic) materials and biblical expositions, and is a source for history and legend. See Ein Yaakov.

The Talmud thus constitutes the authoritative redaction of Judaism's oral tradition. It is the major influence on Jewish belief and thought. Furthermore, although not a formal legal code, it is the basis for all later codes of Jewish law, and thus continues to exert a major influence on Halakha and Jewish religious practice; see the article on Rabbinic literature and the introduction of Maimonides to his Mishneh Torah [1] (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/e0000.htm).

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Orders and Tractates
The Mishna consists of six orders (sedarim, seder - singular). Each of the six orders contains between 7 and 12 tractates, called masechtot (masechet - singular). Each masechet is divided into smaller units called mishnayot (mishnah - singular). In the Talmud, not every tractate in the Mishnah has Gemara, furthermore, the order of the tractates in the Talmud is in some cases different to the Mishnah; see the discussion on each Seder.

First Order: Zeraim ("Seeds"). 11 tractates. It deals with agricultural laws and prayers.
Second Order: Moed ("Festival Days"). 12 tractates. This pertains to the laws of the Sabbath and the Festivals.
Third Order: Nashim ("Women"). 7 tractates. Concerns marriage and divorce.
Fourth Order: Nezikin ("Damages"). 10 tractates. Deals with civil and criminal law.
Fifth Order: Kodshim ("Holy things"). 11 tractates. This involves sacrificial rites, the Temple, and the dietary laws.
Sixth Order: Tohorot ("Purity"). 12 tractates. This pertains to ritual and the laws of family purity.
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The two Talmuds
There is only one Mishnah but there are two distinct gemaras: the Yerushalmi and the Bavli, and two corresponding Talmuds. (Today the word "Talmud", when used without qualification, refers to the Babylonian Talmud.)

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Talmud Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Talmud)
See Jerusalem Talmud.
The Gemara here is a synopsis of almost 200 years of analysis of the Mishna in the Academies in Israel. Due to the location of the Academies, the agricultural laws of the Land of Israel are discussed in great detail. It was redacted in the year 350 C.E. by Rav Muna and Rav Yossi in Israel. Together, this Gemara and the Mishnah are known as Talmud Yerushalmi (The Jerusalem Talmud; however, the name is a misnomer, as it was not writtem in Jerusalem. As such it is also known more accurately as the Palestinian Talmud or The Talmud of the Land of Israel.

References to the Yerushalmi are usually not by page (as in the Babylonian Talmud) but by the Mishna which is under discussion. References are therefore in the format of [Tractate chapter:Mishna] (e.g. Berachot 1:2). As the Babylonian Talmud is considered more influential, references to the Yerushalmi are generally prefaced by "Yerushalmi" to clarify their origin.

The classical commentaries on the Yerushalmi are the P'nei Moshe and the Korban ha-Eidah, which are printed alongside the Talmudic text in most versions of the Yerushalmi.

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Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud)
The Gemara here is a synopsis of more than 300 years of analysis of the Mishna in the Babylonian Academies. It was redacted as a formal collection by Ashi and Ravina, two leaders of the Babylonian Jewish community, around the year 550 CE. Editorial work by the Savoraim or Rabbeinu Sevorai (post-Talmudic rabbis), continued on this text for the next 250 years; much of the text did not reach its final form until around 700 CE. (See eras within Jewish law.) The Mishnah and Babylonian Gemara together form the Talmud Bavli (the "Babylonian Talmud").

In modern editions, the Gemara is never printed by itself, but always together with the Mishnah. The "canonical edition" is the Vilna edition, typeset by the widow and Brothers Romm. Because this "Vilna Shas" is used to the exclusion of all other printings, the typesetting, pagination, etc., are today frequently thought of as integral to the gemara. The Babylonian Talmud comprises the full Mishna, the 37 gemaras, and the extra-canonical minor tractates, in 5,894 folios.

A page number in the Talmud refers to a double-sided page, known as a daf; each daf has two amudim labelled א and ב, sides A and B. The referencing by daf is relatively recent and dates from the early Talmud printings of the 17th century. Earlier rabbinic literature generally only refers to the tractate or chapters within a tractate. Nowadays, reference is made in format [Tractate daf a/b] (e.g. Berachot 23b).

The primary commentary on the Babylonian Talmud is that of Rashi (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1040-1105). The commentary is comprehensive, covering almost the entire Talmud. It provides a full explanation of the words, and of the logical structure of each Talmudic passage. The commentary known as Tosafot ("additions" or "supplements") is also regarded as basic to a full understanding of the daf. It comprises collected commentaries on the Talmud, compiled mainly by French and German Rabbis (amongst them Rashi’s grandsons). It carries on the Talmud's own methods of dialectical argument and debate. Some have seen the Tosafot as an addition to the Talmud itself (“the Talmud on the Talmud”); it also functions as a supplement to Rashi's basic commentary. Both commentaries appear in virtually every edition of the Talmud since it was first printed.

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Comparison of style and subject matter
The Talmud Yerushalami is fragmentary and difficult to read, even for experienced Talmudists. However, the Yerushalmi covers a number of topics specific to the land of Israel which are not covered in the Bavli, such as the agricultural laws. (The laws such as leaving the corners of one's field for the poor, leaving one's land fallow every seven years, etc. only apply within the borders of the land of Israel, and thus, the rabbis of the Bavli who had lived in the Diaspora for generations, in many cases, did not consider themselves experts in these laws.)

The redaction of the Babylonian Talmud is much more careful and precise. However, the gemara only exists for 37 out of the 63 tractates of the Mishna: most laws from the Orders Zeraim (agricultural laws limited to the land of Israel) and Toharot (ritual purity laws related to the Temple and sacrificial system) had little practical relevance and were therefore not included. (There is Babylonian gemara on Qodashim - this is probably because the study of the sacrificial regulations is generally thought of as being on par with actually performing sacrifices.) Over time, the Bavli has been studied more intensively, and thus has a plethora of commentary; further, because it is later, the Bavli is assumed to supersede the Yerushalmi, and so Jewish practice is generally determined based on the Babylonian Talmud.

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Attitude to the Talmud within Judaism
The Talmud and its study spread from Babylon to Egypt, northern Africa, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany, regions destined to become abodes of the Jewish spirit; and in all these countries Jewish intellectual interest centered in the Talmud.

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Karaism
One great reaction against its supremacy was Karaism, which arose in the very strong-hold of the Geonim within two centuries after the completion of the Talmud. The movement thus initiated and the influence of Arabic culture were the two chief factors which aroused the dormant forces of Judaism and gave inspiration to the scientific pursuits to which the Jewish spirit owed many centuries of fruitful activity. This activity did not infringe on the authority of the Talmud; for although it combined other ideals and intellectual aims with Talmudic study, the importance of that study was in no way decried by those who devoted themselves to other fields of learning.

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Kabbalah
Within Judaism, the prime competitor to the primacy of Talmud study was the development of Kabbalah (Jewish esoteric mysticism), which in its modern form arose in the thirteenth century. During the decline of intellectual life among the Jews which began in the sixteenth century, the Talmud was regarded almost as the supreme authority by the majority of them; and in the same century eastern Europe, especially Poland, became the seat of its study. Even the Bible was relegated to a secondary place, and the Jewish schools devoted themselves almost exclusively to the Talmud; so that "study" became synonymous with "study of the Talmud."

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The Enlightenment
A reaction against the supremacy of the Talmud came with the appearance of Moses Mendelssohn and the intellectual regeneration of Judaism through its contact with the gentile culture of the eighteenth century, the results of this struggle being a closer assimilation to European culture, the creation of a new science of Judaism, and the movements for religious reform. Despite the quasi-Karaite inclinations which appeared in early Reform Judaism, the majority of Jews clung to the Talmud as the primary document through which mainstream Judaism was understood.

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Jews in Western Culture
Modern culture has gradually alienated most Jews from Talmud study; Talmud is now regarded by the majority of Jews as merely one of the branches of Jewish theology. On the whole Jewish learning has done full justice to the Talmud, many scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth century having made noteworthy contributions to its history and textual criticism, and having constituted it the basis of historical and archaeological researches. The study of the Talmud has even attracted the attention of non-Jewish scholars; and it has been included in the curricula of universities.

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The Talmud in modern-day Judaism
See also How Halakha is viewed today

Orthodox Judaism continues to regard the Talmud as the primary document through which Judaism in general, and Halakha in particular, is to be understood. Orthodox Jews study the Talmud in depth, but rarely use Talmudic legal methodology to alter Jewish law as codified in later compendia. Orthodox Jews will also study the Talmud for its own sake; this is considered a great mitzvah, Talmud Torah (see Talmud study,Torah study). See also: Orthodox beliefs about Jewish law and tradition.

Conservative Jews also consider Halakha as binding, but do not always accept modern (post-1500) legal codes as absolutely binding; as such they use the Talmud in the same way that pre-1500 rabbis used it. This is theoretically still an option in the Orthodox community, but in practice is used very rarely. See also: The Conservative Jewish view of the Halakha.

Reform and Reconstructionist Jews usually do not teach much Talmud in their Hebrew schools, but they do teach it in their rabbinical seminaries; The world view of liberal Judaism rejects the idea of binding Jewish law, and uses the Talmud as a source of inspiration and moral instruction. See also: The Reform Jewish view of the Halakha and view of the Talmud.

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Historical study
The Talmud contains little serious biographical studies of the people discussed therein, and the same tractate will conflate the points of view of many different people. Yet, sketchy biographies of the Talmudic sages can often be constructed with historical detail from Talmudic sources.

Many modern historical scholars have focused on the timing and the formation of the Talmud. A vital question is whether it is comprised of sources which date from its editor's lifetime, and to what extent is it comprised of earlier, or later sources. Are Talmudic disputes distinguishable along theological or communal lines, and in what ways do different sections derive from different schools of thought within early Judaism? Can these early sources be identified, and if so, how? In response to these questions, modern scholars have adopted a number of different approaches.

Traditionally, rabbinic Judaism has viewed the statements in the Talmud as being historically accurate, and written under a subtle form of divine inspiration, sometimes called the Ruach haKodesh, "The Holy Spirit". Most Orthodox Jews today view the statements described therein are entirely reliable, and accepted as such. Nevertheless, classical rabbinic commentators on the Talmud, known as the Tosafists, and the early Babylonian rabbis (Savoraim and Geonim) point out that the Talmud is often ambiguous or unclear. In general, textual criticism of the Talmud from Orthodox point-of-view has ceased after the completion of the Talmud, and modern attempts at textual criticism are mainly considered heretical, though some Modern Orthodox Rabbis view critical Talmud study as acceptable. [2] (http://www.edah.org/backend/JournalArticle/bigman2_1.pdf).
Some scholars hold that there has been extensive editorial reshaping of the stories and statements within the Talmud. Lacking outside confirming texts, they hold that we cannot confirm the origin or date of most statements and laws, and that we can say little for certain about their authorship. In this view, the questions above are impossible to answer. See, for example, the works of Louis Jacobs and Shaye J.D. Cohen.
Some scholars hold that the Talmud have been extensively shaped by later editorial redaction, but that it contains sources which we can identify and describe with some level of reliability. In this view, sources can be identified to some extent because era of history and each distinct geographical region has its own unique feature, which one can trace and analyze. Thus, the questions above may be analyzed. See, for example, the works of Lee Levine and David C. Kraemer.
Some scholars hold that many or most the statements and events described in the Talmud usually occurred more or less as described, and that they can be used as serious sources of historical study. In this view, historians do their best to tease out later editorial additions (itself a very difficult task) and skeptically view accounts of miracles, leaving behind a reliable historical text. See, for example, the works of Saul Lieberman, David Weiss Halivni, and Avraham Goldberg.
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Changes within the text of the Talmud
The Talmud is presented as an analysis of the Mishnah, as opposed to a later, competing, teaching. Generally, the rabbis of the Talmud will not disagree with their counterparts from earlier generations. In fact, for an Amoraic opinion to be accepted as authoritative it must be in accordance with the teachings of at least one of the Tannaim.

However, some scholars suggest that the current text of the Talmud is artificially smooth; the text, having been edited by the Savoraim (post-Talmudic rabbis), covers up many disagreements between the rabbis of the Mishnah and the rabbis of the Talmud. The present text of the Talmud thus shows little disagreement. Eli Turkel writes:

"What is the reason that later generations never disagree with a halacha in the Talmud? In the introduction to Mishne Torah, Maimonides declares that the sages after the generation of Rav Ashi and Ravina accepted on themselves not to disagree with any halacha in the Gemara. Thus, even if individual portions of the Gemara were ADDED BY LATER GENERATIONS they did not change the halacha. This viewpoint is reiterated by Rav Yosef Karo in his commentary on Mishne Torah (Kesef Mishne on Maimonides' Hilchot Mamrim 2:1, also Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik in Two Kinds of Tradition in Yahrzeit lectures vol. 1.). It is interesting to note that Rav Yosef Karo mentions this only with regard to the Mishna and Gemara. There is no such ruling with regard to Gaonim and Rishonim. Rav Yosef Karo, among the early generations of Acharonim, recognized no formal barrier to disagree with a Rishon or a Gaon.
(Turkel's essay "Rabbinic Authority" in Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah)
Some within Orthodoxy are comfortable with noting that when someone writes "later generations never disagree with a halacha in the Talmud", this is in effect a legal fiction. In practice, legal authorities did disagree with what was in the Talmud, and in some cases actually changed the Talmud itself. This new Talmudic text then became accepted as binding, and the Jewish community acts as if there was no change.

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External Attacks on the Talmud
The history of the Talmud reflects in part the history of Judaism persisting in a world of hostility and persecution. Almost at the very time that the Babylonian savoraim put the finishing touches to the redaction of the Talmud, the emperor Justinian issued his edict against the abolition of the Greek translation of the Bible in the service of the Synagogue. This edict, dictated by Christian zeal and anti-Jewish feeling, was the prelude to attacks on the Talmud, conceived in the same spirit, and beginning in the thirteenth century in France, where Talmudic study was then flourishing.

The charge against the Talmud brought by the convert Nicholas Donin led to the first public disputation between Jews and Christians and to the first burning of copies of the work (Paris, 1244). The Talmud was likewise the subject of a disputation at Barcelona in 1263 between Nahmanides (Rabbi Moses ben Nahman) and Pablo Christiani. This same Pablo Christiani made an attack on the Talmud which resulted in a papal bull against it and in the first censorship, which was undertaken at Barcelona by a commission of Dominicans, who ordered the cancellation of passages reprehensible from a Christian point of view (1264).

At the disputation of Tortosa in 1413, Geronimo de Santa Fé brought forward a number of accusations, including the fateful assertion that the condemnations of pagans and apostates found in the Talmud referred in reality to Christians. Two years later, Pope Martin V, who had convened this disputation, issued a bull (which was destined, however, to remain inoperative) forbidding the Jews to read the Talmud, and ordering the destruction of all copies of it. Far more important were the charges made in the early part of the sixteenth century by the convert Johann Pfefferkorn, the agent of the Dominicans. The result of these accusations was a struggle in which the emperor and the pope acted as judges, the advocate of the Jews being Johann Reuchlin, who was opposed by the obscurantists and the humanists; and this controversy, which was carried on for the most part by means of pamphlets, became the precursor of the Reformation.

An unexpected result of this affair was the complete printed edition of the Babylonian Talmud issued in 1520 by Daniel Bomberg at Venice, under the protection of a papal privilege. Three years later, in 1523, Bomberg published the first edition of the Palestinian Talmud. After thirty years the Vatican, which had first permitted the Talmud to appear in print, undertook a campaign of destruction against it. On New-Year's Day (September 9, 1553) the copies of the Talmud which had been confiscated in compliance with a decree of the Inquisition were burned at Rome; and similar burnings took place in other Italian cities, as at Cremona in 1559. The Censorship of the Talmud and other Hebrew works was introduced by a papal bull issued in 1554; five years later the Talmud was included in the first Index Expurgatorius; and Pope Pius IV commanded, in 1565, that the Talmud be deprived of its very name.

The first edition of the expurgated Talmud, on which most subsequent editions were based, appeared at Basel (1578-1581) with the omission of the entire treatise of 'Abodah Zarah and of passages considered inimical to Christianity, together with modifications of certain phrases. A fresh attack on the Talmud was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII (1575-85), and in 1593 Clement VIII renewed the old interdiction against reading or owning it. The increasing study of the Talmud in Poland led to the issue of a complete edition (Cracow, 1602-5), with a restoration of the original text; an edition containing, so far as known, only two treatises had previously been published at Lublin (1559-76). In 1707 some copies of the Talmud were confiscated in the province of Brandenburg, but were restored to their owners by command of Frederick, the first king of Prussia. The last attack on the Talmud took place in Poland in 1757, when Bishop Dembowski, at the instigation of the Frankists, convened a public disputation at Kamenetz-Podolsk, and ordered all copies of the work found in his bishopric to be confiscated and burned by the hangman.

The external history of the Talmud includes also the literary attacks made upon it by Christian theologians after the Reformation, since these onslaughts on Judaism were directed primarily against that work, even though it was made a subject of study by the Christian theologians of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1830, during a debate in the French Chamber of Peers regarding state recognition of the Jewish faith, Admiral Verhuell declared himself unable to forgive the Jews whom he had met during his travels throughout the world either for their refusal to recognize Jesus as the Messiah or for their possession of the Talmud. In the same year the Abbé Chiarini published at Paris a voluminous work entitled "Théorie du Judaïsme," in which he announced a translation of the Talmud, advocating for the first time a version which should make the work generally accessible, and thus serve for attacks on Judaism. In a like spirit modern anti-Semitic agitators have urged that a translation be made; and this demand has even been brought before legislative bodies, as in Vienna. The Talmud and the "Talmud Jew" thus became objects of anti-Semitic attacks, although, on the other hand, they were defended by many Christian students of the Talmud.

The Talmud makes little mention of Jesus or the early Christians. There are a number of quotes about individuals named Yeshu that once existed in editions of the Talmud; these quotes were long ago removed from the main text due to accusations that they referred to Jesus, and are no longer used in Talmud study. However, these removed quotes were preserved through rare printings of lists of errata, known as Hashmatot Hashass ("Omissions of the Talmud"). Some modern editions of the Talmud contain some or all of this material, either at the back of the book, in the margin, or in alternate print. These passages do not necessarily refer to a single individual and many of the stories are far removed from anything written in the New Testament. Many scholars are convinced that these people cannot be identified as the Christian Jesus.

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Charges of racism
Many groups attempt to use the Talmud to promote the idea that Judaism is inherently racist. This is usually done through fabrication of quotes, and quote-mining. The Anti-Defamation League issued a report on this topic:

By selectively citing various passages from the Talmud and Midrash, polemicists have sought to demonstrate that Judaism espouses hatred for non-Jews (and specifically for Christians), and promotes obscenity, sexual perversion, and other immoral behavior. To make these passages serve their purposes, these polemicists frequently mistranslate them or cite them out of context (wholesale fabrication of passages is not unknown)...
In distorting the normative meanings of rabbinic texts, anti-Talmud writers frequently remove passages from their textual and historical contexts. Even when they present their citations accurately, they judge the passages based on contemporary moral standards, ignoring the fact that the majority of these passages were composed close to two thousand years ago by people living in cultures radically different from our own. They are thus able to ignore Judaism’s long history of social progress and paint it instead as a primitive and parochial religion.
Those who attack the Talmud frequently cite ancient rabbinic sources without noting subsequent developments in Jewish thought, and without making a good-faith effort to consult with contemporary Jewish authorities who can explain the role of these sources in normative Jewish thought and practice.
Gil Student, an expert on exposing anti-Talmud accusations, writes that "Anti-Talmud accusations have a long history dating back to the 13th century when the associates of the Inquisition attempted to defame Jews and their religion [see Yitzchak Baer, A History of Jews in Christian Spain, vol. I pp. 150-185]. The early material compiled by hateful preachers like Raymond Martini and Nicholas Donin remain the basis of all subsequent accusations against the Talmud. Some are true, most are false and based on quotations taken out of context, and some are total fabrications [see Baer, ch. 4 f. 54, 82 that it has been proven that Raymond Martini forged quotations]. On the internet today we can find many of these old accusations being rehashed..."

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Talmudists
The most renowned Orthodox Talmud scholars of the 20th century include:

Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach
Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein (author of the Aruch HaShulchan).
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (who studied the entire Talmud a large number of times and is said to have memorized it)
Rabbi Yosef Eliahu Henkin
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (the Chofetz Chaim, author of the Mishna Berura)
Rabbi Avraham Yesha'yahu Karelitz (the Chazon Ish)
Rabbi Eleazar Menachem Shach
Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik (the Rav)
Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
Rabbi Yehiel Yaakov Weinberg (Seridei Eish)
Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef
The most renowned Conservative Talmud scholars of the 20th century include:

Rabbi Louis Ginzberg
Rabbi Saul Lieberman
Dr. Judith Hauptman
Rabbi David Weiss Halivni
Rabbi Jacob Neusner
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The daily page
Thousands of Orthodox Jews worldwide participate in Daf Yomi - literally the daily page (of Talmud) - as part of a monumental program. Daf Yomi was initiated by Rabbi Meir Shapiro in 1923 at the First World Congress of Agudath Israel in Vienna. With 2711 pages in the Talmud, one cycle takes about 7.5 years. Daf Yomi is now in its 11th cycle of study, which began September 29, 1997.

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Translations
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Translations of Talmud Bavli
There are a number of contemporary translations of the Talmud:

The Soncino Hebrew-English Talmud Isidore Epstein, Soncino Press. In this translation, each English page faces the Hebrew page. Notes on each page provide additional background material. See also: Soncino Talmud site (http://www.soncino.com/Talmudset.html).
The Talmud: The Steinsaltz Edition Adin Steinsaltz, Random House.
The Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud, Mesorah (http://www.artscroll.com) Publications.
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Translations of Talmud Yerushalmi
Talmud of the Land of Israel: A Preliminary Translation and Explanation Jacob Neusner, Univ. of Chicago Press. This translation uses a form-analytical presentation which makes the logical units of discourse easier to identify and follow. However, Neusner's translation methodology is idiosyncratic, and this work has received a great deal of criticism.

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See also
Jerusalem Talmud
Mishnah
Minor Tractates
Tosefta
Gemara
Ein Yaakov
Rabbinic literature
The Kallah Month
Noachide laws
Yeshiva
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References
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General
Maimonides Introduction to the Mishneh Torah (English translation (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/e0000.htm))
Maimonides Introduction to his commentary on the Mishnah, transl. Zvi Lampel (Judaica Press, 1998). ISBN 1880582287
Adin Steinsaltz The Essential Talmud (Basic Books, 1984). ISBN 0465020631
Nathan T. Lopes Cardozo The Infinite Chain : Torah, Masorah, and Man (Philipp Feldheim, 1989). ISBN 0944070159
R. Travers Herford Christianity in Talmud and Midrash (Ktav Pub Inc, 1975). ISBN 0870684833
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Historical study
Shalom Carmy (Ed.) Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations Jason Aronson, Inc.
Louis Jacobs, "How Much of the Babylonian Talmud is Pseudepigraphic?" Journal of Jewish Studies 28, No. 1 (1977), pp. 46-59
Richard Kalmin Sages, Stories, Authors and Editors in Rabbinic Babylonia Brown Judaic Studies
David C. Kraemer, On the Reliability of Attributions in the Babylonian Talmud, Hebrew Union College Annual 60 (1989), pp. 175-90
Lee Levine, Ma'amad ha-Hakhamim be-Erez Yisrael (Jerusalem: Yad Yizhak Ben-Zvi, 1985), (=The Rabbinic Class of Roman Palestine in Late Antiquity)
Saul Lieberman Hellenism in Jewish Palestine (New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1950)
Jacob Neusner Sources and Traditions: Types of Compositions in the Talmud of Babylonia (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992).
David Weiss Halivni Mekorot u-Mesorot: Eruvin-Pesahim (Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1982)
Finding A Home for Critical Talmud Study (http://www.edah.org/backend/coldfusion/displayissue.cfm?volume=2&issue=1), David Bigman, Rosh Yeshivah, Yeshivat Ma'ale Gilboa
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External links
Full text resources:
Mishna (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/b/h/h0.htm)
Tosefta (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/b/f/f0.htm)
Talmud Yerushalmi (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/b/r/r0.htm)
Talmud Bavli (http://www.mechon-mamre.org/b/l/l0.htm)
Soncino English translation (http://www.come-and-hear.com/talmud/index.html)
Rodkinson English translation (http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/talmud.htm) (1903, only Moed and Nashim).
Images of each page of the Babylonian Talmud (http://www.e-daf.com).
Pertaining to the "Daf Yomi" program:
a general resource for Daf Yomi (http://www.dafyomi.org/)
calendar for this Daf Yomi cycle (http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/dafyomi2/calendars/calendar.htm)
General:
"A Page from the Babylonian Talmud" (http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/TalmudPage.html) image map from Prof. Eliezer Segal
A survey of rabbinic literature (http://ohr.edu/judaism/survey/survey.htm) on the Ohr Somayach website
point by point summary and discussion for each daf (http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/dafyomi2/today.htm) by tractate in Bavli

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud"
Categories: Talmud | Rabbis

Torah
Torah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Torah, [תורה] is a Hebrew word meaning teaching, instruction, or especially Law. It primarily refers to the first section of the Tanakh, i.e. the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.

Books of the Torah
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
[ edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Template:Books_of_Torah&action=edit) ]

These books are Genesis (Bereishit [בראשית]), Exodus (Shemot [שמות]), Leviticus (Vayikra [ויקרא]), Numbers (Bemidbar [במדבר]) and Deuteronomy (Devarim [דברים]) . Collectively they are also known as the Pentateuch (Greek for "five containers", where containers presumably refers to the scroll cases in which books were being kept) or Hamisha Humshei Torah [חמשה חומשי תורה] (Hebrew for "the five parts of the Torah", or just Humash [חומש] "fifth" for short).

Jews also use the word Torah, in a wider sense, to refer to the entire spectrum of authoritative Jewish religious teachings throughout history. In this sense it might include the entire Tanakh, the Mishnah, the Talmud and the midrashic literature. In its widest sense, Jews use the word Torah to refer to any kind of teachings or philosophy.

Contents [showhide]
1 Structure of the five books

2 Punishments

3 Jewish view of the Torah

4 Christian view of the Torah

5 The Torah and the oral law

6 Scientific view of the Torah

7 Translations

8 See also

9 References

[edit]
Structure of the five books
The Torah does not contain a complete and ordered system of legislature, but rather, a general philosophical basis, and a great number of specific laws. These laws are often reminiscent of the existing customs in the ancient middle east, but have important conceptual variations from them.

The book of Deuteronomy is different from the previous books; thus sometimes the first four books of the Bible are known as the Tetrateuch.

The first six books of the Bible as a unit (The Torah immediately followed by the book of Joshua) is sometimes referred to as the Hexateuch, as the book of Joshua picks up directly where Deuteronomy leaves off.

The Samaritans have their own version of the Torah, which contains many variant readings. Many of these agree with the Septuagint against the Masoretic Text, leading many scholars to believe that parts of the Samaritan text may have once been common in ancient Palestine, but rejected by the Masoretes.

[edit]
Punishments
For a violation of the first seven commandments, the penalty was death. The punishment for stealing was restitution and compensation to the one whose property had been stolen; for false witness, retribution.

The last commandment, against covetousness or wrong desire, carried with it no sanction enforceable by the judges. It transcended man-made laws in that it made every man his own spiritual policeman and got at the root, or source, of the violation of all the commandments. If wrong desire was indulged, it would eventually manifest itself in a violation of one of the other nine commandments.

Strict justice was enforced by the law of talion or retaliation, like for like, where injuries were deliberately inflicted. (De 19:21, Leviticus 24:17) There is at least one recorded instance of the execution of this penalty. (Jg 1:6, 7).

[edit]
Jewish view of the Torah
The Torah is the primary document of Judaism, being the source of the 613 mitzvot [מצוות] and most of its ethical framework.

According to Jewish tradition, these books were given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. This dictation included not only the "quotes" which appear in the text, but every word of the text itself, including phrases such as "And God spoke to Moses..."

The rabbis hold that not only are the words giving a Divine message, but indicate a far greater message that extends beyond them. Ths they hold that even as small a mark as a kotzo shel yod [קוצו של יוד], the serif of the Hebrew letter yod [י], the smallest letter, was put there by God to teach scores of lessons. This is regardless of whether that yod appears in the phrase "I am the Lord thy God," or whether it appears in that oft repeated "And God spoke unto Moses saying." In a similar vein, Rabbi Akiva, who died in AD 135, is said to have learned a new law from every et [את] in the Torah (Talmud, tractate Pesachim 22b); the word et is meaningless by itself, and serves only to mark the accusative case. In other words, the Orthodox view is that "And God spoke unto Moses saying..." is no less important than the actual statement.

One kabbalistic interpretation is that the Torah constitutes one long name of God, and that it was broken up into words so that human minds can understand it. While this is effective since it accords with our human reason, it is not the only way that the text can be broken up. In that sense, the Torah is for Orthodox Jews that rush of letters and sounds that can mean so many different things.

There is little support for Bible criticism in Orthodox Judaism; the accepted Orthodox view is that the Torah was dictated to the letter to Moses, which is widely considered one of the Jewish principles of faith. Most religious authorities consider Bible criticism a form of heresy. Rabbinic commentators who took issue with the scientific approach are Rabbis Meir Leibush Malbim and David Zvi Hoffmann.

[edit]
Christian view of the Torah
Christianity also believes that the Torah is the word of God; however most Christians do not necessarily hold that it was "dictated" to Moses all at once. Further, traditional Christianity holds that while the Torah's quotes from God should literally be understood as quotes from God Himself, the rest of the text is not a direct quote, but rather human words written by a prophet under divine inspiration. Thus the entire Torah is held to be a holy revelation, but not all of it is seen as a quote. The Christian belief that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine has a very close analogy in the traditional Christian view of Scripture.

[edit]
The Torah and the oral law
Rabbinical Judaism holds that the Torah has been transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition. They point to the text of the Torah, where they believe many words are left undefined, and many procedures mentioned without explanation or instructions; they believe the reader is assumed to be familiar with the details from other, oral, sources.

This parallel set of material was originally transmitted orally, and came to be known as the oral law. At the time, it was forbidden to write and publish the Oral Law, as any writing would be incomplete and subject to misinterpretation and abuse. However, after great debate, this restriction was lifted when it became apparent that it was the only way to ensure that the law could be preserved. To prevent the material from being lost, around AD 200, Rabbi Judah haNasi took up the redaction of a written version of the oral law; it was compiled into the first major written work of rabbinic Judaism, the Mishnah. Over the next four centuries this body of law, legend, ethical teachings underwent debate and analysis in both of the world's major Jewish communities (in Israel and Babylon). These commentaries on the Mishnah, called gemara, eventually came to be edited together into compilations known as the Talmud.

Most Jews follow the traditional explication of these laws that can be found in this later literature. Karaites, who reject the oral law, and adhere solely to the laws of the Torah, are a major exception.

[edit]
Scientific view of the Torah
There is no scientific consensus on the dates of the writing and canonization of the Torah, and estimates range from the 10th to the 6th centuries BC. Several professors of archeology claim that many stories in the Old Testament, including important chronicles about Abraham, Moses, Solomon, and others, were actually made up for the first time by scribes hired by King Josiah (7th century BC) in order to rationalize monotheistc belief in Yahweh. Others claim that the foremost motivation behind the text is political and has to do with the division between the southern kingdom and the northern kingdom.

The prevailing theory amongst liberal and secular scholars, linguists and historians holds that the text of the Torah appears to be redacted together from a number of earlier sources; this is known as the documentary hypothesis (DH), sometimes called the "JEDP" theory. See the documentary hypothesis page for the arguments of its proponents and oponents.

Evidently, the extensive written records of neighboring countries such as Egypt, Assyria, etc., do not mention any of the stories of the Bible or its main characters before 650 BC. See the book references below.

[edit]
Translations
Torah translations have existed for over 2000 years. An early example is the Septuagint, which according to the legend was produced at the instigation of a king or pharaoh of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

The best-known translation of antiquity is probably the Targum of Onkelos the Proselyte, which is still used as a tool for Torah study and quoted extensively by Rashi in questions on etymology.

[edit]
See also
Tanakh
Sefer Torah
Bible
Moses
[edit]
References
William G. Dever, Who Were the Early Israelites?, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI (2003).
Neil A. Silberman et al., The Bible Unearthed, Simon and Schuster, New York (2001).

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torah"
Categories: Jewish history | Torah | Holy scripture

Jesus
Jesus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the central figure in Christian theology. For other uses, see Jesus (disambiguation)

This 11th Century image is one of many Images of Jesus in which a halo is used to represent divinity.Jesus (c. 6–4 BC to c. AD 29–33) is the central figure in Christianity, in which context he is known as Jesus Christ (from the Hebrew יהושע [Yĕhošūa‘], and Greek Χριστός [Christos]), and an important prophet in Islam. He is also called Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene. His full name, as known to family, intimates, and followers, would have been, in their native Aramaic, Yeshua (ye-SHU-ach) ben Yusef.

The main account of his life is the four Gospels, which form the first books of the New Testament of the Bible. According to these, Jesus was the Jewish Messiah (anointed one) and the Son of God, who preached a religious message in Galilee and Judaea (in Israel), and was ultimately sentenced to death and crucified in Jerusalem by order of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate before rising from the dead on the third day. Jesus's acts and words, as presented in the New Testament, constitute Christianity's basic teachings. These teachings were spread by a small group of followers or disciples known as Apostles. The most prominent of the disciples was Paul of Tarsus a Christian Saint and putative author of several of the New Testament books, most notably the "Epistles" which he is believed to have written while imprisoned.

Contents [showhide]
1 Basic views on Jesus

2 Date of birth and death

3 Life and teaching according to the New Testament

4 Names and titles

5 Historicity

6 Cultural and historical background

7 Alleged relics

8 Perspectives of other religions

9 Dramatic portrayals

10 Sources and further reading

11 See also

12 External links

12.1 General
12.2 Historical
12.3 Views of religious groups
12.4 Other views

[edit]
Basic views on Jesus
There are many, widely differing, views of Jesus:

Topics related to
Jesus
Names and titles
Christology
New Testament view on Jesus' life
Miracles
His Resurrection
Timeline
Chronology
Christian views of Jesus
Islamic views of Jesus (Isa al-Masih)
Jewish views
Other views of Jesus
Alleged textual evidence for Jesus
Historicity of Jesus
Cultural background
Images
Dramatic portrayals
Most groups identifying themselves as Christians believe Jesus was God Incarnate (a man who was the earthly aspect of God, as part of the Holy Trinity), who came to earth to save humanity from sin and death through the shedding of his own blood in sacrifice, and who returned from the dead to rejoin his Father in Heaven.
Some groups identifying themselves as Christian, generally considered to be outside mainstream Christian thought, including Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarians, and Christian Scientists, believe Jesus was the son of God but not God incarnate.
Many historians and other critical scholars of the Bible accept the existence of the biblical Jesus, but reject his divinity, miracles, and any other 'supernatural' elements in accounts of his life. They believe he was a Jewish apocalyptic teacher and healer who was crucified, and was subsequently the inspiration for Christianity.
Some academics and other skeptics believe Jesus was a Jewish troublemaker who was put to death by the Romans at the behest of the Jewish establishment. It has also been suggested that Jesus did not die on the cross, with a variety of theories being suggested (see below).
Some academics and other skeptics see no evidence for Jesus as a real person, but think the evidence suggests he is either a composite figure, or a fictional personage believed to be real by early Christians, based on morality stories, previous religions and fables.
There are also many different accounts and perspectives of Jesus within a variety of 'non-Christian' religions (See later in this article).
[edit]
Date of birth and death
Main Article: Chronology of Jesus' birth and death

Brief timeline of Jesus

of important years from empirical sources.
(see also detailed timeline for Jesus
and detailed Christian timeline)

c. 6 BC –
c. 4 BC –
c. AD 6 –
c. 26/27 –
c. 27 –
c. 36 –
c. 36/37 –

Suggested birth (Earliest)
Herod's death
Suggested birth (Latest). Quirinius census
Pilate appointed Judea governor
Suggested death (Earliest).
Suggested death (Latest);
Pilate removed from office

The most detailed historical information about Jesus's birth and death is contained in the Gospels, but they were written to promote a philosophy and religion rather than to teach history. As a result, there is considerable debate about the exact date of birth and death of Jesus, even among Christian scholars.

Dionysius Exiguus attempted to pinpoint the year of Jesus's birth, which resulted in our current calendar system. According to his calculations, Jesus was born in December of the year 1 BC. However, based on a lunar eclipse that Josephus reports shortly before the death of Herod the Great, the birth of Christ must have been at some time before the year 4 BC, probably 5 or 6 BC. Allowing for the time of the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate and the dates of the Passover in those years, his death can be placed most probably in AD 30 or AD 33, and his birth was probably not in December, based on the accounts of the shepherds and parts of the gospels, the time of year depicted was in spring or summer.

[edit]
Life and teaching according to the New Testament
Main articles: New Testament view on Jesus' life

This section presents a description of Jesus' life, as based on the four gospels. It does not take a critical view of their historiography.

This traditional image shows Jesus' birth in BethlehemJesus was born in Bethlehem, while Nazareth in Galilee was his childhood home, as the son of Mary (a virgin) and God. Mary's husband was Joseph, who had sons called James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon, and some daughters, who may, or may not, be the children from a previous marriage rather than Mary's.

The Evangelists do not describe much of Jesus' life between the ages of 12 and 32, the last incident before the gap being that he instructed the scholars in the temple, neither is much of his childhood discussed (though some non-Biblical texts go into this detail). However, just after he was baptized by John the Baptist, to whom Jesus' relationship is not made clear, Jesus began his public teaching.

Jesus used a variety of methods in his teaching, such as paradox, koans, metaphor and parable, leaving it unclear how literally he wished to be taken and precisely what he meant. Jesus also performed various miracles in the course of his ministry, ranging from cures to exorcisms, with several others that show a dominion over nature. Scholars in mainstream Christian traditions as well as many secular scholars view these as claims of supernatural power. However, some consider the stories to be allegory, for example he made the blind to see, and the deaf to hear is taken by some to mean that he opened the eyes of people to the truth, and made the people that refused to listen do so.

Jesus debated with many religious leaders including the opposing forces of Sadducees and Pharisees, and produced argument which a few modern scholars think indicates that Jesus may have been a liberal Pharisee, or an Essene. For many years in the first millenium, Jesus was cast as an enemy of the Pharisees, as the Pharisees had become the dominant sect of Judaism. In his role as a social reformer, and with his followers holding the inflammatory view that he was Messiah, Jesus threatened the status quo.

Jesus also preached the imminent end of the current era of history, in some sense a literal end of the world as people of his time knew it; in this sense he was an apocalyptic preacher bringing a message about the imminent end of the world the Jews knew. Some interpretations of the text, particularly amongst Protestants, suggest that Jesus opposed stringent interpretations of Jewish law, supporting the spirit of the law more than the letter of the law.

The Bible does not explicitly indicate that Jesus had any romantic relationships, and most scholars and Christians think that he had none. However, some contrary interpretations are based on references to "the disciple whom Jesus loved", usually thought to refer to John the Apostle though some think it might be a reference to Lazarus, and a lesser number still think it may be Mary Magdalene.

Michelangelo's Pietà shows Mary holding the dead body of Jesus.Jesus came with his followers to Jerusalem during the Passover festival, created a disturbance at the Temple by overturning the tables of the moneychangers there, and was subsequently arrested on the orders of the Sanhedrin and the High Priest, Joseph Caiphas.. He was identified to the guards by one of his Apostles, Judas Iscariot, who is portrayed as having betrayed Jesus, by a kiss.

Jesus was crucified by the Romans on the reluctant orders of Pontius Pilate, bowing to the Jewish religious leaders' pressure. A deal with Pilate by Joseph of Arimathea resulted in the body being taken down and entombed, during the presence of Mary and other women, notably Mary Magdalene.

Jesus' disciples encountered him again on the third day after his death, raised back to life. No one was a witness to the resurrection, though those who went to anoint the body found the tomb empty. After the resurrection, the Gospels give various accounts of Jesus meeting various people in various places over a period of forty days before "ascending into heaven".

According to most Christian interpretations of the Bible, the theme of Jesus' preaching was that of apocalyptic repentance. Later, Jesus extensively trained twelve Apostles to continue his teachings. Most Christians who hold that Jesus's miracles were literally true, not allegory, think that the Apostles gained the power to perform healing to both Jews and Gentiles alike after they had been empowered by the Holy Spirit which he was to send to them following his Ascension.

[edit]
Names and titles
Main article: Names and titles of Jesus

Jesus is derived from the Greek Ιησους (Iēsoûs) via Biblical Latin. The earliest use of Iēsoûs is found in the Septuagint, as a transliteration of the Hebrew name Yehoshua (יהושע — known in English as Joshua), and also Yeshua (ישוע). Jesus' original Aramaic name is not reported by ancient sources, though modern scholars have suggested ישׁוע / Yēšûaʿ which was a fairly common name at the time. His patronymic would have been, ben Yusef, for "son of Joseph."

Christ is not a name but a title, which comes from the Greek Χριστός (Christos) via Latin, which means anointed with chrism. The Greek form is a liberal translation of Messiah from Hebrew mashiyakh (משיח) or Aramaic m'shikha (משיחא), a word which occurs often in the Hebrew Bible and typically refers to the "high priest" or "king".

The Gospels record Jesus referring to himself both as Son of Man and as Son of God, but not as God the Son. However, some scholars have argued that Son of Man was an expression that functioned as an indirect first person pronoun, and that Son of God was an expression that signified "a righteous person". Evidence for these positions is provided by similar use by other persons than Jesus at a similar time to the writing of the Gospels, such as Jewish priests and judges.

In the Gospels, Jesus has many other titles, including Prophet, Lord, and King of the Jews. Together, the majority of Christians understand these titles as attesting to Jesus' divinity. Some historians argue that when used in other Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the time, these titles have other meanings, and therefore may have other meanings when used in the Gospels as well.

[edit]
Historicity
See: Historicity of Jesus, Alleged textual evidence for Jesus

Debates concerning Jesus as a historical figure center on three issues: the role of God in natural and human history, the veracity of the New Testament as a historical source, and the paucity of other, non-Christian sources that attest to events in the New Testament.

The question of God's role in natural and human history involves not only assumptions about God, but about how humans acquire knowledge. This subject is discussed in the disciplines of epistemology and metaphysics.

The 19th century was particularly marked by a movement toward higher criticism, where previously universally accepted tenets were closely inspected to determine their veracity. One of the major centers of this study with respect to the Bible and the life of Jesus was Eberhard Karls university in Tübingen, Germany. Some scholars in this group reached the conclusion that there was no historical Jesus at all.

As might be expected, opinions about the historicity of Jesus run the gamut from "myth" (Earl Doherty) to "demythologized" (Rudolf Bultmann) to "basically historical, with additions" (Will Durant) to "fully historical" (most conservative Christians).

Consensus on such an issue is particularly hard to reach, given that the subject touches on deeply held beliefs. The majority of Christian theologians and historians and some non-Christian theologians and historians acknowledge that a person named Jesus did exist in the first century. Beyond that, little has been absolutely agreed upon.

[edit]
Cultural and historical background
Main Article: Cultural and historical background of Jesus

To understand Jesus properly it is generally agreed by scholars that it is necessary to understand the world in which he lived. This was a volatile period marked by cultural and political dilemmas. Culturally, Jews had to grapple with the values of Hellenism and its philosophy, together with the paradox that their Torah applied only to them, but revealed universal truths. This situation led to new interpretations of the Torah, influenced by Hellenic thought and in response to Gentile interest in Judaism.

All of Palestine belonged to the Roman empire at the time given for Jesus' birth, but it was indirectly ruled by King Herod the Great. After Herod's death in 4 BC, Judea and Samaria were combined into the Roman province of Palestina, ruled by a procurator. Galilee, where Jesus allegedly grew up, remained under the jurisdiction of Herod's son, the Tetrarch Herod Antipas.

Within Judaism, there were several parties, primarily the Sadducees, closely connected with the priesthood and the temple, and the Pharisees, who were teachers and leaders of the synagogues. They resented Roman occupation, but at Jesus' time were not particularly political. Isolated in small communities from these main groups, by choice, lived the Essenes, whose theology and philosophy are percieved as having influenced Jesus and/or John the Baptist by many scholars. The Zealots, who advocated direct action against the Romans (eventually leading to the destruction of the temple, and the subsequent decline of the Saducees and Essenes), may have been active at this time (though this is debated).

Many Jews hoped that the Romans would be replaced by a Jewish king (or Messiah) of the line of David — the last legitimate Jewish regime. Most Jews (like the sage and High Priest Yehoshua ben Gamala) believed that their history was governed by God, meaning that even the conquest of Judea by the Romans was a divine act. Therefore the Romans would be replaced by a Jewish king only through divine intervention; thus, the majority of Jews accepted Roman rule. Some like John the Baptist in the first half of the century, and Yehoshua ben Ananias in the second, claimed that a messianic age was at hand. Others believed that the kingdom should be restored immediately, through violent human action.

[edit]
Alleged relics
Main article: Alleged relics of Jesus Christ

There are many items that are purported to be authentic relics of the Gospel account, which are listed in the main article. The most famous alleged relic of Jesus is the Shroud of Turin, which is claimed to be the burial shroud used to wrap the body of Jesus. Many modern Christians, however, do not accept any of these as true relics. Indeed, this skepticism has been around for centuries, with Erasmus joking that so much wood formed parts of the True Cross, that Jesus must have been crucified on a whole forest.

[edit]
Perspectives of other religions
Main article: Non-Christian perspectives on Jesus

There has been a wide range of reactions to Jesus from adherents of other faiths, from ignoring him completely to seeing him as an important figure, while rejecting the exclusive claims of Christianity.

Judaism has deemed Jesus a false messiah, and religious Jews are still awaiting the arrival of the Messiah, many Jews minimize Jesus' role as miracle worker, but a small number consider him a great teacher. Muslims believe that Jesus was one of the prophets of Israel and the Messiah, but that the miracles were performed by God on Jesus' behalf, and consider any belief that he is divine to be a heresy irreconcilable with monotheism. The Bahá'í Faith consider Jesus to be a manifestation of God. Hinduism is divided on the issue of Jesus - some hold that he was just a man, others say he was a great guru and/or yogi, others still equate Jesus with an avatar. Many atheists, agnostics, and deists believe that Jesus was an ordinary human, a traveling Jewish teacher who performed no miracles and made no claims of being God or of having supernatural abilities. Some faiths, on studying the origins of Christianity, believe there is not enough evidence to support that Jesus Christ was a real person.

[edit]
Dramatic portrayals
Main article: Dramatic portrayals of Jesus Christ

Jesus has been featured in many films and media, sometimes as a serious portrayal, and other times as satire. Many of these portrayals have attracted controversy, whether they were intended to be based on the Biblical accounts (such as Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and Pier Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew) or intentionally added extra material (such as The Last Temptation of Christ). Another recurring theme is the up-dating of aspects of the life of Jesus, or imagining his Second Coming (for example, The Seventh Sign).

In many portrayals Jesus himself is a minor character, used to develop the overall themes. For example, in Ben Hur and The Life of Brian Jesus only appears in a few scenes.

[edit]
Sources and further reading
The New Testament of the Bible, especially the Gospels.
Albright, William F. Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: An Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths, ISBN 0931464013
Ehrman, Bart Jesus: apocalyptic prophet of the new millennium, ISBN 019512474X
Ehrman, Bart The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, ISBN 0195154622
Fredriksen, Paula Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity ISBN 0679767460
Fredriksen, Paula From Jesus to Christ: The Origins of the New Testament Images of Christ ISBN 0300084579, ISBN 0300040180
Mendenhall, George E. The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973. ISBN 0-8018-1654-8. A study of the earliest traditions of Israel from linguistic and archaeological evidence which also treats the teachings and followers of Jesus in that context.
Mendenhall, George E. Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction to the Bible in Context, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. ISBN 0-664-22313-3. Another, less technical, study of the earliest traditions of Israel from linguistic and archaeological evidence which also treats the teachings and followers of Jesus in that context.
Pelikan, Jaroslav Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture, Yale University Press (http://www.yale.edu/yup/), 1985, hardcover, 270 pages, ISBN 0300034962; trade paperback, HarperCollins reprint, 304 pages, ISBN 0060970804; trade paperback, Yale University Press, 1999, 320 pages, ISBN 0300079877
Sanders, E.P. The historical figure of Jesus, Penguin, 1996, ISBN 0140144994. An up-to-date, popular, but thoroughly scholarly book.
Sanders, E.P. Jesus and Judaism, Fortress Press, 1987, ISBN 0800620615. More specialistic than the previous book, still not inaccessible though.
Theissen, Gerd & Annette Merz, The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide, Fortress Press, 2003, ISBN 0800631226. An amazing book, tough but rewarding, exceptionally detailed.
Theissen, Gerd The Shadow of the Galilean: The Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form. Fortress Press.
Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity
Vermes, Geza Jesus the Jew: A Historian's Reading of the Gospels ISBN 0800614437
Vermes, Geza, The Religion of Jesus the Jew ISBN 0800627970
Vermes, Geza, Jesus in his Jewish context ISBN 0800636236
Walvoord, John F. Jesus Christ Our Lord. Moody Press, 1969. ISBN 0802443265
Wilson, Ian Jesus: The evidence ISBN 0297835297
Yogananda, Paramahansa: The Second Coming of Christ, ISBN 0876125550
In Quest of the Hero:(Mythos Series) — Otto Rank, Lord Fitzroy Richard Somerset Raglan and Alan Dundes, Princeton University Press, 1990, ISBN 0691020620
On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History — Thomas Carlyle
The Superhuman life of Gesar of Ling — Alexandra David-Neel (A divine hero still in oral tradition)
The Jewish historian Josephus allegedly wrote about Jesus in Antiquities, Book 18, chapter 3, paragraph www.josephus-1.com
Bloodline of the Holy Grail by Laurence Gardner. A popular book, but with a hypothesis that would not be accepted by mainstream scholars.
Jesus and the Victory of God N.T.Wright, SPCK (London), 1996 ISBN 0281047170. Second in a projected massive five or six volume series on Christian origins, dealing with the life and death of Christ from a very open Evangelical perspective. The author is now Bishop of Durham (Church of England).
Michael H. Hart, The 100, Carol Publishing Group, July 1992, paperback, 576 pages, ISBN 0806513500
[edit]
See also
Abraham, a key figure in Christianity, Judaism and Islam
Buddha, the founder of Buddhism
Muhammad, the founder of Islam
List of songs which refer to Jesus
List of people believing themselves deities
Miracles of Jesus
Jesus H. Christ
[edit]
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about Jesus.

[edit]
General
Directory of sites about Jesus (http://dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Christianity/Jesus_Christ/)
864 pictures (http://www.insecula.com/contact/A004143.html/)
Jesus Christ Only — Articles, Sermons & Quotes Dedicated to Jesus Christ (http://www.jesuschristonly.com/)
[edit]
Historical
The Jewish Roman World of Jesus (http://www.uncc.edu/jdtabor/index.html)
Into His Own: Perspective on the World of Jesus (http://religion.rutgers.edu/iho/index.html)
A Portrait of Jesus: From Galilean Jew to the Face of God (http://www.united.edu/portrait/)
University of Birmingham: The Historical Jesus (http://www.ntgateway.com/Jesus/)
Historical context of Jesus' time (http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/oct1993/v50-3-article8.htm)
Jewish sects during Jesus' time (http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/mine/jesus.htm)
Christ and the Other Religions (http://www.vatican.va/jubilee_2000/magazine/documents/ju_mag_01031997_p-29_en.html)
[edit]
Views of religious groups
From Jesus to Christ (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/)
Jesus Christ (Christology) (http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/christ.html)Essays on the Deity of Jesus, Jesus' Offices of Prophet, Priest & King & The Historic Jesus.
Christ Notes (http://www.christnotes.org/)
Jesus Christ Catholic Encyclopedia article (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08374c.htm)
EWTN's Jesus Christ webpage (http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/JESUMENU.HTM)
The Words (http://www.thewords.com/): website that organises Jesus' sayings by topic
Jesus' birth (Jehovah's Witnesses official site) (http://www.watchtower.org/library/w/1998/12/15/article_02.htm)
Latter-day Saint (Mormon) beliefs about Jesus (http://www.mormon.org/learn/0,8672,810-1,00.html)
A Jewish response to Christian missionaries (http://mama.indstate.edu/users/nizrael/jesusrefutation.html)
[edit]
Other views
The Jesus Puzzle (http://pages.ca.inter.net/~oblio/jhcjp.htm)
The Jesus Puzzle (http://pages.ca.inter.net/~oblio/home.htm)
Skeptic's Guide to Jesus (http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/jesus.html)
The Creation of Christ (http://www.users.bigpond.com/pontificate/bindex.htm) The theory that Jesus was a myth based on Julius Caesar.
The theory that the story of Jesus is based on the older Hindu story of Krishna (http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jckr.htm)
Religious Tolerance website about Jesus (http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcno.htm)
Unitarian Universalist Views of Jesus (http://www.uua.org/pamphlet/3040.html): prophet; dissident; one of many Christs
The theory and evidence of Jesus having lived in Ladakh, in the Himalaya from 12 to 29 years (http://reluctant-messenger.com/issa.htm)
The Original Teaching of Jesus Christ (http://www.swami-center.org/en/chpt/jesusteaching/index.shtml) Online book purporting to reconstruct the original teachings of Jesus.
Jesus was actually called Yahushua (http://www.eliyah.com/nameson.htm)
Jesus never existed (http://www.jesusneverexisted.com)
Various articles related to the natural death of Jesus (http://www.aaiil.org/text/rlgn/rlgnmain.shtml)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus"
Categories: Jesus | Christmas characters | 1st century BC births | 1st century deaths | Revolutionaries | Fabulists

Bible
Bible
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Bible (From Greek βιβλια—biblia, meaning "books", which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos meaning "papyrus", from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) is the sacred scripture of Christianity. The Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible (so called because it is written almost entirely in Hebrew), is also part of the Jewish faith. It is also called "the Word of God", from the belief that the writings were inspired by an all-powerful creator. These scriptures are groups of what were originally separate books, written over a long period of history, but sharing the same overall God-view. The first group, which later formed the Jewish Bible (Tanakh) consisted of 24 books, though Protestant Christians count this as 39 books. Most other Christian denominations have even more books in their Old Testament, called deuterocanonical books. Later additions after the birth of Jesus made up the New Testament, made up of 27 books.

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Contents [showhide]
1 Overview

2 Definition of Biblical terms

3 What parts of the Bible are canon?

4 Biblical versions and translations

4.1 Tanakh
4.2 New Testament
4.3 Chapters and verses

5 Biblical interpretation

6 The Bible and history

7 The supernatural in monotheistic religions

8 See also

9 References

10 External links

10.1 Catholic online Bibles

[edit]
Overview
The Hebrew Bible consists of the five books of Moses (the Torah or Pentateuch), a section called "Prophets" (Neviim), and a third section called "Writings" (also Ketuvim or Hagiographa). The term "Tanakh" is a Hebrew acronym formed from these three names. Though the Hebrew Bible is predominantly in Biblical Hebrew, it has some small portions in Biblical Aramaic.

The Christian Bible is divided into two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is in large part identical to the Jewish Tanakh, but with the books differently ordered. In addition, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox include several other books that have not been preserved in Hebrew, but rather only in the Greek Septuagint, a translation allegedly made by Greek-speaking Jews in Alexandria between the third and first centuries BC.

The various books of the New Testament were written in koine Greek, and there is almost no dispute about the contents of the New Testament among Christians today. Early Christian Bibles used texts of the Old Testament dependent on the Greek Septuagint, which differs in some places from the primarily Hebrew Masoretic text. Beginning with Jerome's Vulgate, most modern translations of the Old Testament in Western Christianity are based primarily on the Masoretic text; in Eastern Christianity, translations based on the Septuagint prevail. Some modern editions of the Old Testament also adopt different readings found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. For more information, see the entry on Bible translations.

The Hebrew scriptures of the Bible—portions of which contain stories traditionally held to be historical accounts of much of the early history of the Hebrew Nation—teach that there is one God, whose ineffable name is represented by the tetragrammaton, יהוה. He is "creator of Heaven and Earth" who created man "in his own image", and details the relationship between Man and his Creator.

With regard to the ineffability of the Name, it should be pointed out that the original texts of the Hebrew Scriptures, written in both Hebrew and Aramaic, contain the Tetragrammaton (God's Name, in English Jehovah or Yahweh) 6,828 times. (Biblica Hebraica and Biblica Hebraica Stuttgartensia.) Many believe view this as evidence that the Bible writers viewed the Name as very important, and used it in their everyday speech. Pronunciation of the name declined drasticly following the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple.

For Christians, the New Testament continues—with the birth of Jesus—the story begun in the Hebrew scriptures, and is both a primary source of religious doctrine and a foundation for their spiritual beliefs. The New Testament is divided into the four Gospels, History (Acts of the Apostles), the Letters to Christian churches by Paul and other apostles, and the Book of Revelation. Some religious groups, notably, several of the Protestant Christian groups, believe the Bible to be the ultimate and authoritative guide in all spiritual matters, following a principle called sola scriptura.

[edit]
Definition of Biblical terms
The English word "Bible" comes from the Greek word for "books", biblia: βιβλια . A book of the Bible is an established collection of writings. For example, the book of Psalms consists of 150 songs (151 in some editions of the Septuagint), while the book of Jude is a half-page letter. Canon refers to the accepted books of the Bible differentiated from other sacred writings not accepted as inspired by God, which are not accepted as part of the Bible. Those who do not accept writings in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles as canon call those texts Apocrypha, while Catholics and Orthodox call them deuterocanonical books. Additionally, other religious writings that no major Christian sect accepts are referred to as Pseudepigrapha.

The Protestant Bible consists of 66 books. The Roman Catholic version, including the Deuterocanonical books, counts altogether 76 books, while the Eastern Orthodox version includes 77 or more. (4 Maccabees and "Prophecies of Ezra" may be included in some)

[edit]
What parts of the Bible are canon?
Main articles: Biblical canon, Books of the Bible
As outlined above, the Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and other traditions accept slightly different canons of the Hebrew Bible. For the Jews, the canon was decided some time between 200 BC and AD 200. The Christian canons developed separately, with the Protestant canon being decided at the time of Martin Luther's Reformation and the Catholic canon being definitively confirmed at the Council of Trent.

In addition to the diverse traditions concerning which books belong in the canon of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible, modern scholarship proposes alternative views concerning the authenticity of books, and of texts within the books. See the entries on higher criticism and textual criticism.

[edit]
Biblical versions and translations
In scholarly writing, ancient translations are frequently referred to as 'versions', with the term 'translation' being reserved for medieval or modern translations. Information about Bible versions is given below, while Bible translations can be found on a separate page.

[edit]
Tanakh
The oldest books of the Bible are the Pentateuch, also known as the Torah. They are written in Hebrew and are also called the 'Books of Moses'. Traditionally Judaism and Christianity held that these books were actually written by the lawgiver Moses, but many today believe that the current form of the Torah came about by a redactor bringing together several earlier, distinct sources. This idea is called the documentary hypothesis.

In addition to the Torah, as noted above, the Jewish scriptures include the Nevi'im ("prophets") and the Ketuvim ("writings"), the combined collection being designated by the Hebrew acronym "Tanakh".

The original text of the Tanakh was in Hebrew, with some portions (notably in Daniel and Ezra) in Aramaic. From the 800s to the 1400s, rabbinic Jewish scholars known as the Masoretes compared the text of all known Biblical manuscripts in an effort to create a unified and standardized text; a series of highly similar texts eventually emerged, and any of these texts are known as Masoretic Texts (MT). The Masoretes also added vowel points (called niqqud) to the text, since the original text only contained consonants. This sometimes required the selection of an interpretation, since words can differ only in their vowels, and thus the text can vary depending upon the choice of vowels to be inserted. In antiquity there were other variant readings which were popular, some of which have survived in the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Dead Sea scrolls, and other ancient fragments, as well as being attested in ancient translations to other languages.

By AD 1, most Jews no longer spoke Hebrew, but spoke Greek or Aramaic instead. Thus they made translations or paraphrases into these languages. The most important of the translations into the Greek was the Septuagint, though other translations were made as well. The Septuagint contains several additional passages, and whole additional books, compared to what was eventually compiled as the masoretic texts of the Tanakh. In some cases these additions were originally composed in Greek, while in other cases they are translations of Hebrew books or variants not present in the Masoretic text. Recent discoveries have shown that more of the Septuagint additions have a Hebrew origin than was once thought. While there are no complete surviving manuscripts of the Hebrew text on which the Septuagint was based, many scholars believe that it was a different textual tradition than the one that eventually became the basis for the Masoretic texts.

The Jews also produced non-literal translations or paraphrases known as targums, primarily in Aramaic. They frequently expanded on the text with additional details taken from Rabbinic oral tradition.

Early Christians produced translations of the Hebrew Bible into several languages; their primary Biblical text was the Septuagint. Translations were made into Syriac, Coptic and Latin, among other languages. The Latin translations were historically the most important to the Church in the West, while in the Greek-speaking East, they continued to use the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament and had no need to translate the New Testament.

The earliest Latin translation was the Old Latin text, or Vetus Latina. Exactly who translated it is unknown, but internal evidence suggests it is the product of several authors over a period of time. It was based on the Septuagint, and thus included the Septuagint additions.

As a translation, the Old Latin was far from ideal, and so Jerome was commissioned to produce the Vulgate translation as a replacement. Jerome based his translation on the Hebrew rather than the Septuagint, except in the Psalms, where he preferred the Greek. He was of the opinion that the Septuagint additions were of doubtful value, but he included them due to the demands of the church. He did not, however, translate the additional books anew; the Vulgate for these books is identical to the Old Latin. The Vulgate became the official translation of the Roman Catholic church.

[edit]
New Testament
The majority of scholars believe the New Testament was originally composed in Greek. There are a number of different textual traditions of the New Testament. The three main traditions are sometimes called the Western text-type, the Alexandrian text-type, and Byzantine text-type, and together they comprise the majority of New Testament manuscripts. There are also several ancient translations into other languages, most important of which are the Syriac (including the Peshitta and the Diatessaron gospel harmony) and the Latin (both the Vetus Latina and the Vulgate).

A minority of scholars believe the Greek New Testament is actually a translation of an Aramaic original. Of these, some accept the so called "Syriac" Peshitta as the original, while others take a more critical approach to reconstructing the original text. For more on this view, see Aramaic primacy.

The earliest critical edition of the New Testament is the Textus Receptus (Latin for "received text") compiled by the humanist Desiderius Erasmus. It is largely Byzantine in character. The Textus Receptus was for many centuries the standard critical edition of the New Testament, only losing that position after the discovery of manuscripts such as the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Vaticanus. There are some who believe that many or all of the changes introduced by later critical editions are incorrect, and that the Textus Receptus is still the best critical edition available. A similar but distinct argument is sometimes made for the Majority Text.

For a more detailed account of the New Testament's development, see the relevant section of Biblical canon.

[edit]
Chapters and verses
Main article: Chapters and verses of the Bible
The Masoretic Hebrew text contains verse endings as an important feature. According to the Jewish talmudic tradition, the verse endings are of ancient origin. The Masoretic textual tradition also contains section endings called parashiyot, which are indicated by a space within a line (a "closed" section") or a new line beginning (an "open" section). The division of the text reflected in the parashiyot is usually thematic. The parashiyot are not numbered.

In early manuscripts (most importantly in Tiberian masoretic manuscripts such as the Aleppo codex) an "open" section may also be represented by a blank line, and a "closed" section by a new line that is slightly indented (the preceding line may also not be full). These latter conventions are no longer used in Torah scrolls and printed Hebrew Bibles. In this system, the one rule differentiating "open" and "closed" sections is that "open" sections must always begin at the beginning of a new line, while "closed" sections never start at the beginning of a new line.

Another related feature of the Masoretic text is the division of the sedarim. This division is not thematic, but is rather almost entirely based upon the quantity of text.

The Byzantines also introduced a chapter division of sorts, called Kephalaia. It is not identical to the present chapters.

The current division of the Bible into chapters, however, and the verse numbers within the chapters, have no basis in any ancient textual tradition. Rather, they are medieval Christian inventions. They were later adopted by many Jews as well, as technical references within the Hebrew text. Such technical references became crucial to medieval rabbis in the historical context of forced debates with Christian clergy (who used the chapter and verse numbers), especially in late medieval Spain. Chapter divisions were first used by Jews in a 1330 manuscript, and for a printed edition in 1516. However, for the past generation most Jewish editions of the complete Hebrew Bible have made a systematic effort to relegate chapter and verse numbers to the margins of the text.

The division of the Bible into chapters and verses has often elicited severe criticism (from both traditionalists and modern scholars alike). Critics charge that the text is often divided into chapters in an incoherent way, or at inappropriate points within the narrative, and that it encourages citing passages out of context, in effect turning the Bible into a kind of textual quarry for clerical citations. Nevertheless, even the critics admit that the chapter divisions and verse numbers have become indispensable as technical references for Bible study.

Stephen Langton is reputed to have been the first person to put the chapter divisions into a Vulgate edition of the Bible in 1205. They came into the Greek manuscripts of the New Testament in the 1400s. Robert Estienne (Robert Stephanus) was the first to number the verses within each chaper; his verse numbers entered printed editions in 1565 (New Testament) and 1571 (Hebrew Bible).[1] (http://www.fuller.edu/ministry/berean/chs_vss.htm)[2] (http://www.theexaminer.org/history/chap6.htm)

[edit]
Biblical interpretation
A wealth of additional stories and legends amplifying the accounts in the Tanakh can be found in the Jewish genre of rabbinical exegesis known as Midrash.

Throughout antiquity and the medieval periods, allegorical methods of interpretation were popular. The earliest use of these was probably Philo, who attempted to make Jewish halakah palatable to the Greek mind by interpreting it as symbolising philosophical doctrines. Allegorical interpretation was adopted by Christians, and continued in popularity until a reaction against it during the Reformation, and it has not since found much favour in Western Christianity.

The Eastern Orthodox Church generally follows a patristic method of interpretation, attempting to interpret scripture in the same way that the early church fathers did. It also interprets scripture liturgically. This means that the passages that are publicly read on certain days of the liturgical year are significant, especially on feast days, and are intended to guide people in their interpretation as they are praying together. Since it was members of the Church who wrote the New Testament and a series of church councils that decided the biblical canon, the Orthodox believe that the Church should also be the final authority in its interpretation. This often includes allegorical interpretations.

The pesher method of interpretation, which views Biblical passages as coded representations of events current to the writing of the passage, was recently (1992) put forward by Barbara Thiering, Ph.D. It is not taken seriously by most experts.

[edit]
The Bible and history
The mixed archaeological record has led to a variety of opinions regarding the accuracy or historicity of Biblical accounts. Today there are two loosely defined schools of thought with regard to the historicity of the Bible (Biblical minimalism and Biblical maximalism) with many in between, in addition to the traditional religious reading of the Bible. This subject is discussed in its own entry, The Bible and history.

[edit]
The supernatural in monotheistic religions
Many modern skeptical readers of the Bible hold that its authors gradually reinterpreted historical and natural events as miraculous or supernatural. The article on the supernatural in monotheistic religions thus concerns itself with the junction between monotheistic religions, such as Christianity and Judaism and the supernatural.

[edit]
See also
Alleged inconsistencies in the Bible
American Bible Society
British and Foreign Bible Society
The Bible and history
Bible and reincarnation
Bible citation (an example in Epistle to the Hebrews).
Bible errata
Bible translations
Biblical canon
Biblical inerrancy
Books of the Bible
Dating the Bible
Ecumenical council
First Bible Stories
Gutenberg Bible
History of the English Bible
Jefferson Bible
Jewish Biblical exegesis
Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible
Similarities between the Bible and the Qur'an
List of Biblical names
List of Biblical passages
List of Bible passages of other than theological interest
List of movies based on the Bible
Study Bible
Tanakh
The Sword Project
Ten Commandments
William Morgan (Bible translator)
[edit]
References
Dever, William B. Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did they Come from? William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI (2003). ISBN 0802809758 Silberman, Neil A. and colleagues. The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts. Simon and Schuster, New York (2001). ISBN 0684869136

[edit]
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about Bible.
BiblePlayer for iPod (http://www.bibleplayer.com) - Read and hear the Bible on the iPod
DayByDay Bible - Daily Bible Reading (http://www.daybydaybible.com) - Bible in a Year Website
Bible Keeper - Online Bible Study Tools (http://www.biblekeeper.com) - Index of several online Bibles in many languages.
The Bible Tool (http://thebibletool.com/) - contains a huge collection of bible texts, commentaries, glossaries, and dictionaries.
The Bible Gateway (http://bible.gospelcom.net/) - Free online Bible in many translations and encompassing literally 40 different languages.
The Orthodox Bible (http://www.crestinism-ortodox.ro/html_en/05/main.html) (in English)
Blue Letter Bible (http://www.blueletterbible.org) - On-line interactive reference library with tools to usefully dig into original meanings of words in original Biblical languages.
Bible Search (http://www.christnotes.org/bible.asp) - multiple translations of the Bible in searchable format
King James Bible (http://king-james-bible.classic-literature.co.uk/) - HTML version of this title.
King James Bible (http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/10) - plain vanilla text from Project Gutenberg
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible (http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/) - a version of the Bible annotated from a skeptical point of view.
The New English Translation (http://www.bible.org/netbible/) - The first Bible made for the Internet.
The Recovery Version New Testament (http://online.recoveryversion.org/) - a recent translation (1991) produced by Living Stream Ministries ; includes extensive footnotes prepared by Witness Lee, founder of Living Stream Ministries, cross references, and outlines for Christian study
The World English Bible (http://www.ebible.org/) - a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible, based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament. It is in draft form, and currently being edited for accuracy and readability.
The Polyglot Bible (http://davies-linguistics.byu.edu/polyglot/) - allows the user to view parallel versions of the Bible in numerous ancient and modern languages.
"An Interpreting Dictionary of Scripture Proper Names" (http://www.ccel.org/bible_names/title.html) - from Hitchcock's New and Complete Analysis of the Holy Bible
Old English Bible (http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/catholic/scriptures/saxon-bible.html) - Links to portions of the Bible in Old English.
"The Inspired Version" (http://www.centerplace.org/hs/iv/) - by Joseph Smith Jr.
The Flaming Fire Illustrated Bible (http://www.flamingfire.com/bible.html) - a project to illustrate each verse of the Bible using contributions from the public
The Brick Testament (http://www.thereverend.com/brick_testament) - Scenes from the Bible staged by Lego characters
Wiki Bible (http://www.wikibible.com) - future home of the wiki bible (currently it is just a search engine of Bible Tools)
King James Version (http://sources.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible,_English,_King_James) - at WikiSource
VulSearch: Latin Vulgate freeware with Douay-Rheims English text (http://vulsearch.sourceforge.net/)
Bibliology (http://www.biblekeeper.com) - The Doctrine of the Written Word.
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (http://www.watchtower.org/library/rbi8/) - New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures in the Web
John Duns Scotus Bible Reading Promotion Center (http://www.ccreadbible.org/) - website to promote Chinese Catholic bible reading.
Welsh language Bible of 1588 (http://digidol.llgc.org.uk/METS/BWM00001/beibl?locale=en) View digital images of the entire Bible online (digital images of the actual book printed in 1588).
[edit]
Catholic online Bibles
Online Douay-Rheims Bible (http://www.scriptours.com/bible/)
Douay-Rheims Bible Online (http://www.drbo.org/) - Complete text with the Challoner footnotes, index and search engine.
The New American Bible (http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/index.htm) - Catholic translation authorized by the United States Council of Catholic Bishops.
The Chinese Catholic Bible (http://www.ccreadbible.org/Chinese%20Bible/) - Chinese translation of Catholic Bible.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible"
Categories: Christian texts | Holy scripture | Latter Day Saint texts | Christian Science texts | Bible

Christianity
Christianity
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Christian cross and its many variations are widely recognized as an ancient Christian symbol.Christianity is an Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as described in the New Testament. Although Christians generally characterize themselves as monotheistic, the one God is most commonly, but not universally, thought to exist in three persons, called the Trinity. Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah as prophesized in the Old Testament of the Jews. Christianity encompasses numerous religious traditions that widely vary by culture , as well as thousands of diverse beliefs and sects; over the past two millennia, Christianity has been grouped into three main branches: Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestantism. Collectively, it is the world's largest single religion, with over two billion followers.

The term Christ derives from the Greek adjective Χριστός Khristós which means "anointed," a reference to the Messiah. Christian means "belonging to Christ."

Contents [showhide]
1 History

1.1 Origins
1.2 Early Church
1.3 Emergence of National Churches

2 Christianity today

3 Doctrine

4 Orthodoxy and heresy in Christianity

5 Christianity's relationship with other faiths

5.1 Christianity and Judaism

6 Christianity and persecution

7 Christian churches worldwide

8 See also

9 External links

[edit]
History
Main article: History of Christianity

[edit]
Origins
Main article: Jesus

Topics related to
Jesus
Names and titles
Christology
New Testament view on Jesus' life
Miracles
His Resurrection
Timeline
Chronology
Christian views of Jesus
Islamic views of Jesus (Isa al-Masih)
Jewish views
Other views of Jesus
Alleged textual evidence for Jesus
Historicity of Jesus
Cultural background
Images
Dramatic portrayals
Christianity originated in the first century AD. According to Acts 11:19 and 11:26 in the Christian New Testament, Jesus’ followers were first called Christians by non-Christians in the city of Antioch, where they had fled and settled after early persecutions in Judea. After Jesus' death, early Christian doctrine was taught by Paul of Tarsus and the other apostles. There were two main communities of Christians those that stuck closely to the Judaic traditions of Circumcision, Dietary, the concept of purity et cetera: And those that were found in the Greek speaking world that slowly lost their Jewish customs and beliefs, adopting the Roman pagan customs and the concept of the TRINITY. The latter are found in the Western World, the former have largely died out, but some Christian Communities in the Middle East still are opposed to Trinity. The Didache is the earliest Western Christian Primer last used up to the time of C4th. It contains elements that are very Jewish in nature. [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/didache.html]

Jesus (who was Jewish) is reported to have declared himself to be the long awaited Jewish Messiah (John 8:23-24, John 14:11), but was rejected as an apostate by the people generally considered to be the Jewish authorities (Matthew 26:63-64). He was condemned of blasphemy and executed by the Romans around AD 30. The formal charge cited in his execution was leading a rebellion (Luke 23:1-5): he was called the "King of the Jews" by Pilate (John 19:19-22, see Luke 16:8) on the titulus crucis or statement of the charge hung over the condemned on the cross.

The Gospels indicate that the Roman charge was actually an attempt to appease the Jewish authorities, although some scholars argue that it was an ordinary Roman trial of a rebel. According to Christians, the Old Testament (Jewish writings collected over thousands of years) predicted the death and humiliation of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament. Examples include the book of Isaiah that alludes to the slapping (Matthew 26:67-68, Isaiah 52:14-15, Isaiah 50:6, Mark 14:65, Luke 23:63-64), whipping (Isaiah 53:5, John 19:1, Matthew 27:26) and general humiliation that is centred around the given references.

Jesus' apostles were the main witnesses of his life and teaching although some of the early traditions of the church name numerous disciples (as many as 70 including James Adelphos, Mark, Luke, Mary Magdalene, etc) who also followed Jesus in his travels and were witness to his miracles and teachings. After his crucifixion, his apostles and other followers claimed that Jesus rose from the dead, and set out to preach the new message. The original apostles are believed to have written some of the New Testament's Gospels and Epistles.

Many of the New Testament's twenty-seven books were written by Paul of Tarsus. Twelve Epistles name him as writer, and some traditions also credit him as the writer of the book of Hebrews. The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are stated as having been written by Luke, whom many believe to have been under Paul's direct influence. Acts cites Paul as a student of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), a leading figure amongst the Jewish Sanhedrin (Acts 5:34-40) and a noteworthy authority in his own right (Acts 28:16-22) considering that the Jews of Rome sought his opinion on Christianity. Paul was the principal missionary of the Christian message to the Gentile world.

[edit]
Early Church

The story goes that an early Christian, upon meeting another person, might draw an arc in the earth, and if the other person shared the faith, he would draw another arc completing this ichthys, a symbol of Christianity.Christianity spread rapidly over the first three centuries aided by the relative internal peace and good roads of the Roman Empire:

via Egypt into North Africa, Sudan and Ethiopia
via Mesopotamia to Persia, Inner Asia and India
via Greece and Rome to Europe
The first great writer of Christianity, Tertullian, sums this up in a rhetorical address to a Roman governor with the fact that, as for the Christians of Carthage that just yesterday were few in number, now they "have filled every place among you— cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market-places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palaces, senate, forum; we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods" (Apologeticus written at Carthage, ca 197)

Over the course of the first few centuries after Christ, Classically trained theologians and philosophers such as Origen and Augustine developed Christian Theology, which some argue was a synthesis of Hellenic and Early Christian thought.

During this period of first organization the Christian church had to deal mainly with occasional, but sometimes severe persecutions. The life of the martyr, who would rather die than renounce his faith, became the highest virtue. The canonical books of the New Testament were agreed, early translations appeared, and a church hierarchy emerged: the Bishops of Alexandria, Antioch and Rome assumed the title Patriarch.

The Roman Emperor Constantine I was converted in 312 and with his Edict of Milan (313) he ended the persecution of Christians. Persecution was briefly revived during the reign of Julian the Apostate who tried to restore paganism to the empire; Christianity was later made the officially favored religion in about 382 by Emperor Theodotius. Similar events took place in neighbouring Georgia and Armenia. But in Persia, which was at constant war with Rome, the Christians struggled under the oppresive Sassanids, who tried to revive the Zoroastrian religion.

In the Persian empire, at the synod of Seleucia in 410, the bishop of Seleucia was pronounced Catholic and replaced the Patriarch of Antioch as the highest authority of the Assyrian Church of the East. Soon after, during the Nestorian Schism, this church broke all ties with the West. It would be the dominant church of Asia for more than a millennium, with bishopries as far away as India, Java, and China.

[edit]
Emergence of National Churches
The question of Jesus's divinity was central to early Christians. A wide range of early writers, including Justin Martyr and Tertullian testify to belief that Jesus was God, or that he was second only to God the Father. At the same time, various groups arose that denied this teaching. The situation came to a head with the teaching of Arius, who brought large numbers of bishops and faithful to his belief that Jesus was a created being. The issue was settled by vote at the First Council of Nicaea, convened by Emperor Constantine I, where the teaching later championed by Athanasius was enshrined as dogma. Arianism continued to exist in the empire for several decades, and among the Germanic tribes for almost two centuries, after the decision of the council.

This was only the first of several ecumenical councils for resolving doctrinal issues. These councils sought to unify Christianity by agreeing on the tradition they had inherited, and was supported by the Byzantine Emperors in order to promote unity in the Byzantine Empire. Some of the theological terminology of these councils may have been misunderstood by those Orthodox whose main language was Syriac, Armenian, or Coptic. As a result differences in later theological constructs lead these national branches of the church to break away from the rest forming Oriental Churches sometimes called the Monophysites.

By the second millennium, Christianity had spread to most of the civilized world. For the most part it had remained fairly unified in its fundamental beliefs with major theological differences being hashed out in council. But as the millennium approached, certain major differences in theology and practice became increasingly troublesome. The Great Schism of 1054 split the Church into Western and Eastern churches: the Western church gradually consolidated into the Roman Catholic Church under the central authority of Rome (see Catholicism), while the Eastern church adopted the name "Orthodox" to emphasize their commitment to preserving the traditions of the church and resistance to change. This Eastern Church refused to be consolidated under a single bishop, as this was completely alien to the structure the church had hitherto enjoyed. The Eastern Church recognized the Patriarch of Constantinople as the "First among equals" of the numerous bishops in charge of its autocephalous churches (see Eastern Orthodoxy).

In the European Reformation of the 1500s, Protestants and numerous similar churches arose in objection to perceived abuses of growing Papal authority and to perceived doctrinal error and novelty in Rome. Key questions in the Reformation controversy are summed up in five famous 'solas': Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone - does the church's authority derive solely from correctly interpreting the Scriptures, or does it have a separate authority?), Sola Fide (Faith alone - is a man saved through faith in Christ alone, or do the Church, good works and the sacraments contribute?), Sola Gratia (Grace alone - is a man's salvation purely and exclusively due to God's unmerited grace, or do individual works make a contribution?), Solus Christus (Christ alone - is Jesus the only mediator between man and God, or does the Church and its priests play a part?) and Soli Deo Gloria (To the glory of God alone - does 100% of the glory for man's salvation belong to God, or are the Church and its priests eligible for a part?). The Reformation sparked a vigorous struggle for the hearts and minds of Europeans. Disputes between Catholics and Protestants sparked persecution and were caught up in various wars, both civil and foreign.

Catholicism and Protestantism arrived in North America (and later Australasia) with European settlement. Lacking any central authority in either Rome or national governments, Protestants worshipped in hundreds, and later thousands, of independent denominations (see Restorationism). Protestantism was taken to South America and Africa by European colonists, especially in the 16th to 19th centuries. Orthodoxy first arrived in North America via Russian settlers in the Alaskan region in the 18th century; they came to North America from Europe in much greater numbers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In the 19th and 20th centuries many Christian-oriented nations, especially in Western Europe, became more secular as science and technology captured the imagination of the people. Most communist states were governed by avowed atheists, though only Albania was officially atheistic. Adherents to Fundamentalist Christianity, particularly in the United States, also perceived threats from new theories about the age of the Earth and the evolution of life.

Differing interpretations of the Bible and other forces led to schisms in Christianity over the millennia, but all branches trace their roots to early Christianity.
For more, see:

History of Christianity
Missions
History of Christian Missions
[edit]
Christianity today
As of 2004, Christianity is the world's most widely practiced religion, with 2.0 billion adherents (followed by Islam with 1.3 billion, Hinduism with 841 million, and the nonreligious with 774 million). Christianity has many branches, including 1.1 billion Roman Catholics, 367 million Protestants in a number of traditions, 216 million Orthodox, 84 million Anglicans, 414 million Independents (unaffiliated with the major streams of Christianity), and 31.7 million "marginals" (Jehovah's Witnesses, Latter Day Saints (Mormons), etc.), these last being denominations which describe themselves as Christian but are not standardly recognized as such by other denominations.

Although Christianity is the largest religion in the world and there are massive missionary efforts under way, as a whole it is declining in terms of the overall population. While the population of the world grows at roughly 1.25% per year, Christianity is growing at about 1.12% per year. By contrast, Islam is growing at 1.76% per year. The slow growth can be attributed to most of the Christian population residing in affluent nations where the birth rate is quite low. By contrast, Islamic nations have a higher birth rate and by effect have a larger growth percentage.

Not all people identified as Christians accept all, or even most, of the theological positions held by their particular churches. Like the Jews, Christians in the West were greatly affected by The Enlightenment in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Perhaps the most significant change for them was total or effective separation of church and state, thus ending the state-sponsored Christianity that existed in so many European countries. Now one could be a free member of society and disagree with one's church on various issues, and one could even be free to leave the church altogether. Many did leave, developing belief systems such as Deism, Unitarianism, and Universalism, or becoming atheists, agnostics, or humanists.

Others created liberal wings of Protestant Christian theology. Modernism in the late 19th century encouraged new forms of thought and expression that did not follow traditional lines.

Reaction to "The Enlightenment" and Modernism triggered the development of literally thousands of Christian Protestant denominations, traditionalist splinter groups of the Catholic Church that do not recognize the legitimacy of many reforms the Catholic Church has undertaken, and the growth of hundreds of fundamentalist groups that interpret the entire Bible in a characteristically literal fashion.

In the United States and Europe, liberalism also led to secularism. Some Christians have long since stopped participating in traditional religious duties, attending churches only on a few particular holy days per year or not at all. Many of them recall having highly religious grandparents, but grew up in homes where Christian theology was no longer a priority. They have developed ambivalent feelings towards their religious duties. On the one hand they cling to their traditions for identity reasons; on the other hand, the influence of the secular Western mentality, the demands of daily life, and peer pressure tear them away from traditional Christianity. Marriage between Christians of different denominations, or between a Christian and a non-Christian, was once taboo, but has become commonplace. Traditionally Catholic countries such as France have largely become agnostic, also with a large number of followers of Islam, which is growing rapidly, and similar trends are reflected in various degrees in Western Europe.

Liberal Christianity grew rapidly during the early 20th century in Europe and North America, by the 1960s gaining the leadership of many of the larger US and Canadian denominations. However, this trend has reversed. At the turn of the 21st century, though secular society tends to consider the more accommodating liberals as the representatives and spokesmen of Christianity, the "mainline" liberal churches are shrinking. This is partly due to a loss of evangelistic zeal, partly due to drift of their membership to conservative denominations, and partly due to the failure of one generation to pass on Christianity to the next. Among the larger Protestant denominations in the USA, only the conservative Southern Baptist is growing. Evangelical para-church organizations have grown rapidly in the last half of the 20th century. The liberal Christian Century magazine has shrunk, while being replaced by its challenger, the rapidly growing evangelical Christianity Today.

The Enlightenment had much less impact on the Eastern Churches of Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy. Having to face a much more hostile secular society, especially during the rise of Communism, the church clung to ancient beliefs, even as its membership eroded.

Today in Eastern Europe and Russia, a renewing trend is taking place. After decades of Communism and atheism, there is widespread interest in Christianity, as well as religion in general. Many Orthodox churches and monasteries are being rebuilt and restored, filled beyond capacity; Protestants of many denominations are pouring in to evangelize and plant churches; and the Catholic church is revealing once secret dioceses and undertaking other steps to support Catholic churches more openly.

In South America and Africa, Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity form rapidly growing movements that are increasingly sending missionaries to Europe and North America. This is also true of Asia where many of the underground house churches intend to send hundreds of thousands of missionaries out over the next decade.

As Modernism developed into Consumerism during the second half of the 20th century the Megachurch phenomenon developed – catering for skeptical non-Christians by providing "seeker sensitive" presentations of Christian belief. The Alpha Course can be viewed as an example one such presentation of Christianity.

Since the development of Postmodernism with its rejection of universally accepted belief structures in favour of more personalized and experiential truth, organized Christianity has increasingly found itself at odds with the desire many people have to express faith and spirituality in a way that is authentic to them. What has thus far been known as the Emerging Church is a by-product of this trend, as many people who broadly accept Christianity seek to practice that faith while avoiding established Church institutions.

Another reaction of some Christians to Postmodernism is the advent of what might be called Postmodern Christianity.

A large and growing movement within the Christian church, especially in the West and most visible in the United States, is the evangelical movement. Most mainstream protestant denominations have a significantly active evangelical minority, and, in some cases, a dominant majority (see Confessing Movement). Evangelicals are "trans-denominational" and are more willing to have formal and informal relationships with evangelicals from outside their denomination than to have the same sort of relationship with non-evangelicals within their denomination.

Some evangelicals have been schismatic within various church organisations, leaving to form their own denominations. More often they are forced out. It was only by dint of sheer determination that John Wesley, founder of Methodism, was able to remain an Anglican priest against intense opposition. His followers separated in America, and in England after his death. Some Evangelicals claim that their beliefs are no less than true Christianity itself and that those within the church who differ from them may not be true believers. This attitude has led to much disunity amongst churches, especially those with a large modernist influence. Evangelicals cannot be easily categorised, but almost all will believe in the necessity of a personal conversion and acceptance of Jesus as saviour and Lord, the eventual literal return of Christ, a more conservative understanding of the Bible and a belief in the miraculous. There are many different types of Evangelicals including Dispensationists, Reformed Christians, Pentecostals, Charismatics and Fundamentalists.

For more, see:

List of Christian denominations
Christianity: Denominations
[edit]
Doctrine
Christians often view Christianity as the fulfilment and successor of Judaism, and Christianity carried forward much of the doctrine and many of the practices from the Hebrew faith, including monotheism, the belief in a Messiah (or Christ from the Greek Χριστός Christós, which means "anointed one"), certain forms of worship (such as prayer, and reading from religious texts), a priesthood (although most Protestants assert the Universal Priesthood of All Believers), and the idea that worship on Earth is modelled on worship in Heaven.

The central belief of Christianity is that by faith in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus, individuals are saved from death - both spiritual and physical - by redemption from their sins (i.e. faults, misdeeds, disobedience, rebellion against God). Through God's grace, by faith, repentance, and obedience, men and women are reconciled to God through forgiveness and by sanctification or theosis to return to their place with God in Heaven.

Crucial beliefs in Christian teaching are Jesus' incarnation, atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection from the dead to redeem humankind from sin and death; and the belief that the New Testament is a part of the Bible. Many Christians today (and traditionally even more) also hold to supersessionism. Supersessionism is the belief that the Jews' chosenness found its ultimate fulfillment through the message of Jesus: Jews who remain non-Christian are no longer considered to be chosen, since they reject Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. This position has been softened or even completely abrogated by some churches where Jews are recognized to have a special status due to their covenant with God, so that this continues to be an area of on-going dispute among Christians.

The emphasis on God giving his son, or the Son (who is God) coming down to earth for the sake of humanity, is an essential difference between Christianity and most other religions, where the emphasis is instead placed solely on humans working for salvation.

The most uniform and broadly accepted tradition of doctrine, with the longest continuous representation, repeatedly reaffirmed by official Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant definitions (although not without dissent, as noted below) asserts that specific beliefs are essential to Christianity, including but not limited to:

God is a Trinity, the single eternal being existing in three persons: Father, Son (Divine Logos), and Holy Spirit.
Jesus is both fully God and fully human, two "natures" in one person.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, bore in her womb and gave birth to the Son of God (who is, himself, likewise God), who although eternally existent was formed in her womb by the Spirit of God. From her humanity he received in his person a human intellect and will, and all else that a child would naturally receive from its mother.
Jesus is the Messiah hoped for by the Jews, the heir to the throne of David. He reigns at the right hand of the Father with all authority and power forevermore. He is the hope of all mankind, their advocate and judge. Until he returns at the end of the world, the Church has the authority and obligation to preach the Gospel and to gather new disciples.
Jesus was innocent of any sin. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, believers are forgiven of sins and reconciled to God. Although virually all Christians agree on this, there are a variety of views on the Significance of Jesus' resurrection. Believers are baptized into the resurrection and new life (or death in some groups) of Christ. Through faith, they live by the promise of resurrection from death to everlasting life through Christ. The Holy Spirit is sent to them by Christ, to bring hope and lead mankind into true knowledge of God and His purposes, and help them grow in holiness.
Jesus will return personally, and bodily, to judge all mankind and receive the faithful to himself, so they will live forever in the intimate presence of God.
Some Christians, particularly in the West, refer to the Bible as the "Word of God." Other Christians, particularly in the East, believe that Jesus alone is the Word of God, and see Scripture as an authoritative book, inspired by God but written by men. As a result of these differing views, many Christians disagree to varying degrees about how accurate the Bible is and how it should be interpreted.
These beliefs are stated in a number of creeds, of which the most important and widely used are probably the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. These statements of belief were written in the first few centuries after Christ to reject certain heresies. Although there are arguments about specific parts of these creeds, they are still used by mainstream Christians to state their basic beliefs. (See also: Athanasian Creed)

Christianity is considered by mainstream Christians to be the continuation or fulfillment of the Jewish faith. However, many self-proclaimed Christian organizations throughout history have had varying ideas about the basic tenets of the Christian faith, from ancient sects such as Arians and Gnostics to modern groups who have different understandings of fundamental Christian ideas. Some of these groups are the Jehovah's Witnesses who have a different theological understanding of Jesus, God and the Bible; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who believe that in 1829 God restored the apostolic priesthood to their leader Joseph Smith, Jr., making possible continuing revelation (including additional teachings and scripture), and the Unification Church. While various groups may differ in their approach to the specifics of Christ's role, ministry, and nature (some calling him a god or Gods, and others calling him a man), Christ is generally assumed to have cosmic importance. Some of these groups number themselves among the Christian churches, or believe themselves to be the only true Christian church. Furthermore, present-day liberal Protestant Christians do not define Christianity as necessarily including belief in the deity of Jesus, the virgin birth, the Trinity, miracles, the resurrection, the ascension of Christ, or the personality or deity of the Holy Spirit. Liberals may or may not recommend belief in such things, but differentiate themselves from conservative Christians by defining as included within genuine Christianity anyone who explains their views or teachings principally by appeal to Jesus. It is common for those who hold the more traditional tenets of faith described in the paragraph above to assert that some or all of these groups are not true Christians, principally because they feel that by denying fundamental teachings about the nature, actions and teachings of Jesus, such liberals are following a different person, or one of their own devising.

Also see the Christian Worldview.

[edit]
Orthodoxy and heresy in Christianity
Correct beliefs, or orthodoxy, are of extreme importance in the larger branches of Christianity, and much time and energy has been dedicated to delineating what are called heresies, or unacceptable deviations from orthodox thought. Sanctions against heresy have included rebuke, withdrawing mutual recognition as Christians, and sometimes even death for minority individuals or parties.

The article on heresy gives a comprehensive discussion and list of what have been called heresies by the largest Christian branches. In modern times it is still common for minority Christian movements and individuals to hold beliefs that closely resemble these ancient heresies. But the majority Christian branches continue to view the ancient delineations as an important historical reference for orthodoxy. Heresy continues, though more peacefully than in the past, to be an important issue for many Christians.

[edit]
Christianity's relationship with other faiths
For more information on the relationship between Christianity and other world religions over the years, see Christianity and World Religions.

[edit]
Christianity and Judaism
Since the Holocaust, there has been much to note in the way of dialogue between some Christians groups and Jews; the article on Christian-Jewish reconciliation studies this issue.

Messianic Judaism refers to a group of evangelical Christian religious movements, self-identified as Jewish, who believe that Jesus is the Messiah. Contrary to Judaism, they are trinitarians, professing that Jesus is God, incarnate. Even though many Messianic Jews are ethnically Jewish, they are not considered part of the Jewish community by mainstream Jewish groups. They are not to be confused with the many Christian believers of Jewish ethnic background who are not members of these religious movements, but rather of regular Christian churches.

For more, see:

Comparing and contrasting Judaism and Christianity
Judeo-Christian tradition
Christianity and anti-Semitism
[edit]
Christianity and persecution
Christians have been both the victims and the perpetrators of persecution (see Persecution of Christians).

Christian martyrs in the first three centuries AD were crucified in the same manner as Roman political prisoners or eaten by lions as a circus spectacle. They are recognized as martyrs because they have preferred to die rather than renounce their Christian faith which often times included making a sacrifice to a pagan deity.

In spite of the widely held belief that violence is antithetical to Christ's teachings, Christian adherents have at times persecuted, tortured, and killed others for refusing to believe in their type of Christianity. While most modern Christians would condemn such actions, they were carried out by people who were seen as mainstream Christians at the time. There is also a view that some modern wars have a religious basis. The colonization movement by the major European powers, which was largly a Christian based movement, brought about the destruction of cultures all around the world.

Conflicts within Christianity itself have led to persecutions of one Christian group by another. Protestants, Catholics and other Christians have persecuted each other in the name of Jesus. In the second half of the 20th century a battle in Northern Ireland continues between Roman Catholics and Protestants over the forced British occupation of Ireland.

The concept of religious tolerance, that Christians in political authority should permit persons of differing faith to practice their own religions, has risen and fallen many times in history. At times, church leaders have considered tolerance itself to be a heresy. Modern Christianity appears, for the most part, to have adopted a position of tolerance. There are, however, exceptions such as American Christian Reconstructionism which calls for the persecution of dissenting faiths.

[edit]
Christian churches worldwide
There are many types of Christianity practiced around the world today. For information about the various "super-bodies" of churches which many individual congregations or in some cases bishoprics of these churches associate under see full communion. The ancient Christian-Jewish nasrani tradition today survives in South India.

[edit]
See also
Assyrian Church of the East
Christian Arab
Christian art
Christian calendar
Christian eschatology
Christian history
Christians of Palestine
Christian stories
Christian Symbolism
Christian theological controversy
Christian views of homosexuality
Christian views of women
Crusades
Great Schism
John 3:16
List of Christians
Predestination
The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark
List of Christian denominations
[edit]
External links
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (http://www.carm.org) - Christianity, Cults, and Other Religions
The Bible Gateway (http://bible.gospelcom.net) - The Bible in 41 different languages and most major versions. Text, audio, and commentaries. Free, no registration.
ChristianAnswers.net (http://www.christiananswers.net) - In their words - "A site providing biblical answers to contemporary questions for all ages and nationalities with over 30-thousand on-line files accessed over 58-million times per month"
Ship of Fools (http://ship-of-fools.com/) - ecumenical "magazine of Christian unrest". With large, lively discussion boards. (http://forum.ship-of-fools.com/)
adherents.com (http://www.adherents.com/)'s statistics on Christianity (http://www.adherents.com/Na/Na_152.html#948)
A description of the Christian religion (http://www.religioustolerance.org/christ.htm) at religioustolerance.org (http://www.religioustolerance.org/)
Christian Public Source Texts (http://wikisource.org/wiki/Category:Christianity) - Wikisource category on Christianity

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity"

Judaism
Judaism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For a discussion of Jews as an ethnicity or ethnic group see the article on Jew.
Judaism is the religion and culture of the Jewish people and the first recorded monotheistic faith. The tenets and history of Judaism constitute the historical foundation of many other religions, including Christianity and Islam.

The Star of David, a common symbol of Jews and JudaismContents [showhide]
1 Introduction

1.1 Rabbinical view
1.2 Critical Historical view

2 Principles of faith

3 The Traditional Jewish Bookshelf

4 What makes a person Jewish?

5 Jewish philosophy

6 Jewish law

7 Daily prayer

8 Shabbat and holidays

9 Dietary laws: Kashrut

10 Life-cycle events

11 Clergy

11.1 Clergy-like positions

12 Jewish denominations

12.1 Diaspora Judaism
12.2 Jewish identity in modern Israel
12.3 Karaism

13 History of denominations

13.1 Historical Jewish sects (-1700)
13.2 Hasidism
13.3 The Enlightenment
13.4 The Holocaust
13.5 The present situation

14 Christianity and Judaism

15 Islam and Judaism

16 Miscellaneous topics

17 See also

18 References

19 External links

[edit]
Introduction

The seven-branched Menorah is an ancient symbol of Judaism.Judaism does not easily fit into common Western categories, such as religion, race, ethnicity, or culture. This is because Jews understand Judaism in terms of its 4,000-year history. During this stretch of time, Jews have experienced slavery, anarchic self-government, theocratic self-government, conquest, occupation, and exile; they have been in contact, and have been influenced by ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, and Hellenic cultures, as well as modern movements such as the Enlightenment and the rise of nationalism. Thus, Daniel Boyarin has argued that "Jewishness disrupts the very categories of identity, because it is not national, not genealogical, not religious, but all of these, in dialectical tension."

[edit]
Rabbinical view
According to religious Jews, the Biblical patriarch Abraham was the first Jew. Rabbinic literature records that he was the first to take on the world and proclaim the folly of idolatry. As a result, God promised he would have children, starting with Isaac, who would carry on his work and inherit the land of Israel (then called Canaan) after having been exiled and redeemed. According to the Bible, God gave Isaac's son Jacob the name Israel, meaning "he who struggles with God", and dedicated his descendants to be his nation.

God sent Jacob and his children to Egypt; after they eventually became enslaved, God sent Moses to redeem the Israelites from slavery. After the Exodus from Egypt, God led them to Mount Sinai and give them the Torah, and eventually brought them to the Land of Israel.

God set aside the descendants of Aaron, Moses' brother, to be a priestly class within the Israelite community. They first officiated in the tabernacle (a portable house of worship), and later their descendants officiated in the Temple in Jerusalem

Once they had settled, the tent was planted in the city of Shiloh for over 300 years during which time God provided great men, and occasionally women, to rally the nation after he sent enemies to attack them. As time went on, the spiritual level of the nation declined to the point that God allowed the Philistines to capture the temple in Shiloh.

The people of Israel then told Samuel the prophet that they had reached the point where they needed a permanent king like other nations had. God knew this was not best for the Jews, but acceded to this request and had Samuel appoint Saul, a great but very humble man, to be their king. When the people pressured Saul into going against a command conveyed to him by Samuel, God told Samuel to appoint David in his stead.

Once David was established, he told the prophet Nathan that he would like to build a permanent temple. As a reward, God promised David that he would allow his son to build the temple and the throne would never depart from his children. David's son Solomon built the first permanent temple according to God's will, in Jerusalem.

After Solomon's death, the kingdom was split into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Israel had a variety of kings, but after a few hundred years, because of the rampant idolatry God allowed Assyria to conquer Israel and exile its people. The kingdom of Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem and contained the temple, remained under the rulership of the house of David. However, idolatry increased to the point that God allowed Babylon to conquer it, destroy the temple which had stood for 410 years and exile its people to Babylon, with the promise that they would be redeemed after seventy years.

After seventy years the people were allowed back into Israel under the leadership of Ezra, and the temple was rebuilt. This second temple stood for 420 years after which it was destroyed by the Roman general (later emperor) Titus. This is the state in which it is to remain until a descendant of David arises to restore the glory of Israel (the current existence of the Islamic Dome of the Rock doesn't matter to the Rabbinical view).

The Torah given on Mount Sinai was summarized in the five books of Moses and together with the books of the prophets is called the Written Torah. The details which are called the Oral Torah were to remain unwritten. However as the persecutions of the Jews increased and the details were in danger of being forgotten, they were recorded in the Mishna, and the Talmud, as well as other holy books.

[edit]
Critical Historical view
According to critical historians, two characteristics distinguish Judaism from the other religions that existed when it first developed. One characteristic was monotheism. The significance of this belief is not so much the denial of other gods; although this element is fundamental to Rabbinic Judaism, according to many critical Bible scholars the Torah often implies that the early Israelites accepted the existence of other gods. Rather, the significance lies in that Judaism holds that God created and cares about people. In polytheistic religions, humankind is often created by accident, and the gods are primarily concerned with their relations with other gods, not with people. (In other words, Judaism is rather like Tenrikyo in a sense, in that it is a monotheistic religion that developed in a polytheistic world.)

Second, the Torah specifies a number of laws to be followed by the Children of Israel. Other religions at the time were characterized by temples in which priests would worship their gods through sacrifice. The Children of Israel similarly had a temple, priests, and made sacrifices -— but these were not the sole means of worshiping God. In comparison to other religions, Judaism elevates everyday life to the level of a temple, and worships God through everyday actions.

By the Hellenic period most Jews had come to believe that their God was the only God (and thus, the God of everyone), and that the record of His revelation (the Torah) contained within it universal truths. This attitude may reflect growing Gentile interest in Judaism (some Greeks and Romans considered the Jews a most "philosophical" people because of their belief in a God that cannot be represented visually), and growing Jewish interest in Greek philosophy, which sought to establish universal truths. Jews began to grapple with the tension between the particularism of their claim that only Jews were required to obey the Torah, and the universalism of their claim that the Torah contained universal truths.

The result is a set of beliefs and practices concerning both identity, ethics, one's relation to nature, and one's relation to God, that privilege "difference" -— the difference between Jews and non-Jews; the differences between locally variable ways of practicing Judaism; a close attention to different meanings of words when interpreting texts; attempts to encode different points of view within texts, and a relative indifference to creed and dogma.

The subject of the Hebrew Bible (similar to the Christian Old Testament) is an account of the Israelites' (also called Hebrews) relationship with God as reflected in their history from the beginning of time until the building of the Second Temple (approx. 350 BCE). This relationship is generally portrayed as contentious, as Jews struggle between their faith in God and their attraction for other gods, and as some Jews (most notably, Abraham, Jacob -- later known as Israel—and Moses) struggle with God.

Modern critical scholars hold that the Torah consists of a variety of inconsistent texts that were edited together in a way that calls attention to divergent accounts (see Documentary hypothesis).

[edit]
Principles of faith
Main article: Jewish principles of faith

While Judaism has always affirmed a number of other Jewish Principles of Faith, it has never developed a binding catechism. That is, there is no formal agreed-upon dogma (set of orthodox beliefs.) While individual rabbis, or sometimes entire groups, at times agreed upon a firm dogma, other rabbis and groups disagreed. With no central agreed-upon authority, no one formulation of Jewish principles of faith could take precedent over any other.

The ancient historian Josephus emphasizes practices and traditions rather than beliefs when he describes the characteristics of an apostate (a Jew who does not follow traditional customs) and the requirements for conversion to Judaism (circumcision, and adherence to traditional customs). Despite the above, in Orthodox Judaism some principles (e.g. the Divine origin of the Torah) are considered important enough that public rebellion against them can put one in the category of "apikoros" (heretic).

A number of formulations of Jewish principles of faith have appeared; most of them have much in common, yet they differ in certain details. A comparison of them demonstrates a wide array of tolerance for varying theological perspectives. Below is a summary of Jewish principles of faith. A more detailed discussion of these beliefs, along with a discussion of how they developed, is found in the article on Jewish principles of faith.

Monotheism - Judaism is based on strict unitarian monotheism, the belief in one God. God is conceived of as eternal, the creator of the universe, and the source of morality.
God is one - The idea of God as a duality or trinity is heretical for Jews to hold; it is considered akin to polytheism. Interestingly, while Jews hold that such conceptions of God are incorrect, they generally are of the opinion that gentiles that hold such beliefs are not held culpable.
God is all powerful (omnipotent), as well as all knowing (omniscient). The different names of God are ways to express different aspects of God's presence in the world. See the entry on The name of God in Judaism.
God is non-physical, non-corporeal, and eternal. All statements in the Hebrew Bible and in rabbinic literature which use anthropomorphism are held to be linguistic conceits or metaphors, as it would otherwise be impossible to talk about God.
To God alone may one offer prayer. Any belief that an intermediary between man and God could be used, whether necessary or even optional, has traditionally been considered heretical.
The Hebrew Bible, and much of the beliefs described in the Mishnah and Talmud, are held to be the product of divine Revelation. How Revelation works, and what precisely one means when one says that a book is "divine", has always been a matter of some dispute. Different understandings of this subject exist among Jews.
The words of the prophets are true.
Moses was the chief of all prophets.
The Torah (five books of Moses) is the primary text of Judaism. Rabbinic Judaism holds that the Torah is the same one that was given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. Orthodox Jews believe that the Torah that we have today is exactly the same as it was when it was received from God by Moses with only minor scribal errors. Due to advances in biblical scholarship, and archaeological and linguistic research, most non-Orthodox Jews reject this principle. Instead, they may accept that the core of the Oral and Written Torah may have come from Moses, but the written Torah that we have today has been edited together from several documents.
God will reward those who observe His commandments, and punish those who violate them.
God chose the Jewish people to be in a unique covenant with God; the description of this covenant is the Torah itself. Contrary to popular belief, Jewish people do not simply say that "God chose the Jews." Jews believe that they were chosen for a specific mission; to be a light unto the nations, and to have a covenant with God as described in the Torah. This idea is discussed further in the entry on the chosen people. Reconstructionist Judaism rejects the concept chosenness as morally defunct.
The messianic age. There will be a moshiach (messiah), or perhaps a messianic era.
The soul is pure at birth. People are born with a yetzer ha'tov, a tendency to do good, and with a yetzer ha'ra, a tendency to do bad. Thus, human beings have free will and can choose the path in life that they will take.
People can atone for sins. The liturgy of the Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur) states that prayer, repentance and tzedakah (dutiful giving of charity) atone for sin. A more detailed discussion of the Jewish view of sin is available in the entry on sin.
[edit]
The Traditional Jewish Bookshelf
Jews are often called the "people of the book," and Judaism has an age-old intellectual tradition focusing on text-based Torah study. The following is a basic, structured list of the central works of Jewish practice and thought. For more detail, see Rabbinic literature.

The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and Jewish bible study, which include:
Mesorah
Targum
Jewish Biblical exegesis (also see Midrash below)
Talmudic Era (classic rabbinic literature)
The Mishnah and its commentaries.
The Tosefta and the minor tractates.
The Talmud:
The Jerusalem Talmud and its commentaries.
The Babylonian Talmud and its commentaries.
Midrashic Literature:
Halakhic Midrash
Aggadic Midrash
Halakhic literature
The Major Codes of Jewish Law and Custom
The Mishneh Torah and its commentaries.
The Tur and its commentaries.
The Shulhan Arukh and its commentaries.
Other books on Jewish Law and Custom
The Responsa literature
Jewish thought and ethics
Jewish philosophy
Kabbalah
Hasidic works
Jewish ethics and the Mussar Movement
The Siddur and Jewish liturgy
Piyyut (Classical Jewish poetry)
Related Topics

Torah databases (electronic versions of the Traditional Jewish Bookshelf)
List of Jewish Prayers and Blessings
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What makes a person Jewish?
According to Jewish law, someone is considered to be a Jew if he or she was born of a Jewish mother or converted in accord with Jewish Law. (Recently, the American Reform and Reconstructionist movements have included those born of Jewish fathers and gentile mothers, if the children are raised practicing Judaism only.)

A Jew who ceases to practice Judaism is still considered a Jew, as is a Jew who does not accept Jewish principles of faith and becomes an agnostic or an atheist; so too with a Jew who converts to another religion. However, in the latter case, the person loses standing as a member of the (practicing) Jewish community and becomes known as an apostate in said community, though this might not affect his standing with non-practising Jews. In the past, family and friends would often formally mourn for the person, though this is rarely done today.

The question of what determines Jewish identity was given new impetus when, in the 1950s, David ben Gurion requested opinions on mihu Yehudi ("who is a Jew") from Jewish religious authorities and intellectuals worldwide. The question is far from settled and occasionally resurfaces in Israeli politics.

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Jewish philosophy
Main article: Jewish philosophy

Jewish philosophy refers to the conjunction between serious study of philosophy and Jewish theology. Early Jewish philosophy was influenced by the philosophy of Plato, Aristotle and Islamic philosophy. Major Jewish philosophers include Solomon ibn Gabirol, Saadia Gaon, Maimonides and Gersonides. Major changes occurred in response to the enlightenment (late 1700s to early 1800s) leading to the post-Enlightenment Jewish philosophers, and then the modern Jewish philosophers.

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Jewish law
Main article: Halakha

The basis of Jewish law and tradition ("halakha") is the Torah (the five books of Moses). According to rabbinic tradition there are 613 commandments in the Torah. Some of these laws are directed only to men or to women, some only to Kohanim and Leviyim (members of the tribe of Levi), some only to those who practice farming within the land of Israel, and many laws were only applicable when the Temple in Jerusalem existed. Less than 300 of these commandments are still applicable today.

While there have been Jewish groups which were based on the written text of the Torah alone (the Sadducees, the Karaites), most Jews believed in what they call the oral law. These oral traditions originated in the Pharisee sect of ancient Judaism, and were latter recorded in written form and expanded upon by the Rabbis.

Rabbinic Judaism has always held that the books of the Tanakh (called the written law) have always been transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition. They point to the text of the Torah, where many words are left undefined, and many procedures mentioned without explanation or instructions; this, they argue, means that the reader is assumed to be familiar with the details from other, i.e. oral, sources. This parallel set of material was originally transmitted orally, and came to be known as "the oral law".

By the time of Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi (200 CE) much of this material was edited together into the Mishnah. Over the next four centuries this law underwent discussion and debate in both of the world's major Jewish communities (in Israel and Babylon), and the commentaries on the Mishnah from each of these communities eventually came to be edited together into compilations known as the two Talmuds. These have been expounded by commentaries of various Torah scholars during the ages.

Halakha, the rabbinic Jewish way of life, then, is based on a combined reading of the Torah, and the oral tradition - the Mishnah, the halakhic Midrash, the Talmud and its commentaries. The Halakha has developed slowly, through a precedent-based system. The literature of questions to rabbis, and their considered answers, is referred to as responsa (in Hebrew, '"Sheelot U-Teshuvot".) Over time, as practices develop, codes of Jewish law are written that are based on the responsa; the most important code, the Shulkhan Arukh, largely determines Jewish religious practice up till today.

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Daily prayer
See also Jewish services

There are three daily prayers, named Shacharit, Mincha (literally: flour-offering) and Maariv. The main component of each set of prayers is the shemonah esrei ("eighteen"), which on weekdays consists of nineteen blessings (one was added in the time of the Mishna, but the name remains). It is said quietly while standing at attention, and is repeated by the hazzan during shacharit and mincha. On the Sabbath and Holidays, various other blessings are added to and deleted from the central part of the prayer, and a fourth prayer (mussaf) is added.

During Shacharis and Maariv, Shemonah Esrei is preceded by the reading of Shema Yisrael, and the blessings surrounding it.

In addition, various versions of Kaddish are said. The whole Kaddish is said following Shemonah Esrei, and the Orphans' Kaddish is said by mourners as is the Rabbis' Kaddish. Half Kaddish is also said a number of times.

Most of the prayers can be said in solitary prayer, but Kaddish and Kedusha require a minyan (prayer quorum).

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Shabbat and holidays
Main articles: Shabbat and Jewish holidays

Shabbat is the weekly day of rest; it plays an important role in Jewish practice and is the subject of a large body of religious law. Likewise, the annual cycle of Jewish holidays plays an important role in communal life.

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Dietary laws: Kashrut
The laws of kashrut ("keeping kosher") are the Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with Jewish law is termed kosher, and food not in accord with Jewish law is termed treifah or treif. From the context of the laws in the book of Leviticus, the purpose of kashrut is related to ritual purity and holiness. See the article on kashrut for more details.

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Life-cycle events
Life-cycle events occur throughout a Jew's life that bind him/her to the entire community.

Brit milah - Welcoming male babies into the covenant through the rite of circumcision.
Bar mitzvah and Bat mitzvah - Celebrating a child's reaching the age of majority, becoming responsible from now on for themselves as an adult for living a Jewish life and following halakha.
Marriage
Mourning - Judaism has a multi-staged mourning practice. The first stage is called the Shiv'ah (observed for one week), the second is the shloshim (observed for one month) and for those who have lost one of their parents, there is a third stage, avelut yud bet chodesh, which is observed for one year.
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Clergy
Note that the following positions are not mutually exclusive. The same person is often qualified to fill more than one of the following positions, and often does.

Rabbi of a congregation - Jewish scholar who is charged with answering the religious questions of a congregation. Usually requires semicha (Rabbinical ordination). A congregation does not necessarily require a Rabbi. However, at least some of the members need to have some knowledge of the laws of prayer.
Hassidic Rebbe - Rabbi who is the head of a Hassidic dynasty.
Hazzan (cantor) - Person who is charged with leading the prayers in the synagogue. Chosen for his good voice, knowledge of traditional tunes, his understanding of the meaning of the prayers and his sincerity in reciting them. A congregation does not need to have a dedicated hazzan. Any participant who knows how to lead the prayers can be the hazzan for that prayer session.
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Clergy-like positions
Dayan (judge) - expert in Jewish law who sits on a beth din (rabbinical court) for either monetary matters or for overseeing the giving of a bill of divorce. A dayan always requires semicha.
Hazzan (cantor) - in some synagogues, the leader of prayer in place of a rabbi. Hazzans are chosen for their vocal qualities and expertise in nusaf or other musical notations alongside Hebrew texts.
Kohen (priest) - patrilineal descendant of Aaron, brother of Moses. He is the first one called up at the reading of the Torah, performs the priestly blessing, as well as having other unique laws. In the Temple in Jerusalem, the kohanim were charged with performing the sacrifices.
Levi (Levite) - Patrilineal descendant of Levi the son of Jacob. He is called up second to the reading of the Torah. When there is a temple in Jerusalem, he has additional responsibilities and privileges.
Mohel - performs the brit milah (circumcision). He is an expert in the laws of circumcision and has received training from a qualified mohel.
Shochet (ritual slaughterer) - slaughters all kosher meat. In order for meat to be kosher, it must be slaughtered by a shochet who is expert in the laws and has received training from another shochet, as well as having regular contact with a rabbi and revising the relevant guidelines on a regular basis.
Sofer (scribe) - Torah scrolls, tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzahs (scrolls put on doorposts), and gittin (bills of divorce) must be written by a sofer who is an expert in the laws of writing.
Rosh yeshivah - head of a yeshiva. Somebody who is an expert in delving into the depths of the Talmud. He lectures the highest class in a Yeshiva.
Mashgiach of a yeshiva - expert in mussar (ethics). Oversees the emotional and spiritual welfare of the students in a yeshiva, and gives lectures on mussar.
Mashgiach over kosher products - supervises merchants and manufacturers of kosher food to ensure that the food is kosher. He is either an expert in the laws of kashrut, or (generally) under the supervision of a rabbi who is expert in those laws.
Gabbai (sexton) - Calls people up to the Torah, appoints the Hazzan at for each prayer session if there is no standard Hazzan, and makes certain that the synagogue is kept clean and supplied.
[edit]
Jewish denominations
In the last two centuries the Jewish community has divided into a number of Jewish denominations; each has a greatly different understanding of what principles of belief a Jew should hold, and how one should live as a Jew. Most of Orthodox Judaism holds to one particular form of Jewish theology, based on Maimonides' 13 principles of Jewish faith. Orthodox Jews hold that these principles are unchanging and mandatory; non-Orthodox forms of Judaism hold that these principles have evolved over time, and thus allow for more leeway in what individual adherents believe.

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Diaspora Judaism
Diaspora Judaism in modern times is commonly divided into the following denominations:

Orthodox Judaism (includes Hasidic Judaism, Haredi (or Ultra-Orthodox) Judaism and Modern Orthodox Judaism) - this denomination holds that the Torah was written by God and Moses, and that the original laws within it are binding and unchanging. While Orthodox Judaism is in many senses what Judaism has been since the Middle Ages, its formation as a movement was a direct response to the formation of Reform Judaism.
Conservative Judaism. Outside of the USA it is known as Masorti Judaism. "Masorti" is its official title in the State of Israel as well, although most Israelis use the word in a more general sense (see below). In the philosophy of this movement, the Torah, while unchanging, is subject to interpretation.
Reform Judaism (outside of the USA also known as Progressive Judaism, and in the U.K. as Liberal Judaism) originally formed in Germany as a reaction to traditional Judaism, stresses integration with society and a personal interpretation of the Torah. The original intent was to keep Jews "in the fold" who might otherwise leave the religion and community.
Reconstructionist Judaism started as a stream of philosophy by a rabbi within Conservative Judaism, and later became an independent movement.
Many religious Jews do not look at one's denomination as a valid way of designating Jews; instead, if they label Jews it is on a graduated spectrum of religious observance. According to most Orthodox Jews, Jewish people who do not keep the laws of Shabbat and Yom Tov (the holidays), Kashrut, and family purity (taharat ha-mishpacha), to at least a minimal level, would be considered non-religious or frei (free of the yoke of the Torah). Any Jew who keeps at least those laws would be considered frum (observant and religious), but their level of frumkeit (religiosity) would depend on how careful they are about the details and on how many stringencies they take it upon themselves to keep.

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Jewish identity in modern Israel
Even though all of the Diaspora denominations exist in Israel, Israelis tend to classify Jewish identity in ways that are strikingly different than diaspora Jewry. Most Jewish Israelis classify themselves as "secular" (hiloni) or as "traditional" (masorti). "Secular" is more popular among Israeli families of western (European) origin, whose Jewish identity may be a very powerful force in their lives, but who see it as largely independent of traditional religious belief and practice. This portion of the population largely ignores organized religious life, be it of the official Israeli rabbinate (Orthodox) or of the liberal movements common to diaspora Judaism (Reform, Conservative).

The term "traditional" (masorti) is most common among Israeli families of "eastern" origin (i.e. Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa). This term, as commonly used, has nothing to do with the official "Masorti" (Conservative) movement in the State of Israel. There is a great deal of ambiguity in the ways "secular" and "traditional" are used in Israel. They often overlap, and they cover an extremely wide range in terms of ideology and religious observance.

The term "Orthodox" (Ortodoxi) is unpopular in Israeli discourse (among both "secular" and "religious" alike). Nevertheless, the spectrum covered by "Orthodox" in the diaspora exists in Israel, again with some important variations. The "Orthodox" spectrum in Israel is a far greater percentage of the Jewish population in Israel than in the diaspora, though how much greater is hotly debated. Various ways of measuring this percentage, each with its pros and cons, include the proportion of religiously observant Knesset members, the proportion of Jewish children enrolled in religious schools, and statistical studies on "identity".

What would be called "Orthodox" in the diaspora includes what is commonly called dati (religious) or haredi (ultra-Orthodox) in Israel. The former term includes what is called "Religious Zionism" or the "National Religious" community, as well as what has become known over the past decade or so as haredi-leumi (nationalist haredi), which combines a largely haredi lifestyle with nationist ideology.

Haredi applies to a populace that can be roughly divided into three separate groups along both ethnic and ideological lines: (1) "Lithuanian" (non-hasidic) haredim of Ashkenazic origin; (2) Hasidic haredim of Ashkenazic origin; and (3) Sephardic haredim. The third group is the largest, and has been the most politically active since the early 1990s.

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Karaism
Unlike the above denominations, which were ideological reactions that resulted from the exposure of traditional rabbinic Judaism to the radical changes of modern times, Karaite Judaism did not begin as a modern Jewish movement. The followers of Karaism believe they are the remnants of the non-Rabbinic Jewish sects of the Second Temple period, such as the Saducees, though others contend they are a sect started in the 8th and 9th centuries. The Karaites, or "Scripturalists," accept only the Hebrew bible according to what they view as the Peshat/"Plain or Simple Meaning", and do not accept non-biblical writings as authoritative. Some European Karaites do not see themselves as part of the Jewish community, while most do.

The main article Jewish views of religious pluralism describes how Judaism views other religions; it also describes how members of each of the Jewish religious denomination view the other denominations.

[edit]
History of denominations
See also: Timeline of Jewish history

While the history of the Jews is a subject onto itself, this article will deal with the historical development of the branches of Judaism.

[edit]
Historical Jewish sects (-1700)
Judaism at one time was related to Samaritanism; however Samaritans no longer refer to themselves as Jews, and both groups view themselves as separate religions.

Around the first century CE there were several small Jewish sects: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Zealots, Essenes, and Christians. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE., these sects vanished. Christianity survived, but by breaking with Judaism and becoming a separate religion; the Pharisees survived but in the form of Rabbinic Judaism (today, known simply as "Judaism").

Some Jews in the 8th and 9th centuries adopted the Sadducees' rejection of the oral law of the Pharisees / Rabbis recorded in the Mishnah (and developed by later Rabbis in the two Talmuds), intending to rely only upon the Tanakh. These included the Isunians, the Yudganites, the Malikites, and others. They soon developed oral traditions of their own which differed from the Rabbinic traditions, and eventually formed the Karaite sect. Karaites exist in small numbers today, mostly living in Israel. Rabbinical and Karaite Jews each hold that the others are Jews, but that their faiths are erroneous.

Over time Jews developed into distinct ethnic groups — amongst others, the Ashkenazi Jews (of Central and Eastern Europe with Russia); the Sephardi Jews (of Spain, Portugal and North Africa) and the Yemenite Jews, from the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula. This split is cultural, and is not based on any doctrinal dispute.

[edit]
Hasidism
Main article: Hasidic Judaism

Hasidic Judaism was founded by Israel ben Eliezer (1700-1760), also known as the Ba'al Shem Tov (or Besht). His disciples attracted many followers; they themselves established numerous Hasidic sects across Europe. Hasidic Judaism eventually became the way of life for many Jews in Europe; it came to the United States during the large waves of Jewish emigration in the 1880s.

Early on, there was a serious schism between the Hasidic and non-Hasidic Jews. European Jews who rejected the Hasidic movement were dubbed by the Hasidim as mitnagdim, (lit. "opponents"). Some of the reasons for the rejection of Hasidic Judaism were the overwhelming exuberance of Hasidic worship; their untraditional ascriptions of infallibility and alleged miracle-working to their leaders, and the concern that it might become a messianic sect. Since then all the sects of Hasidic Judaism have been subsumed into mainstream Orthodox Judaism, particularly Haredi Judaism.

[edit]
The Enlightenment
Main article: Jewish denominations

In the late 18th century Europe was swept by a group of intellectual, social and political movements known as the Enlightenment. Judaism developed into several distinct denominations in response to this unprecedented phenomenon: Reform Judaism and Liberal Judaism, many forms of Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism, and a number of smaller groups as well.

[edit]
The Holocaust
While the Holocaust did not immediately affect Jewish denominations, it led to a great loss of life caused a radical demographic shift towards other countries, ultimately affected the makeup of organized Judaism the way it is today.

[edit]
The present situation
In most western nations, such as the USA, United Kingdom, Israel and South Africa, many secularized Jews have long since stopped participating in religious duties. Many of them recall having religious grand-parents, but grew up in homes where Jewish education and observance was no longer a priority. They have developed ambivalent feelings towards religious duties. On the one hand they tend to cling to their traditions for purposes of identity; on the other hand the influences of western mentality, daily life and peer-pressure tear them away from Judaism. Recent studies of American Jews indicate that many people who identify as being of Jewish heritage no longer identify as members of the religion known as Judaism.

Religious (and secular) Jewish movements in the USA and Canada perceive this as a crisis situation, and have grave concern over rising rates of intermarriage and assimilation in the Jewish community. Since American Jews are marrying at a later time in their life than they used to, and are having fewer children than they used, the birth rate for American Jews has dropped from over 2.0 down to 1.7 (the replacement rate is 2.1). (This is My Beloved, This is My Friend: A Rabbinic Letter on Intimate relations, p.27, Elliot N. Dorff, The Rabbinical Assembly, 1996)

In the last 50 years all of the major Jewish denominations have experienced a resurgence in popularity, with increasing numbers of younger Jews participating in Jewish education, joining synagogues, and becoming (to varying degrees) more observant. There is a separate article on the Baal teshuva movement, the movement of Jews returning to observant Judaism. However, this gain has not offset the demographic loss due to intermarriage and acculturation.

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Christianity and Judaism
There are a number of articles on the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. These articles include:

Comparing and contrasting Judaism and Christianity
The Judeo-Christian tradition
Christianity and anti-Semitism
Since the Holocaust, there has been much to note in the way of reconciliation between some Christians groups and the Jewish people; the article on Christian-Jewish reconciliation studies this issue.

Messianic Judaism (sometimes Hebrew Christianity) is the common designation for a number of groups which combine varying degrees of Christian theology with Jewish practice. These groups have attracted tens (and perhaps hundreds) of thousands of Jews and Christians to their ranks; members identify themselves as Jews. These groups are viewed highly negatively by all Jewish denominations, which typically see them as covert and deceptive attempts to convert Jews to Christianity, a view Messianic-Jewish groups strongly contest.

Some Jews have joined other faiths, such as Judeo-Paganism and neo-paganism. Some adherents to those movements identify themselves as Jews nonetheless.

[edit]
Islam and Judaism
See also Islam and Judaism and Judeo-Islamic tradition

Judaism has been practiced under Islamic rule for almost 1500 years and flourished in Medieval Spain. This has led to an interplay between the religions which has been positive as well as negative at times. The animosity of Muslim leaders towards the state of Israel has led to a renewed interest in the relationship between Judaism and Islam.

Other relevant material:

The Bible in Islam discusses the way that Muslims have traditionally understood the Bible.
Islam and anti-Semitism
[edit]
Miscellaneous topics
Beta Israel (also pejoratively known as Falasha) are a group of Black Jews from Ethiopia who are considered by some to be a lost tribe.
There is an entry on the Role of women in Judaism.
The Temple in Jerusalem is no longer standing, but it still plays an important part in the Jewish faith.
There is a description of the Jewish services, which describes the daily prayer services, and offers a guide for visitors to the synagogue (also: Temple).
The tallit is a Jewish prayer shawl.
A kippah or yarmulke (skullcap) is a head covering worn during prayer by most Jews, and at all times by more traditional Jews — especially Ashkenazim.
Cherem - ecclesiastical censure by excommunication (rarely practiced nowadays)
Theology, philosophy and sociology:
Jewish eschatology - Jewish views of the Messiah and the afterlife.
Jewish views of homosexuality
The entries on Jewish ethics and the Mussar Movement concern the ethical teachings of Judaism.
Holocaust theology
[edit]
See also
Jew
Abrahamic religions
Israel
Zionism
Anti-Semitism
List of converts to Judaism
List of religions
Jewish humour
Jewish ethnocentrism
[edit]
References
Living Judaism: The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition and Practice Wayne Dosick.
Conservative Judaism: The New Century, Neil Gillman, Behrman House.
American Jewish Orthodoxy in Historical Perspective Jeffrey S. Gurock, 1996, Ktav.
Philosophies of Judaism Julius Guttmann, trans. by David Silverman, JPS. 1964
Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts Ed. Barry W. Holtz, Summit Books
A History of the Jews Paul Johnson, HarperCollins, 1988
A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America, Jack Wertheimer. Brandeis Univ. Press, 1997.
Encyclopaedia Judaica, Keter Publishing, CD-ROM edition, 1997
The article on "The American Jewish Identity Survey" by Egon Mayer, Barry Kosmin and Ariela Keysar; a sub-set of The American Religious Identity Survey, City University of New York Gradute Center. An article on this survey is printed in The New York Jewish Week, November 2, 2001.
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External links
Judaism 101 (http://www.jewfaq.org/)
The Various Types of Orthodox Judaism (http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/363_Transp/08_Orthodoxy.html)
Orthodox Judaism - the Orthodox Union (http://www.ou.org/)
What is Orthodox Judaism? Frequently Asked Questions and Answers (http://www.shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/02-04.html)
Chabad-Lubavitch (http://www.chabad.org/)
The origin of Reform Judaism (http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Judaism/The_Origins_of_Reform_Judaism.html)
Reform Judaism (USA): Official website (http://www.rj.org/)
Reform Judaism (UK): Official website (http://www.reformjudaism.org.uk/)
What is Reform Judaism? Frequently Asked Questions and Answers (http://www.shamash.org/lists/scj-faq/HTML/faq/02-05.html)
The development of Conservative Judaism (http://members.tripod.com/~ramotzion/lectures.html#Klein98)
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (http://www.uscj.org/index1.html)
World Movement for Karaite Judaism (http://www.karaite-korner.org)
Ancient Paths : Karaite Judaism (http://www.ancient-paths.net)
A web version of the public domain Jewish Encyclopedia (http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/index.jsp)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judaism"
Categories: Judaism

Freemasonry
Freemasonry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Freemasons)

American Square & CompassesFreemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. Its members are joined together by shared ideals, of both a moral and metaphysical nature (and, in the majority of branches, by a common belief in a Supreme Being). Freemasonry is an esoteric art, in that certain aspects of its internal work are not generally revealed to the public. Masons give numerous reasons for this, one of which is that Freemasonry uses an initiatory system of degrees to explore ethical and philosophical issues, and this system is less effective if the observer knows beforehand what will happen. It often calls itself "a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols."

Contents [showhide]
1 Organizational structure

1.1 Lodges
1.2 Concordant and Appendant Bodies

2 Membership

2.1 Women in Freemasonry
2.2 Prince Hall Masonry

3 Ritual and symbols

3.1 Freemasonry in the language

4 Landmarks

5 History of Freemasonry

5.1 The two great schisms of Freemasonry (1753 and 1877)

6 Criticism and repression

7 Cultural references

8 External links

[edit]
Organizational structure
Main article: Grand Lodge

There are a great many different jurisdictions of governance of Freemasonry, each sovereign and independent of the others, and usually defined according to a geographic territory. There is thus no central Masonic authority, although each jurisdiction maintains a list of other jurisdictions that it formally recognizes. If the other jurisdiction reciprocates the recognition, the two jurisdictions are said to be in amity, which permits the members of the one jurisdiction to attend closed meetings of the other jurisdiction's Lodges, and vice-versa. Generally speaking, to be recognized by another jurisdiction, one must (at least) meet that jurisdiction's requirements for regularity. This generally means that one must have in place, at least, the ancient landmarks of Freemasonry... the essential characteristics considered to be universal to Freemasonry in any culture. In keeping with the decentralized and non-dogmatic nature of Freemasonry, however, there is no universally accepted list of landmarks, and even jurisdictions in amity with each other often have completely different ideas as to what those landmarks are. Many jurisdictions take no official position at all as to what the landmarks are.

There is no tidy way to split jurisdictions into separate camps. For instance, jurisdiction A might recognize B, which recognizes C, which does not recognize A. In addition, the geographical territory of one jurisdiction may overlap with another's, which may affect their relations, for purely territorial reasons. In other cases, one jurisdiction may overlook irregularities in another due simply to a desire to maintain friendly relations. Also, a jurisdiction may be formally affiliated with one tradition, while maintaining informal ties with the other. For all these reasons, labels like "Anglo" and "Continental" must be taken only as rough indicators, not as any kind of clear designation.

The Freemasons' Hall in Great Queen Street, London, EnglandThe ruling authority of a Masonic jurisdiction is usually called a Grand Lodge, or sometimes a Grand Orient. These normally correspond to a single country, although their territory can be broader or narrower than that (in North America, each state and province has its own Grand Lodge). The oldest jurisdiction in the Anglo branch of Freemasonry is the United Grand Lodge of England (http://www.grand-lodge.org/) (UGLE), founded in 1717. Its headquarters are at Freemasons Hall, Great Queen Street, London. The oldest in the Continental branch is the Grand Orient de France (http://www.godf.org/) (GOdF), founded in 1728. At one time, these branches recognized each other, but most jurisdictions cut off formal relations with the GOdF sometime after it started accepting atheists in 1877. In most Latin countries, as well as in Belgium, the French style of Freemasonry predominates. The rest of the world, accounting for the bulk of Freemasonry, tends to follow the English lead.

[edit]
Lodges
Contrary to popular belief, Freemasons meet as a Lodge and not in a lodge. (This is similar to the distinction made by Christians who meet as a church, with the church building associated with the meeting of the faithful.)

The operative lodges constructed a lodge building adjacent to the work site where the masons could meet for instruction and social contact. Normally, this was on the southern side of the site (in Europe, the side with the sun warming the stones during the day.) The social part of the building was on the southern side, hence the social gathering of the lodge is still called the South.

Early speculative lodges met in taverns and other convenient public meeting places, and employed a Tyler to guard the door from both malicious and simply curious people.

Lodge buildings have for many years been known as a Temple. In many countries this term has now been replaced by Masonic Centre. (See also reference to the Shriners and their Temples. Until 2003–4, the Oscars were held at the Shriners temple/auditorium in Hollywood / Los Angeles.)

[edit]
Concordant and Appendant Bodies
Freemasonry is associated with several appendant bodies, such as the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, the Swedish Rite, the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (Shriners), the Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm (Grotto), the Tall Cedars of Lebanon, and the Ancient and Heroic Order of the Gordian Knot (http://mill-valley.freemasonry.biz/gordian-knot-order.htm), among numerous others, all of which tend to expand on the teachings of Freemasonry—often with additional higher degrees—while improving their members and society as a whole. Different jurisdictions vary in how they define their relationship with such bodies. Some of these organizations may have additional religious requirements, compared to Freemasonry proper (or "Craft Masonry"), since they elaborate on Masonic teachings from a particular perspective.

There are also certain youth organizations (mainly North American) which are associated with Freemasonry, but are not necessarily Masonic in their content, such as the Order of DeMolay (for boys aged 12–21), the Job's Daughters and the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls (for girls 11–20).

[edit]
Membership
Freemasons are expected to exhibit the utmost tolerance both in Lodge and in their daily lives. Freemasonry will thus accept members from almost any religion, including all denominations of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and so forth. Exactly how far this goes depends on the particular branch or jurisdiction of Freemasonry one is dealing with. Deists have traditionally been accepted. In Lodges derived from the Grand Orient of France and in certain other groups of Lodges, atheists and agnostics are also accepted, without qualification. Most other branches currently require a belief in a Supreme Being. But even there, one finds a high degree of non-dogmatism, and the phrase Supreme Being is often given a very broad interpretation, usually allowing Deism and often even allowing naturalistic views of "God/Nature" in the tradition of Spinoza and Goethe (himself a Freemason), or non-theistic views of Ultimate Reality or Cosmic Oneness, such as found in some Eastern religions and in Western idealism (or for that matter, in modern cosmology). In some other (mostly English-speaking) jurisdictions, Freemasonry is not as tolerant of naturalism as it was in the 18th century, and specific religious requirements with more theistic and orthodox overtones have been added since the early 19th century, including (mostly in North America) belief in the immortality of the soul. The Freemasonry that predominates in Scandinavia, known as the Swedish Rite, accepts only Christians.

Generally, to be a Freemason, one must:

be a man, if joining the majority of Masonic jurisdictions, or a woman, if joining a jurisdiction with women's Lodges (unless joining a co-Masonic jurisdiction with no gender requirement),
believe in a Supreme Being, or, in some jurisdictions, a Creative Principle (unless joining a jurisdiction with no religious requirement),
be at least the minimum age (18–25 years depending on the jurisdiction),
be of sound mind, body and of good morals, and
be free (or "born free", i.e. not born a slave or bondsman).
Traditionally membership was limited to men only, and the inclusion of women is still a matter of controversy in many jurisdictions. The "free born" requirement does not come up in modern Lodges, and there is no indication that it would ever be enforced, but remains there for historical reasons. The "sound body" requirement is today generally taken to mean physically capable of taking part in Lodge rituals, and most Lodges today are quite flexible in accommodating disabled candidates.

Freemasonry upholds the principles of "Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth" (or in France: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"). It teaches moral lessons through rituals. Members working through the rituals are taught by "degrees". Freemasons are also commonly involved in public service and charity work, as well as providing a social outlet for their members. There is considerable variance in the emphasis on these different aspects of Masonry around the world. In Continental Europe, the philosophical side of Freemasonry is more emphasized, while in Britain, North America, and the English-speaking parts of the world, the charity, service and social club aspects are more emphasized.

While Freemasonry as an organization does not directly involve itself in politics, its members have tended over the years to support certain kinds of political causes with which they have become associated in the public eye: the separation of Church and State, the establishment of secular public schools, and democratic revolutions (in the United States and France on a smaller scale, but on a larger scale in other places such as Mexico, Brazil, and repeatedly in Italy).

Many organizations with various religious and political purposes have been inspired by Freemasonry, and are sometimes confused with it, such as the Protestant Loyal Orange Association and the 19th century Italian Carbonari, which pursued Liberalism and Italian Unity. Many other purely fraternal organizations, too numerous to mention, have also been inspired by Masonry to a greater or lesser extent.

Freemasonry is often called a secret society, and in fact is considered by many to be the very prototype for such societies. Many Masons say that it is more accurately described as a "society with secrets". The degree of secrecy varies widely around the world. In English-speaking countries, most Masons are completely public with their affiliation, Masonic buildings are clearly marked, and meeting times are generally a matter of public record. In other countries, where Freemasonry has been more recently, or is even currently, suppressed by the government, secrecy may be practised more in earnest (again, depending greatly on the particular country). Even in the English-speaking world, the precise details of the rituals are not made public, and Freemasons have a system of secret modes of recognition, such as the Masonic secret grip (by which Masons can recognize each other "in the dark as well as in the light"); however, Masons acknowledge that these "secrets" have been widely available in printed exposés and anti-Masonic literature for, literally, centuries.

See also: List of famous Freemasons

[edit]
Women in Freemasonry
The position of women within Freemasonry is complex. Traditionally, only men could be made Freemasons. International Co-Masonry began in France in 1882 with the initiation of Maria Deraismes into the Loge Libre Penseurs (Freethinkers Lodge), a men's lodge under the Grande Loge Symbolique de France. Along with activist Georges Martin, in 1893 Maria Deraismes oversaw the initiation of sixteen women into the first lodge in the world to have both men and women as members, creating Le Droit Humain.

In Britain and France, and most other countries, women still generally join co-Masonic Lodges, such as those under the international jurisdiction Le Droit Humain (LDH), which admit both men and women, or they join Lodges under local jurisdictions that admit only women. In North America, it is more common for women not to become Freemasons per se, but to join an associated body with its own, separate traditions, such as the Order of the Eastern Star (OES), which admits only male Freemasons and their female relatives. In the Netherlands, there is a completely separate, although allied, sorority for women, the Order of Weavers (OOW), which uses symbols from weaving rather than stonemasonry.

The GOdF and other Continental jurisdictions give full formal recognition to co-Freemasonry and women's Freemasonry. The UGLE and other Anglo jurisdictions do not formally recognize any Masonic body that accepts women, although in many countries they have an understanding and a kind of informal acceptance that such bodies are part of Freemasonry in a larger sense. The UGLE, for instance, has recognized (since 1998) two local women's jurisdictions as regular in practice, except for their inclusion of women, and has indicated that, while not formally recognized, these bodies may be regarded as part of Freemasonry. Thus, the position of women in Freemasonry is rapidly changing in the English-speaking world. While in many cases North America is following England's lead on the issue of women, the remaining resistance to women in Freemasonry is mostly concentrated there.

[edit]
Prince Hall Masonry
In 1775, an African American named Prince Hall was initiated into an Irish Constitution Military Lodge, along with fourteen other African Americans, all of whom were free by birth. When the Military Lodge left the area, the African Americans were given the authority to meet as a Lodge, form Processions on the days of the Saints John, and conduct Masonic funerals, but not to confer degrees nor to do other Masonic Work. These individuals applied for, and obtained, a Warrant for Charter from the Grand Lodge of England in 1784 and formed African Lodge #459. Despite being stricken from the rolls for non-payment of dues after 1813, the Lodge restyled itself as the African Grand Lodge #1 (not to be confused with the various Grand Lodges on the Continent of Africa) and separated from UGLE-recognised Masonry. This led to a tradition of separate, predominantly African American jurisdictions in North America, known collectively as Prince Hall Freemasonry. Widespread racism and segregation in North America made it impossible for African Americans to join many so-called "mainstream" Lodges, and many mainstream Grand Lodges in North America refused to recognize as legitimate the Prince Hall Lodges and Prince Hall Masons in their jurisdictions.

Presently, Prince Hall Masonry is recognized by some UGLE-recognized Grand Lodges and not by others, and appears to be working its way toward full recognition (see [1] (http://www.mindspring.com/~johnsonx/whoisph.htm)).

John Marrant the Huntingdonian minister preached to the Prince Hall Lodge on 24th June 1789. His Nova Scotia congregation was significant in the successful agitation for repatriation by Black Loyalists as well as the subsequent revolt which occurred in Sierra Leone in 1800.

[edit]
Ritual and symbols
The Freemasons rely heavily on the architectural symbolism of the medieval operative Masons who actually worked in stone. One of their principal symbols is the square and compasses, tools of the trade, so arranged as to form a quadrilateral. The square is sometimes said to represent matter, and the compasses spirit or mind. Alternatively, the square might be said to represent the world of the concrete, or the measure of objective reality, while the compasses represent abstraction, or subjective judgment, and so forth (Freemasonry being non-dogmatic, there is no written-in-stone interpretation for any of these symbols). The compasses straddle the square, representing the interdependence between the two. In the space between the two, there is optionally placed a symbol of metaphysical significance. Sometimes, this is a blazing star or other symbol of Light, representing Truth or knowledge. Alternatively, there is often a letter G placed there, usually said to represent God and/or Geometry.

The square and compasses are displayed at all Masonic meetings, along with the open Volume of the Sacred Law (or Lore) (VSL). In English-speaking countries, this is usually a Holy Bible, but it can be whatever book(s) of inspiration or scripture that the members of a particular Lodge or jurisdiction feel they draw on—whether the Bible, the Koran, or other Volumes. In many French Lodges, the Masonic Constitutions are used. In a few cases, a blank book has been used, where the religious makeup of a Lodge was too diverse to permit an easy choice of VSL. In addition to its role as a symbol of written wisdom, inspiration, and sometimes as the revealed will of the Deity, the VSL is what Masonic obligations are taken upon.

Much of Masonic symbolism is mathematical in nature, and in particular geometrical, which is probably a reason Freemasonry has attracted so many rationalists (such as Voltaire, Fichte, Goethe, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain and many others). No particular metaphysical theory is advanced by Freemasonry, however, although there seems to be some influence from the Pythagoreans, from Neo-Platonism, and from early modern Rationalism.

In keeping with the geometrical and architectural theme of Freemasonry, the Supreme Being (or God, or Creative Principle) is sometimes also referred to in Masonic ritual as the Grand Geometrician, or the Great Architect of the Universe (G.A.O.T.U.). Freemasons use a variety of labels for this concept in order to avoid the idea that they are talking about any one religion's particular God or God-like concept.

There are three initial degrees of Freemasonry: 1° Entered Apprentice, 2° Fellow Craft and 3° Master Mason. One works through each degree by taking part in a ritual, essentially a medieval morality Play, in which one plays a role, along with members of the Lodge that one is joining. The setting is Biblical—the building of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem—although the stories themselves are not directly from the Bible, and not intended to be necessarily Jewish or Christian in nature. Nothing supernatural happens in these stories. The Temple can be taken to represent the "temple" of the individual human being, that of the human community, or of the entire universe.

As one works through the degrees, one studies the lessons and interprets them for oneself. There are as many ways to interpret the rituals as there are Masons, and no Mason may dictate to any other Mason how he is to interpret them. No particular truths are espoused, but a common structure—speaking symbolically to universal human archetypes—provides for each Mason a means to come to his own answers to life's important questions. Freemasons working through the degrees are often (especially in Continental Europe) asked to prepare papers on related philosophical topics, and present lectures.

Mozart was a Freemason, and his opera, The Magic Flute, makes extensive use of Masonic symbolism. Two books that give a general feel for the symbolism and its interpretation are:

Freemasonry: A Journey Through Ritual and Symbol by W.K. MacNulty, Thames & Hudson, London, 1991.
Symbols of Freemasonry by D. Beresniak and L. Hamani, Assouline, Paris, 2000.
The British author Rudyard Kipling also made use of Masonic symbolism and myth in his story, The Man Who Would Be King.

[edit]
Freemasonry in the language
An expression often used in Masonic circles is to be on the square, meaning to be a reliable sort of person, and this has entered common usage. Other phrases from Freemasonry in common use include meeting on the level (without regard to social, economic, religious or cultural differences). The practice of Freemasonry is referred to amongst its members as the Craft. The expression "to give someone the third degree" also stems from Freemasonry because of it's correlation with the third degree known as Master Mason.

[edit]
Landmarks
Landmarks are the ancient and unchangeable precepts of Masonry, the standards by which regularity of Lodges and Grand Lodges is judged. However, since each Grand Lodge is self-governing and no single authority exists over Craft Masonry, even these supposedly-inviolable principles can and do vary, leading to controversies and inconsistency of recognition. Some examples of common landmarks include:

A belief in a Supreme Being is required of all candidates for the degrees. However, many Grand Lodges (identified as Grand Orients) now admit atheists to membership.
The modes of recognition are to be kept inviolate. They consist of covert gestures made with the hands, called signs; distinctive ways of shaking hands, called grips and tokens; and special identifying passwords, most often based on Hebrew words of the Old Testament. Variations have crept in over time and often the modes of recognition will mark a Mason as coming from a specific jurisdiction.
The legend of the 3rd degree, involving the building of King Solomon's Temple, is an integral part of Craft Masonry.
The government of Lodges in an area, usually geographic, is in the hands of a Grand Lodge, specifically the Grand Master or Provincial Grand Master. A Grand Master rules autocratically, but is elected democratically. He may attend any meeting, anywhere within his jurisdiction, at any time and may conduct the Lodge at his pleasure.
Each Lodge is governed by a Master, variously styled Worshipful or Right Worshipful Master, and two other officers, called the Senior and Junior Wardens.
All lodges when at work must be tyled, that is, the door is guarded so that non-Masons may not enter or overhear the proceedings.
[edit]
History of Freemasonry
Main article: History of Freemasonry

Freemasonry has been said to be an institutional outgrowth of the medieval guilds of stonemasons (1), a direct descendant of the "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem" (the Knights Templar) (2), an offshoot of the ancient Mystery schools (1), an administrative arm of the Priory of Sion (3), the Roman Collegia (1), the Comacine masters (1), intellectual descendants of Noah (1), and to have many other various and sundry origins. Others will claim that it dates back only to the late 17th century, and has no real connections at all to earlier organizations. These theories are noted in numerous different texts, and the following are but examples pulled from a sea of books:

In A History of Freemasonry by H.L. Haywood and James E. Craig, pub. circa 1927
In The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, pub. 1982
In Born in Blood by John Robinson, pub. 1989
Much of this is highly speculative, and the precise origins of Freemasonry may be lost in history. It is likely that Freemasonry is not a straightforward outgrowth of medieval guilds of stonemasons, for numerous reasons well documented in Born in Blood. Amongst the reasons for this conclusion are the fact that stonemasons' guilds do not appear to predate reasonable estimates for the time of Freemasonry's origin, that stonemasons lived near their worksite and thus had no need for secret signs to identify themselves, and that the "Ancient Charges" of Freemasonry are nonsensical when thought of as being rules for a stonemasons' guild.

Freemasonry is said by some, especially amongst Masons practising the York Rite, to have existed even at the time of King Athelstan of England, in the 10th century C.E. Athelstan is said by some to have been converted to Christianity in York, and to have issued the first Charter to the Masonic Lodges there. This story is not currently substantiated (the dynasty had already been Christian for centuries).

Some critics and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints note similarities between the church's sacred "Endowments" performed in LDS temples, and masonic rituals. Some Mormons have said this similarity may be because the Masonic rituals are descended from those given by God at the Temple of Solomon, and still contain many of the original truths.

A more historically reliable (although still not unassailable) source asserting the antiquity of Freemasonry is the Halliwell Manuscript or Regius Poem, which is believed to date from ca. 1390, and which makes reference to several concepts and phrases similar to those found in Freemasonry. The manuscript itself refers to an earlier document, of which it seems to be an elaboration.

It seems reasonable to suppose that, whatever its precise origins, Freemasonry provided a haven for the unorthodox and their sympathizers during a time when such activity could result in one's death, and that this has something to do with the tradition of secret meetings and handshakes. As the Middle Ages gave way to the Modern Age, the need for secrecy subsided, and Freemasons began to openly declare their association with the fraternity, which began to organize itself more formally. In 1717, four Lodges which met at the "Apple-Tree Tavern, the Crown Ale-House near Drury Lane, the Goose and Gridiron in St. Paul's Churchyard, and the Rummer and Grapes Tavern in Westminster" in London, England (as recounted in (2)) combined together and formed the first public Grand Lodge, the Premier Grand Lodge of England (PGLE). The years following saw Grand Lodges open throughout Europe, as the new Freemasonry spread rapidly. How much of this was the spreading of Freemasonry itself, and how much was the public organization of pre-existing secret lodges, is not possible to say with certainty. The PGLE in the beginning did not have the current three degrees, but only the first two. The third degree appeared, so far as we know, around 1725.

Opinions about the origins, objectives and future of Freemasonry remain controversial from the times of its inception to our times. For example, Shoko Asahara, founder of the controversial Japanese religious group Aum Shinrikyo, has prophesized in some of his sermons that "in the future, Freemasonry will merge into united stream" with Aum Shinrikyo.

According to Sir Richard Burton, "Sufi-ism [was] the Eastern parent of Freemasonry." (See, F. Hitchman, Burton, Volume 1, p. 286) The possibility that Burton was correct is examined in detail by Idries Shah in his book entitled The Sufis, beginning on page 205.

[edit]
The two great schisms of Freemasonry (1753 and 1877)
The PGLE (Premier Grand Lodge of England), along with those jurisdictions with which it was in amity, later came to be known colloquially as the Moderns, to distinguish them from a newer, rival group of Freemasonry, known as the Antients. The Antients broke away and formed their own Grand Lodge in 1753, prompted by the PGLE's making changes to the secret modes of recognition. Tensions between the two groups were very high at times. Benjamin Franklin was a Modern and a deist, for instance, but by the time he died, his Lodge had gone Antient, and would no longer recognize him as one of their own, declining even to give him a Masonic funeral (see Revolutionary Brotherhood, by Steven C. Bullock, Univ. N. Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1996).

The schism was healed in the years following 1813, when the competing Grand Lodges were amalgamated, by virtue of a delicately worded compromise which left English Masonry clearly not Christian, returned the modes of recognition to their pre-1753 form, kept Freemasonry per se as consisting of three degrees only, but which was ambiguously worded so as to allow the Moderns to think of the Antient Royal Arch degree as an optional higher degree, while still allowing the Antients to view it as the completion of the third degree (see [2] (http://freemasonry.org/psoc/pragmatic.htm)).

Because both the Antients and the Moderns had daughter Lodges throughout the world, and because many of those Lodges still exist, there is a great deal of variability in the Ritual used today, even between UGLE-recognized jurisdictions. Most Lodges conduct their Work in accordance with an agreed-upon single Rite, such as the York Rite (which is popular in the United States; not to be confused with York Rite), or the Canadian Rite (which is, in some ways, a concordance between the Rites used by the Antients and Moderns).

The second great schism in Freemasonry occurred in the years following 1877, when the GOdF started accepting atheists unreservedly. While the issue of atheism is probably the greatest single factor in the split with the GOdF, the English also point to the French recognition of women's Masonry and co-Masonry, as well as the tendency of French Masons to be more willing to discuss religion and politics in Lodge. While the French curtail such discussion, they do not ban it as outright as do the English (see [3] (http://bessel.org/masrec/france.htm)). The schism between the two branches has occasionally been breached for short periods of time, especially during the First World War when American Masons overseas wanted to be able to visit French Lodges (see [4] (http://www.bessel.org/recfranc.htm)).

Concerning religious requirements, the oldest constitution of Freemasonry (that of Anderson, 1723) says only that a Mason "will never be a stupid Atheist nor an irreligious Libertine" if he "rightly understands the Art". The only religion required was "that Religion in which all Men agree, leaving their particular Opinions to themselves" ([5] (http://www.2be1ask1.com/library/anderson.html)). Masons disagree as to whether "stupid" and "irreligious" are meant as necessary or as accidental modifiers of "atheist" and "libertine". It is possible the ambiguity is intentional. In 1815, the newly amalgamated UGLE changed Anderson's constitutions to include more orthodox overtones: "Let a man's religion or mode of worship be what it may, he is not excluded from the Order, provided he believes in the glorious Architect of heaven and earth, and practices the sacred duties of morality." The English enforce this with a requirement for belief in a Supreme Being, and in his revealed will. While these requirements can still be interpreted in a non-theistic manner, they made it more difficult for unorthodox believers to enter the fraternity.

In 1849, the GOdF followed the English lead by adopting the "Supreme Being" requirement, but there was increasing pressure in Latin countries to openly admit atheists. There was an attempt at a compromise in 1875, by allowing the alternative phrase "Creative Principle" (which was less theistic-sounding than "Supreme Being"), but this was ultimately not enough for the GOdF, and in 1877 they went back to having no religious entrance requirements, adopting the original Anderson document of 1723 as their official Constitutions. They also created a modified ritual that made no direct verbal reference to the G.A.O.T.U. (although, as a symbol, it was arguably still present). This new Rite did not replace the older ones, but was added as an alternative (European jurisdictions in general tend not to restrict themselves to a single Rite, like most North American jurisdictions, but offer a menu of Rites, from which their Lodges can choose.)

[edit]
Criticism and repression
Freemasonry has been a long-time favorite target of conspiracy theorists, who see it as an occult and evil power, often associated with Judaism, and usually either bent on world domination, or already secretly in control of world politics.

Freemasonry is almost universally banned in totalitarian states. In 1925, it was outlawed in Fascist Italy. Allegedly in Nazi Germany, Freemasons were sent to concentration camps and all Masonic Lodges were ordered shut down. German Masons used the blue forget-me-not as a secret means of recognition and as a substitute for the traditional (and too easily recognized) square and compasses. According to some interpretations of canon law, Roman Catholics are forbidden to become Freemasons by their church, though Freemasons do not bar Roman Catholics from becoming members. Freemasonry is also discouraged by some denominations of Protestantism.

In modern democracies, Freemasonry is occasionally accused of being a sort of club, or network, where a lot of influence peddling, and perhaps illegal dealings, take place. In the early 1800s, William Morgan disappeared after threatening to expose Freemasonry's secrets, causing some to claim that he had been murdered by Masons. In Italy, in the 1970s, the P2 lodge was investigated in the wake of a financial scandal and a suspicious death. As a result, the lodge was expelled from Italian Masonry (although it continued to function independently). In Nice, France, the head prosecutor accused some judges and other judicial personnel of deliberately stalling or refusing to elucidate cases involving Masons. In the 1990s in Britain, the Labour Party government tried unsuccessfully to pass a law requiring all public officials who were Masons to make their affiliation public.

See also: Anti-Masonic Party
[edit]
Cultural references
The Freemasons are spoofed in a Simpsons sketch as The Stonecutters, a secret organization that controls everything from NASA to the Academy Awards.
The Freemasons play an important part in the graphic novel From Hell by Alan Moore, in which William Withey Gull, the royal household's personal physician and member of the Freemasons, covers up the love child of a peasant woman and Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, another Mason, by killing all the women who know about the baby, thus committing what would come to be known as Jack the Ripper murders. A number of largely discredited non-fiction books have tried to link the Jack the Ripper case to Freemasonry. In 2001, From Hell was made into a movie.
George Washington and Harry S. Truman are the best-known U.S. presidents who were Masons.
Dan Brown's best selling books "Angels & Demons" and "The Da Vinci Code" draw heavily on Masonic lore and symbolism.
[edit]
External links
United Grand Lodge of England (http://www.grand-lodge.org/) (UGLE)
Australian Freemasonry Website (http://www.freemasonry.org.au/)
PS Review of Freemasonry (http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/)
Grand Orient de France (http://www.godf.org/) (GOdF)
Famous Freemasons (http://www.masonicinfo.com/famous.htm)
Masonic Link Collection (http://www.internetloge.de/hotlinks/hyplink.htm)
WEBB'S FREEMASON'S MONITOR — including the first three degrees (http://internetloge.de/masmon/masmon.htm)
Robert Macoy: THE MASONIC MANUAL — A pocket Companion for the Initiated (http://internetloge.de/masmanu/masmanu.htm)
Albert G. Mackey, M. D.: SYMBOLISM OF FREEMASONRY (http://internetloge.de/massym/massym.htm)
Masonic Art (http://www.internetloge.de/kunst/kunstabe.htm)
Links (http://www.loge-arst.de/modules.php?op=modload&name=Web_Links&file=index&meid=9)- Sorted Links to international Freemasonry
Joung Freemasons answer Questions if you ask 'em (http://www.loge-arst.de/)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry"
Categories: Freemasonry

United States
United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see United States (disambiguation).
United States of America
(U.S. Flag) (U.S. Great Seal)

National Mottos
(1776 - ): E Pluribus Unum
(Latin: "Out of many, one")
(1956 - ): In God We Trust

Official language None.
English de facto nationwide
Capital Washington, DC
Largest city New York City
President George W. Bush
Area
- Total
- % water Ranked 3rd
5,984,685 sq. miles (9,631,418 km²)
4.875%
Population
- Total (July 2004 est.)
- Density Ranked 3rd
293,027,571
49/m² (32/km²)
Independence
- Declared
- Recognized Revolutionary War
July 4, 1776
September 3, 1783
GDP
- Total (2003)
- GDP/capita Ranked 1st, 1st, 2nd, 7th
$11.0 trillion ([1] (http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/Z1/current/accessible/f6.htm))
$37,800
Currency US dollar ($)
Time zone UTC -5 to UTC -11
National anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner"
Internet TLD .gov .edu .mil .us .um
Calling Code 1
Edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Template:United_States_infobox&action=edit)
The United States of America, also referred to as the United States, U.S.A., U.S., America,¹ or the States, is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in the north and Mexico in the south, shares a marine border with Russia in the west, and has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions around the world. The country has fifty states, which have a level of local autonomy according to the system of federalism. A United States citizen is usually identified as an American.¹

The United States traces its national origin to the declaration by thirteen British colonies in 1776 that they were free and independent states. Since the mid-20th century, it has surpassed all other nations in contemporary economic, political, military, and cultural influence.

The U.S. was founded under a tradition of government with the consent of the governed under the representative democracy model. This model of government (presidential-congressional) has since been adopted by many other countries, mostly in Central America and South America.

Contents [showhide]
1 History

2 Politics

3 Political divisions

4 Geography

5 Economy

6 Demographics

6.1 Ethnicity and race
6.2 Religion
6.3 Class

7 Culture

8 Social issues

9 Legal holidays

10 Related topics

11 International rankings

12 Notes

13 External links

13.1 United States government
13.2 Other

[edit]
History
Main article: History of the United States

Following the European colonization of the Americas, thirteen colonies split from Britain and formed the United States, one of the world's first modern representative democracies, after their Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government.

During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original thirteen as the nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a number of overseas possessions, and the nation became an industrial power. The two major traumatic experiences for the nation were the Civil War (1861-1865) and the Great Depression (1929-1939), and it has taken part in several major wars, from the War of 1812 against Britain, to being allied with Britain during World War I and World War II, and taking part in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. After the end of the second World War and the later collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States emerged as the world's leading economic and military superpower.

See also: Military history of the United States, Timeline of United States history

[edit]
Politics
Main article: Politics of the United States

The United States of America consists of fifty states with limited autonomy in which federal law takes precedence over state law. In general, matters that lie entirely within state borders are the exclusive concern of state governments. These include internal communications; regulations relating to property, industry, business, and public utilities; the state criminal code; and working conditions within the state. The District of Columbia falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress, and has limited home rule.

The various state constitutions differ in some details but generally follow a pattern similar to that of the federal Constitution, including a statement of the rights of the people and a plan for organizing the government. On such matters as the operation of businesses, banks, public utilities and charitable institutions, state constitutions are often more detailed and explicit than the federal Constitution. In recent years, the federal government has assumed broader responsibility in such matters as health, education, welfare, transportation, housing and urban development.

The United States Capitol in Washington, DC, home of the Congress, the legislative branch of the government of United States.The federal government itself consists of three branches: the executive branch (headed by the President), the legislative branch (the Congress), and the judicial branch (headed by the Supreme Court). The President is elected to a four-year term by the Electoral College, which is chosen through popular votes in the fifty states and the District of Columbia. The various legislators are chosen by popular vote in the 50 states. Members of Congress are elected for terms of two years in the House of Representatives and six years in the Senate. Justices of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate for an unlimited term. This tripartite model of government is generally duplicated at the state level. Local governments take various forms.

The federal and state governments are dominated by two political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats. The dominant political culture in the United States is, as a whole, somewhat to the right of the dominant political culture in European democracies, though the issues at odds are somewhat different. Given their complex support bases it is difficult to specifically categorize the two major parties' appeal. Within the United States political culture, the Republican Party is described as center-right and the Democratic Party is described as center-left. Minor party and independent candidates are very occasionally elected, usually to local or state office, but the United States political system has historically supported "catch-all parties" rather than coalition governments. The ideology and policies of the sitting President of the United States commonly play a large role in determining the direction of his political party, as well as the platform of the opposition.

Political parties in the United States do not have formal "leaders" unlike many other countries, although there are complex hierarchies within the political parties that form various executive committees. Party ideology remains very individually-driven, with a diverse spectrum of moderates, centrists, and radicals within each party.

The two parties exist on the federal, state, and local levels, although the parties' organization, platform, and ideologies are not necessarily uniform across all levels of government.

Both major parties draw some support from across the diverse socio-economic classes which compose the multi-ethnic capitalist society which makes up the United States. Business interests provide the bulk of financial support to both parties, generally favoring the Republican party. The Republicans generally receive more funding and support from groups promoting traditional Christian morality, while the Democratic party receives more support from labor unions and minority ethnic groups, while still receiving significant business donations. Because federal elections in the United States are among the most expensive in the world, access to funds is vital in the political system. Thus corporations, unions, and other organized groups that provide funds and political support to parties and politicians play a very large role in determining political agendas and government decision-making.

The immense cultural, economic, and military influence of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world.

[edit]
Political divisions
Main article: Political divisions of the United States

At the time of the United States Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies transformed themselves into states, initially connected in a loose confederation, and later united as a unified country (cf. the United States). In the following years, the number of states within the U.S. grew steadily, due to western expansion, the conquest and purchase of lands by the national government, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of fifty. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions: counties, cities and townships.

The United States also holds several other territories, districts and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam and the United States Virgin Islands. The United States has held a Naval Base at an occupied portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 1898. The U.S. government claims a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate, something the current Cuban government disputes, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing.

The United States has made no territorial claim in Antarctica but has reserved the right to do so.

Political divisions of the United States
States Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming
Federal district District of Columbia
Insular areas American Samoa | Baker Island | Guam | Howland Island | Jarvis Island | Johnston Atoll | Kingman Reef | Midway Atoll | Navassa Island | Northern Mariana Islands | Palmyra Atoll | Puerto Rico | Virgin Islands | Wake Island Edit (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Template:United_States&action=edit)

[edit]
Geography

Map of the United StatesMain article: Geography of the United States

As the world's third largest country (by total area), the United States landscape varies greatly: temperate forestland on the East coast, mangrove in Florida, the Great Plains in the center of the country, the Mississippi-Missouri river system, the Great Lakes which are shared with Canada, Rocky Mountains west of the plains, deserts and temperate coastal zones west of the Rocky Mountains and temperate rainforests in the Pacific Northwest. The arctic regions of Alaska and the volcanic islands of Hawaii only increase the geographic and climatic diversity.

The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii sub-tropical in Florida to tundra in Alaska. Large parts of the country have a continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Some parts of the United States, particularly parts of California, have a Mediterranean climate.

The political geography is notable as well, with the Canadian border being the longest undefended border in the world, and with the country being divided into three distinct sections: The continental United States, also known as the lower 48; Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada, and the archipelago of Hawaii in the central Pacific Ocean.

[edit]
Economy
Main article: Economy of the United States

The economy of the United States is organized primarily on a capitalist model, but with some government regulation in many industries. There are also some social welfare programs like Social Security, unemployment benefits, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families ("welfare"), and Medicare. Such departures from a pure free-market economy have generally increased since the late 1800s, but are still far less pronounced in the United States than in other ("first world") industrialized countries.

The U.S. economy is marked by steady growth, low unemployment, low inflation, a large trade deficit and rapid advances in technology. Several countries have coupled their currency with the dollar, or even use it as a currency, and the U.S. stock markets are globally seen as an indicator of world economy.

The country has rich mineral resources, with extensive gold, oil, coal and uranium deposits. Successful farm industries rank the country among the top producers of, among others, corn, wheat, sugar and tobacco. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces cars, airplanes and electronics. The biggest industry is now service; about three-quarters of U.S. residents are employed in that sector.

The United States dollar, the nation's currency.The largest trading partner of the United States is its northern neighbor, Canada. Other major partners are Mexico, the European Union and the industrialized nations in Asia, such as Japan, India and South Korea. Trade with China is also significant.

In 2002, the United States was ranked as the third most-visited tourist destination in the world. Its 41.9 million visits trailed only France (77 million) and Spain (51.7 million).

See also: List of United States companies

[edit]
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of the United States

[edit]
Ethnicity and race
Americans, in part due to categories decided by the U.S. government, generally describe themselves as being either multi-ethnic or one of five ethnic groups: White, sometimes called European-American or Caucasian; African-American, also called Black; Hispanic, also called Latino.; Asian-American, frequently specified as Korean-American, etc.; and Native American, also called American Indian.

These groups leave a great deal of room for ambiguity, as, for example, Middle Easterners are made to choose between Europe and Asia, neither of which is where they're from; the category Asian is popularly identified with East Asia, rather than Southeast Asia; Pacific Islander/Hawaiian natives, technically Native Americans, may be assigned to Asian-American because of their geographic origins in Oceania; African-American is associated with centuries-long residents, and does not make distictions between them and, say, recent Afro-Caribbean immigrants from Jamaica or refugees from Somalia, etc. Hispanics can be of any racial descent, however; they can only label themselves as "Hispanic". The latest census forms have tried to solve this problem with new labels for Whites and Blacks: "White (Non-Hispanic)" or "Black (Non-Hispanic.) The U.S. government states that Hispanics can be of any descent, and therefore cannot be classified as a "race." Furthermore, the categories disregard the multi-ethnic heritage of many Americans.

The majority of the 290 million people currently living in the United States descend from European immigrants who have arrived since the establishment of the first colonies. Major components of the European segment of the United States population are descended from immigrants from Germany (23 percent), Ireland (16 percent), England (13 percent), Scotland, The Netherlands and Italy (6 percent), with many immigrants also coming from Scandinavian or Slavic countries. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada; few immigrants came directly from France.

Likewise, while there were few immigrants directly from Spain, Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are considered the largest minority group in the country, comprising 13.4 percent of the population in 2002. This has brought increasing use of the Spanish language in the United States.

About 12.9 percent (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans, many of whom are descendants of the enslaved Africans brought to the U.S. between the 1620s and 1807.

A third significant minority is the Asian American population (4.2 percent), most of whom are concentrated on the West Coast.

The aboriginal population of Native Americans, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 1.5 percent of the population.

See also: Immigration to the United States

[edit]
Religion
As of 2001, the distribution for major religions in the United States was as follows: Protestant (52 percent), Roman Catholic (24.5 percent), "none" (13.2 percent), Jewish (1.3 percent) and between 0.3 and 0.5 percent each for Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Unitarian Universalist. An additional 0.3 to 0.5 percent, each, are professed agnostics and atheists. The largest single religious denomination in the United States is the Roman Catholic Church, followed by the Southern Baptist Convention.

The United States, as a developed nation, is noteworthy for its high level of Christian religious devotion. However, the percentage of Americans calling themselves Christian has declined somewhat in recent years from 86.2 percent in 1990 to 76.5 percent in 2001.

[edit]
Class
In terms of relative wealth, most U.S. residents enjoy a standard of personal economic wealth that is far greater than that known in most of the world. For example, 51 percent of all households have access to a computer and 67.9 percent of U.S. households owned their dwellings in 2002.

The social structure of the United States is somewhat stratified, with a significant class of very wealthy individuals, which are often alleged to hold disproportionate cultural and political influence. However, social mobility is a well-known concept in America, considered part of the "American dream", in that even someone born into a poor family can rise to join the upper classes. The nation's Gini coefficient of 40.8 percent is the third highest of all developed nations (after South Africa and Mexico).

[edit]
Culture
Main article: Culture of the United States

Elvis Presley, an American singer and star who had a large impact on music and youth culture in the world.U.S. culture has a large influence on the rest of the world, especially the Western world. This influence is sometimes criticized as cultural imperialism. U.S. music is heard all over the world, and it is the sire of such forms as blues and jazz and had a primary hand in the shaping of modern rock and roll and popular music culture. Many great Western classical musicians and forums find their home in the U.S. and New York City is a hub for international operatic and instrumental music as well as the world-famed Broadway plays and musicals. U.S. movies (primarily embodied in Hollywood) and television shows can be seen almost anywhere. This is in stark contrast to the early days of the republic, when the country was viewed by Europeans as an agricultural backwater with little to offer the culturally "advanced" world centers of Asia and Europe. Nearing the mid-point of its third century of nationhood, the U.S. plays host to the gamut of human intellectual and artistic endeavor in nearly every major city, offering classical and popular music; historical, scientific and art research centers and museums; dance performances, musicals and plays; outdoor art projects and internationally significant architecture. This development is a result of both contributions by private philanthropists and government funding.

The United States is also a great center of higher education, boasting more than 4,000 universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning, the top tier of which may be considered to be among the most prestigious and advanced in the world.

See also: Arts and entertainment in the United States, Languages in the United States, Education in the United States

[edit]
Social issues
See also: Human rights in the United States, Anti-American sentiment
The United States Constitution guarantees citizens the rights of freedom of speech, the right to keep and bear arms, freedom of religion, trial by jury, and protection from "cruel and unusual punishment". The United States accepts many immigrants and has laws against racial and other forms of discrimination and other protections for minority groups.

Nevertheless, the United States has at times been criticized for violations of human rights, including racial discrimination in trials and sentences, police abuses, excessive and unwarranted incarceration, and the imposition of the death penalty ². In 2001, Human Rights Watch issued a report stating that United States had "made little progress in embracing international human rights standards at home." [2] (http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/usa/).

As of 2004, the United States has the world's largest prison population at over 2 million inmates. Human Rights Watch believes its per capita incarceration rate to be second in the world only to war-torn Rwanda. [3] (http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/usa/#drug&race) Roughly 1 American in 15 will spend time in prison during his lifetime. [4] (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm).

The United States's suicide rate exceeds the its homicide rate. Male circumcision is legal and, while controversial, is more widely practiced in the United States than in any other country. [5] (http://www.cirp.org/library/complications/williams-kapila/)

A number of American-based corporations, particularly McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Disney, have spread to many other countries, some of which have displayed resentment at the spread of American culture. McDonald's particularly has been the subject of protest and even acts of vandalism.

Despite being only 5% of the world's population, the United States consumes 25% of the world's power. [6] (http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/ene_ele_con) In terms of per capita usage, the U.S. ranks 9th.

Partly because of the United States' status as one of the world's most powerful nations, the English language has also spread worldwide. In France, lawmakers have made efforts to discourage use of English words such as "e-mail" and to avoid franglais, or English mixed with French. The concern that English is rapidly displacing other languages is widespread.

[edit]
Legal holidays
Main article: Holidays of the United States

Date Name Remarks
January 1 New Year's Day Beginning of year, marks traditional end of "holiday season"
January, third Monday Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Honors late Dr. King, Civil Rights leader
February, third Monday Presidents' Day Honors former U.S. Presidents, especially Washington and Lincoln
May, last Monday Memorial Day Honors servicemen and women who died in service, marks traditional beginning of summer
July 4 Independence Day Celebrates Declaration of Independence, usually called the Fourth of July
September, first Monday Labor Day Celebrates achievements of workers, marks traditional end of summer. This holiday is held instead of the traditional worldwide Labor Day, May 1, which ironically began in this country
October, second Monday Columbus Day Honors Christopher Columbus, traditional discoverer of the Americas
November 11 Veterans' Day Traditional observation of a moment of silence at 11 a.m. remembering those who fought for peace
November, fourth Thursday Thanksgiving Day of thanks which marks the traditional beginning of the "holiday season"
December 25 Christmas Celebrates the nativity of Jesus Christ, also celebrated as secular winter holiday

[edit]
Related topics
Main article: List of United States-related topics

Topics in the United States
History Timeline ( Colonial Era | American Revolution | Westward Expansion | Civil War | World War 1 | Great Depression | World War 2 | Cold War | Vietnam War | Civil Rights) | Foreign relations | Military | Demographic and Postal history
Politics Law ( Constitution and Bill of Rights | Declaration of Independence) | Political parties ( Democrats & Republicans) | Elections (Electoral College) | Political scandals | Political divisions
Government Federal agencies | Legislative branch (Congress: House | Senate) Executive branch ( President & Vice-President | Cabinet | Attorney-General | Secretary of State) | Law enforcement ( FBI | Intelligence:CIA | DIA | NIMA | NRO | NSA) | Judicial branch ( Supreme Court) | Military ( Army | Navy | Marines | Air Force)
Geography Appalachian Mtns. | Rocky Mtns. | Great Plains | Midwest | The South | Mississippi River | New England | Mid-Atlantic | Pacific Northwest | Mountains | Valleys | Islands | Rivers | States | Cities | Counties | Regions | Extreme points
Economy Dollar | Wall Street | Standard of living | Companies | Poverty
Demographics US Census Bureau | Languages | Social structure | Standard of living | Religion
Arts & Culture Music (Hippies | blues | jazz | rock and roll | hip hop | gospel | country) | Film & TV (Hollywood) | Literature ( Poetry | Transcendentalism | Harlem Renaissance | Beat Generation) | Visual arts ( Abstract expressionism) | Cuisine | Holidays | Folklore | Dance | Architecture | Education | Languages | Media
Other United States territory | Communications | Transportation ( Highways and Interstates | Railroads) | Uncle Sam | Flag | American Dream | Media | Education | Tourism | Social issues ( Immigration | Affirmative action | Racial profiling | Human rights | War on Drugs | Pornography | same-sex marriage | Prisons | Capital punishment) | American Exceptionalism | Anti-Americanism | American Folklore | American English | United States Mexico barrier
States Alabama | Alaska | Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Delaware | Florida | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Illinois | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas | Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts | Michigan | Minnesota | Mississippi | Missouri | Montana | Nebraska | Nevada | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New Mexico | New York | North Carolina | North Dakota | Ohio | Oklahoma | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | South Carolina | South Dakota | Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | West Virginia | Wisconsin | Wyoming

[edit]
International rankings
IMD International: World Competitiveness Yearbook 2004 (http://www01.imd.ch/wcy/), Rank 1 out of 60 economies (countries and regions)
World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005 (http://www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/Global+Competitiveness+Programme%5CGlobal+Competitiveness+Report) - Growth Competitiveness Index Ranking, Rank 2 out of 104 countries
UNDP: Human Development Index 2004 (http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2004/), Rank 8 out of 177 countries
Save the Children: State of the World’s Mothers 2004 (http://www.savethechildren.org/mothers/report_2004/images/pdf/SOWM_2004_final.pdf), Rank 10 out of 119 countries
Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index 2004 (http://www.transparency.org/pressreleases_archive/2004/2004.10.20.cpi.en.html), Rank 17 out of 146 countries (tied with Belgium and Ireland)
Reporters without borders: Third annual worldwide press freedom index (2004) (http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=11715), Rank 22 (American territory; tied with Belgium) & 108 (in Iraq) out of 167 countries
[edit]
Notes
¹ In the English-speaking world, America has become synonymous with the nation of the United States while American refers to United States (U.S.) citizens; this is a standard usage in not only the U.S. itself, but also much of Europe and Australasia. The term Americas, on the other hand, includes the North and South American continents as a collective unit. In Spanish-speaking countries, particularly in Central and South America, the word América is used not to denote the U.S. but what English-speakers would term the Americas. Thus, some people of the Americas find it off-putting for the U.S. to be referred to as America and inhabitants of the U.S. as Americans. While, in some quarters, the accuracy and political correctness of such nomenclature is debated, current usage in English by sheer weight of occurrence inclines to America and American as linked to the nation and citizens of the United States.
²The death penalty is not legal in every U.S. state and it is in itself a controversial issue within the U.S.

[edit]
External links
See the images for United States on the Commons.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about United States.
[edit]
United States government
Official website of the United States government (http://www.firstgov.gov) - Gateway to governmental sites
White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov) - Official site of the US President
Senate.gov (http://www.senate.gov) - Official site of the United States Senate
House.gov (http://www.house.gov) - Official site of the United States House of Representatives
SCOTUS (http://www.supremecourtus.gov) - Official site of the Supreme Court of the United States
Portrait of the USA (http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/factover/homepage.htm) - Published by the United States Information Agency, September 1997.
US Census Housing and Economic Statistics (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/) Updated regularly by US Bureau of the Census.
[edit]
Other
US Newspapers by State (http://www.mediatico.com)
National Motto: History and Constitutionality (http://www.religioustolerance.org/nat_mott.htm)
Historical Documents (http://www.nationalcenter.org/HistoricalDocuments.html)
Reference: US specific web resources sorted by state (http://www.travel-directory.org/Destinations/North_America/United_States/index.html)
info links for each state (http://www.teacheroz.com/states.htm)

Countries in North America
Antigua and Barbuda | Bahamas | Barbados | Belize | Canada | Costa Rica | Cuba | Dominica | Dominican Republic | El Salvador | Grenada | Guatemala | Haiti | Honduras | Jamaica | Mexico | Nicaragua | Panama | Saint Kitts and Nevis | Saint Lucia | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Trinidad and Tobago | United States
Dependencies: Anguilla | Aruba | Bermuda | Cayman Islands | Greenland | Guadeloupe | Martinique | Montserrat | Netherlands Antilles | Puerto Rico | Saint-Pierre and Miquelon | Turks and Caicos Islands | U.S. Virgin Islands | British Virgin Islands

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States"
Categories: North American countries | Republics | United States

George Washington
George Washington
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
George Washington
Missing image
Stalin.jpg
George Washington

(Larger image, White House Portrait)

Order: 1st President
Term of Office: April 30, 1789 - March 3, 1797
Succeeded by: John Adams
Date of Birth February 11, 1731 (Old Style)

February 22, 1732 (New Style)

Place of Birth: Westmoreland County, Virginia
Date of Death: December 14, 1799
Place of Death: Mount Vernon, Virginia
First Lady: Martha Washington
Occupation: Farmer, Soldier, Surveyor
Political Party: no affiliation
Vice President: John Adams

George Washington, (February 22, 1732—December 14, 1799), also called Father of his Country,1 was an American general and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and later the first President of the United States (1789–97). He also served as President of the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

For the role he played in winning and securing American independence, George Washington is generally recognized as one of the most important figures in modern history. Unlike many other revolutionary leaders, he voluntarily relinquished power and thus established an important principle of democratic government.

Contents [showhide]
1 Early life

2 French and Indian War and afterwards

3 American Revolution

4 Postwar activities

5 Presidency

5.1 Cabinet
5.2 Supreme Court appointments
5.3 Is he really the first President?

6 Death

7 Personal information

7.1 Washington and slavery
7.2 Religious beliefs

8 Legacy

9 Further Readings

10 Related articles

11 Notes

12 External links

[edit]
Early life
He was born on February 11, 1731 (old style)/February 22, 1732 (new style). His birthday is celebrated on the Gregorian (new style) calendar date. Also note that the English year began on March 25 (Annunciation Day, or Lady Day) at the time of his birth, hence the difference in his birthyear. His birthplace was Pope's Creek Plantation, south of Colonial Beach in Westmoreland County, Virginia.

Washington was part of the economic and cultural elite of the slave-owning planters of Virginia. His parents Augustine Washington (1693 - April 12, 1743) and Mary Ball (1708 - August 25, 1789) were of English descent. He spent much of his boyhood at Ferry Farm in Stafford County, near Fredericksburg. As a youth, he was trained as a surveyor and helped survey the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. He visited Barbados, with his sick half-brother Lawrence in 1751, and survived an attack of smallpox, although his face was badly scarred by the disease. He was initiated as a Freemason in Fredericksburg on 4 February 1752. On Lawrence's death in July 1752, he rented and eventually inherited the estate, Mount Vernon (near Alexandria).

[edit]
French and Indian War and afterwards
Washington was commissioned in 1754 as a colonel in the Virginia Militia and built a series of forts in the western frontier of Virginia. He was dispatched by the governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie, to force the French out of the Ohio valley. When they refused, he attacked a French scouting party, killing ten, including its leader, Jumonville. Anticipating retaliation, he built a small fort (Fort Necessity). It proved ineffective: Washington's forces were vastly outnumbered and the fort, built on low ground, flooded during a heavy rainfall. He was forced to surrender and negotiated a safe passage back to Virginia. Nevertheless, the incident ignited the French and Indian War.

Washington next accompanied the Braddock Expedition of the British Army during the French and Indian War. During the Battle of the Wilderness near the Monongahela River, he had three horses shot out from under him, and four bullets pierced his coat. He showed his coolness under fire in organizing the retreat from the debacle. Washington then organized the First Virginia Regiment, which saw service through the war.

In 1757, he resigned his commission and married Martha Dandridge Custis, the wealthy widow of Daniel Parke Custis. Washington adopted Custis's two children and never fathered any of his own. The newlywed couple moved to Mount Vernon where he took up the life of a genteel farmer. He became a member of the House of Burgesses.

By 1774, Washington had become one of the colonies' wealthiest men. In that year, he was chosen as a delegate from Virginia to the First Continental Congress and the next year to the Second Continental Congress. He did not support colonial independence until 1776, when he read Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

[edit]
American Revolution

Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Emanuel Leutze, 1851, Metropolitan MuseumThe Continental Congress appointed Washington as commander-in-chief of the newly-formed Continental Army on June 15, 1775. The Massachusetts delegate John Adams suggested his appointment, citing his "skill as an officer... great talents and universal character." He assumed command on July 3.

Washington successfully drove the British out of Boston on March 17, 1776 by stationing artillery on Dorchester Heights. The British army, led by General William Howe, retreated to Halifax, Canada, and Washington's army moved to New York City in anticipation of a British offensive there. Washington lost the Battle of Long Island on August 22 but managed to retreat, saving most of his forces. However, several other battles in the area sent Washington scrambling across New Jersey, leaving the future of the Revolution in doubt.

On the night of December 25, 1776, Washington led the American forces across the Delaware River to attack Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey, who did not anticipate an attack near Christmas. Washington followed up the assault with a sneak attack on General Charles Cornwallis's forces at Princeton on the eve of January 2, 1777, eventually retaking the state. The successful attacks built morale among the pro-independence colonists.

Later in the year, General Howe led an offensive aimed at taking the colonial capital of Philadelphia. He severely defeated Washington's forces at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11 and succeeded in his task. An attempt to dislodge the British, the Battle of Germantown, failed as a result of fog and confusion, and Washington was forced to retire for the winter at Valley Forge.

However, Washington's army recovered from the defeats and harsh winter conditions and drilled during the spring under the German Baron Friedrich von Steuben. Later, it attacked the British army moving from Philadelphia to New York at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778.

Against tremendous odds, Washington retained an army in being throughout the Revolution, keeping British forces tied down in the center of the country while Generals Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold won the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. After Monmouth, the British concentrated their offensives in the southern colonies, and rather than attack them there, Washington's forces moved to Rhode Island, where he commanded military operations until the war's end.

In 1781, American and French forces and a French fleet had trapped General Cornwallis at Yorktown in Virginia. Washington quick-marched south, joining the armies on September 14, and pressed the siege until the army surrendered. The British surrender there was the effective end of British attempts to quell the Revolution. In 1783, by means of the Treaty of Paris, the Kingdom of Great Britain recognized American independence. As a result, on November 2 of that year at Rocky Hill, New Jersey General Washington gave his "Farewell Address to the Army". Then at Fraunces Tavern in New York on December 4, General Washington formally bid his officers farewell.

[edit]
Postwar activities

George Washington by John Trumbull, painted in London, 1780, from memoryGeneral George Washington resigned his commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to the Congress, which was then meeting at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, on December 23, 1783. This action was of great significance in establishing civilian rather than military rule, leading to democracy rather than potential dictatorship. At the time of Washington's departure from military service, he was listed on the rolls of the Continental Army as a Lieutenant General even though he was the highest ranking officer.

Washington presided over the American Constitutional Convention in 1787. For the most part he did not participate in the debates involved, but his prestige was great enough to maintain peace. He adamantly enforced the secrecy adopted by the Convention during the summer. After the Convention, his support convinced many, including the Virginia state legislature, to support the Constitution.

In 1798, George Washington returned to military service and was appointed a Major General in the United States Army. Washington's appointment was to serve as a warning to France, with which war seemed imminent. Washington never saw active service, however, and upon his death one year later the U.S. Army rolls listed him as "retired". With the exception of Dwight Eisenhower, who held a life time commission as General of the Army, George Washington is the only President with military service to reenter the miitary after leaving the office of President.

In 1976, George Washington was posthumously promoted to the rank of General of the Armies and also declared to be the senior military officer of the United States of America.

He farmed roughly 8,000 acres (32 km²). Despite the large amount of land he owned at the time, he was considered "land poor" and never had much cash on hand. In fact, he had to borrow £600 to relocate to New York, then the center of the American government, to take office as president.

[edit]
Presidency
Washington was unanimously elected as the first President of the United States on February 4, 1789. To date he is the only person ever unanimously chosen by the electoral college in a presidential election (a feat he duplicated in 1792). However, one President has come close: James Monroe took all but one vote in the electoral college in 1820, and John Quincy Adams was embarrassed by that vote.

Washington's inauguration was planned to be held in New York on March 4, 1789, but was delayed until April 30. Many hoped inaugurations would be continued to be held on April 30 because of the fine weather, but they were held as scheduled.

His election as president was a disappointment to his wife, the first First Lady of the United States, who wanted to continue living in quiet retirement at Mount Vernon after the war. Nevertheless, she quickly assumed the role of hostess, opening her parlor and organizing weekly dinner parties for as many dignitaries as could fit around the presidential table.

In 1791, the Federal government imposed an excise tax on whiskey. This tax was highly unpopular on the American frontier, and in July 1794, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, a Federal marshal was attacked by a mob and a regional inspector's house was burned. On August 7, 1794, Washington called out the militias of several states and personally led a force of 13,000 to suppress the unrest. The event has gone down in history as the "Whiskey Rebellion." By his actions, Washington ensured that Federal law would be upheld and that the new nation would not fall to insurrection.

Washington held the first Cabinet meeting of any U.S. President on February 25, 1793.

In 1793, the revolutionary government of France sent diplomat Citizen Genet, who attempted to turn popular sentiment towards American involvement in the war against Great Britain. Genet also was authorized to issue letters of marque and reprisal to American ships and gave authority to any French consul to serve as a prize court. Genet's activities forced Washington to ask the French government for his recall.

[edit]
Cabinet

OFFICE NAME TERM

President George Washington 1789–1797
Vice President John Adams 1789–1797

Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson 1789–1793
Edmund Randolph 1794–1795
Timothy Pickering 1795–1797
Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton 1789–1795
Oliver Wolcott, Jr. 1795–1797
Secretary of War Henry Knox 1789–1794
Timothy Pickering 1795–1796
James McHenry 1796–1797
Attorney General Edmund Randolph 1789–1793
William Bradford 1794–1795
Charles Lee 1795–1797
Postmaster General Samuel Osgood 1789–1791
Timothy Pickering 1791–1795
Joseph Habersham 1795–1797

[edit]
Supreme Court appointments
Washington appointed the following Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States:

John Jay - Chief Justice - 1789
John Rutledge - Chief Justice - 1795
Oliver Ellsworth - Chief Justice - 1796
James Wilson - 1789
John Rutledge - 1790
William Cushing - 1790
John Blair - 1790
James Iredell - 1790
Thomas Johnson - 1792
William Paterson - 1793
Samuel Chase - 1796
See external pdf file (http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/members.pdf) for complete listings.

[edit]
Is he really the first President?
Some wonder why the leaders in the intervening time period between the American Revolution and the signing of the United States Constitution are not recognized as the President of the United States.

Some people argue that the Presidents of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Confederation should be retroactively recognized as the true first Presidents of the United States. Politically, the two positions are different in that one was simply a chairman of a Congress that controlled a loose confederation while the other is an active executive official who heads a true federal government. Given this, virtually all historians believe that the positions are not the same, and therefore the first "true" US President (in the sense of being America's full Head of State) is George Washington.

Washington himself believed that the first president was John Hanson.

[edit]
Death
After retiring from the presidency in March of 1797, George Washington eagerly returned to Mount Vernon. However, he fell ill two years later and died on December 14, 1799.

Modern day doctors now believe that Washington died from either a streptococcal infection of the throat or, since he was bled as part of the treatment, a combination of shock from the loss of blood, asphyxia, and dehydration. He was buried in a family graveyard at Mount Vernon.

Congressman Henry Light Horse Harry Lee, a Revolutionary War comrade, famously eulogized Washington as "a citizen, first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

[edit]
Personal information

Drawing of George WashingtonAdmirers of Washington circulated an apocryphal story about his honesty as a child. In the story, he wanted to try out a new axe and chopped down his father's cherry tree; when questioned by his father, he gave the famous non-quotation: "I cannot tell a lie. It was I who chopped down the cherry tree." The story first appeared after Washington's death in a naive "inspirational" children's book by Parson Mason Weems, who had been rector of the Mount Vernon parish. See also George Washington's axe for an elaboration of this story. Parson Weems also fabricated a famous story about George Washington praying for help in a lonely spot in the woods near Valley Forge.

Nevertheless, Washington was a man of great personal integrity, with a deeply-held sense of duty, honor and patriotism. He was courageous and far-sighted, holding the Continental Army together through eight hard years of war and numerous privations, sometimes by sheer force of will.

Because of Washington's involvement in Freemasonry, some publicly visible collections of Washington memorabilia are maintained by Masonic lodges. The museum at Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City includes specimens of Washington's false teeth.

George Washington was plagued throughout his adult life with bad teeth, losing about one tooth a year from the age of 24. In his later years he consulted a number of dentists and had a number of sets of false teeth (but none of wood). For a lighthearted, more or less definitive chronicle of his struggles see George Washington's Teeth, Madeleine Comora and Deborah Chandra, illustrated by: Brock Cole, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003, hardcover, ISBN 0374325340.

Washington was notable for his modesty and lack of ambition. He never accepted pay during his military service, and was genuinely reluctant to assume any of the offices thrust upon him. When John Adams recommended him for the position of general and commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, Washington left the room. In later accepting the post, Washington told the Continental Congress that he was unworthy of the honor. It is often said that one of Washington's greatest achievements as president was refraining from taking more power than was due. Thomas Jefferson wrote, "The moderation and virtue of a single character probably prevented this Revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish."

Washington had to be talked into a second term of office and reluctantly agreed to it, but refused to serve a third term setting a precedent that held until the Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. At John Adams' inauguration, Washington is said to have approached Adams afterwards and stated "Well, I am fairly out and you are fairly in. Now we shall see who enjoys it the most."

Washington was also a cricket enthusiast and was known to have played the sport, which was popular at that time in the British colonies.

[edit]
Washington and slavery
Washington owned slaves throughout his adult life, as did most of his peers in the Virginia plantation aristocracy as a matter of economic imperative. He was noteworthy, however, for the humane treatment of his slaves and for his growing unease with the "peculiar institution." Historian Roger Bruns has written, "As he grew older, he became increasingly aware that it was immoral and unjust. Long before the Revolution, Washington had taken the unusual position of refusing to sell any of his slaves or to allow slave families to be separated." After the Revolution, Washington told an English friend, "I clearly foresee that nothing but the rooting out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our [Federal] union by consolidating it on a common bond of principle." He wrote to his friend John Francis Mercer in 1786, "I never mean... to possess another slave by purchase; it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted, by which slavery in this country may be abolished by slow, sure, & imperceptible degrees." Ten years later, he wrote to Robert Morris, "There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see some plan adopted for the gradual abolition" of slavery.

As President, Washington was mindful of the risk of splitting apart the young republic over the question of slavery (as in fact happened in 1861). He did not advocate the abolition of slavery while in office, but did sign legislation enforcing the prohibition of slavery in the Northwest Territory, writing to his good friend the Marquis de la Fayette that he considered it a wise measure.

Alone among the slaveholding Framers, Washington included provisions in his will which freed his slaves at his death. His widow Martha freed those she owned shortly before she died.

[edit]
Religious beliefs
The religious views of George Washington are a matter of some controversy. There is strong evidence that he (like many of the Founding Fathers) was a Deist - believing in God (he preferred more impersonal appellations, like Providence), but not believing that the creator intervened in the world after the initial design. Before the revolution (when Virginia still had an official religion) he served as a vestryman (lay officer) of two Episcopal Churches in Virginia. He spoke often of the value of religion in general, and he often accompanied his wife to Christian church services. However, there is no record of his ever becoming a communicant in any Christian church and he would regularly leave services before communion. Various prayers said to have been composed by him in his later life are highly edited. He did not ask for any clergy on his deathbed, though one was available. His funeral services were those of the Freemasons.

Washington was an early supporter of religious pluralism. In 1775 he ordered that his troops not burn in the Pope in effigy on Guy Fawkes night. In 1790 he wrote that he envisioned a country "which gives bigotry no sanction...persecution no assistance.... May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid." This letter was seen by the Jewish community as a significant event; they felt that for the first time in millennia Jews would enjoy full human and political rights.

[edit]
Legacy

Tourists pose under the statue of Washington outside the Federal Hall Memorial in lower Manhattan, site of Washington's first inauguration as PresidentGeorge Washington peacefully relinquished the presidency to John Adams and set many other precedents that established tranquility in the presidential office in the years to come. He was also lauded posthumously as the "Father of His Country" and is often considered to be the most important of the United States's "Founding Fathers". Therefore, he has been commemorated frequently.

The capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C., is named for him. The District of Columbia was created by an Act of Congress in 1790, and Washington was deeply involved in its creation, including the siting of the White House. At this time, the future site of the capital was a swamp, and Washington remained largely marshland well into the 19th century. The capital was placed in the South, rather than in the major towns of the North, as a compromise during the writing of the United States Constitution in order to get Southern votes for important compromises.

Washington also selected West Point, New York, as the site for the United States Military Academy.

Washington State in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. is also named for him, the only state named for a president.

Numerous ships of the United States Navy have been named USS George Washington in honor of the man, or USS Washington in honor of the state named in honor of the man.

His image is on the one dollar bill and the quarter-dollar coin.

The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., was named after him, and it was in part founded with shares Washington bequeathed to an endowment to create a university in Washington.

See also: List of places named for George Washington

[edit]
Further Readings
Alden, John R. George Washington: A Biography. Baton Rouge, La.: Louisiana State University Press, 1984; reprinted, New York: Wings Books, 1995.
Boorstin, Daniel J. "The Mythologizing of George Washington." In The Americans: The National Experience. New York: Vintage Books, 1965.
Bryan, William Alfred. George Washington in American Literature, 1775-1865. c1952; Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1970.
Cunliffe, Marcus. George Washington, Man and Monument. Boston: Little, Brown, c1958.
Flexner, James Thomas. George Washington. 4 vols. Boston: Little, Brown, 1965-1972.
Freeman, Douglas Southall. George Washington: A Biography. 7 vols. New York: Scribner, 1948-1957.
Longmore, Paul K. The Invention of George Washington. Berkeley; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press, 1988.
Marsh, Joan. Martha Washington. New York: F. Watts, 1993.
Morgan, Edmund. The Genius of George Washington. New York: Norton, 1980.
Wills, Garry. Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment. 1st ed. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1984.
[edit]
Related articles
U.S. presidential election, 1789
U.S. presidential election, 1792
Famous military commanders
George Washington's farewell address
In recent years, a number of anti-Semitic groups have promulgated forged quotes from George Washington and other founding fathers of the USA, with the intention of inciting anti-Semitism. This subject is discussed in Neo-Nazi Theory (American founding fathers).

[edit]
Notes
[1] The earliest known image in which Washington is identified as such is on the cover of the circa 1778 Pennsylvania German almanac, Lancaster: Gedruckt bey Francis Bailey. This identifies Washington as "Landes Vater" or Father of the Land.)

[edit]
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about George Washington.

Wikisource has original works written by or about George Washington.
First Inaugural Address (http://www.usa-presidents.info/inaugural/washington-1.html)
Second Inaugural Address (http://www.usa-presidents.info/inaugural/washington-2.html)
Farewell Address (http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/49.htm)
A study on the President's ancestry (http://www.uftree.com/UFT/WebPages/Rhonda_M/WASH/i0000001.htm#i1)
Biography of George Washington (http://www.libraryreference.org/washington.html)
A pedigree of him (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jamesdow/s004/f647706.htm)
Teaching about George Washington (http://www.ericdigests.org/1999-2/washington.htm)
The First Presidential Veto (http://www.thirty-thousand.org/pages/section_IB5.htm) Analysis of the first veto by a U.S. President

Preceded by:
the previous government
under the Articles of Confederation President of the United States
1789–1797 Succeeded by:
John Adams

Presidents of the United States of America
Washington | J. Adams | Jefferson | Madison | Monroe | J.Q. Adams | Jackson | Van Buren | W. Harrison | Tyler | Polk | Taylor | Fillmore | Pierce | Buchanan | Lincoln | A. Johnson | Grant | Hayes | Garfield | Arthur | Cleveland | B. Harrison | Cleveland | McKinley | T. Roosevelt | Taft | Wilson | Harding | Coolidge | Hoover | F. Roosevelt | Truman | Eisenhower | Kennedy | L. Johnson | Nixon | Ford | Carter | Reagan | G. Bush | Clinton | G.W. Bush

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington"
Categories: George Washington | 1732 births | 1799 deaths | Continental Army generals | Continental Congressmen | Founding Fathers | Presidents of the U.S. | Virginians | Revolutionaries

Taoism
Taoism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses of the words "tao" and "dao", see Tao (disambiguation) and Dao (disambiguation).

Names
Chinese: 道教
Pinyin: Dàojiào
Wade-Giles: Tao-chiao

The Yin-Yang or Taiji diagram, often used to symbolize Taoism.
Taoism or Daoism is usually described as an Asian philosophy and religion, although it is also said to be neither but rather an aspect of Chinese wisdom.

Contents [showhide]
1 The Tao of Taoism

2 Sources of Taoism

2.1 The Dao De Jing

3 Taoist philosophy

3.1 Wu Wei

4 The Taoist religion

5 Taoism outside China

6 See also

7 Further reading

8 External links

[edit]
The Tao of Taoism
In Taoist context, Tao (道) can be understood as a space-time path — the order in which things happen. As a descriptive term, it can be taken to refer to the actual world in history — sometimes distinguished as "great Dao" — or prescriptively, as an order that should unfold — i.e., the moral way of Confucius or Lao Zi or Christ, etc. A theme in early Chinese thought is Tian-dao or 'way of nature' (also translated as 'heaven', 'sky' and sometimes 'God'). This would correspond roughly to the order of things according to natural law. Both 'nature's way' and 'great way' can inspire the stereotypical Taoist detachment from moral or normative doctrines. Thus, thought of as the course by which everything comes to be what it is (the "Mother of everything") it seems hard to imagine that we have to select among any accounts of its normative content — it therefore can be seen as an efficient principle of "emptiness" that reliably underlies the operation of the universe.

Taoism is a tradition that has, with its traditional counterpart Confucianism, shaped Chinese life for more than 2,000 years. Taoism places emphasis upon spontaneity and teaches that natural kinds follow ways appropriate to themselves. As humans are a natural kind, Taoism emphasises natural societies with no artificial institutions. Often skeptical and being ironic on human values as morality, benevolence and proper behavior, Taoist writers don't share the Confucian belief in civilization as a way to build a better society; they rather share the will to live alone in mountains with wild animals, or as simple peasants in small autarchic villages.

For many Chinese educated people (the Literati), life was split into a social part, where Confucian doctrine prevailed, and a private part, with Taoist aspirations. Home, night-time, exile or retirement were good occasions to cultivate Taoism and, say, re-read Lao Zi's and Zhuang Zi's books. This part of life was often dedicated to arts like calligraphy, painting, poetry or personal researches on antiquities, medicine, folklore and so on.

[edit]
Sources of Taoism
Traditionally, Taoism has been attributed to three sources:

The oldest, the mythical "Yellow Emperor";
the most famous, the book of mystical aphorisms, the Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching), said to be written by Lao Zi (Lao Tse), who, according to legend, was an older contemporary of Confucius;
and the third, the works of the philosopher Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tse).
Other books have developed Taoism, as the True Classic of Perfect Emptiness, from Lie Zi; and the Huainanzi compilation.
Additionally, an original source of Taoism is often said to be the ancient I Ching, The Book Of Changes or related divinatory practises of prehistoric China.
[edit]
The Dao De Jing
Main article: Dao De Jing

The Dao De Jing (or Tao Te Ching, The Book of the Way and its Power) was written in a time of seemingly endless feudal warfare and constant conflict. According to tradition (largely rejected by modern scholars), the book's author, Lao Zi, was a minor court official for an emperor of the Zhou dynasty. He became disgusted with the petty intrigues of court life, and set off alone to travel the vast western wastelands. As he was about to pass through the gate at the last western outpost, a guard, having heard of his wisdom, asked Lao Zi to write down his philosophy, and the Dao De Jing was the result. Lao Zi was reflecting on a way for humanity to follow which would put an end to conflicts and strife. This is the original book of Taoism. The scholarly evidence (buttressed by a cluster of recent archeological finds of versions of the text) was that the text was taking shape over a long period of time in pre-Han China and circulated in many versions and edited collections until standardized shortly after the Han.

[edit]
Taoist philosophy
From the Way arises one (that which is aware), from which awareness in turn arises the concept of two (yin and yang), from which the number three is implied (heaven, earth and humanity); finally producing by extension the entirety of the world as we know it, the myriad things, through the harmony of the Wuxing. The Way as it cycles through the five elements of the Wuxing is also said to be circular, acting upon itself through change to affect a cycle of life and death in the ten thousand things of the phenomenal universe.
Act in accordance with nature, and with finesse rather than force.
The correct perspective should be found for one's mental activities until a deeper source is found for guiding one's interaction with the universe (see 'wu wei' below). Desire hinders one's ability to understand The Way (see also karma), and tempering desire breeds contentment. Taoists believe that when one desire is satisfied, another, more ambitious desire will simply spring up to replace it. In essence, most Taoists feel that life should be appreciated as it is, rather than forced to be something it is not. Ideally, one should not desire anything, not even non-desire.
Oneness: By realizing that all things (including ourselves) are interdependent and constantly redefined as circumstances change, we come to see all things as they are, and ourselves as a simple part of the current moment. This understanding of oneness leads us to an appreciation of life's events and our place within them as simple miraculous moments which "simply are".
Dualism, the opposition and combination of the Universe's two basic principles of Yin and Yang is a large part of the basic philosophy. Some of the common associations with Yang and Yin, respectively, are: male and female, light and dark, active and passive, motion and stillness. Taoists believe that neither side is more important or better than the other; indeed, neither can exist without the other, as they are equal aspects of the whole. They are ultimately an artificial distinction based on our perceptions of the ten thousand things, so it is only our perception of them that really changes. See taiji.
[edit]
Wu Wei
Much of the essence of Tao is in the art of wu wei (action through inaction; the uncarved block). However, this does not mean, "sit doing nothing and wait for everything to fall into your lap". It describes a practice of accomplishing things through minimal action. By studying the nature of life, you can affect it in the easiest and least disruptive way (using finesse rather than force). The practice of working with the stream rather than against it is an illustration; one progresses the most not by struggling against the stream and thrashing about, but by remaining still and letting the stream do all the work.

Wu Wei works once we trust our human "design," which is perfectly suited for our place within nature. In other words, by trusting our nature rather than our mental contrivances, we can find contentment without a life of constant striving against forces real and imagined.

One could apply this to political activism. Rather than appeal to others to take action for a certain cause--regardless of its importance or validity--one would instead understand that simply by believing in the cause, and letting their belief manifest itself in their actions, one is bearing their share of the burden of their social movement. Going with the flow, so to speak, with the river (which in this case is a societal mindset).

[edit]
The Taoist religion

A Taoist priest at the Azure Clouds Temple on Mount Taishan in China's Shandong province.Though specific religious aspects are not mentioned in the Dao De Jing or Zhuang Zi, as Taoism spread through the population of China it became mixed with other, pre-existing beliefs, such as Five Elements theory, alchemy, ancestor worship, and magic spells. Chinese Chan Buddhism was also directly influenced by Taoist philosophies. Eventually elements of Taoism were combined with elements of Buddhism and Confucianism in the form of Neo-Confucianism. Attempts to procure greater longevity were a frequent theme in Taoist alchemy and magic, with many extant spells and potions for that purpose. Many early versions of Chinese medicine were rooted in Taoist thought, and modern Chinese medicine as well as Chinese martial arts are still in many ways concerned with Taoist concepts such as Tao, Qi, and the balance of Yin and Yang.

In addition, a Taoist church was formed, originally being established in the Eastern Han dynasty by Zhang Daoling. Many sects evolved over the years, but most trace their authority to Zhang Daoling, and most modern Taoist temples belong to one or another of these sects. The Taoist churches incorporated entire pantheons of deities, including Lao Zi, Zhang Daoling, the Yellow Emperor, the Jade Emperor, Lei Gong (The God of Thunder) and others. The two major Taoist churches today are the Zhengyi Sect (evolved from a sect founded by Zhang Daoling) and Quanzhen Taoism (founded by Wang Chongyang).

[edit]
Taoism outside China
The Taoist philosophy is practiced in various forms, in countries other than China. Kouk Sun Do in Korea is one of such variations.

Taoist philosophy has found a large following throughout the world, and several traditional Taoist lineages have set up teaching centers in countries outside China.

[edit]
See also
chaordic
Daoism versus Taoism
dialectical monism
Eastern philosophy
list of Taoists
qigong
Taijiquan
Tao Yin
Yingtan
Zen Buddhism
[edit]
Further reading
Max Kaltenmark, Lao Tzu and Taoism, translated from French by Roger Greaves, Stanford, Calif., Stanford University Press, 1969.
Henri Maspero, Taoism and Chinese Religion, translated from French by Frank A. Kierman, Jr., Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 1981.
Benjamin Hoff's Tao of Pooh introduces a Westerner's perspective of the Taoist worldview using characters from Winnie the Pooh
Eric Yudelove's Dao and Tree of Life discusses perceived similarities between Taoism, Kabbalah, and shamanism
Mantak Chia's books claim to cover some aspects of Taoist Alchemy practices
Michael Saso has written books on the practice of Taoism.
Thomas Cleary has translated several Taoist texts.
[edit]
External links
Sacred Texts of Taoism Readable Online (http://www.sacred-texts.com/tao/index.htm)
Taoism Information Page (http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/gthursby/taoism/)
Resources for East Asian Language and Thought (http://www.acmuller.net) with Translation of the Daodejing (http://www.hm.tyg.jp/~acmuller/contao/laotzu.htm) by Charles Muller
Lao Tse & Daoism (http://www.synaptic.bc.ca/ejournal/laotse.htm)
Taoist Restoration Society (http://www.taorestore.org)
Taoist Culture & Information Centre (http://www.eng.taoism.org.hk)
Lao Zi & the Dao De Jing (http://www.thetao.info)

See the images for Taoism on the Commons.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism"
Categories: Eastern culture | Taoism

Eastern Philosophy
Eastern philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is part of the
series on Eastern culture
Eastern Culture, Society,
Philosophy, Medicine Religion
Asian art, culture,
China, India, Japan, Vietnam
Taoism, Confucianism,
Buddhism, Hinduism,
Shintoism, Sikhism
Edit this template (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Template:Easternculture&action=edit)
In the West, the terms Eastern philosophy, refers very broadly to the various cultures, social structures philosophical systems of "the East," namely Asia, including China, India, Japan, and the general area.

Most Western universities focus almost exclusively on Western philosophical traditions and ideas in their philosophy departments and courses. When one uses the unqualified term "philosophy" in a Western academic context, Eastern philosophies had traditionally been overlooked in the past, but increased connections between "East and West" in recent years have served to bridge the culture gap by a large degree.

Contents [showhide]
1 Philosophical and religious traditions

1.1 Hinduism
1.2 Confucianism
1.3 Taoism
1.4 Legalism
1.5 Buddhism

1.5.1 Zen Buddhism

1.6 Maoism
1.7 Shinto

2 Differences from Western Philosophy

2.1 Arguments against the "Eastern philosophy" designation
2.2 The perception of God and the gods
2.3 Gods' relationship with the universe
2.4 The role and nature of the individual

3 Syntheses of Eastern and Western philosophy

4 Related topics

[edit]
Philosophical and religious traditions
Following is an overview of the major Eastern philosophic traditions. Each tradition has a separate article with more detail on sects, schools, etc. (c.f.)

[edit]
Hinduism
Main article: Hinduism

Hinduism (सनातन धर्म; Sanātana Dharma, roughly Perennial Faith) is generally considered to be the oldest major world religion still practised today and first among Dharma faiths. Hinduism is characterized by a diverse array of belief systems, practices and scriptures. It has its origin in ancient Vedic culture at least as far back as 2000 BCE. It is the third largest religion with approximately 1.05 billion followers worldwide, 96% of whom live in the Indian subcontinent.

Hinduism rests on the spiritual bedrock of the Vedas, hence Veda Dharma, and their mystic issue, the Upanishads, as well as the teachings of many great Hindu gurus through the ages. Many streams of thought flow from the six Vedic/Hindu schools, Bhakti sects and Tantra Agamic schools into the one ocean of Hinduism, the first of the Dharma religions.

What can be said to be common to all Hindus is belief in Dharma, reincarnation, karma, and moksha (liberation) of every soul through a variety of moral, action-based, and meditative yogas. Still more fundamental principles include ahimsa (non-violence), the primacy of the Guru, the Divine Word of Aum and the power of mantras, love of Truth in many manifestations as Gods and Goddessess, and an understanding that the essential spark of the Divine (Atman/Brahman) is in every human and living being, thus allowing for many spiritual paths leading to the One Unitary Truth.

See Also: Hindu philosophy -- Vedic civilization -- Hindu scripture -- Yoga -- Vedanta -- Bhakti -- Hindu deities

[edit]
Confucianism
Main article: Confucianism

Confucianism developed around the teachings of Confucius and is based on a set of Chinese classic texts. It was the mainstream ideology in China and the sinized world since the Han dynasty and may still be a major founder element in Far-East culture. It could be understood as a social ethic and humanist system focusing on human beings and their relationships. Confucianism emphasizes formal rituals in every aspect of life, from quasi-religious ceremonies to strict politeness and deference to one's elders, specifically to one's parents and to the state in the form of the Emperor.

[edit]
Taoism
Main article : Taoism

Taoism is the traditional foil of Confucianism. Taoism's central books are the Tao Te Ching, traditionally attributed to Lao Zi (Lao tse) and the Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tse). The core concepts of Taoism are traced far in Chinese History, incorporating elements of mysticism dating back to prehistoric times, linked also with the Book of Changes (I Ching), a divinatory set of 64 geometrical figures describing states and evolutions of the world. Taoism emphasizes Nature, individual freedom, refusal of social bounds, and was a doctrine professed by those who "retreated in mountains". At the end of their lives --or during the night, Confucian officers often behaved as Taoists, writing poetry or trying to "reach immortality". Yet Taoism is also a government doctrine where the ruler's might is ruling through "non-action" (Wuwei).

[edit]
Legalism
Main article: Legalism

Legalism advocated a strict interpretation of the law in every respect. Morality was not important; adherence to the letter of the law was paramount. Officials who exceeded expectations were as liable for punishment as were those who underperformed their duties, since both were not adhering exactly to their duties. Legalism was the principal philosophic basis of the Qin Dynasty in China. Confucian scholars were persecuted under Legalist rule.

[edit]
Buddhism
Main article: Buddhism

Buddhism is a system of beliefs based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, an Indian prince later known as the Buddha, or one who is Awake - derived from the Sanskrit 'bud', 'to awaken'. Buddhism is a non-theistic religion, one whose tenets are not especially concerned with the existence or nonexistence of a God or gods. The Buddha himself expressly disavowed any special divine status or inspiration, and said that anyone, anywhere could achieve all the insight that he had. The question of God is largely irrelevant in Buddhism, though some sects (notably Tibetan Buddhism) do venerate a number of gods drawn in from local indigenous belief systems.

The Buddhist soteriology is summed up in the Four Noble Truths:

Dukkha: All worldly life is unsatisfactory, disjointed, containing suffering.
Samudaya: There is a cause of suffering, which is attachment or desire (tanha) rooted in ignorance.
Nirodha: There is an end of suffering, which is Nirvana.
Marga: There is a path that leads out of suffering, known as the Noble Eightfold Path.
However, Buddhist philosophy as such has its foundations more in the doctrines of anatta, which specifies that all is without substantial metaphysical being, pratitya-samutpada, which delineates the Buddhist concept of causality, and Buddhist phenomenological analysis of dharmas, or phenomenological constituents.

Most Buddhist sects believe in karma, a cause-and-effect relationship between all that has been done and all that will be done. Events that occur are held to be the direct result of previous events. One effect of karma is rebirth. At death, the karma from a given life determines the nature of the next life's existence. The ultimate goal of a Buddhist practitioner is to eliminate karma (both good and bad), end the cycle of rebirth and suffering, and attain Nirvana, translated as nothingness or blissful oblivion and characterized as the state of being one with the entire universe.

See also: Buddhist philosophy -- Schools of Buddhism -- Buddhism in China

[edit]
Zen Buddhism
Zen is a fusion of Mahayana Buddhism with Taoist principles. Bodhidharma was a semilegendary Indian monk who traveled to China in the fifth century CE. There, at the Shaolin temple, he began the Ch'an school of Buddhism, known in Japan and in the West as Zen Buddhism. Zen philosophy places emphasis on existing in the moment, right now. Zen teaches that the entire universe is one's mind, and if one cannot realize enlightenment in one's own mind now, one cannot ever achieve enlightenment.

Zen practitioners engage in zazen (just sitting) meditation. Several schools of Zen have developed various other techniques for provoking satori, or enlightenment, ranging from whacking acolytes with a stick to shock them into the present moment to koans, Zen riddles designed to force the student to abandon futile attempts to understand the nature of the universe through logic.

[edit]
Maoism
Maoism is a Communist philosophy based on the teachings of 20th century Communist Party of China revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. It is based partially on earlier theories by Marx and Lenin, but rejects the urban proletariat and Leninist emphasis on heavy industrialization in favor of a revolution supported by the peasantry, and a decentralized agrarian economy based on many collectively worked farms.

Many people believe that the implementation of Maoism in Mainland China led to widespread famine, with millions of people starving to death. Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping reinterpreted Maoism to allow for the introduction of market economics, which eventually enabled the country to recover. As a philosophy, Deng's chief contribution was to reject the supremacy of theory in interpreting Marxism and to argue for a policy of seeking truth from facts.

Despite this, Maoism has remained a popular ideology for various Communist revolutionary groups around the world, notably the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Sendero Luminoso in Peru, and an ongoing (as of early 2003) Maoist insurrection in Nepal.

[edit]
Shinto
Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan, a sophisticated form of animism that holds that spirits called kami inhabit all things. Worship is at public shrines, or in small shrines constructed in one's home.

[edit]
Differences from Western Philosophy
[edit]
Arguments against the "Eastern philosophy" designation
Some have argued that the distinction between Eastern and Western philosophies is arbitrary and purely geographic, that this artificial distinction does not take into account the tremendous amount of interaction between Eastern and Western thought, and that the distinction is more misleading than enlightening. Furthermore, it has been argued that the term Eastern philosophy implies similarities between philosophical schools which may not exist and obscures the differences between Eastern philosophies.

One such argument is historical. Our first "historical glimpse" of Western philosophy actually takes us to Asia Minor. Whether its root lie in India (or the roots of Indian philosophy stem from an Indo-Aryan invasion) we may never know. But it is surely plausible that the Middle East was a crossroads of ancient religious cum philosophical systems.

A related argument is linguistic, based on the classification of Sanskrit as one of the earliest Indo-European languages. Shared concepts include the supernatural, the immortal soul (ancestor of mind-body dualism). (Nietzsche famously argued that Christianity and Buddhism were "kindred" religions.)

The central conceptual structure shared with Classical Western philosophy (and lacking in East Asian thought prior to the Buddhist "invasion") includes counterparts of the dichotomies between reason v emotion, appearance v reality, one v many, and permanence v change. Indian and Western thought, with their robust mind-body conceptual dualism, share consequent tendencies to subjective idealism or dualism. Formally, they share the rudiments of Western "folk psychology" --a sentential psychology and semantics (e.g. belief and (propositional) knowledge, subject-predicate grammar (and subject-object metaphysics) truth and falsity, and inference. These concepts underwrote the emergence (or perhaps spread) of logic in Greece and India (In contrast to pre-Buddhist China). Other noticeable similarities include structural features of related concepts of time, space, objecthood and causation -- all concepts hard to isolate within ancient Chinese conceptual space.

One fundamental reason for the separation is that both traditions of Eastern philosophy tend to be marginalized or ignored in Western studies of the "history of philosophy." So both tend to be relegated to the World Religions departments of Western universities, or to New Age nonacademic works, though there are several notable exceptions.

[edit]
The perception of God and the gods
Because of the influence of monotheism and especially the Abrahamic religions, Western philosophies have been faced with the question of the nature of God and His relationship to the universe. This has created a dichotomy among Western philosophies between secular philosophies and religious philosophies which develop within the context of a particular monotheistic religion's dogma regarding the nature of God and the universe.

Eastern philosophies have not been as concerned by questions relating to the nature of a single God as the universe's sole creator and ruler. The distinction between the religious and the secular tends to be much less sharp in Eastern philosophy, and the same philosophical school often contains both religious and philosophical elements. Thus, some people accept the metaphysical tenets of Buddhism without going to a temple and worshipping. Some have worshipped the Taoist deities religiously without bothering to delve into the philosophic underpinnings, while others embrace Taoist philosophy while ignoring the religious aspects.

This arrangement stands in marked contrast to most philosophy of the West, which has traditionally enforced either a completely unified philosophic/religious belief system (e.g. the various sects and associated philosophies of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam), or a sharp and total repudiation of religion by philosophy (e.g. Nietzsche, Marx, Voltaire, etc.) The distinction between religion and philosophy is not so important in the East.

[edit]
Gods' relationship with the universe
Another common thread that often differentiates Eastern philosophy from Western is the belief regarding the relationship between God or the gods and the universe. Western philosophies typically either disavow the existence of God, or else hold that God or the gods are something separate and distinct from the universe. This comes from the influence of the Abrahamic religions, which teach that this universe was created by a single all-powerful God who existed before and separately from this universe. The true nature of this God is incomprehensible to us, His creations.

Eastern philosophic traditions generally tend to be less concerned with the existence or non-existence of gods. Although some Eastern traditions have supernatural spiritual beings and even powerful gods, these are generally not seen as separate from the universe, but rather as a part of the universe. Conversely, most Eastern religions teach that ordinary actions can affect the supernatural realm.

[edit]
The role and nature of the individual
It has been argued that in most Western philosophies, the same can be said of the individual: Western philosophies generally assume as a given that the individual is something different from the universe, and Western philosophies attempt to describe and categorize the universe from a detached, objective viewpoint. Eastern philosophies, on the other hand, typically hold that people are an intrinsic and inseparable part of the universe, and that attempts to discuss the universe from an objective viewpoint as though the individual speaking was something separate and detached from the whole are inherently absurd.

[edit]
Syntheses of Eastern and Western philosophy
There have been many modern attempts to integrate Western and Eastern philosophical traditions.

German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was very interested in Taoism. His system of dialectics is sometimes interpreted as a formalization of Taoist principles.

Hegel's arch-enemy Arthur Schopenhauer developed a philosophy that was essentially a synthesis of Hinduism and Buddhism with Western thought. He anticipated that the Upanishads (primary Hindu scriptures) would have a much greater influence in the West than they have had. However, Schopenhauer was working with heavily flawed early translations (and sometimes second-degree translations), and many feel that he may not necessarily have accurately grasped the Eastern philosophies which interested him.

Recent attempts to incorporate Western philosophy into Eastern thought include the Kyoto School of philosophers, who combined the phenomenology of Husserl with the insights of Zen Buddhism.

[edit]
Related topics
Chinese philosophy
Buddhist philosophy
Hindu philosophy
Indian philosophy
Western philosophy

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_philosophy"
Categories: Philosophy | Eastern culture | Eastern philosophy

Western Philosophy
Western philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Western philosophy is a line of related philosophical thinking, beginning in Ancient Greece, and including the predominant philosophical thinking of Europe and its former colonies up to the present day. The concept of philosophy itself originated in the West, derived from the ancient Greek word philosophia (φιλοσοφια); literally, "the love of wisdom" (philein = "to love" + sophia = wisdom, in the sense of theoretical or cosmic insight). However, many non-Western religions have adopted the term philosophy in reference to cosmic intellectual discourse analogous to Western philosophy. See Eastern philosophy.

Western philosophy has had a tremendous influence on, and has been greatly influenced by, Western religion, science, and politics. Indeed, the central concepts of these fields can be thought of as elements or branches of Western philosophy. To the Ancient Greeks, these fields were often one and the same. Thus, in the West, philosophy is an expansive and ambiguous concept. Today, however, what generally distinguishes philosophy from other Western disciplines is the notion that philosophy is a "deeper" and more rational, fundamental, and universal form of thought than other disciplines.

Contents [showhide]
1 Origins

2 Western philosophical subdisciplines

3 Philosophy contrasted with other disciplines

3.1 Natural science
3.2 Philosophy of science
3.3 Theology and religious studies
3.4 Mathematics

4 See also

5 External links

[edit]
Origins
The introduction of the terms "philosopher" and "philosophy" has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras (see Diogenes Laertius: "De vita et moribus philosophorum", I, 12; Cicero: "Tusculanae disputationes", V, 8-9). The ascription is based on a passage in a lost work of Herakleides Pontikos, a disciple of Aristotle. It is considered to be part of the widespread legends of Pythagoras of this time.

"Philosopher" replaced the word "sophist" (from sophoi), which was used to describe "wise men," teachers of rhetoric, who were important in Athenian democracy. Some of the most famous sophists were what we would now call philosophers, but Plato's dialogues often used the two terms to contrast those who are devoted to wisdom (philosophers) from those who arrogantly claim to have it (sophists). Socrates (at least, as portrayed by Plato) frequently characterized the sophists as incompetents or charlatans, who hid their ignorance behind word play and flattery, and so convinced others of what was baseless or untrue. Moreover, the sophists were paid for their explorations. To this day, "sophist" is often used as a derogatory term for one who merely persuades rather than reasons.

The scope of philosophy in the ancient understanding, and the writings of (at least some of) the ancient philosophers, was all intellectual endeavors. This included the problems of philosophy as they are understood today; but it also included many other disciplines, such as pure mathematics and natural sciences such as physics, astronomy, and biology. (Aristotle, for example, wrote on all of these topics; and as late as the 17th century, these fields were still referred to as branches of "natural philosophy"). Over time, academic specialization and the rapid technical advance of the special sciences led to the development of distinct disciplines for these sciences, and their separation from philosophy: mathematics became a specialized science in the ancient world, and "natural philosophy" developed into the disciplines of the natural sciences over the course of the Scientific Revolution. Today, philosophical questions are usually explicitly distinguished from the questions of the special sciences, and characterized by the fact that (unlike those of the sciences) they are the sort of questions which are foundational and abstract in nature, and which are not amenable to being answered by experimental means.

[edit]
Western philosophical subdisciplines
Philosophical inquiry is often divided into several major "branches" based on the questions typically addressed by people working in different parts of the field. In the ancient world, the most influential division of the subject was the Stoics' division of philosophy into Logic, Ethics, and Physics (conceived as the study of the nature of the world, and including both natural science and metaphysics). In contemporary philosophy, specialties within the field are more commonly divided into metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and aesthetics (which together comprise axiology). Logic is sometimes included as another main branch of philosophy, sometimes as a separate science which philosophers often happen to work on, and sometimes just as a characteristically philosophical method applying to all branches of philosophy.

Within these broad branches there are numerous sub-disciplines of philosophy. The interest in particular sub-disciplines waxes and wanes over time; sometimes sub-disciplines become particularly hot topics and can occupy so much space in the literature that they almost seem like major branches in their own right. (Over the past 40 years or so philosophy of mind — which is, strictly speaking, mainly a sub-discipline of metaphysics — has taken on this position within Analytic philosophy, and has attracted so much attention that some suggest philosophy of mind as the paradigm for what contemporary Analytic philosophers do.)

Some of the many sub-disciplines within philosophy include:

Axiology: the branch of philosophical enquiry that explores:
Aesthetics: the study of basic philosophical questions about art and beauty. Sometimes philosophy of art is used to describe only questions about art, while "aesthetics" is the more general term. Likewise "aesthetics" sometimes applies more broadly than to merely the "philosophy of beauty": to include the sublime, humour, or fright - to any of the responses we might expect works of art or entertainment to elicit.
Ethics: the study of what makes actions right or wrong, and of how theories of right action can be applied to special moral problems. Subdisciplines include meta-ethics, value theory, theory of conduct, and applied ethics.
Epistemology: the study of knowledge and its nature, possibility, and justification.
History of philosophy: the study of what philosophers up until recent times have written; the interpretation of such philosophers; who influenced whom, and so forth. The history of philosophy can be approached either exegetically (in which case the main question is the interpretive question of what past philosophers mean and how the structure of their thought holds together) or critically (in which case the main question is the logical question of whether what past philosophers said was true or false, and what the philosophical consequences of their views are).
Logic: the study of the standards of correct argumentation. The characteristic method of this study is the development of formal logic to symbolize and evaluate arguments; the characteristic topic is propositional logic, the logic of simple indicative statements. (Classical logic focused on the narrower subset of categorical reasoning by syllogism.) The more advanced topics in logic are generally extensions of formal logic to symbolize the logical relationships involved in particular aspects of the language -- such as modal logic, which deals with modal qualifiers like "possibly" and "necessarily", or temporal logic, which deals with the logical relationships established by the tense of a sentence.
Meta-philosophy: the study of philosophical method and the nature and purpose of philosophy. The term "philosophy of philosophy" is sometimes used more or less as a synonym.
Metaphysics (which includes ontology): the study of the most basic categories of things, such as existence, objects, properties, causality, and so forth. Metaphysics often is taken to include questions now studied by other philosophical subdisciplines, such as the mind-body problem and free will and determinism.
Philosophy of education: the study of the purpose and most basic methods of education or learning.
Philosophy of history: the study of the methods by which history is derived and accepted.
Philosophy of language: the study of the concepts of meaning and truth within human languages.
Philosophy of mathematics: the study of philosophical questions raised by mathematics, such as the nature of numbers, and what the nature and origins of our mathematical knowledge are.
Philosophy of mind: the philosophical study of the nature of the mind, and its relation to the body and the rest of the world.
Philosophy of perception: the philosophical study of topics related to perception; the question what the "immediate objects" of perception are has been especially important.
Philosophy of physics: the philosophical study of some basic concepts of physics, including space, time, and force.
Philosophy of psychology: the study of some fundamental questions about the methods and concepts of psychology and psychiatry, such as the meaningfulness of Freudian concepts; this is sometimes treated as including philosophy of mind.
Philosophy of religion: the study of the meaning of the concept of God and of the rationality or otherwise of belief in the existence of God.
Philosophy of science: includes not only, as subdisciplines, the "philosophies of" the special sciences (i.e., physics, biology, etc.), but also questions about induction, scientific method, scientific progress, etc.
Philosophy of social sciences: the philosophical study of some basic concepts, methods, and presuppositions of social sciences such as sociology and economics.
Political philosophy: the study of basic topics concerning government, including the purpose of the state, political justice, political freedom, the nature of law, the administration of justice and paternalism.
Value theory: the study of the concept value. Also called theory of value. Sometimes this is taken to be equivalent to axiology (a term not in as much currency in the English-speaking world as it once was), and sometimes is taken to be, instead of a foundational field, an overarching field including ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy, i.e., the philosophical subdisciplines that crucially depend on questions of value.
[edit]
Philosophy contrasted with other disciplines
[edit]
Natural science
Originally the term "philosophy" was applied to all intellectual endeavour. Aristotle studied what would now be called biology, meteorology, physics, and cosmology, alongside his metaphysics and ethics. Even in the eighteenth century physics and chemistry were still classified as "natural philosophy", that is, the philosophical study of nature. Today these latter subjects are popularly referred to as sciences, and as separate from philosophy. But the distinction is not clear; some philosophers still contend that science retains an unbroken --and unbreakable -- link to philosophy.

More recently, psychology, economics, sociology, and linguistics were once the domain of philosophers insofar as they were studied at all, but now have only a weaker connection with the field. In the late twentieth century cognitive science and artificial intelligence could be seen as being forged in part out of "philosophy of mind."

Philosophy is done primarily through reflection. It does not tend to rely on experiment. However, in some ways philosophy is close to science in its character and method; some Analytic philosophers have suggested that the method of philosophical analysis allows philosophers to emulate the methods of natural science; Quine holds that philosophy just is a branch of natural science, simply the most abstract one. This approach, now common, is called philosophical naturalism.

Philosophers have always devoted some study to science and the scientific method, and to logic, and this involves, indirectly, studying the subject matters of those sciences. Whether philosophy also has its own, distinct subject matter is a contentious point. Traditionally ethics, aesthetics, and metaphysics have all been philosophical subjects, but many philosophers have, especially in the twentieth century, rejected these as futile questions (ie, much, though not all, of the Vienna Circle). Philosophy has also concerned itself with explaining the foundations and character knowledge in general (of science, or history), and in this case it would be a sort of "science of science" but some now hold that this cannot consist in any more than clarifying the arguments and claims of other sciences. This suggests that philosophy might be the study of meaning and reasoning generally; but some still would claim either that this is not a science, or that if it is it ought not to be pursued by philosophers.

All these views have something in common: whatever philosophy essentially is or is concerned with, it tends on the whole to proceed more "abstractly" than most (or most other) natural sciences. It does not depend as much on experience and experiment, and does not contribute as directly to technology. It clearly would be a mistake to identify philosophy with any one natural science; whether it can be identified with science very broadly construed is still an open question.

[edit]
Philosophy of science
This is an active discipline pursued by both trained philosophers and scientists. Philosophers often refer to, and interpret, experimental work of various kinds (as in philosophy of physics and philosophy of psychology). But this is not surprising: such branches of philosophy aim at philosophical understanding of experimental work. It is not the philosophers in their capacity as philosophers, who perform the experiments and formulate the scientific theories under study. Philosophy of science should not be confused with science it studies any more than biology should be confused with plants and animals.

[edit]
Theology and religious studies
Like philosophy, most religious studies are not experimental. Parts of theology, including questions about the existence and nature of gods, clearly overlap with philosophy of religion. Aristotle considered theology a branch of metaphysics, the central field of philosophy, and most philosophers prior to the twentieth century have devoted significant effort to theological questions. So the two are not unrelated. But other part of religious studies, such as the comparison of different world religions, can be easily distinguished from philosophy in just the way that any other social science can be distinguished from philosophy. These are closer to history and sociology, and involve specific observations of particular phenomena, here particular religious practices.

Nowadays religion plays a very marginal role in philosophy. The Empiricist tradition in modern philosophy often held that religious questions are beyond the scope of human knowledge, and many have claimed that religious language is literally meaningless: there are not even questions to be answered. Some philosophers have felt that these difficulties in evidence were irrelevant, and have argued for, against, or just about religious beliefs on moral or other grounds. Nonetheless, in the main stream of twentieth century philosophy there are very few philosophers who give serious consideration to religious questions.

[edit]
Mathematics
Mathematics uses very specific, rigorous methods of proof that philosophers sometimes (only rarely) try to emulate. Most philosophy is written in ordinary prose, and while it strives to be precise it does not usually attain anything like mathematical clarity. As a result, mathematicians hardly ever disagree about results, while philosophers of course do disagree about their results, as well as their methods.

The philosophy of mathematics is a branch of philosophy of science; but in many ways mathematics has a special relationship to philosophy. This is because the study of logic is a central branch of philosophy, and mathematics is a paradigm example of logic. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries logic made great advances, and mathematics has been proven to be reducible to logic (at least, to first-order logic with some set theory). The use of formal, mathematical logic in philosophy now resembles the use of math in science, although it is not as frequent.

[edit]
See also
Philosophy
Eastern Philosophy
History of philosophy
List of philosophers
Alphabetical list of philosophy articles on Wikipedia
Pseudophilosophy
Important publications in Western philosophy
[edit]
External links
Philosophy Forums (http://forums.philosophyforums.com/)
Philosophy Sites on the Internet - Tel Aviv University list (http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/philos/links.htm)
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/)
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/)
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://www.rep.routledge.com/views/home.html)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_philosophy"
Categories: Philosophy | Western philosophy

History of western philosophy
History of Western philosophy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from History of western philosophy)
Western philosophy has a long history. Conventionally divided into three large eras - the Ancient, Medieval and Modern. The Ancient era runs through the fall of Rome and includes the Greek philosophers such as Plato. The Medieval period runs until roughly the late 1400's and the Renaissance. The "Modern" is a word with more varied use, which includes everything from Post-Medieval through the specific period of the early 20th Century.

This article is a part of the
History of Philosophy series.
History of Western philosophy
Pre-Socratic philosophy
Ancient philosophy
Medieval philosophy
Renaissance philosophy
17th-century philosophy
18th-century philosophy
19th-century philosophy
20th-century philosophy
Postmodern philosophy
Contemporary philosophy
Eastern philosophy
Contents [showhide]
1 Brief timeline

1.1 Ancient philosophy
1.2 Medieval philosophy
1.3 Modern philosophy
1.4 Chronological list of important philosophers

2 See also

3 Bibliography

3.1 Introductions and anthologies
3.2 Reference

4 External links

[edit]
Brief timeline
[edit]
Ancient philosophy
Western Philosophy is generally said to begin in the Greek cities of western Asia Minor (Ionia) with Thales of Miletus, who was active around 585 B.C. and left us the opaque dictum, "All is water." His most noted students were Anaximenes of Miletus and Anaximander ("All is air").

Other thinkers and schools appeared throughout Greece over the next couple of centuries. Among the most important were:

Heraclitus, who stressed the transitory and chaotic nature of all things ("All is fire"; "We cannot step into the same river twice").

Anaxagoras, who asserted that reality was so ordered that it must be in all respects governed by Mind.

The Pluralists and Atomists (Empedocles, Democritus) who tried to understand the world as composite of innumerable interacting parts; and the Eleatics Parmenides and Zeno who both insisted that All is One and change is impossible. Parmenides and his school emphasized the enduring, peduring, and absolute character of the world and of truth. ("To be is, to not be is not.")

The Sophists, traveling professional teachers of varied philosophical affinity, became known (perhaps unjustly) for claiming that truth was no more than opinion and for teaching people to argue fallaciously to prove whatever conclusions they wished.

This whole movement gradually became more concentrated in Athens, which had become the dominant city-state in Greece.

There is considerable discussion about why Athenian culture encouraged philosophy, but one popular theory says that it occurred because Athens had a direct democracy. It's known from Plato's writings that many sophists maintained schools of debate, were respected members of society, and were well paid by their students. It's also well known that orators had tremendous influence on Athenian history, possibly even causing its failure (See Battle of Miletus). One other theory for the popularity of philosophical debate in Athens was due to the use of slavery there - the workforce, mainly slaves, performed the labour that otherwise would have been taken up by the male population of the city. Freed from working in the fields or in productive activity, they were then free to engage in the assemblies of Athens, and spend long hours discussing popular philosophical questions. The theory fills in the blanks by saying that the Sophists' students wanted to acquire the skills of an orator in order to influence the Athenian Assembly, and thereby grow wealthy and respected. Since winning debates led to wealth, the subjects and methods of debate became highly developed.

The key figure in transforming Greek philosophy into a unified and continuous project - the one still being pursued today - is Socrates, who studied under several Sophists. He then spent much of his life, we are told, engaging everyone in Athens in discussion trying to determine whether anyone had a very good idea what they were talking about, especially when they talked about important matters like justice, beauty and truth. He wrote nothing, but inspired many disciples. In his old age he became the focus of the hostility of many in the city who saw philosophy and sophistry, interchangeably, as destroying the piety and moral fiber of the city; he was executed in 399 B.C.

Raphael's The School of Athens (1509) with Plato and Aristotle in the centre.His most important student was Plato, who wrote a number of philosophical dialogues using his master's methods of inquiry to examine problems. The early dialogues demonstrate something like Socrates' own fairly inconclusive style of inquiry. The "middle" ones develop a substantive metaphysical and ethical system to resolve these problems. Central ideas are the Theory of Forms, that the mind is imbued with an innate capacity to understand and apply concepts to the world, and that these concepts are in a significant way more real, or more basically real, than the things of the world around us; the immortality of the soul, and the idea that it too is more important than the body; the idea that evil is a kind of ignorance, that only knowledge can lead to virtue, that art should be subordinate to moral purposes, and that society should be ruled by a class of philosopher kings. In the later dialogues Socrates figures less prominently, and the Theory of Forms is cast in doubt; more directly ethical questions become the focus. Interestingly, in his most famous work, The Republic Plato attacks the system of democracy, blaming it for the defeat of Athens in the Pelopenessian War - he attributes the indecision of the masses (who voted on everything, including military strategy) as the reason for military defeat. He proposed instead a three tiered structure of society, with workers, guardians and philosophers, in ascending order of importance (convenient for him and his disciples, clearly), citing the philosophers greater knowledge of the forms as the reason for them being more appropiate in running society.

Plato founded the Academy of Athens, and his most outstanding student there was Aristotle. Possibly Aristotle's most important and long-lasting work was his formalization of logic. It appears that Aristotle was the first philosopher to categorize every valid syllogism. A syllogism is a form of argument that is guaranteed to be accepted, because it is known (by all educated persons) to be valid. A crucial assumption in Aristotelian logic is that it has to be about real objects. Two of Aristotle's syllogisms are invalid to modern eyes. For example, "All A are B. All A are C. Therefore, some B are C." This syllogism fails if set A is empty.

[edit]
Medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy was greatly concerned with the nature of God, and the application of Aristotle's logic and thought to every area of life.

If God exists at all, surely He is the most important feature of the universe, and therefore worthy of study. One continuing interest in this time was to prove the existence of God, through logic alone, if possible.

One early effort was the cosmological argument, conventionally attributed to Thomas Aquinas. The argument roughly, is that everything that exists has a cause. Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause, and this is God. Aquinas also adapted this argument to prove the goodness of God. Everything has some goodness, and the cause of each thing is better than the thing caused. Therefore, the first cause is the best possible thing. Similar arguments are used to prove God's power and uniqueness.

Another important argument proof of the existence of God was the Ontological Argument, advanced by St. Anselm. Basically, it says that God has all possible good features. Existence is good, and therefore God has it, and therefore exists. This argument has been used in different forms by philospohers from Descartes forward.

The application of Aristotelian logic proceeded by having the student memorize a rather large set of syllogisms. The memorization proceeded from diagrams, or learning a key sentence, with the first letter of each word reminding the student of the names of the syllogisms.

Each syllogism had a name, for example "Modus Ponens" had the form of "If A is true, then B is true. A is true, therefore B is true."

Most university students of logic memorized Aristotle's 19 syllogisms of two subjects, permitting them to validly connect a subject and object. A few geniuses developed systems with three subjects, or described a way of elaborating the rules of three subjects.

As well as Aquinas, other important names from the medieval period include Duns Scotus and Pierre Abélard.

[edit]
Modern philosophy
As with many periodizations, there are multiple current usages for the term "Modern Philosophy" that exist in practice. One usage is to date modern philosophy from the "Age of Reason", where systematic philosophy became common, which excludes Erasmus and Machiavelli as, "modern philosophers". Another is to date it, the way the entire larger modern period is dated, from the Renaissance. In some usages, "Modern Philosophy" ended in 1800, with the rise of Hegelianism and Idealism. There is also the lumpers/splitters problem, namely that some works split philosophy into more periods than others: one author might feel a strong need to differentiate between "The Age of Reason" or "Early Modern Philosophers" and "The Enlightenment", another author might write from the perspective that 1600-1800 is essentially one continuous evolution, and therefore a single period. Wikipedia's philosophy section therefore hews more closely to centuries as a means of avoiding long discussions over periods, but it is important to note the variety of practice that occurs.

A broad overview would then have Erasmus, Francis Bacon, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Galileo Galilei represent the rise of empiricism and humanism in place of scholastic tradition. 17th-century philosophy is dominated by the need to organize philosophy on rational, skeptical, logical and axiomatic grounds, such as the work of René Descartes, Blaise Pascal and Thomas Hobbes, attempting to integrate religious belief into philosophical frameworks, and, often to combat atheism or other unbelief, by adopting the idea of material reality, and the dualism between spirit and material. The extension, and reaction, against this would be the monism of George Berkeley and Benedict de Spinoza.

The 18th-century philosophy article deals with the period often called the early part of "The Enlightenment" in the shorter form of the word, and centers around the rise of systematic empiricism, following after Sir Isaac Newton's natural philosophy. Thus Diderot, Voltaire, Rousseau and culminating with Kant and the political philosophy of the American Revolution are part of The Enlightenment.

The 19th century took the radical notions of self-organization and intrinsic order from Goethe and Kantian metaphysics, and proceded to produce a long elaboration on the tension between systematization and organic development. Foremost was the work of Hegel, whose Logic and Phenomenology of Spirit produced a "dialectical" framework for ordering of knowledge. The 19th century would also include Schopenhauer's negation of the will. As with the 18th century, it would be developments in science that would arise from, and then challenge, philosophy: most importantly the work of Charles Darwin, which was based on the idea of organic self-regulation found in philosophers such as Adam Smith, but fundamentally challenged established conceptions.

The 20th Century deals with the upheavals produced by a series of conflicts within philosophical discourse over the basis of knowledge, with classical certainties overthrown, and new social, economic, scientific and logical problems. 20th Century philosophy was set for a series of attempts to reform and preserve, and to alter or abolish, older knowledge systems. Seminal figures include Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietszche, Ernst Mach, John Dewey. Epistemology and its basis was a central concern, as seen from the work of Heidegger, Karl Popper, Claude Levi-Strauss and Bertrand Russell. Phenomenologically oriented metaphysics undergirded existentialism (Jean-Paul Sartre, Soren Kierkegaard, Albert Camus) and finally postmodern_philosophy (Jean-François Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida). Also notable was the rise of "pop" philosophers who promulgated systems for dealing with the world, but which were isolated philosophically, including Ayn Rand, CS Lewis and others.

[edit]
Chronological list of important philosophers
See also: list of philosophers for a more comprehensive list of philosophers.

Thales (620-546 BC), traditionally the first Presocratic philosopher.
Anaximander (610-540 BC), Ionic Presocratic, the first to write a philosophical treatise.
Anaximenes (fl. 6th cent. BC), Ionic Presocratic, possibly a pupil of Anaximander.
Heraclitus (540-480 BC), Presocratic philosopher of flux.
Pythagoras (570-497 BC), philosopher-mathematician based in Italy.
Theano (fl. 6th cent. BC), female philosopher, pupil of Pythagoras and later his wife.
Xenophanes (570-475 BC), Presocratic philosopher-poet pre-empting the Eleatic school.
Parmenides (510-440 BC), Eleatic philosopher of being.
Anaxagoras (500-428 BC), Presocratic, the first philosopher known to have been based in Athens.
Diogenes of Apollonia (fl. 5th cent. BC), Ionian Presocratic philosopher.
Empedocles (493-433 BC), Presocratic philosopher and cosmologist.
Zeno of Elea (fl. 5th cent. BC), Eleatic philosopher famous for his paradoxes of motion.
Leucippus (fl. 5th cent. BC), Presocratic philosopher, founder of atomism.
Protagoras (485-415 BC), Sophist famous for his relativism.
Hippias (485-415 BC), Sophist.
Gorgias (483-376 BC), Sophist and teacher of rhetoric.
Antiphon (480-411 BC), Orator and Sophist]] (if these two are in fact the same person), fragments of whose treatise On Truth were discovered at Oxyrhynchus.
Aspasia (fl. 5th cent. BC), female philosopher and rhetorician, companion of Socrates.
Socrates (469-399 BC), Athenian philosopher, put to death on charges of corrupting the youth.
Prodicus (fl. 5th cent. BC), Sophist contemporary with Socrates.
Democritus (460-370 BC), famous atomic philosopher.
Euclides of Megara (450-380 BC), associate of Socrates and founder of the Megarian school.
Antisthenes (445-360 BC), companion of Socrates, often associated with the later Cynic movement.
Aristippus (435-356 BC), companion of Socrates, traditionally the founder of the Cyrenaic school devoted to hedonism.
Plato (429-347 BC), younger associate of Socrates, founder of the Academy, teacher of Aristotle.
Xenophon (427-355 BC), historian and philosophical author, famous for his accounts of Socrates.
Speusippus (407-339 BC), pupil of Plato who succeeded him as second head of the Academy.
Diogenes of Sinope (400-325 BC), Cynic philosopher.
Xenocrates (396-314 BC), follower of Plato and third head of the Academy.
Aristotle (384-322 BC), pupil of Plato, founder of the Lyceum and the Peripatetic tradition.
Arete of Cyrene (fl. 4th cent. BC), daughter of Aristippus and his successor as head of the Cyrenaic school.
Stilpo (380-300 BC), Megarian philosopher, influenced by Cynicism and an influence on Stoicism.
Theophrastus (370-288 BC), pupil of Aristotle and his successor as head of the Lyceum.
Pyrrho (365-275 BC), founder of the sceptical philosophy named after him.
Epicurus (341-270 BC), atomist and hedonist philosopher, founder of school named after him.
Zeno of Citium (335-263 BC), founder of the Stoic school.
Cleanthes (331-232 BC), second head of the Stoic school.
Aristo (fl. 3rd cent. BC), Stoic philosopher, a pupil of Zeno, focused primarily on ethics.
Timon (320-230 BC), sceptical philosopher, pupil of Pyrrho.
Arcesilaus (316-242 BC), head of Plato's Academy, perhaps responsible for its turn towards scepticism.
Menippus (fl. 250 BC), Cynic philosopher and famous as a satirist.
Chrysippus (280-207 BC), third]] (and probably most important) head of the Stoic school.
Diogenes of Babylon (240-152 BC), Stoic philosopher, member of the famous embassy of philosophers to Rome.
Carneades (214-129 BC), head of the Academy and founder of the 'New Academy', member of the famous embassy of philosophers to Rome.
Panaetius (185-109 BC), Stoic philosopher with eclectic tendencies, pupil of Diogenes of Babylon and Antipater, influence upon Cicero.
Philo of Larissa (160-80 BC), head of the Academy, teacher of Cicero.
Zeno of Sidon (150-70 BC), Epicurean philosopher.
Posidonius (135-51 BC), Stoic philosopher and historian, often characterised as an eclectic representative of the 'Middle Stoa'.
Antiochus of Ascalon (130-68 BC), pupil of Philo of Larissa, head of the Academy turning it away from the scepticism of the 'New Academy' and back to the 'Old Academy'. An important influence upon Cicero.
Philodemus (110-40 BC), Epicurean philosopher, many of whose works were buried at Herculaneum.
Cicero (106-43 BC), Roman philosophical author.
Aenesidemus (fl. 1st cent. BC), sceptical philosopher who attempted to revive Pyrrhonism.
Lucretius (94-55 BC), Epicurean philosopher-poet.
Philo of Alexandria (30 BC - 45 AD), Jewish Hellenistic philosopher and prolific author based in Alexandria.
Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD), Latin Stoic author, onetime tutor to the Emperor Nero.
Musonius Rufus (30-100 AD), Stoic philosopher-preacher.
Plutarch (45-120 AD), biographer and author of an important collection of philosophical essays, the Moralia.
Epictetus (55-135 AD), Stoic philosopher, pupil of Musonius Rufus and founder of a school in Nicopolis.
Demonax (fl. 2nd cent. AD), Cynic philosopher, pupil of Epictetus.
Diogenes of Oenoanda (fl. 2nd cent. AD), author of Epicurean inscription at Oenoanda.
Alcinous (fl. 2nd cent. AD), Platonist and author of the Handbook of Platonism.
Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD), Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher.
Galen of Pergamum (129-199 AD), philosopher-doctor influenced by Platonism, physician to Marcus Aurelius, and prolific author.
Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD), Christian Church Father heavily influenced by Greek philosophy.
Sextus Empiricus (fl. 200 AD), sceptical philosopher and author.
Alexander of Aphrodisias (fl. 200 AD), Aristotelian commentator.
Julia Domna (170-217 AD), female philosopher and wife of the Emperor Septimius Severus, included Galen and Philostratus in her philosophical circle.
Diogenes Laertius (fl. 3rd cent. AD), famous biographer of ancient philosophers.
Plotinus (205-270 AD), Platonic philosopher and founder of Neoplatonism.
Porphyry (233-309 AD), Neoplatonist, pupil and biographer of Plotinus.
Iamblichus (242-327 AD), important Neoplatonic philosopher.
Calcidius (fl. 4th cent. AD), Platonist and author of an important Latin translation and commentary on the Timaeus.
Themistius (317-388 AD), Aristotelian commentator based in Constantinople.
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), Christian philosopher and Church father, influenced by Neoplatonism.
Hypatia (370-415 AD), famous female Neoplatonist based Alexandria and murdered by a Christian mob.
Proclus (411-485 AD), Athenian Neoplatonist and head of the Academy.
Ammonius (440-521 AD), Alexandrian Neoplatonist, a pupil of Proclus and teacher of Damascius and Simplicius.
Damascius (462-540 AD), Neoplatonist and head of the Athenian school.
Boethius (475-524 AD), Latin Neoplatonist and translator of Aristotle.
Simplicius (490-560 AD), Aristotelian commentator, pupil of Damascius.
John Philoponus (490-570 AD), Christian Aristotelian commentator based in Alexandria, pupil of Ammonius.
John Scotus Erigena (810-877 AD) Also called "John the Scot".
Anselm (11th century) Posed the ontological argument for the existence of God.
Pierre Abélard (1079-1142 AD) Aristotelian (nominalist) lived a great love story similar to Romeo and Juliet.
Roger Bacon (1220-1292 AD) He believed there could and should be a unified science based on observation, experiment and abstract reasoning.
Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274 AD) Tried to merge the already Platonized Christianity with the philosophy of Aristotle maintaining a distinction between philosophy and religion.
Duns Scotus (1266-1308 AD) Heavily criticized Aquinas.
William of Ockham (1285-1347 AD) Observation nature and reason can only provide us with reliable knowledge about the world, famous for his principle of accepting the simplest of alternatives as the best one (Ockham's Razor).
Copernicus (1473-1543 AD) Polish churchman who hypothesized that many mathematical difficulties of the time would disappear if we assumed sun was at the center of our planetary system instead of earth (and flatly contradicting the Bible).
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527 AD) Studied politics and government in an objective (scientific) manner.
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601 AD) Astronomer with vast body of measured astronomical observations passed on the Johannes Kepler.
Francis Bacon (1561-1626 AD) Believed that scientific knowledge could give power of man over nature. He also believed the idea that definitions advance knowledge was an illusion (Aristotle's idea?).
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642 AD) Believed to be founding father of modern science with study of projectiles, pendulum, gravity. Discovered the thermometer. Asserted that earth revolves around its axis.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630 AD) Studied theology but he showed that planets move in elliptical motion around the sun (not circular as previously thought by Copernicus).
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679 AD) Believed that only matter existed, everything could be explained in terms of matter in motion. The whole universe he considered a giant machine. In politics he claimed its the fear of death that forces humans to form societies, and proposed that everyone should agree to hand power to a central authority whose job is to impose law and punish lawbreakers (police state).
Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655 AD) An advocate of the experimental approach to science.
René Descartes (1596-1650 AD) Invented analytic geometry, the graph, looked at humans contradicted themselves and wondered whether there was something that we could know for certain. Famous for his "I think therefore I am".
John Locke (1632-1704 AD) Secularized the notion that there are limits to what humans can apprehend by arguing (in his "Essays concerning Human Understanding") that if we could anylize our own mental faculties and find out what we are capable of and what not we should have discovered the limits of what is knowable by us. He never married.
Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677 AD) He believed that our physical body and the soul is one entity. He believed that for the most part we are not aware of the real causes of our actions. Being deprived of freedom of speech himself he was from the first to proclaim its importance.
Isaac Newton (1642-1727 AD) Accurately analyzed the constituents of light, invented calculus, formulated the gravitational theory, and provided us with accurate account of movements of planets through space.
Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716 AD) Invented calculus independently of Newton, was offered professorship at 21 which he turned down. Claimed that truths belong in two categories the ones that can be verified with just examining them with logical statements and the ones that need further observation and application of logic.
George Berkeley (1685-1753 AD) A consistent empiricist, believed what exists is our minds and their contents, subjects and their experiences.
Voltaire (1694-1778 AD) Crusader against tyranny, bigotry and cruelty. He subscribed to Locke's idea that the confidence we have in our beliefs needs to relate to the evidence in their support.
David Hume (1711-1776 AD) Believed that humans are a bundle of sensations.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778 AD) He received very little formal education and had espoused to spontaneous feeling against conceptual thinking. He pronounced that civilization was not a good thing as everyone had always assumed.
Denis Diderot (1713-1784 AD) As author and editor of the Encyclopédie he admitted that his aim was to change the common way of thinking.
Adam Smith (1723-1790 AD) Economist and philosopher.
Edmund Burke (1729-1797 AD) His conservatism can be summarized in his belief that the wisdom and experience of many generations it is likely to be a more reliable guide to action than any one person's opinion.
[edit]
See also
Philosophy
Western philosophy
List of philosophers
[edit]
Bibliography
[edit]
Introductions and anthologies
Classics of Western Philosophy by Steven M. Cahn
Philosophic Classics: From Plato to Derrida (4th Edition) by Forrest E. Baird
The Story of Philosophy: The Lives and Opinions of the World's Greatest Philosophers by Will Durant
From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest by T. Z. Lavine
Basic Teachings of the Great Philosophers by S. E. Frost
The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
The Great Philosophers (4 vols.) by Karl Jaspers
A History of Philosophy in the Twentieth Century by Christian Delacampagne
[edit]
Reference
A History of Western Philosophy (5 vols.) by W. T. Jones
History of Philosophy (9 vols.) by Frederick Copleston
History of Philosophy Quarterly (magazine)
[edit]
External links
History of Western Philosophy: Summary Outline by Patrick Distante (http://home.earthlink.net/~pdistan/)
History of Western Philosophy (http://www.philosophypages.com/hy/)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Western_philosophy"
Categories: Philosophy | Western culture | History by topic

Epistemology
Epistemology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge.

Contents [showhide]
1 Definition of knowledge

1.1 Justified true belief
1.2 The problem of defining knowledge

2 Justification

2.1 Irrationalism
2.2 Rationality
2.3 Synthetic and analytic statements

3 Epistemological theories

3.1 Rationalism
3.2 Empiricism

3.2.1 Naïve realism
3.2.2 Representative realism

3.3 Idealism
3.4 Phenomenalism

4 Contemporary approaches

4.1 Epistemic theories
4.2 Epistemic philosophers
4.3 Related topics

5 External links and references

[edit]
Definition of knowledge
[edit]
Justified true belief
Plato's Theaetetus. defined knowledge as justified true belief.

One implication of this definition is that one can't be said to "know" something just because one believes it and that belief turns out to be true. An ill person with no medical training but a generally optimistic attitude might believe that she will recover from her illness quickly. But even if this belief turned out to be true, on the Theatetus account the patient did not know that she would get well because her belief lacked justification.

There are on this account three categories of belief which are not knowledge. Beliefs which are true but not justified; beliefs which are justified but not true are (sometimes referred to as Justified Error); and beliefs which are neither justified nor true are sometimes referred to as Unjustified error.

In the context of epistemology, belief is not used in the sense of having confidence or faith in something. Belief is used in the sense of assenting to the truth of some proposition or statement. Beliefs in this sense are either true or false. If Jenny believes that x is true, and x is in fact true, then Jenny holds a true belief. But on the Theaetetus account, if that belief is to count as knowledge, it must also have a suitable justification. Knowledge, therefore, is distinguished from true belief by its justification, and much of epistemology is concerned with how true beliefs might be properly justified. This is sometimes referred to as the theory of justification.

The Theaetetus definition agrees with the common sense notion that we can believe things without knowing them. Whilst knowing p entails that p is true, believing in p does not, since we can have false beliefs. It also implies that we believe everything that we know. That is, the things we know form a subset of the things we believe.'

[edit]
The problem of defining knowledge
For most of philosophical history, "knowledge" was taken to mean belief that was justified as true to an absolute certainty. Any less justified beliefs were called mere "probable opinion." This viewpoint still prevailed at least as late as Bertrand Russell's early 20th century book The Problems of Philosophy. In the decades that followed, however, philosophers came to think of knowledge as meaning "justified true belief," and the notion that the belief had to be justified to a certainty was forgotten. In the 1960s, Edmund Gettier criticised this definition of knowledge by pointing out situations in which a believer has a true belief justified to a reasonable degree, but not to a certainty, and yet in the situations in question, everyone would agree that the believer does not have knowledge.

The problems show that there are situations in which a belief may be justified and true, and yet most would not consider it to be knowledge. Although being a justified, true belief is necessary for a definition of knowledge, it is not sufficient. At the least, the set of our justified true beliefs contains things that we would not say that we know.

Some epistemologists have attempted to find strengthened criteria for knowledge that will not be subject to the sorts of counterexamples Gettier and his many successors have produced. No one has yet succeeded in doing that. Kirkham (see the References section below) has argued that this is because the only definition that could ever be immune to all such counterexamples is the original one that prevailed from ancient times through Russell: to qualify as an item of knowledge, a belief must not only be true and justified, the evidence for the belief must necessitate its truth. But this conclusion is resisted since it would probably entail a sweeping skepticism.

[edit]
Justification
Much of epistemology has been concerned with seeking ways to justify knowledge statements.

[edit]
Irrationalism
Some approaches to justifying knowledge are not rational — that is, they reject the notion that justification must obey logic or reason. Nihilism started out as a materialistic political philosophy, but is sometimes redefined as the apparently absurd doctrine that there can be no justification for knowledge claims — absurd because it appears to be self-contradictory to claim that one knows that knowledge is impossible, but perhaps for a nihilist, self-contradiction is simply unimportant.

Mysticism justifies its statements by claims of direct experience of the divine. Those fortunate enough to have had such experiences again might be untroubled by any perceived lack of coherence in their statements, since it might simply be impossible for a human mind to comprehend an experience of the divine in a coherent fashion.

[edit]
Rationality
If one does not reject rationality, but still wishes to maintain that knowledge claims can not or are not justified, one might be termed a skeptic. Here we are on firmer philosophical ground; since skeptics accept the validity of reason, they can present logical arguments for their case.

For instance, the regress argument has it that one can ask for the justification for any statement of knowledge. If that justification takes the form of another statement, one can again reasonably ask for it to be justified, and so forth. This appears to lead to an infinite regress, with every statement justified by some other statement. It would be impossible to check that each justification is satisfactory, and so relying on such a series quickly leads to scepticism.

Alternately, one might claim that some knowledge statements do not require justification. Much of the history of epistemology is the story of conflicting philosophical doctrines claiming that this or that type of knowledge statement has special status. This view is known as Foundationalism.

One can also avoid the regress if one supposes that the assumption that a knowledge statement can only be supported by another knowledge statement is simply misguided. Coherentism holds that a knowledge statement is not justified by some small subset of other knowledge statements, but by the entire set. That is, a statement is justified if it coheres with all other knowledge claims in the system. This has the advantage of avoiding the infinite regress without claiming special status for some particular sorts of statements. But since a system might still be consistent and yet simply wrong, it raises the difficulty of ensuring that the whole system corresponds in some way with the truth.

[edit]
Synthetic and analytic statements
Some statements are such that they appear not to need any justification once one understands their meaning. For example, consider: my father's brother is my uncle. This statement is true in virtue of the meaning of the terms it contains, and so it seems frivolous to ask for a justification for saying it is true. Philosophers call such statements analytic. More technically, a statement is analytic if the concept in the predicate is included in the concept in the subject. In the example, the concept of uncle (the predicate) is included in the concept of being my father's brother (the subject). Not all analytic statements are as trivial as this example. Mathematical statements are often taken to be analytic.

Synthetic statements, on the other hand, have distinct subjects and predicates. An example would be my father's brother is overweight.

Although anticipated by David Hume, this distinction was more clearly formulated by Immanuel Kant, and later given a more formal shape by Frege. Wittgenstein noted in the Tractatus that analytic statements "express no thoughts", that is, that they tell us nothing new; although analytic statements do not require justification, they are singularly uninformative.

[edit]
Epistemological theories
It is common for epistemological theories to avoid skepticism by adopting a foundationalist approach. To do this, they argue that certain types of statements have a special epistemological status — that of not needing to be justified. So it is possible to classify epistemological theories according to the type of statement that each argues has this special status.

[edit]
Rationalism
Rationalists believe there are innate ideas that are not found in experience. These ideas are justified independently of any experience people may have. These ideas may in some way derive from the structure of the human mind, or they may exist independently of the mind. If they exist independently, they may be understood by a human mind once it reaches a necessary degree of sophistication.

The epitome of the rationalist view is Descartes' I think therefore I am, in which the skeptic is invited to consider that the mere fact that they doubt implies that there is a doubter. Spinoza derived a rationalist system in which there is only one substance, God. Leibniz derived a system in which there are an infinite number of substances, his Monads.

[edit]
Empiricism
Empiricists claim knowledge is a product of human experience. Statements of observations take pride of place in empiricist theory. Naive empiricism holds simply that our ideas and theories need to be tested against reality, and accepted or rejected on the basis of how well they correspond to the facts. The central problem for epistemology then becomes explaining this correspondence.

Empiricism is associated with science. While there can be little doubt about the effectiveness of science, there is much philosophical debate about how and why science works. The Scientific Method was once favoured as the reason for scientific success, but recently difficulties in the philosophy of science have led to a rise in Coherentism.

[edit]
Naïve realism
Naïve realism, or Common-Sense realism is the belief that there is a real external world, and that our perceptions are caused directly by that world. It has its foundation in causation in that an object being there causes us to see it. Thus, it follows, the world remains as it is when it is perceived - when it is not being perceived - a room is still there once we exit. The opposite theory to this is solipsism. Naïve realism fails to take into account the psychology of perception.

[edit]
Representative realism
Representative realism, unlike Naïve Realism, takes into account sense data. On this view, the way in which an object is perceived is an interpretation of the sense data by the mind, not simply a direct relationship between the object and the mind. The so-called veil of perception removes the real world from our direct inspection.

[edit]
Idealism
Idealism holds that what we refer to and perceive as the external world is in some way an artifice of the mind. Analytic statements, for example, mathematical truths, are known to be the case without reference to the external world, and these are taken to be exemplary knowledge statements. George Berkeley, Immanuel Kant and George Hegel held various idealist views.

[edit]
Phenomenalism
Phenomenalism is a development from George Berkeley's claim that to be is to be perceived. According to phenomenalism, when you see "a tree" you see a certain perception of a brown shape. On this view, one shouldn't think of objects as distinct substances, which interact with our senses so that we may perceive them; rather we should conclude that all that really exists is the perception itself.

[edit]
Contemporary approaches
Much contemporary work in epistemology depends on the two categories: foundationalism and coherentism.

Recently, Susan Haack has attempted to fuse these two approaches into her doctrine of Foundherentism, which accrues degrees of relative confidence to beliefs by mediating between the two approaches. She covers this in her book Evidence and Inquiry: Towards Reconstruction in Epistemology.

Reliabilism involves making predictions from what usually happens (e.g. claiming to speak Russian can be proved by a Russian speaker). There are two methods of reliable justification: External (Reliable, e.g. a doctor diagnosing me); and Internal (Unreliable, e.g. relying on sensations from my internal organs). But how do we know that something that is reliable is right? A computer with a bug in it is reliably incorrect.

In the aftermath of the publication of the Gettier problem and other similar scenarios, a number of new definitions were formulated. While there is general consensus that truth and belief are two necessary facets of knowledge, there is a debate about what needs to be added to the true beliefs to make them knowledge, and a debate about whether justification is necessary in the definition at all.

Some examples of these new definitions include (where S is the belief holder and p is the belief):

Peter Unger's "No accident account of knowledge", which defines knowledge as "S knows p if and only if it is not at all accidental that S's belief in p is true".
The "Defeasibilty account of knowledge", where "There is no other proposition (q), such that if S became justified in q, S would no longer be justified in p". Under this account, q is known as the "defeater".
The "Causational Account", where "The fact of p causes S's belief in p"
A problem with the Causational account is that deviant causal chains can emerge. Philosopher Alvin Goldman added that "Fact that p, causes fact that q, causes S's belief in q is not knowledge, but belief in q, from which p is inferred, is knowledge". However, there must be an awareness of the causal chain.
The "Reliable Analysis" account, which adds to the "justified true belief" definition that "S arrived at p by a reliable method, or S is a reliable judge in such matters".

[edit]
Epistemic theories
Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes
Philosophical scepticism
Rationalism
A priori
A posteriori
Empiricism
Foundationalism
Coherentism
Reliabilism
Perception
Naïve realism
Representative realism
Idealism
Phenomenalism
[edit]
Epistemic philosophers
William Alston
George Berkeley
F.H. Bradley
René Descartes
John Dewey
David Hume
William James
Immanuel Kant
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
John Locke
George Edward Moore
Alvin Plantinga
Plato
Ayn Rand (Caveat: What Ayn Rand and her supporters call her contribution to epistemology is in fact a theory of concepts.)
Bertrand Russell
Baruch Spinoza
Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Nicholas Wolterstorff
[edit]
Related topics
aesthetics
Common sense and the Diallelus
Episteme
ethics
evidentialism
knowledge
metaphysics
methods of obtaining knowledge
ontology
philosophy
philosophy of science
reason
regress argument
Self-evidence
science education
social epistemology
theory of justification
virtue epistemology
[edit]
External links and references
Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? (http://www.ditext.com/gettier/gettier.html) from Analysis, Vol. 23, pp. 121-23 (1963) by Edmund L. Gettier, transcribed by Andrew Chruckry (Sept. 13, 1997).
Richard Kirkham, "Does the Gettier Problem Rest on a Mistake?" Mind, 93, 1984.
Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy
Groovyweb (http://www.groovyweb.uklinux.net/?page_name=philosophy%20of%20knowledge&category=philosophy)
Philosophy online (http://www.philosophyonline.co.uk/tok/tokhome.htm)
The Epistemology Page (http://pantheon.yale.edu/~kd47/e-page.htm) by Keith DeRose

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology"
Categories: Philosophy | Epistemology

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