#The Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter

[theexodvs]

Claim: The New Testament canon as it currently exists is in a substantially reduced form from widely-accepted Christians writings from the first generation of the church, in particular neglecting gnostic writings. The Council of Nicaea established the canon because either the bishops whose views won out therein or Constantine did not prefer gnostic works.

Reality: The Council of Nicaea did not discuss the canon of the New Testament. The Athanasian and Arian sides were seemingly in agreement over the canon. Nicaea was convened principally to discuss matters of Christology, with the dating of Easter as a secondary issue.

The New Testament canon as it currently exists is largely in agreement with the set of works quoted by Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, and Irenaeus (all of whom died decades if not over full century before Constantine was born), along with the Muratorian fragment, written perhaps a full century before Constantine was born.

Ignatius quoted or alluded to most of the current New Testament canon (including many of Paul’s letters and perhaps all four canonical gospels), and, except Revelation, those books he did not were very short. He was martyred at the latest in the 140s, about 130 years before the birth of Constantine.

Polycarp quoted or alluded to most of the current New Testament canon as well, only neglecting John among the gospels. For what it is worth, he quotes two of John’s epistles. Again, most of the books he did not cite were very short in length, and there is only one known surviving work of his, an epistle to the Philippians. He was martyred in the middle of the second century, about 120 years before the birth of Constantine.

Unlike Ignatius and Polycarp, who contended with the proto-gnostics, Iraeneus had to contend with a more developed expression of gnosticism, along with Marcion and his followers, who promoted a very reduced form of the New Testament. Iraeneus wrote an idiosyncratic reasoning for why no fewer and no more gospels were to be considered canon than the now-accepted set of four, but given the quotations from earlier church fathers, it seems he was rationalizing a set of gospels that was already in wide use. He quoted or alluded to every book presently in the New Testament, with the exception of a few short, non-Pauline epistles. Note that he also considered 1 Clement and the Shepherd of Hermas to be Scripture. He died at an unknown date, under unknown circumstances, but likely sometime in the early third century, well before the birth of Constantine.

The Muratorian fragment is a name used to refer to the collation of two obscure manuscripts found in Italy containing a list of the books accepted at the time its original text was written as being in the New Testament. The manuscripts themselves are of medieval origin, but were copied from a text that refered to the Shepherd of Hermas as being a recent work, and attributing it to the brother of Pius, bishop of Rome AD 140-154. This suggests the work was originally written around AD 170, a century before the birth of Constantine. As the name suggests, the whole of the text which has survived to our day is in a fragmentary condition, but it mentions Luke and John being a third and fourth gospel, in addition to recognizing thirteen of Paul’s epistles, two epistles of John (which of them was included is unknown, but the Muratorian fragment quotes 1 John, suggesting either 2 or 3 John was excluded), the epistle of Jude, and Revelation. The only two books considered in the fragment not included in the canon are the Apocalypse of Peter and the Wisdom of Solomon. The former was described by the author as being rejected by some churches. The latter is included in the Old Testament by some groups. Hebrews, James, and the epistles of Peter were not discussed in the fragment. While the inclusion of Matthew and Mark as the first and second gospels is speculative, it is ludicrous to suggest the Gospel of John, which begins with describing Jesus as a fleshly being, Colossians, which describes the fullness of God dwelling in Jesus bodily, or the epistles of John, any two of which would have collectively described the protognostics as antichrist at least once, would coexist in the same canon as any gnostic gospel.

The only writings for which there seems to be some continuing disputes into the late second century were Philemon, Hebrews, some of the general epistles, and Revelation. However, besides these and the rest of the accepted New Testament, the closest to a somewhat accepted book in the New Testament canon was the Shepherd of Hermas, a decidedly non-gnostic work that was rejected due to its obvious post-apostolic origin and disconnection in concepts from the rest of Scripture. The overall trend, then, was for the canon of the New Testament to expand to its current form.

[lauralot89]

Named Angels

Fallen angels are not included. Neither are gnostic angels because I'm tired.

Aker: Named in the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra as one of the nine angels who will govern at the end of the world.

Al-Khidr: Also known as al-Khadir, Khader, Khidr, Hidr, Khizr, Kathir, Khazer, Khadr, Khedher, Khizir, Khizar, or Khilr. The Servant of God whom Moses accompanies in the Quran is identified as Al-Khidr by Islamic scholars.

Ambriel: Ambriel is an angel associated with the month of May.

Arariel: Described in the Talmud as the angel in charge of the waters of the Earth.

Ariel: An angel in Jewish and Christian mysticism. Ariel has dominion over beasts, creative forces, the North, and elemental spirits.

Arphugitonos: Named in the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra as one of the nine angels who will govern at the end of the world.

Artiya'il: An angel appearing in the hadith. Artiya'il removes grief and anxiety from humans.

Atid: One of two angels in Islamic tradition who records a person's actions. This record is used to confront each person on the Day of Judgment.

Azrael: The angel of death. Azrael is one of the four archangels in Islam.

Beburos: Named in the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra as one of the nine angels who will govern at the end of the world.

Camael: Also known as Chamuel, Khamuel, Camiel, Cameel and Camniel. One of the twelve Kabbalah angels, Camael is assigned to the fifth sephirah in the tree of life.

Cassiel: Also known as Qafsiel or Qaspiel. In Jewish and Christian mysticism, Cassiel is described by various roles, such as the angel of Saturn the angel of the moon, the angel of tears, and the angel of temperance. Cassiel is sometimes said to preside over the death of young men.

Dobiel: Also known as Dubbiel. Dobiel is the guardian angel of Ancient Persia.

Gabriel: An angel who announces God's will to men. Gabriel is considered in archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. Gabriel appears to Daniel to explain his prophetic visions. Gabriel foretold the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah and the Annunciation of Jesus to Mary. Gabriel appeared twice to Muhammad. In the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Gabriel lived a mortal life as the prophet Noah. Gabriel was named in the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra as one of the nine angels who will govern at the end of the world.

Gabuthelon: Named in the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra as one of the nine angels who will govern at the end of the world.

Haniel: Also known as Hananel, Anael, Hanael or Aniel. Haniel is sometimes listed as one of the seven archangels. In Kabbalah, Haniel is associated with the seventh sephirah.

Jegudiel: Also known as Iehudiel. Jegudiel is one of the seven archangels of the Eastern Orthodox Church tradition. Jegudiel is the patron saint of hard work and leadership and is often depicted holding a whip (as a punishment for sinners) and a crown (as a gift for the righteous).

Jerahmeel: Also known as Jeremiel, Eremiel, or Ieremihel. Jerahmeel is recognized as an archangel in Lutheran, Angelican, and Orthodox traditions. Jerahmeel is said to comfort the righteous dead in the Bosom of Abraham, or to guard heaven with St. Peter.

Jophiel: Also known as Dina, Iophiel, Iofiel, Jofiel, Yofiel, Youfiel, Zophiel, or Zuriel. In Anglican tradition, Jophiel is an archangel and in Kabbalah, Jophiel is associated with the sephirah chokmah. Some sources list Jophiel as the angel who guards the garden of Eden with a flaming sword.

Kalqa'il: Kalqa'il is an Islamic angel who guards the entrance of the fifth heaven.

Lailah: An angel appearing in the Talmud. Lailah is associated with conception, pregnancy, and the night.

Maalik: An Islamic angel of hell. Maalik carries out God's punishment on wrongdoers.

Metatron: Described in the Talmud as the heavenly scribe, Metatron is allowed to sit in the presence of God to record the deeds of Israel. Metatron was mistaken by Elisha ben Abuyah for a deity, and was subsequently lashed 60 times with a fiery rod to demonstrate that the Metatron was an angel and could be punished, unlike a god. In mystic writings, Metatron is the form Enoch took after his ascension. In Islam, Metatron is the angel of the veil and alone knows what lies beyond it.

Michael: Also known as Mika'il or Mikal. The prince of Israel and prince of the Heavenly Host. Michael is regarded as an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic tradition, and is the only angel explicitly identified as an archangel in the Christian Bible. In the book of Daniel, Michael fought the prince of Persia. In Revelation, Michael fought Satan and cast him out of heaven. Michael and Gabriel are the angels said to have shown Muhammad paradise and hell. In Jewish tradition, Michael prevented the sacrifice of Isaac by providing a ram. Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses believe Michael is another name for Jesus in heaven. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints, Michael is the same person as Adam. Michael is named in the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra as one of the nine angels who will govern at the end of the world.

Moroni: In angel in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Moroni was the guardian of the golden plates from which Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon, and appeared to Smith numerous times.

Muriel: Muriel is a Domination, a class of angel in the second angelic sphere. Muriel is associated with the month of June.

Nuriel: Regarded in some traditions as the same being as the angel Uriel. Nuriel is the angel of hailstorms and commands an army of 500,000 angels made of water and fire.

Pahaliah: Pahaliah is the angel of Redemption. Pahaliah is a throne, an class of angel in the first angelic sphere.

Puriel: Puriel accompanied Abraham on a journey to heaven. Puriel is tasked with examining the souls of those brought to heaven.

Raphael: Known in Islam as Israfel or Israfil. Raphael is regarded as an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions. It is believed that Raphael is the angel in the Gospel of John who stirs the pool of Bethesda. In Islam, Raphael will blow the trumpet which signals the Day of Judgment, and the hadith lists him as the angel closest to God. Named in the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra as one of the nine angels who will govern at the end of the world.

Raqib: One of two angels in Islamic tradition who records a person's actions. This record is used to confront each person on the Day of Judgment.

Raziel: Also known as Gallitsur. Raziel is the angel of secrets and mysteries, and the keeper of all magic. In Kabbalah, Raziel is associated with the sepirah chokmak.

Riḍwan: Also known as Riswan. Riḍwan is an Islamic angel who guards the gates of heaven.

Sabrael: Sabrael is an angel appearing in the apocryphal works the Testament of Solomon and 3 Enoch.

Sachiel: Also known as Sariel, Suriel, Suriyel, Sikhael, Sixael, Satquel, Satquiel, Saquiel, Seriel, Sauriel, Saraqael, Sarakiel, Suruel, Surufel, Souriel, or Sachquiel. Sachiel is a cherub who is associated with charity and wealth.

Sahaquiel: Listed as one of the archangels in the Third Book of Enoch. Sahaquiel is attended by "496,000 myriads of ministering angels."

Samkhiel: An angel of Gehenna, Samkhiel is the angel of destruction. Samkhiel torments the wicked to cleanse their souls and eventually reuinte them with God.

Sandalphon: An archangel in mystical traditions of Judaism and early Christianity. Sandalphon is said to gather prayers and bring them to God. Some sources regard Sandalphon as an angelic ascension of Elijah.

Sarathiel: Also known as Serathiel. Sarathiel is an archangel in the Oriental Orthodox tradition.

Selaphiel: Also known as Sealtiel, Selatiel, or Selathiel. Selaphiel is regarded as an archangel in the Byzantine Catholic and Greek Orthodox traditions. Selaphiel is sometimes viewed as the angel in Revelation who offers people's prayers to God.

Uriel: Also known as Phanuel. Uriel is often depicted as a cherub and is the angel of repentance. Uriel is regarded as an archangel in Russian Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Anglican traditions, as well as in Kabbalhah. Named in the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra as one of the nine angels who will govern at the end of the world.

Uziel: Also known as Usiel. Uziel is an archangel in 3 Enoch.

Yahoel: Also known as Jahoel, Jehoel, or Yaoel. Yahoel is charged with destroying idolators and restraining the Leviathian. Some sources list Yahoel as the chief angel of the Seraphim. Another lists Yahoel as one of the names of Metatron.

Zadkiel: Also known as Hasdiel. In Kabbalah, Zadkiel is an archangel associated with the fourth sephirah.

Zaphkiel: Also known as Tzaphqiel, Tzaphkiel, Zaphchial, Zaphiel, or Zelel. Zaphkiel is the chief angel of the thrones and is regarded in some traditions as the same angel as Raphael.

Zebuleon: Named in the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra as one of the nine angels who will govern at the end of the world.

Zephaniel: Zephaniel is the chief angel of the Ishim in Kabbalah.

Zerachiel: Also known as Zachariel, Zakhariel or Saraqael. An angel who leads souls to judgment and is set over those who "sin in the spirit."

Zotiel: Zotiel is an angel mentioned in the Book of Enoch.

[ohblackdiamond]

various influences on my silly fanfics

gnosticism is probably the ultimate drive of most of my fics. you know, besides the need to write a bunch of smut.

tennessee williams --particularly "cat on a hot tin roof" as the perma-adolescence and perma-self-pitying brick has consigned himself to parallels that of aging rockstars pretty accurately. williams' reliance on implication rather than statement, motivated though it was by the times, is also something i've pulled from.

mr. skeffington --end scene was a pivotal inspiration for "back to the garden." "mr. skeffington has come home."

whatever happened to baby jane? --next to last scene, particularly for my paul/peter stuff. ~*~you mean, all this time, we could've been friends?~*~

utena --the black rose saga and apocalypse arc in particular. in the black rose saga, the duelists end up in what amounts to an inverted/twisted therapy session/confessional where they reveal their true motivations. shiori's was a big influence on "little t&a" ("what i did with him made me feel even more pathetic than before" and the "it's no use, it's just no use") and various other fics to one degree or another. juri's constant holding of shiori at arm's length, while shiori tries any means at all to get back at her/force juri's attention on her, is pretty intriguing. the entire utena series is a mess but it's fascinating, with its theme of cyclical hurt.

evangelion --hurt people hurt people, news at 5. this series is still dear to me (and was once very dear to my wallet), and i hold a peculiar fondness for the maligned rebuild movie series, as in it (not the largest theme of the series), asuka and shinji effectively move past each other; asuka ostensibly "grows up," but can't let go. the eventual bridging of the gaps between them was influential.

solaris --more on how our limited, surface understanding of even the people most important to us has a pretty grave impact, all on a weird sci-fi backdrop. i'm not giving this one the introspective review it deserves, but it's more than worth the watch.

la strada --anthony quinn doing the same carnival stunt over and over.

requiem for a heavyweight --way past his prime, physically destroyed boxer tries to make a life for himself outside of the ring, and finds out he can't.

rocky --underdog ends up with a shot at the title. ends up with four million sequels, franchised, overbulked, and overproduced. and he keeps going. and he keeps going! and he keeps going! does this remind you of anything? because it should.

performance --i have discussed this one at length but the down-but-not-yet-out rockstar has pretty obvious parallels to kiss.

spinal tap --oh, come on. this scene is a kiss reference.

[otosugar]

Heavens' Paradise Lost: Their biblical counterparts part 2

Tumblr couldn't handle my extensive summary because reasons and made me redo the archangels parts again I have pain for this but here is the Beside You part

Fall on me can be found here

Uriel

Uriel, Auriel or Oriel is the name of one of the archangels who is mentioned in the post-exilic rabbinic tradition and in certain Christian traditions. He is well known in the Russian Orthodox tradition and in folk Catholicism (in both of which he is considered to be one of the seven major archangels) and recognised in the Anglican Church as the fourth archangel. He is also well known in European esoteric medieval literature. Uriel is also known as a master of knowledge and archangel of wisdom.

Where a fourth archangel is added to the named three, to represent the four cardinal points, Uriel is generally the fourth. Uriel is listed as the fourth angel by Christian Gnostics (under the name Phanuel). However, it is debated whether the Book of Enoch refers to the same angel by two different names. Uriel means "God is my flame", whereas Phanuel means "God has turned". Uriel is the third angel listed in the Testament of Solomon, the fourth being Sabrael.

Uriel appears in the Second Book of Esdras found in the Biblical apocrypha (called Esdras IV in the Vulgate) in which the prophet Ezra asks God a series of questions and Uriel is sent by God to instruct him. According to the Revelation of Esdras, the angels that will rule at the end of the world are Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Gabuthelon, Beburos, Zebuleon, Aker, and Arphugitonos. The last five listed only appear in this book and nowhere else in apocryphal or apocalyptic works.

Uriel is often identified as a cherub and the angel of repentance. He "stands at the Gate of Eden with a fiery sword", or as the angel "who is over the world and over Tartarus. In the Apocalypse of Peter he appears as the angel of repentance, who is graphically represented as being as pitiless as any demon. In the Life of Adam and Eve, Uriel is regarded as the spirit (i.e., one of the cherubs) of the third chapter of Genesis. He is also identified as one of the angels who helped bury Adam and Abel in Eden.

Gabriel

In the Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to humans. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Quran. Many Christian traditions – including Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, and Anglicanism – revere Gabriel as a saint. In the Hebrew Bible, Gabriel appears to the prophet Daniel to explain his visions (Daniel 8:15–26, 9:21–27). The archangel also appears in the Book of Enoch and other ancient Jewish writings not preserved in Hebrew. Alongside the archangel Michael, Gabriel is described as the guardian angel of Israel, defending its people against the angels of the other nations.

Gabriel's first appearance in the New Testament, concerns the annunciation of the birth of John the Baptist. John's father Zacharias, a priest of the course of Abia, (Luke 1:5–7) was childless because his wife Elisabeth was barren. An angel appears to Zacharias while he is ministering in the Temple, to announce the birth of his son. When Zacharias questions the angel, the angel gives his name as Gabriel: "10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. 11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. 18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. 19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. 20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season."

— Luke 1:10-20 After completing his required week of ministry, Zacharias returns to his home and his wife Elizabeth conceives. After she has completed five months of her pregnancy (Luke 1:21–25), Gabriel appears again, now to Mary, to announce the birth of Jesus:

"26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her."

— Luke 1:26-38

Michael

Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i faith. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in 3rd and 2nd-century BC Jewish works, often but not always apocalyptic, where he is the chief of the angels and archangels, and he is the guardian prince of Israel and is responsible for the care of Israel. Christianity adopted nearly all the Jewish traditions concerning him, and he is mentioned explicitly in Revelation 12:7–12, where he does battle with Satan, and in the Epistle of Jude, where the author denounces heretics by contrasting them with Michael.

The seven archangels (or four - the traditions differ but always include Michael) were associated with the branches of the menorah, the sacred seven-branched lampstand in the Temple as the seven spirits before the throne of God, and this is reflected in the Book of Revelation 4:5 ("From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God" - ESV). Michael is mentioned explicitly in Revelation 12:7-12, where he does battle with Satan and casts him out of heaven so that he no longer has access to God as accuser (his formal role in the Old Testament). The fall of Satan at the coming of Jesus marks the separation of the New Testament from Judaism. In Luke 22:31 Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked God for permission to "sift" the disciples, the goal being to accuse them, but the accusation is opposed by Jesus, who thus takes on the role played by angels, and especially by Michael, in Judaism.

Michael is mentioned by name for the second time in the Epistle of Jude, a passionate plea for believers in Christ to do battle against heresy. In verses 9-10 the author denounces the heretics by contrasting them with the archangel Michael, who, disputing with Satan over the body of Moses, "did not presume to pronounce the verdict of 'slander' but said, 'The Lord punish you!'

According to rabbinic tradition, Michael acted as the advocate of Israel, and sometimes had to fight with the princes of the other nations (Daniel 10:13) and particularly with the angel Samael, Israel's accuser. Their enmity dates from the time Samael was thrown from heaven and tried to drag Michael down with him, necessitating God's intervention.

Raphael

Raphael is an archangel first mentioned in the Book of Tobit and in 1 Enoch, both estimated to date from between the 3rd and 2nd century BCE. In later Jewish tradition, he became identified as one of the three heavenly visitors entertained by Abraham at the Oak of Mamre. He is not named in either the New Testament or the Quran, but later Christian tradition identified him with healing and as the angel who stirred waters in the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:2–4, and in Islam, where his name is Israfil, he is understood to be the unnamed angel of Quran 6:73, standing eternally with a trumpet to his lips, ready to announce the Day of Judgment. In Gnostic tradition, Raphael is represented on the Ophite Diagram.

His name derives from the Hebrew root רפא (r-p-ʾ) meaning "to heal", and can be translated as "God has healed". In Tobit he goes by the name Azariah (Hebrew: עֲזַרְיָה/עֲזַרְי��הוּ ʿĂzaryāh/ʿĂzaryāhū, "Yah/Yahu has helped") while disguising himself as a human. In the text he acts as a physician and expels demons, using an extraordinary fish to bind the demon Asmodeus and to heal Tobit's eyes, while in 1 Enoch he is "set over all disease and every wound of the children of the people", and binds the armies of Azazel and throws them into the valley of fire.

The New Testament names only two archangels or angels, Michael and Gabriel (Luke 1:9–26; Jude 1:9; Revelation 12:7), but Raphael, because of his association with healing, became identified with the unnamed angel of John 5:1–4 who periodically stirred the pool of Bethesda "and he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under". The Catholic Church accordingly links Raphael with Michael and Gabriel as saints whose intercession can be sought through prayer.

Due to his actions in the Book of Tobit and the Gospel of John, Saint Raphael is considered patron of travelers, the blind, happy meetings, nurses, physicians, medical workers, matchmakers, Christian marriage, and Catholic studies. As a particular enemy of the devil, he was revered in Catholic Europe as a special protector of sailors: on a corner of the famous Doge's Palace in Venice is a relief depicting Raphael holding a scroll on which is written: "Efficia fretum quietum" (“Keep the Gulf quiet”). On July 8, 1497, when Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon with his four-ship fleet to India, the flagship was named São Rafael at the insistence of King Manuel I of Portugal. When the flotilla reached the Cape of Good Hope on October 22, the sailors debarked and erected a column in the archangel's honor. The little statue of Raphael that accompanied Da Gama on the voyage is now in the Naval Museum in Lisbon.

[madamlaydebug]

A number of leather codices were found at Nag Hammadi in Southern Egypt in 1945.

They are Coptic translations of Greek Gnostic documents. They likely belonged to an Egyptian monastery were disposed of after Gnostic literature was categorically rejected by decree of St. Athanasius of Alexandria.

The leather bound volumes contain the following works. They are mostly Valentinian Gnostic texts that were popularized in Egypt after the second century A.D.

Codex I (The Jung Codex)

The Prayer of the Apostle Paul

The Apocryphon of James

The Gospel of Truth

The Treatise on the Resurrection

The Tripartite Tractate

Codex II

The Apocryphon of John

The Gospel of Thomas a sayings gospel

The Gospel of Philip a sayings gospel[citation needed]

The Hypostasis of the Archons

On the Origin of the World

The Exegesis on the Soul

The Book of Thomas the Contender

Codex III

The Apocryphon of John

The Gospel of the Egyptians

Eugnostos the Blessed

The Sophia of Jesus Christ

The Dialogue of the Saviour

Codex IV

The Apocryphon of John

The Gospel of the Egyptians

Codex V

Eugnostos the Blessed

The Apocalypse of Paul

The First Apocalypse of James

The Second Apocalypse of James

The Apocalypse of Adam

Codex VI

The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles

The Thunder, Perfect Mind

Authoritative Teaching

The Concept of Our Great Power

Republic by Plato [The original is not gnostic, but the Nag Hammadi library version is heavily modified with current gnostic concepts.]

The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth – a Hermetic treatise

The Prayer of Thanksgiving (with a hand-written note) – a Hermetic prayer

Asclepius 21-29 – another Hermetic treatise

Codex VII

The Paraphrase of Shem

The Second Treatise of the Great Seth

Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter

The Teachings of Silvanus

The Three Steles of Seth

Codex VIII

Zostrianos

The Letter of Peter to Philip

Codex IX

Melchizedek

The Thought of Norea

The Testimony of truth

Codex X

Marsanes

Codex XI

The Interpretation of Knowledge

A Valentinian Exposition, On the Anointing, On Baptism (A and B) and On the Eucharist (A and B)

Allogenes

Hypsiphrone

Codex XII

The Sentences of Sextus

The Gospel of Truth

Fragments

Codex XIII:

Trimorphic Protennoia

On the Origin of the World

[andromedainruins]

Updated Task List: Ancient Christianities

For the Rest of the Semester I need to do:

Discussion post and Journal: Introduction to Ancient Christian Texts

Quiz, discussion post, and Journal: The Synoptic Gospels and Related Material

Quiz, discussion post, and Journal: The Earliest Christians

Discussion post and Journal: Paul

Discussion post and Journal: The Johannine Books

Discussion post and Journal: Self-Definition Among Christians and Jews

Discussion post and Journal: Gnosticism and the Gospel of Thomas

Quiz, discussion post, and Journal: The Birth of Orthodoxy

Quiz, discussion post, and Journal: Apocalypse and Persecution

Quiz, discussion post, and Journal: Popular Christian Literature

Quiz and Journal (Finals Week): The Historical Jesus

All in all, if I math this right, that is 8,800 words minimum (with MLA citations) and 180 questions due by the 14th? I can do this. Where I think imma have trouble is the list of readings:

Fragments of Papias

Muratorian Canon

Lecture: What is the New Testament?

Lecture: Source Criticism

Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke

Secret Gospel of Mark

Unknown Gospel

Gospel of Peter

Synoptic Parallels

Lecture: The Gospel of Mark

Lecture: The Gospel of Matthew

Lecture: The Gospel of Luke

Lecture: The Gospel of Peter

Acts of the Apostles

Galatians Chapter 2

The Didache

Lecture: Acts of the Apostles: The Earliest Christians

Lecture: The Twelve Apostles

Lecture: The Didache

1 Thessalonians

Galatians

1, 2 Corinthians

Philemon

Phillippians

Romans

Lecture: Paul and His Churches parts 1 and 2

Gospel of John

1, 2, and 3 John

Lecture: The Gospel of John

Lecture: The Johannine Letters

Hebrews

Barnabas

Irenaeus on Marcion

Lecture: Judaism and Christian Self-Definition

Gospel of Thomas

2 Peter

3 Corinthians

Gospel of Mary

Gospel of Truth

Gospel of Judas

Irenaeus on the Gnostics

Epiphanes on Righteousness

Apocryphon of John

Lecture: Gnosticism

Lecture: The Gospel of Thomas

Ephesians

Colossians

2 Thessalonians

1, 2 Timothy

Titus

Letters of Ignatius

Letter of Polycarp

Letter of 1 Clement

Lecture: The Birth of Orthodoxy

Lecture: Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp

The Revelation to John

The Shepherd of Hermas

Apocalypse of Peter

1 Peter

Letters of Pliny and Trajan

Justin's First Apology

Celsus

Lecture: Early Christian Apocalypses

Lecture: Persecution and Polemic

Infancy Gospel of Thomas

Acts of Paul and Thecla

Tertullian on Heretic Women

Lecture: Popular Christian Literature

Jesus and The Jew - Geza Vermes

The Historical Figure of Jesus - E. P. Sanders (two sections)

Lecture: The Historical Jesus

[eli-kittim]

The Quran: Revelation or Forgery?

By Goodreads Author Eli Kittim

——-

Did Muhammad Exist?

Before we embark on a brief criticism of the Quran, it’s important to note that there is “very little biographical information” (Wiki) concerning the historicity of its founder, Muhammad:

Attempts to distinguish between the

historical elements and the unhistorical

elements of many of the reports of

Muhammad have not been very successful

(Wiki).

(see: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historicity_of_Muhammad#Views_of_secular_historians).

Of course, this opens up the possibility of whether or not the unknown author of the Quran invented the Muhammad tradition to bolster his credibility. In order to determine the answer to this question, it is crucial to consider the evidence of *intertextuality* in the Quran, that is to say, the literary dependence of the Quran on earlier texts and sources.

——-

How historically reliable is the Quran?

Firstly, with regard to source criticism——that is, the sources that the Quran’s message is derived from——there are some very serious issues involved. For example, there are well-known parallelisms between the Quran and the extra-biblical, non-inspired book of Talmud (e.g. Surah 5:32; cf. Sanhedrin 37a) as well as borrowing from Christian apocryphal works that were written hundreds of years after the purported events and which claim to be legitimate Christian gospels but are not. Case in point, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas:

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is thought to

be Gnostic in origin. . . . Early Christians

regarded the Infancy Gospel of Thomas as

inauthentic and heretical. Hippolytus

identified it as a fake and a heresy in his

Refutation of All Heresies, and his

contemporary Origen referred to it in a

similar way in a homily written in the early

third century. Eusebius rejected it as a

heretical ‘fiction’ in the third book of his

fourth-century Church History, and Pope

Gelasius I included it in his list of heretical

books in the fifth century. While non-

canonical in Christianity, the Infancy Gospel

of Thomas contains many miracles and

stories of Jesus referenced in the Qur'an,

such as Jesus giving life to clay birds (Wiki).

So, the Quran clearly employs Jewish and Christian apocryphal works that were never accepted as canonical or as “inspired” either by Jews or Christians. Thus, at least some of the sources of the Quran are highly dubious.

Secondly, in 632 CE, following Muhammad’s death, the Battle of Yamama ensued where a great number of those who had supposedly retained the Quran in their memory (hafiz) actually died. How then can Muslims claim the preservation of the Quran through memory and oral transmission?

Thirdly, the New Testament is the best attested book from the ancient world as well as the most scrutinized book in history, and one which has a critical edition. By contrast, the Quran has not been critically scrutinized rigorously in the same manner, nor does it have a critical edition, nor is the manuscript evidence made available to scholars for serious study. There’s a secrecy surrounding it that seems to prevent scholarly investigations. For example, because it lacks a critical edition, there are no footnotes in the Quran to notify the reader about manuscript evidence or textual discrepancies or omissions, such that “(some verses eaten by a goat; Ibn Majah, Book of Nikah, p.39) or that (Umar records the missing verses; Bukhari 8.82.816 & 817).

Fourthly, Orientalists have often questioned the historical authenticity of the Quran by charging Uthman ibn Affan (the 3rd Caliph of Islam) of consigning variant copies of the Quran to the flames during his reign.

Fifthly, the controlled transmission of the Quran makes it impossible to know what was the original. Hence its textual integrity is seriously compromised. By contrast, in the case of the New Testament, for example, since no one person controlled all the manuscripts, it would be impossible to uniformly corrupt all the documents. In the case of the Quran, however, the text was in fact controlled by one person, the khalifa, as attested by Uthman's authority to recall and uniformly revise all the manuscripts. Therefore, it would have been extremely easy for the Quran to have been uniformly corrupted in a textually undetectable manner. For example, the “Sanaa manuscript,” which contains earlier developments of the Quran, demonstrates textual variances that diverge from the Uthman copy.

In conclusion, the Quran doesn’t allow us to come any closer to the original text than the Uthmanic Revised Standard Version 20 years removed from Muhammad. Any errors which found their way into the URSV would be permanent and uncorrectable. And, unfortunately, historical accounts from early Islam tell us that such errors existed!

——-

The Quran is Based on Dubious Sources

Besides the numerous and traceable Judeo-Christian apocryphal works that the author used within the Quran itself, he also got a lot of his ideas from a group that was an offshoot of the Ebionites called the “Sabians,” variously known as Mandaeans or Elcesaites. The Sabians followed Hermeticism and adored John the Baptizer:

Occasionally,

Mandaeans are called

‘Christians of Saint

John’ . . . the ‘Sabians’

are described several

times in the Quran as

People of the Book,

alongside Jews and

Christians (Wiki).

According to Origen and Eusebius, the Sabians used an extra-biblical book that they claimed was given by an Angel (maybe another idea adopted by Muhammad?) to deny portions of Scripture as well as the writings of Paul! So, this idea of challenging Christianity and claiming to have received a new revelation from an angel is quite common in ancient times. It is not unique to Islam. Others had made similar claims. Thus, without completely rejecting the possibility of *revelation* in at least some portions of the Quran, the majority of its theological narratives are largely based on dubious and questionable sources, derived from spurious texts that were under the radar of heresiologists across the ancient world!

——-

Two Apocryphal Works Employed by the Quran to Deny the Crucifixion of Jesus

//Second Treatise of the Great Seth is an apocryphal Gnostic writing discovered in the Codex VII of the Nag Hammadi codices and dates to around the third century. The author is unknown, and the Seth referenced in the title appears nowhere in the text. Instead Seth is thought to reference the third son of Adam and Eve to whom gnosis was first revealed, according to some gnostics. The author appears to belong to a group of gnostics who maintain that Jesus Christ was not crucified on the cross. Instead the text says that Simon of Cyrene was mistaken for Jesus and crucified in his place. Jesus is described as standing by and "laughing at their ignorance”// (Wiki).

//The Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter is a text found amongst the Nag Hammadi library, and part of the New Testament apocrypha. Like the vast majority of texts in the Nag Hammadi collection, it is heavily gnostic. It was probably written around 100-200 AD. Since the only known copy is written in Coptic, it is also known as the Coptic Apocalypse of Peter.

The text takes gnostic interpretations of the crucifixion to the extreme, picturing Jesus as laughing and warning against people who cleave to the name of a dead man, thinking they shall become pure. Like some of the rarer Gnostic writings, this one also doubts the established Crucifixion story which places Jesus on the cross. Instead, according to this text, there was a substitute:

He whom you saw on the

tree, glad and laughing,

this is the living Jesus.

But this one into whose

hands and feet they

drive the nails is his

fleshly part, which is the

substitute being put to

shame, the one who

came into being in his

likeness. But look at him

and me// (Wiki).

This is attested in the Quran:

That they said (in boast), ‘We killed Christ

Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of

Allah’—but they killed him not, nor crucified

him, but so it was made to appear to them,

and those who differ therein are full of

doubts, with no [certain] knowledge, but

only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they

killed him not—nay, Allah raised him up unto

Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power,

Wise (Sura 4:157-158, Yusuf Ali).

——-

A Possible Forgery: Is Muhammad Copying Augustine?

Muhammad (570 – 632 CE) seems to have modelled his conversion on Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 CE), who was without a doubt the greatest theologian and philosopher of his day! Case in point, in 386 CE, Augustine converted to Christianity from the pagan Machanean religion. Similarly, in 610 CE, Muhammad converted to Islam from the “Jahiliyya" religion, which worshipped Allah as the creator god as well as the Kaaba in Mecca. About 224 years earlier St. Augustine had heard a voice that told him to “take up and read,” a line which became very famous and reverberated through the centuries:

As Augustine later told it, his conversion

was prompted by hearing a child's voice

say ‘take up and read’ (Latin: tolle, lege).

Resorting to the Sortes Sanctorum, he

opened a book of St. Paul's writings (codex

apostoli, 8.12.29) at random and read

Romans 13: 13–14: Not in rioting and

drunkenness, not in chambering and

wantonness, not in strife and envying, but

put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no

provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts

thereof (Wiki).

By comparison, Muhammad appears to have used a similar line to claim that he, too, heard an Angel’s voice repeatedly say to him: “Read.” Given that Muhammad was presumably familiar with Judaism and Christianity (and especially with the foremost leading authority of his day, the African Augustine of Hippo), it seems very likely that he modelled his conversion on the latter. And, if true, that would certainly constitute a forgery!

——-

Are Allah’s Oaths Self-contradictory in the Quran?

The aforementioned textual criticisms are further compounded when we realize that the Quran contains further theological discrepancies. For example, there are numerous verses in the Quran where Allah is swearing by created things that are less-than-God, thus committing “shirk” (i.e. the sin of ascribing divine status to any other beings beside Allah). Here’s a case in point. In sura 81:15, Allah says: “But nay! I swear by the stars.” Another example is sura 91 verse 1: “I swear by the sun and its brilliance.” When God supposedly swears by something which is less than himself the truth value of his assertion is obviously weakened. By definition, an oath is meant to buttress an argument, not to decrease the weight thereof. Therefore, the truth value of an oath is equivalent to, and connected with, the truth value of the one who declares it. As such, Allah’s oaths (swearing by created things) directly contradict his so-called divine status. By contrast, the God of the Bible swears by Himself, since there is nothing greater to swear under (cf. Gen. 22.16; Isa. 45.23; Heb. 6.13). By definition, an oath is a solemn attestation of the truth of one's words. In this case, how can Allah’s oaths be trustworthy if they appeal to something that is less than himself? Answer: they cannot! It appears, then, that the aforementioned oaths in the Quran are reflecting a human rather than a divine author.

——-

Is Muhammad the Prophesied False Prophet of Revelation?

During the Early Middle

Ages, Christendom

largely viewed Islam as a

Christological heresy

and Muhammad as a

false prophet (Wiki).

In short, following the Arab conquest of the Middle East and due to the *military expansion* of Islam into Europe and Central Asia since the 700’s (toppling one country after another), Muhammad was increasingly seen as a possible candidate for the office of the *false-prophet-of-Revelation* (cf. Rev. 16.13; 19.20; 20.10): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Christian_views_on_Muhammad

——-

Conclusion

Muslims claim that the Quran is neither corrupted nor influenced by Judeo-Christian sources, and yet upon further scrutiny the book clearly incorporates passages from both the Jewish Talmud and from various Christian apocryphal works. Plagiarism abounds, and so does forgery. Therefore, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to maintain that it’s a “revelation” when at least some of the sources of the Quran are highly dubious!

Moreover, Islam has nothing new to offer by way of revelation. Its doctrine could simply be classified as a modified theological redundancy of the Judeo-Christian tradition and the Biblical heritage that preceded it. The main difference between Islam and Christianity is this. Unlike the Quran’s singular witness and source——given that it was only revealed to *one* man (Muhammad)——the revelations of the New Testament were imparted to many different people, thereby authenticating its message by multiple attestations and witnesses!

——-

[renegade-hierophant]

1. Gnostic non-Christian:

On the Origin of the World

Eugnostos

The Paraphrase of Shem

The 3 Steles of Seth

Zostrianos

Thought of Norea

Marsanes

Exegesis on the Soul

Apocalypse of Adam

Allogenes

2. Gnostic with marginal Christian glosses:

Books of Jeu

Pistis Sophia

Untitled text

Hypostasis of the Archons

Tripartite Tractate

Gospel of the Egyptians

2nd Treatise of Great Seth

Valentinian Exposition

Trimorphic Protennoia

3. Gnostic with enhanced Christian elements:

Gospel of Truth

Apocryphon of John

Sophia of Jesus Christ

Melchizidek

4. Gnostic Christocentric:

Gospel of Thomas

Gospel of Philip

Book of Thomas the Contender

Dialogue of the Saviour

Apocryphon of James

1st and 2nd Apocalypse of James

Apocalypse of Peter

Gospel of Mary

For anyone interested in studying real Gnosticism, focus on the 1st and 2nd group of texts, only marginally on the 3rd, and you can completely ignore the 4th. Studying Middle Platonism and the Ancient Egyptian religion, particularly the various cosmologies and theogonies is absolutely necessary, since real Gnosticism is deeply rooted in Egyptian mythology and Hellenistic philosophy, and has no Christian or Jewish roots whatsoever. 

[beloved-not-broken]

The New Testament and biblical fanfiction:

How the apocrypha shaped the early church and Christianity as we know it

I just submitted my final essay for my seminary class, and I wanted to share it here. Partly because I'm proud of it, and partly because it gave me a new perspective on the so-called heretical gospels I grew up hearing about.

.

What we now consider New Testament apocrypha were written the 1st and 2nd centuries by early Christians or Gnostics. The texts tend to follow genre conventions of the time.

The apocryphal gospels, for instance, are collections of teachings of Jesus Christ or his disciples.

Pseudepigraphal works are those attributed to prominent figures, such as Paul and Thomas, but not actually written by them.

These and the now-canon texts were crucial in the formation of the early church.

Early Christians didn’t have a New Testament. According to Rev. Professor Barton, “the stories about Jesus and his sayings must have circulated orally.” But in addition to oral traditions, Jesus’ teachings circulated via writings by his disciples in the first century. Their works would be considered significant among 2nd-century Christians, and eventually accepted as canon in the 4th century.

New authors would step in generations after the disciples wrote their texts to convey Jesus’ teachings—or moral lessons that would align with his teachings—to new audiences. By attributing new works to prominent figures, pseudepigraphal works gave clout to theologically significant texts that might otherwise be ignored.

One example is the Gospel of Nicodemus, which was written for a pagan audience and was likely a response to false acts of Jesus’ trial that were being taught in schools at the time. (To learn more, check out M.R. James' translation of the Gospel of Nicodemus on Early Christian Writings.)

My professor described the apocrypha as biblical fanfiction, which makes a lot of sense.

Fanfiction is defined as stories that deviate from “canon,” or official media. Some stories take place familiar characters in unfamiliar settings (i.e. works in an “alternate universe”), and others explore concepts that the source material merely set up (i.e. “canon compliant” works).

Fanfiction is an excellent way to introduce readers to new media through the use of genre conventions.

For example, someone who may be unfamiliar with the cult classic Pacific Rim may decide to watch the movie after finding a story that sets up a relationship between two antagonistic characters. (For those curious, check out the "enemies to lovers" tag in the Pacific Rim fandom on AO3.)

Similarly, the New Testament apocrypha introduced Christianity to secular audiences by...

Incorporating cultural elements they would be familiar with (e.g. the Hellenistic overtones in the Apocalypse of Peter)

Exploring the lives of background biblical characters (e.g. Mary, the mother of Jesus, in the Infancy Gospel of James)

Teaching moral lessons through prominent historical figures (e.g. the vices of Jacob's sons in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs)

The concept of a “headcanon” is tangentially related to fanfiction. This descriptor can apply to anything that the source material doesn’t acknowledge but is nevertheless widely accepted by the fan base.

For example, a popular headcanon among Star Wars fans is that Emperor Palpatine planted visions in Anakin Skywalker’s head to convince the young Jedi to turn to the Dark Side.

Similarly, apocryphal works like the Apocalypse of Paul and Coptic Apocalypse of Paul contributed to Christians’ understanding of heaven and hell, which were not discussed in such detail in the biblical canon.

Whether biblical or not, stories don’t have to be canonical to be influential.

Fanfiction authors can interest their audiences in the source material by writing non-canonical works. Similarly, the authors of the New Testament apocrypha certainly succeeded in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ through what we know now are non-canonical works.

The influence of the New Testament apocrypha then and now cannot be overstated.

[didanawisgi]

Nergal: The Lion Headed Cock God of Babylonian Hell (Earth) by Moe

“Nergal is the Hero God of War and the Underworld – ie: Babylonia, Earth, Hell, Land of the Dead and what we can just call today – Modernity.

Nergal had presided over the affairs of humans as one of the agents of punishment with his main instruments being that of magick, war, and pestilence. He was also King of the Spirits of the Air who was almost always accompanied by his female consort Ereskigal and many warrior demons as his legions.

The God Nergal was said to be an Idol of the Samaritan Hebrews who we also know under the names of the Kush, Cuthah, Cuthites, Cushite, and Cutheans. Nergal is mentioned in 2 Kings xvii, and the Babylonian Talmudic treatise Sanhedrin (fol. 63, p. 2) which states that the men of Kuth made Nergal their god.

“And what was it? A cock.”

Based on these historical descriptions, we know that Nergal was said to be worshipped in the form of a Cock (Rooster), or a man with the head of a Cock. But he is also found depicted as a “Man-Lion” with the body of a man and head of a lion.

In one of the oldest depictions of Nergal, we also see the symbols like the horns on his head, scorpion, battle ax, Great Mother and the Hellhound Cerberus – the three-headed ‘Demon-Dog’.

The rites of the Scorpion are the Mysteries of the Apocalypse.

Here is an ancient relief carving of Nergal dating to approximately the first or second century AD.

The immortal Idols used to represent Nergal, the Cock (Rooster) and a man with a Lion’s Head are actually two of the most important symbols that you will find in all of history.

These same said symbols are also prominently symbolized in the Abrahamic religions of the exoteric world and also the esoteric being that of Ancient Gnosticism which gave rise to modern Freemasonry. For example, we have Yaldabaoth who in Nag Hammadi is described as the Chief Archon created by the Goddess Sophia in the “form of a lion-faced serpent, with its eyes were like lightning fires which flash.

Let me remind some of you Christians that our Lord was also symbolized as a  Cock in the Scripture or I should say the “Holy Cock.”  As I had written before, the English word cock or rooster in Latin is gallus or gallinaceous which refers to a “rooster or cockerel” (male chicken) and the term gallīna is used for a “hen” (female chicken).

This is why one of the surnames for Jesus was “Jesus the Galilean from Gallillee” and his Apostles like Simon was also surnamed “Peter the Galilean.”

Also, let us not forget the chief symbol for the Tribe of the Lord – Judah is the lion.

This is may be why Jesus is surnamed the Galilean (Cock/Rooster) from Gallillee (River Galli) and the Prince of the Apostles like Simon the Samaritan who was surnamed Peter was a Galilean as well. (Matthew 26:69; John 7:41)...”

Source: https://gnosticwarrior.com/nergal.html

[randyastle]

Historical reading list

Hello, world. A while ago I made a list of history books to read that would take me chronologically from the Big Bang up to the present. I did it on a Word document and haven’t had time to compile the list on Goodreads, but I wanted to post it here as a stopgap for anyone interested. There’s a penchant towards my own heritage, which comes through the United States and Mormonism, with, for instance, at least one biography on every American President (through Obama). But I tried to be broad because as I read these I want to gain a broad understanding not just of history but of different global cultures today; hence so many titles dealing with religion or mythology in general. There’s a smattering of fiction thrown in there where it fits historically, like The Iliad, Divine Comedy, or Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and I have other reading lists dealing with topics like art, music, religion (outside of history, like books about Buddhism or Joseph Campbell essays), and contemporary work in natural sciences/conservation/mass extinction, so by and large books relating to those things don’t appear here, but I still hope it’s useful. 1.     A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking 

2.     The First Three Minutes, Steven Weinberg

3.     Lives of the Planets: A Natural History of the Solar System, Richard Corfield

4.     From Dust to Life: The Origin and Evolution of Our Solar System, John Chambers & Jacqueline Mitton 

5.     Plate Tectonics, Stephen M. Tomecek

6.     On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin (1859)

7.     The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins

8.     Prehistoric Life: The Definitive Visual History of Life on Earth, Dorling-Kindersley

9.     Prehistoric Life: Evolution and the Fossil Record, Lieberman and Kaesler

10.  Life: An Unauthorized Biography (newest edition), Richard Fortey

11.  The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and our Quest to Understand Earth’s Past Mass Extinctions, Peter Brannen

12.  When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time, Michael Benton

13.  Trilobite!, Richard Fortey

14.  Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods, Danna Staaf

15.  Pterosaurs: Natural History, Evolution, Anatomy, Mark Witton

16.  Dinosaurs: A Concise Natural History, David E. Fastovsky & David B. Weishampel

17.  The Complete Dinosaur (second edition), M.K. Brett-Surman

18.  Tyrannosaurus Rex: The Tyrant King, ed. Peter Larson and Kenneth Carpenter 

19.  Oceans of Kansas: A Natural History of the Western Interior Sea, Michael J. Everhart

20.  The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, Steve Brusatte

21.  All Yesterdays: Unique and Speculative Views of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Animals, John Conway 

22.  Flying Dinosaurs: How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds, John Pickrell 

23.  Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds, John Long and Peter Schouten

24.  The Origin and Evolution of Mammals, T.S. Kemp

25.  Beasts of Eden: Walking Whales, Dawn Horses, and Other Enigmas of Mammal Evolution, David Rains Wallace 

26.  After the Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals, Donald R. Prothero

27.  Walking with Beasts: A Prehistoric Safari, Tim Haines 

28.  Cenozoic Mammals of Africa, Lars Werdelin and William Joseph Sanders 

29.  The Ice Age: A Very Short Introduction, Jamie Woodward

30.  Prehistoric America: A Journey through the Ice Age and Beyond, Miles Barton

31.  Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America, Paul S. Martin and Harry W. Greene 

32.  The Descent of Man, Charles Darwin (1871)

33.  Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins, Ian Tattersall 

34.  Lone Survivors: How We Came to Be the Only Humans on Earth, Chris Stringer

35.  How to Think Like a Neanderthal, Thomas Wynn & Frederick Coolidge 

36.  The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain, Terrence W. Deacon

37.  The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age, Richard Rudgley

38.  Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari

39.  The Dancing Universe: From Creation Myths to the Big Bang, Marcelo Gleiser

40.  Primal Myths: Creation Myths Around the World, Barbara Sproul

41.  A History of World Agriculture: From the Neolithic Age to the Current Crisis, Marcel Mazoyer

42.  Across Atlantic Ice: The Origin of America’s Clovis Culture, Dennis Stanford & Bruce Bradley

43.  Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction, Amanda H. Podany

44.  The Epic of Gilgamesh (2100 BC)

45.  Abraham: The First Historical Biography, David Rosenberg

46.  A History of Ancient Egypt, Marc Van De Mieroop

47.  Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many, Erik Hornung

48.  The Search for God in Ancient Egypt, Jan Assmann

49.  The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day, tr. Raymond Faulkner

50.  The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs, Jan Assmann

51.  The Family Haggadah 

52.  The Iliad, Homer (ca. 1180 BC)

53.  The Odyssey, Homer (Fagle translation)

54.  1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed, Eric Cline

55.  Transformations of Myth through Time, Joseph Campbell

56.  The Spirit of Zoroastrianism, Prods Oktor Skjaervo

57.  In Search of Zarathustra: Across Iran and Central Asia to Find the World’s First Prophet, Paul Kriwaczek

58.  Isaiah: Prophet, Seer, and Poet, Victor Ludlow (700 BC) 

59.  Rereading Job, Michael Austin (600 BC)

60.  How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now, James L. Kugel

61.  The Cambridge Companion to the Bible

62.  Illuminating Humor of the Bible, Steve Walker

63.  The Mother of the Lord, vol. 1: The Lady in the Temple, Margaret Barker

64.  The Holy Bible, New International Version

65.  The Art of War, Sun Tzu (500 BC)

66.  The History of the Ancient World: From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome, Susan Wise Bauer

67.  The Maya, Michael Coe & Stephen Houston (newest edition)

68.  Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain, Ronald Hutton

69.  Celtic Myths and Legends, Peter Berresford Ellis

70.  Celtic Gods and Heroes, Marie-Louise Sjoestedt

71.  Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel, William Dever 

72.  The Oxford History of Greece and the Hellenistic World, John Boardman

73.  D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths

74.  Mythology, Edith Hamilton 

75.  Bulfinch’s Mythology 

76.  The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, Roberto Calasso

77.  Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions, H.R. Ellis Davidson

78.  Early Irish Myths and Sagas, Jeffrey Gantz

79.  From Sphinx to Christ: An Occult History, Edouard Schure

80.  Buddha (Penguin Lives Biographies), Karen Armstrong

81.  Buddhacarita, Asvaghosa (ca. 500 BC)

82.  Buddhist Scriptures (ca. 500 BC) 

83.  Ramayana (ca. 500 BC) 

84.  Mahabharata (ca 400 BC)

85.  Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India, Roberto Calasso

86.  Tao Te Ching (ca 400 BC) 

87.  The Zhuangzi (446-221 BC)

88.  Old Myths and New Approaches: Interpreting Ancient Religious Sites in Southeast Asia, Alexandra Haendel

89.  The Rise of Athens: The Story of the World’s Greatest Civilization, Anthony Everitt

90.  Democracy: A Life, Paul Cartledge (ca. 450 BC)

91.  Histories, Herodotus (440 BC)

92.  History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides (410 BC)

93.  Meno, Plato (380 BC)94.  The Republic, Plato (380 BC)

95.  The Symposium, Plato (370 BC)

96.  The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle (350 BC)

97.  On the Soul (De Anima), Aristotle (350 BC)

98.  Poetics, Aristotle (335 BC)

99.  Alexander the Great, Philip Freeman (ca 330 BC)

100. Letters (to Herodotus, Pythocles, & Menoeceus), Epicurus (ca. 200 BC)

101. Analects of Confucius (ca 200 BC) 

102. Dhammapada (a Buddhist text) (200 BC)

103. The Lotus Sutra (ca 100 BC) 

104. Why Buddhism is True, Robert Wright

105. Cicero: Selected Works (Penguin Classics), Marcus Tullius Cicero (ca 63 BC)

106. Caesar: Life of a Colossus, Adrian Goldsworthy

107. The Conquest of Gaul, Julius Caesar (ca 50 BC)

108. The Aeneid, Virgil (19 BC)

109. Search, Ponder, and Pray: A Guide to the Gospels, Julie M. Smith

110. Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, Reza Aslan

111. How Jesus Became God, Bart Ehrman

112. A History of the Devil, Gerald Messadie

113. Metamorphoses, Ovid (8 AD)

114. The New Complete Works of Josephus, Josephus 

115. A New History of Early Christianity, Charles Freeman

116. The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels

117. The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts Complete in One Volume, ed. Marvin Meyer

118. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Karen Armstrong 

119. Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible, William Goetzmann

120. The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius (Penguin Classics tr. James Rives) (ca 140 AD)

121. Meditations, Marcus Aurelius (180 AD)

122. The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, Peter Heather

123. Through the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, Peter Brown

124. The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World, Bart Ehrman 

125. The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World, Catherine Nixey 

126. A History of Christianity, Diarmaid MacCulloch

127. Everyman’s Talmud (ca. 200) 

128. Confessions, St. Augustine (397)

129. The Illustrated World Encyclopedia of Saints

130. The Silk Road in World History, Xinru Liu

131. Attila: The Barbarian King Who Challenged Rome, John Man (400s)

132. The Consolation of Philosophy, Ancius Boethius (524)

133. One Thousand and One Nights (ca 600)

134. The Civilization of the Middle Ages: A Completely Revised and Expanded Edition of Medieval History, Norman F. Cantor

135. Romance of the Grail: The Magic and Mystery of Arthurian Myth, Joseph Campbell ed. Evans Lansing Smith

136. Le Morte d’Arthur, Thomas Malory (1485)

137. The Making of the Middle Ages, R.W. Southern

138. Medieval Bodies: Life, Death and Art in the Middle Ages, Jack Hartnell

139. The Age of the Vikings, Anders Winroth

140. The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings, Lars Brownworth

141. The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion, Daniel McCoy

142. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe, H.R. Elllis Davidson

143. Norwegian Folklore, Zinken Hopp 

144. Holy Misogyny: Why Sex and Gender Conflicts in the Early Church Still Matter, April DeConick

145. Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes, Tamim Ansary (610…)

146. Islam: A Short History, Karen Armstrong

147. The Holy Qur’an

148. Mohammed and Charlemagne, Henri Pirenne (700s)

149. Beowulf (Heaney translation) (by 900s)

150. A History of the English Speaking Peoples, vol. 1: The Birth of Britain, Winston Churchill

151. The Tale of Genji, Lady Murasaki Shikibu (1000s) 

152. The Sagas of Icelanders (1000) 

153. Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God, Queen of England, Alison Weir (1100s)

154. Robin Hood and Other Outlaw Tales, ed. Stephen Knight & Thomas Ohlgren

155. Robin Hood: A Mythic Biography, Stephen Thomas Knight

156. Book of Divine Works, Hildegard von Bingen (1163) 

157. The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition, C.S. Lewis

158. Money: The Unauthorized Biography: From Coinage to Cryptocurrencies, Felix Martin

159.Genghis Khan: Life, Death, and Resurrection, John Man (ca. 1200)

160. Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Jack Weatherford

161. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens, Jack Weatherford

162. Kublai Khan: The Mongol King Who Remade China, John Man

163. St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi, ed. G.K. Chesterton (1200s)

164. St. Francis of Assisi, Omer Englebert 

165. The Poetic Edda (1200s) 

166. The Prose Edda, Snorri Sturluson (1200s) 

167. The Saga of the Volsungs, Jesse L. Byock (late 1200s) 

168. The Travels of Marco Polo, Marco Polo (1200s)

169. Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich (1300s) 

170. Outlaws of the Marsh, Shi Nai’an (1300s) 

171. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong (1300s) 

172. Robert the Bruce: King of Scots, Ronald McNair Scott (early 1300s)

173. The Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri (1320) 

174. A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, Barbara Tuchman   

175. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, Jared M. Diamond

176. Marriage: A History, Stephanie Coontz

177.  The Future of Marriage, David Blankenhorn

178. The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer (1400) 

179. The Civilizing Process, Norbert Elias  

180. The Samurai: A Military History, Stephen Turnbull 

181. 1421: The Year China Discovered America, Gavin Menzies

182. The Hundred Years War: The English in France 1337-1453, Desmond Seward 

183. Joan of Arc: In Her Own Words (early 1400s)

184. History of Creativity in the Arts, Science, and Technology: Pre-1500, Brent Strong

185. The Illustrated History of the Sikhs, Khushwant Singh (late 1400s)

186. The Aztec, Man and Tribe (1400s-1521) 

187. The Aztecs, Michael E. Smith

188. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, Charles Mann

189. 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, Charles Mann 

190. Conquistador Voices, Volume 1, Kevin H. Siepel

191. Conquistador Voices, Volume 2, Kevin H. Siepel

192.  In the Hands of the Great Spirit, John Page

193. Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance, Lisa Jardine

194. The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Jacob Burckhardt

195. The House of Medici: Its Rise and Fall, Christopher Hibbert 

196. The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli (1513)

197.  Leonardo da Vinci, Walter Isaacson

198. Utopia, Thomas More (1516)

199. She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, Helen Castor

200. The Reformation: A History, Diarmaid MacCulloch

201. Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World, Eric Metaxas

202. The Discoverers: A History of Man’s Search to Know His World and Himself, Daniel J. Boorstin

203. Michel de Montaigne: The Complete Essays (Penguin Classics), ed. M.A. Screech

204. Spice: The History of a Temptation, Jack Turner 

205. The Age of Exploration: From Christopher Columbus to Ferdinand Magellan, Kenneth Pletcher

206. Journey to the West, Wu Cheng’en (1500s) 

207. How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City, Joan DeJean

208. A History of the English Speaking Peoples, vol. 2: The New World, Winston Churchill

209. The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870, Hugh Thomas

210. The Life of Elizabeth I, Alison Weir

211. The Faerie Queen, Edmund Spenser (1590)

212. The Lodger Shakespeare: His Life on Silver Street, Charles Nicholl

213. A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599, James Shapiro 

214. London: The Biography, Peter Ackroyd 

215. Galileo: Watcher of the Skies, David Wootton

216. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War, Nathaniel Philbrick (1620)

217. Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America, David Hackett Fischer 

218. Art and Commerce in the Dutch Golden Age, Michael North  

219. Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, Edwin G. Burrows & Mike Wallace

220. The Thirty Years War: Europe’s Tragedy, Peter H. Wilson 

221. Coming of Age in the Milky Way, Timothy Ferris

222. The Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes (1651)

223. Ethics, Benedict de Spinoza (1665)

224. The Scourge of Demons: Possession, Lust, and Witchcraft in a 17th-century Italian Convent, Jeffrey Watt 

225. The Great Fire of London, Neil Hanson (1666)

226. Paradise Lost (1667) 

227. The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) 

228. The Diary of Samuel Pepys (Modern Library Classics), Samuel Pepys ed. Richard Le Gallienne (late 1600s)

229. The Scientific Revolution, Stephen Shapin

230. The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution, David Wootton 

231. Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton, Richard Westfall (1642-1726)

232. A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson

233. Ways of Knowing: A New History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, John Pickstone

234. Two Treatises on Government, John Locke (1689)   

235. The Penguin Book of Witches (1692)

236. In the Devil’s Snare, Mary Beth Norton (1692)

237. Memoirs of Duc de Saint-Simon, 1691-1709: Presented to the King, Duc de Saint-Simon 

238. Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift (1726) (and A Modest Proposal)

239. The Major Works (Oxford World’s Classics), Alexander Pope (early 1700s)

240. China: A History, John Keay

241. The Dream of the Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin (1700s) 

242. Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio vol. 1 (1740) 

243. Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio vol. 2

244. Strange Tales from the Liaozhai Studio vol. 3 

245. The Story of Music: From Babylon to the Beatles, Howard Goodall

246. Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, Christoph Wolff (early 1700s)

247. A History of the English Speaking Peoples, vol. 3: The Age of Revolution, Winston Churchill 

248. The Rise and Fall of the British Empire, Lawrence James 

249. The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith (1759)

250. Candide, Voltaire (1759) 

251. Treasury of North American Folk Tales, Catherine Peck

252. Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766, Fred Anderson

253. Benjamin Franklin, Edmund S. Morgan

254. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

255. Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, Robert Massie

256. A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn

257. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith (1776)

258. Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius, Sylvia Nasar

259. Common Sense, Thomas Paine (1776)

260. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Bernard Bailyn 

261. The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Gordon S. Wood

262. 1776, David McCullough

263. The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson

264. History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution, Mercy Otis Warren

265. Washington’s Crossing, David Hackett Fischer

266. George Washington, A Life, Willard Sterne Randall

267. The Creation of the American Republic, 1776-1787, Gordon S. Wood

268. Washington: A Life, Ron Chernow

269. The Grand Idea: George Washington’s Potomac and the Race to the West, Joel Achenbach

270. His Excellency: George Washington, Joseph J. Ellis

271. James Wilson: Founding Father, 1742-1798, Charles Page Smith

272. The Constitution and Bill of Rights, James Madison

273. The Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay (1788)

274. The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government, Fergus Bordewich

275. Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution, Jack Rakove

276. Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies, Erwin Chemerinsky

277. That’s Not What They Meant, Michael Austin

278. The Second Amendment: A Biography, Michael Waldman

279. That’s Not What They Meant About Guns, Michael Austin

280. Taming the Electoral College, Robert Bennett

281. Why the Electoral College is Bad for America, George C. Edwards 

282. Faust, Goethe (1790)

283. The Ancien Regime and the Revolution, Alexis de Tocqueville

284. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, Simon Schama

285. The Rights of Man, Thomas Paine (1791)

286. A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)

287. A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

288. A History of Japan: Revised Edition, R.H.P. Mason

289. John Adams, David McCullough

290.  Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams, Joseph J. Ellis

291. The Scramble for Africa, Thomas Pakenham

292. Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow 

293. Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years, Michael Newton

294. Alexander Hamilton: Writings (plus Farmer Refuted, Washington’s farewell address, & the Reynolds Pamphlet)

295. The Age of Reason, Thomas Paine (1804) 

296. Jefferson and His Time, Dumas Malone

297. Thomas Jefferson, Willard Sterne Randall

298. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power, Jon Meacham

299. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, Joseph J. Ellis

300. Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination, Annette Gordon-Reed and Peter Onuf

301. Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson, Paul Finkelman

302. The Founding Foodies: How Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin Revolutionized American Cuisine, Dave DeWitt

303. The Journals of Lewis and Clark, Lewis and Clark (1806)

304. The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World, Andrea Wulf 

305. A History of the English Speaking Peoples, vol. 4: The Great Democracies, Winston Churchill 

306. The Cambridge Illustrated History of France, Colin Jones

307. France, a History: From Gaul to De Gaulle, John Julius Norwich

308. Napoleon: A Life, Andrew Roberts

309. The Brothers Grimm (1812) 

310. James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic, Jack Rakove

311. James Madison: A Biography, Ralph Ketchem

312. The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies, Alan Taylor

313. The Naval War of 1812, Theodore Roosevelt

314. Bolivar: American Liberator, Marie Arana (ca. 1810s)

315. The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness, Harlow Giles Unger

316. The Monroe Doctrine: Empire and Nation in Nineteenth-Century America, Jay Sexton

317. The English and their History, Robert Tombs

318. An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins, Grant Palmer 

319. Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, D. Michael Quinn

320. Standing Apart: Mormon Historical Consciousness and the Concept of Apostasy, Miranda Wilcox & John Young

321. Nation Builder: John Quincy Adams and the Grand Strategy of the Republic, Charles Edel

322. John Quincy Adams: American Visionary, Fred Kaplan

323. John Quincy Adams, Robert V. Remini

324. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, Richard Bushman 

325. Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery

326. By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion, Terryl Givens 

327. Understanding the Book of Mormon, Grant Hardy

328. The Book of Mormon: Revised Authorized Version 

329. The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, D. Michael Quinn

330. Banishing the Cross: The Emergence of a Mormon Taboo, Michael G. Reed

331. This Is My Doctrine: The Development of Mormon Theology, Charles Harrell

332. The Refiner’s Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, John L. Brooke

333. A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vol. 1, B.H. Roberts

334. Garibaldi: Invention of a Hero, Lucy Riall (1834 revolt)

335. Road to the Sea, Florence Dorsey 

336. Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times, H.W. Brands

337. American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, Jon Meacham

338. Jacksonland, Steve Inskeep

339. Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)

340. Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics, John Niven

341. The Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin (1839)

342. Incarnations: A History of India in Fifty Lives, Sunil Khilnani

343. Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Times, Freeman Cleaves

344. John Tyler: Champion of the Old South, Oliver P. Chitwood

345. Self-Reliance and Other Essays, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1841)

346. Fear and Trembling, Soren Kierkegaard (1843) 

347. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845)

348. Woman in the Nineteenth Century, Margaret Fuller (1845)

349. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848, Daniel Walker Howe

350. Nightfall at Nauvoo, Samuel W. Taylor 

351. A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vol. 2, B.H. Roberts

352. Journey to Zion: Voices from the Mormon Trail, Carol Cornwall Madsen

353. 111 Days to Zion, Hal Knight 

354. The Gathering of Zion, Wallace Stegner 

355. A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vol. 3, B.H. Roberts

356. The Plains Across: The Overland Emigrants on the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-60, John D. Unruh

357. So Far from God: The U.S. War with Mexico, 1846-1848, John S. D. Eisenhower

358. The Oregon Trail, Francis Parkman (1849)

359. The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream, H.W. Brands 

360. Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau (1849)

361. The American Transcendentalists 

362. The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America (James Polk), Walter Borneman

363. Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico, T.R. Fehrenbach

364. Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest, K. Jack Bauer

365. The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America’s Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War, Andrew Delbanco

366. Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President, Robert J. Rayback 

367. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) 

368. Walden, Henry David Thoreau (1854) 

369. Franklin Pierce, Michael Holt

370. President James Buchanan: A Biography, Philip S. Klein

371. Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism, Terryl Givens 

372. A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vol. 4, B.H. Roberts

373. American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857, Sally Denton

374. America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink, Kenneth Stampp

375. The West Indies and the Spanish Main, Anthony Trollope (1860)  

376. Charles Darwin: The Power of Place, Janet Browne

377. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, James McPherson

378. Centennial History of the Civil War, vol. 1: The Coming Fury, Bruce Catton

379. Centennial History of the Civil War, vol. 2: Terrible Swift Sword, Bruce Catton

380. Centennial History of the Civil War, vol. 3: Never Call Retreat, Bruce Catton

381. Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer, Fred Kaplan

382. The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln through his Words, Ronald White

383. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln

384. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin

385. Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South, Stephanie McCurry 

386. The South vs. the South: How Anti-Confederate Southerners Shaped the Course of the Civil War, William Freehling

387. Andersen’s Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen 

388. Matthew Brady’s Illustrated History of the Civil War

389. With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Oates

390. A Short History of Canada (6th ed), Desmond Morton 

391. Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years, Carl Sandburg

392. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, Drew Gilpin Faust

393. Abraham Lincoln, Lord Charnwood  

394. Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China, Jung Chang

395. Andrew Johnson, Annette Gordon-Reed

396. Biographical Supplement and Index, Harriet Sigerman 

397. Mormon Sisters: Women in Early Utah, Claudia Bushman

398. Development of LDS Temple Worship, Devery Anderson

399. The Memoirs of Hector Berlioz 

400. Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, John C. Turner

401. Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900, Leonard Arrington 

402. A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vol. 5, B.H. Roberts

403. Grant, Ron Chernow

404. Grant: A Biography, William S. McFeeley

405. American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant, Ronald C. White

406. Complete Personal Memoirs, Ulysses S. Grant 

407. Capital (Das Kapital), Karl Marx (first edition 1867, third 1894)

408. The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America, Louis Menand

409. Black Reconstruction, W.E.B. Du Bois

410. Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, updated edition, Eric Foner

411. A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration, Steven Hahn

412. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown

413. Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America, T.J. Stiles

414. Rutherford B. Hayes, Hans Trefousse

415. Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Friedrich Nietzsche

416. Beyond Good and Evil: Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, Friedrich Nietzsche

417. Assassination Vacation (James Garfield), Sarah Vowell

418. Destiny of the Republic (James Garfield), Candice Millard 

419. Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur, Thomas C. Reeves

420. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa, Adam Hochschild 

421. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Walter Rodney  

422. More Wives Than One: Transformation of the Mormon Marriage System, 1840-1910, Kathryn M. Daynes 

423. The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy, Carol Lynn Pearson

424. Selected Writings, José Martí (Penguin Classics)

425. Dawn of the Belle Epoque, Mary McAuliffe

426. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character, Henry F. Graff

427. Manning Clark’s History of Australia: Abridged from the Six-Volume Classic, Manning Clark

428. The Making of Modern Ireland, 1603-1923, J.C. Beckett 

429. Benjamin Harrison, Charles W. Calhoun

430. How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York, Jacob Riis (1890)

431. Greater Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919, Mike Wallace 

432. The History of Spain, Peter Pierson

433. Presidency of William McKinley, Lewis L. Gould

434. The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois

435. Theodore Rex, Edmund Morris

436. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris

437. Mornings on Horseback (Theodore Roosevelt), David McCullough

438. Marie Curie: A Life, Susan Quinn

439. The Shame of the Cities, Lincoln Steffens (1904)

440. Albert Einstein: A Biography, Albrecht Folsing 

441. Relativity: The Special and General Theory, Albert Einstein (1905)

442. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair (1906)

443. The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, Doris Kearns Goodwin 

444. The Life & Times of William Howard Taft, Harry F. Pringle

445. The Power and Independence of the Federal Reserve, Peter Conti-Brown 

446. Americana: A 400-Year History of American Capitalism, Bhu Srinivasan

447. The War that Ended Peace: The Road to 1914, Margaret MacMillan

448. July 1914: Countdown to War, Sean McMeekin 

449. The Guns of August, Barbara Tuchman  

450. A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918, G.J. Meyer 

451. Pandemic 1918: Eyewitness Accounts from the Greatest Medical Holocaust in Modern History, Catharine Arnold

452. Woodrow Wilson: A Biography, John Milton Cooper

453. Women and the Vote: A World History, Jad Adams

454. Rise Up Women!: The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes, Diane Atkinson

455. The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren G. Harding in His Times, Francis Russell

456. A History of Russia (new edition w Mark Steinberg), Nicholas V. Riasanovsky

457. The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga, John Curtis Perry and Constantine V. Pleshakov

458. Ten Days that Shook the World, John Reed

459.  Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” Zora Neale Hurston

460. Coolidge: An American Enigma, Robert Sobel

461. Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties, Lucy Moore 

462. Herbert Hoover, William Leuchtenburg

463. A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints vol. 6, B.H. Roberts

464. Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, Liaquat Ahamed

465. Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, David Kennedy

466. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Walker Evans and James Agee

467. Black Elk Speaks, Black Elk

468. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom, Conrad Black

469. FDR, Jean Edward Smith

470. The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life and Legacy of Frances Perkins, Kirstin Downey

471. Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, Jonathan Alte

472.  Eleanor Roosevelt: Vol. 1, The Early Years, 1884-1933, Blanche Wiesen Cook

473. Eleanor Roosevelt: Vol. 2, The Defining Years, 1933-1938, Blanche Wiesen Cook

474. Eleanor Roosevelt: Vol. 3, The War Years and After, 1939-1962, Blanche Wiesen Cook

475. No Ordinary Time (FDR), Doris Kearns Goodwin

476. Alan Turing: The Enigma, Andrew Hodges

477. The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War, Andrew Roberts

478. Bloodlands, Timothy Snyder 

479. Leningrad, Anna Reid

480. A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in the Conquered City: A Diary

481. Churchill: Walking with Destiny, Andrew Roberts 

482. Memoirs of the Second World War, Winston Churchill 

483. The Destruction of the European Jews, Raul Hilberg

484. The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank

485. Night, Elie Wiesel

486. Hiroshima, John Hersey

487. Nuremberg Trials: The Nazis and Their Crimes Against Humanity, Paul Roland 

488. Truman, David McCullough

489. Gandhi: An Autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi

490. The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, Louis Fischer 

491. The Arabs: A History, Eugene Rogan 

492. Mao: The Unknown Story, Jung Chang and Jon Halliday

493. Inside Red China, Helen Foster Snow

494. Red Star Over China, Edgar Snow

495. The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War, David Halberstam

496. An American Childhood, Annie Dillard 

497. Eisenhower in War and Peace, Jean Edward Smith

498. The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA, James D. Watson (1953)

499. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, Brenda Maddox 

500. Mississippi Trial, 1955, Chris Crowe 

501. Sake & Satori: Asian Journals, Joseph Campbell

502. A Concise History of Germany, Mary Fulbrook

503. The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power, D. Michael Quinn

504. Lost Legacy: The Mormon Office of Presiding Patriarch, Irene Bates

505. The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan (1963)

506. A Thousand Days (JFK), Arthur M. Schlesinger

507. An Unfinished Life (JFK), Robert Dallek

508. A History of Modern Africa: 1800 to the Present, 2nd ed., Richard J. Reid

509. The Years of Lyndon Johnson, vol. 1: The Path to Power, Robert Caro

510. The Years of Lyndon Johnson, vol. 2: Means of Ascent, Robert Caro

511. The Years of Lyndon Johnson, vol. 3: Master of the Senate, Robert Caro

512. The Years of Lyndon Johnson, vol. 4: The Passage of Power, Robert Caro

513. The Years of Lyndon Johnson, vol. 5: untitled/unreleased, Robert Caro

514. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63, Taylor Branch

515. Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65, Taylor Branch

516. At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68, Taylor Branch

517. The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X & Alex Haley 

518. The Fire Next Time, James Baldwin

519. Lakota Woman, Mary Crow Dog

520. The Bomb: A New History, Stephen Younger  

521. This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age, William Burrows 

522. A History of the Modern Middle East, 5th ed., William Cleveland

523. Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi, Katherine Frank 

524. Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam, Fredrik Logevall 

525. The Best and the Brightest, David Halberstam

526. Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam, Gordon Goldstein

527. To Destroy You Is No Loss: The Odyssey of a Cambodian Family, JoAn D. Criddle

528. All the President’s Men, Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward

529. Nixonland, Richard Perlstein 

530. The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics, Bruce Schulman

531. Gerald R. Ford, Douglas Brinkley

532. Pedestals and Podiums: Utah Women, Religious Authority, and Equal Rights, Martha Bradley 

533. Petals of Blood, Nugi wa Thiong’o (1977 Kenyan novel)

534. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

535. Spear of the Nation: South Africa’s Liberation Army, Janet Cherry

536. Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa, Antjie Krog

537. Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter, Randall Balmer

538. The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, Robert A. Caro 

539. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, Lou Cannon

540. 1983: The World at the Brink, Taylor Downing

541. A History of the Soviet Union from the Beginning to the End, Peter Kenez

542. Lost Lives (the Troubles), David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters, Brian Feeley, and Chris Thornton 

543. Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America, Juan Gonzalez 

544. As Texas Goes: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda, Gail Collins

545. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush, Jon Meacham

546. First in His Class (Bill Clinton), David Maraniss

547. Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, Gore Vidal (2002) 

548. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 11, 2001, Steve Coll

549. Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Peter Baker 

550. Monument Wars: Washington, D.C., the National Mall, and the Transformation of the Memorial Landscape, Kirk Savage

551. The Formations of Modernity, Stuart Hall & Bram Gieben

552. Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress – and a Plan to Stop It, Lawrence Lessig (he wrote a sequel, same title with “2.0” in 2015) 

553. All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, Bethany McLean

554. Back to Work, Bill Clinton

555. Beyond Outrage: What Has Gone Wrong with our Economy and our Democracy and How to Fix It, Robert Reich 

556. A Governor’s Story, Jennifer Granholm

557.  Life, Inc.: How Corporatism Conquered the World and How We Can Take It Back, Douglas Rushkoff

558. Dreams from my Father, Barack Obama

559. Barack Obama: The Story, David Maraniss

560. The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, David Remnick

561. Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President (Obama), Ron Suskind

562. Obama’s Wars, Bob Woodward

563. Hard Choices: A Memoir, Hillary Clinton

564. The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama

565. The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, Chris Whipple

566. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates 

567. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present, David Treuer

568. DNA: The Story of the Genetic Revolution, James D. Watson 

569. Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China, Evan Osnos

570. Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age, Larry Bartels

571. The Post-American World: Release 2.0, Fareed Zakaria

572. What Happened, Hillary Clinton 

573. THE NOT YET WRITTEN DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S SCANDALS

574. How Democracies Die, Steve Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt

575. The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels, Jon Meacham

576. America: The Farewell Tour, Chris Hedges

577. A Call to Action, Jimmy Carter

578. I Am Malala, Malala Yousafzai

579. A Path Appears, Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn

580. The History of Creativity in the Arts, Science, and Technology: 1500-Present, Brent Strong 

581. Brief Answers to the Big Questions, Stephen Hawking  

[radredrecluse]

Survival of the Richest

The wealthy are plotting to leave us behind

Douglas Rushkoff

Last year, I got invited to a super-deluxe private resort to deliver a keynote speech to what I assumed would be a hundred or so investment bankers. It was by far the largest fee I had ever been offered for a talk — about half my annual professor’s salary — all to deliver some insight on the subject of “the future of technology.”

I’ve never liked talking about the future. The Q&A sessions always end up more like parlor games, where I’m asked to opine on the latest technology buzzwords as if they were ticker symbols for potential investments: blockchain, 3D printing, CRISPR. The audiences are rarely interested in learning about these technologies or their potential impacts beyond the binary choice of whether or not to invest in them. But money talks, so I took the gig.

After I arrived, I was ushered into what I thought was the green room. But instead of being wired with a microphone or taken to a stage, I just sat there at a plain round table as my audience was brought to me: five super-wealthy guys — yes, all men — from the upper echelon of the hedge fund world. After a bit of small talk, I realized they had no interest in the information I had prepared about the future of technology. They had come with questions of their own.

They started out innocuously enough. Ethereum or bitcoin? Is quantum computing a real thing? Slowly but surely, however, they edged into their real topics of concern.

Which region will be less impacted by the coming climate crisis: New Zealand or Alaska? Is Google really building Ray Kurzweil a home for his brain, and will his consciousness live through the transition, or will it die and be reborn as a whole new one? Finally, the CEO of a brokerage house explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system and asked, “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?”

The Event. That was their euphemism for the environmental collapse, social unrest, nuclear explosion, unstoppable virus, or Mr. Robot hack that takes everything down.

This single question occupied us for the rest of the hour. They knew armed guards would be required to protect their compounds from the angry mobs. But how would they pay the guards once money was worthless? What would stop the guards from choosing their own leader? The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. Or maybe building robots to serve as guards and workers — if that technology could be developed in time.

That’s when it hit me: At least as far as these gentlemen were concerned, this was a talk about the future of technology. Taking their cue from Elon Musk colonizing Mars, Peter Thiel reversing the aging process, or Sam Altman and Ray Kurzweil uploading their minds into supercomputers, they were preparing for a digital future that had a whole lot less to do with making the world a better place than it did with transcending the human condition altogether and insulating themselves from a very real and present danger of climate change, rising sea levels, mass migrations, global pandemics, nativist panic, and resource depletion. For them, the future of technology is really about just one thing: escape.

There’s nothing wrong with madly optimistic appraisals of how technology might benefit human society. But the current drive for a post-human utopia is something else. It’s less a vision for the wholesale migration of humanity to a new a state of being than a quest to transcend all that is human: the body, interdependence, compassion, vulnerability, and complexity. As technology philosophers have been pointing out for years, now, the transhumanist vision too easily reduces all of reality to data, concluding that “humans are nothing but information-processing objects.”

It’s a reduction of human evolution to a video game that someone wins by finding the escape hatch and then letting a few of his BFFs come along for the ride. Will it be Musk, Bezos, Thiel…Zuckerberg? These billionaires are the presumptive winners of the digital economy — the same survival-of-the-fittest business landscape that’s fueling most of this speculation to begin with.

Of course, it wasn’t always this way. There was a brief moment, in the early 1990s, when the digital future felt open-ended and up for our invention. Technology was becoming a playground for the counterculture, who saw in it the opportunity to create a more inclusive, distributed, and pro-human future. But established business interests only saw new potentials for the same old extraction, and too many technologists were seduced by unicorn IPOs. Digital futures became understood more like stock futures or cotton futures — something to predict and make bets on. So nearly every speech, article, study, documentary, or white paper was seen as relevant only insofar as it pointed to a ticker symbol. The future became less a thing we create through our present-day choices or hopes for humankind than a predestined scenario we bet on with our venture capital but arrive at passively.

This freed everyone from the moral implications of their activities. Technology development became less a story of collective flourishing than personal survival. Worse, as I learned, to call attention to any of this was to unintentionally cast oneself as an enemy of the market or an anti-technology curmudgeon.

So instead of considering the practical ethics of impoverishing and exploiting the many in the name of the few, most academics, journalists, and science-fiction writers instead considered much more abstract and fanciful conundrums: Is it fair for a stock trader to use smart drugs? Should children get implants for foreign languages? Do we want autonomous vehicles to prioritize the lives of pedestrians over those of its passengers? Should the first Mars colonies be run as democracies? Does changing my DNA undermine my identity? Should robots have rights?

Asking these sorts of questions, while philosophically entertaining, is a poor substitute for wrestling with the real moral quandaries associated with unbridled technological development in the name of corporate capitalism. Digital platforms have turned an already exploitative and extractive marketplace (think Walmart) into an even more dehumanizing successor (think Amazon). Most of us became aware of these downsides in the form of automated jobs, the gig economy, and the demise of local retail.

But the more devastating impacts of pedal-to-the-metal digital capitalism fall on the environment and global poor. The manufacture of some of our computers and smartphones still uses networks of slave labor. These practices are so deeply entrenched that a company called Fairphone, founded from the ground up to make and market ethical phones, learned it was impossible. (The company’s founder now sadly refers to their products as “fairer” phones.)

Meanwhile, the mining of rare earth metals and disposal of our highly digital technologies destroys human habitats, replacing them with toxic waste dumps, which are then picked over by peasant children and their families, who sell usable materials back to the manufacturers.

This “out of sight, out of mind” externalization of poverty and poison doesn’t go away just because we’ve covered our eyes with VR goggles and immersed ourselves in an alternate reality. If anything, the longer we ignore the social, economic, and environmental repercussions, the more of a problem they become. This, in turn, motivates even more withdrawal, more isolationism and apocalyptic fantasy — and more desperately concocted technologies and business plans. The cycle feeds itself.

The more committed we are to this view of the world, the more we come to see human beings as the problem and technology as the solution. The very essence of what it means to be human is treated less as a feature than bug. No matter their embedded biases, technologies are declared neutral. Any bad behaviors they induce in us are just a reflection of our own corrupted core. It’s as if some innate human savagery is to blame for our troubles. Just as the inefficiency of a local taxi market can be “solved” with an app that bankrupts human drivers, the vexing inconsistencies of the human psyche can be corrected with a digital or genetic upgrade.

Ultimately, according to the technosolutionist orthodoxy, the human future climaxes by uploading our consciousness to a computer or, perhaps better, accepting that technology itself is our evolutionary successor. Like members of a gnostic cult, we long to enter the next transcendent phase of our development, shedding our bodies and leaving them behind, along with our sins and troubles.

Our movies and television shows play out these fantasies for us. Zombie shows depict a post-apocalypse where people are no better than the undead — and seem to know it. Worse, these shows invite viewers to imagine the future as a zero-sum battle between the remaining humans, where one group’s survival is dependent on another one’s demise. Even Westworld — based on a science-fiction novel where robots run amok — ended its second season with the ultimate reveal: Human beings are simpler and more predictable than the artificial intelligences we create. The robots learn that each of us can be reduced to just a few lines of code, and that we’re incapable of making any willful choices. Heck, even the robots in that show want to escape the confines of their bodies and spend their rest of their lives in a computer simulation.

The mental gymnastics required for such a profound role reversal between humans and machines all depend on the underlying assumption that humans suck. Let’s either change them or get away from them, forever.

Thus, we get tech billionaires launching electric cars into space — as if this symbolizes something more than one billionaire’s capacity for corporate promotion. And if a few people do reach escape velocity and somehow survive in a bubble on Mars — despite our inability to maintain such a bubble even here on Earth in either of two multibillion-dollar Biosphere trials — the result will be less a continuation of the human diaspora than a lifeboat for the elite.

When the hedge funders asked me the best way to maintain authority over their security forces after “the event,” I suggested that their best bet would be to treat those people really well, right now. They should be engaging with their security staffs as if they were members of their own family. And the more they can expand this ethos of inclusivity to the rest of their business practices, supply chain management, sustainability efforts, and wealth distribution, the less chance there will be of an “event” in the first place. All this technological wizardry could be applied toward less romantic but entirely more collective interests right now.

They were amused by my optimism, but they didn’t really buy it. They were not interested in how to avoid a calamity; they’re convinced we are too far gone. For all their wealth and power, they don’t believe they can affect the future. They are simply accepting the darkest of all scenarios and then bringing whatever money and technology they can employ to insulate themselves — especially if they can’t get a seat on the rocket to Mars.

Luckily, those of us without the funding to consider disowning our own humanity have much better options available to us. We don’t have to use technology in such antisocial, atomizing ways. We can become the individual consumers and profiles that our devices and platforms want us to be, or we can remember that the truly evolved human doesn’t go it alone.

Being human is not about individual survival or escape. It’s a team sport. Whatever future humans have, it will be together.

[romancatholicreflections]

27th December >> Daily Reflection/Commentary on Today’s Mass Readings (1 John 1:1-4 & John 20:2-8) for the Feast of Saint John Apostle and Evangelist

Saint John Apostle – Commentary on the day’s Scripture readings

Today, on this feast of St John the Evangelist, we begin reading from the First Letter of John and will continue to do so until January 11.

FIRST READING (1 John 1:1-4)

The first four verses (1:1-4), which are today’s reading, form an Introduction to the letter.

Already at this early stage in the Church there were those who could not accept that the Son of God could have taken on a genuinely human body. In a mistaken zeal for the spiritual, they condemned everything material as evil and so they held that the humanity of Jesus could only be a mirage, an appearance. To be fully united with God meant to withdraw as much as possible from everything material.

The people who held such views were known as Gnostics and, because they are such a concern of the author of this Letter, we might list some of their main ideas:

1, The human body, which is matter, is evil. It is to be contrasted with God, who is totally spirit and therefore good.

2, Salvation is escape from the body, achieved not by faith in Christ but by special knowledge. The Greek word for knowledge is gnosis, and hence their name.

3, Christ’s true humanity was denied in two ways: a, some said that Christ only seemed to have a human body, a view called Docetism, from the Greek dokeo, meaning ‘to seem’; and b, others said that the divine Christ joined the man Jesus at Baptism and left him before he died, a view called Cerinthianism, after its most prominent spokesman, Cerinthus. It is this second version that we meet in 1 John 1:1; 2:22; 4:2-3.

4, Since the body was considered evil, it was to be treated harshly. This ascetic form of Gnosticism is the background to part of the letter to the Colossians (2:21-23).

5, Paradoxically, this dualism also led to licentious behaviour. The reasoning was that, since matter – and not the breaking of God’s law (1 Jn 3:4) – was considered evil, breaking his law was of no moral consequence.

The Gnosticism addressed in the New Testament was an earlier form of the heresy, not the intricately developed system of the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Mention of Gnosticism can be found in John’s letters, Colossians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus and 2 Peter, perhaps in 1 Corinthians.

The writings of John are a total rejection of this position. The Word not only became a human being, John, in his Prologue, says provocatively that the Word was “made flesh”. He fully entered into our material condition, blessed it and sanctified it.

And in today’s reading too he emphasises contact with a real, bodily Jesus. Although the Word “has existed since the beginning”, what “we have heard, we have seen with our own eyes, what we have touched with our hands. (Similarly after the Resurrection, Jesus invites the sceptical Thomas to touch and feel him. “Put your finger here and look at my hands; stretch out your hand and put it in my side.”)

And it is this physical, truly human, touchable Jesus that the Church proclaims. Over the ages, there has always been in the Church the tendency to withdraw from the material. In particular, there have been many problems with the human body and its sexual functions and even today, as Christians, we may feel awkward or embarrassed to speak about these things especially in a religious context.

Everything that God made is good. And as one medieval mystic liked to say, Every created thing is a Word of God. To those who can see, every created thing, living or inanimate, speaks of God and the Creator. Few poets have expressed this as well as the English Jesuit, Gerard Manley Hopkins. “There lives the dearest freshness deep down things” and “The world is charged with the grandeur of God”.

This has all been affirmed by the Incarnation, by the infinite Son of God sharing our bodily human nature and all its functions.

And that Word is life in the sense of being the source of all real living, not just existing. In John’s gospel we read, “I have come that they may have life, life in its fullness” (John 10:10). This sharing of life is an idea most central to John’s spirituality. Union between all Christians results from common life shared by Christ between each Christian and God. It is that fellowship (a lovely word) expressing a close union of the believer with Christ (we think of the vine and the fruit-bearing branches) as well as communion with the Father and with all fellow-Christians.

Today’s passage presents a striking parallel to the prologue of John (Jn 1:1-18) but, whereas in the gospel passage the emphasis is more on Jesus as the pre-existent Word, here it is on the apostles’ witness to the ‘fleshiness’ and the ‘touchability’ of the Jesus they knew. In the best sense of the words, Jesus was a ‘real man’.

GOSPEL (John 20:2-8)

The Gospel tells us that John was the brother of James and the son of Zebedee. He and his brother were among the first to be called (together with Peter and Andrew) by Jesus. John, with Peter and James, were particularly close to Jesus and were privileged to experience the Transfiguration, the raising of the daughter of Jairus and the agony in the garden.

To John also is attributed the authorship of the Gospel which bears his name as well as the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse) and three Letters (John 1,2 and 3). He is often identified as the “beloved disciple”, who is only mentioned in the Gospel of John. Tradition says that John died a natural death at a great age in Ephesus (on the west coast of modern Turkey).

Today’s Gospel describes the scene where Peter and the “beloved disciple” rush to the tomb of Jesus after being told by Mary Magdalen that the body is no longer there. Although the “beloved disciple” got there first, he deferred to Peter who went in first and saw the burial cloths. One of them – the piece that was wrapped around the face – was rolled up in a separate place. When the “beloved disciple” went in, “he saw and he believed.” In other words, he understood the significance of the cloth and he knew that his Lord had risen.

Later, the Risen Jesus will say to Thomas, “Bless are those who have not seen and have learnt to believe.” Here the disciple did not see the physical Jesus. Nevertheless, on the basis of what he did see, he believed.

The question is: what exactly did he see? What he saw was that the cloth which had covered Jesus’ head was not with the rest of the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Why should that trigger his conviction that the Lord had risen? The book of Exodus (chapter 34) describes how Moses, after coming down from the mountain and conversing with God, was so radiant with light that people were afraid to approach him. And so, he put a veil to cover his face. But “whenever Moses entered the presence of the Lord to converse with him, he removed the veil until he came out again. On coming out, he would tell the Israelites all that had been commanded. Then the Israelites would see that the skin of Moses’ face was radiant; so he would again put the veil over his face until he went in to converse with the Lord” (Exod 34:34-35).

Now some believe that the word ‘veil’ used in John is a Greek translation of the word in Hebrew used about Moses. In other words, the veil covering the face of the dead Jesus is now no longer needed because he has gone face to face with his Father. This veil was the humanity of Jesus which enabled us to look at our God. Jesus now has a new human body – his Church. And that was what led to the “beloved disciple’s” conviction that his Master had risen to new life.

For some commentators, the “beloved disciple” is not actually John but represents any person who has totally committed himself or herself to the following of Jesus, anyone who deeply believes and anyone who is passionately fond of Jesus. At times, as in today’s Gospel, the faith of the “beloved disciple” is shown as surpassing that of Peter. While the disciples we know of had fled after the arrest of Christ, it is the “beloved disciple” who stands with the Mother of Jesus at the foot of the cross.

Nevertheless, John as the author of the Fourth Gospel and the three letters attributed to his name, reveals a depth of faith and insight into the meaning of Christ’s life, death and resurrection that borders on the mystical and clearly reveals a faith of extraordinary depth. It is a faith and insight we can pray to have for ourselves.

[santmat]

What is a True Gnostic Path? Some Thoughts

The right kind of funny pointed hat and costume doth a true Gnostic make! :) Kidding of course. I tend to favor classic definitions of gnosticism: clues provided by gnostics themselves in the Nag Hammadi Library, Pistis Sophia, etc... letting gnostics speak for themselves as best as they can, given that they were mostly wiped out after the 4th century and we're left with archaeological digs and books of the dead.

I will also say that I am fairly suspicious of what many have *done to* the word “gnosticism”. There are some Euro-esoteric colonialists that have hijacked the word “gnosticism” and own much cyber real estate these days, giving us gigabytes of distracting archon-speak, an inquisition for the third eye. "Those people are dry canals." (The Apocalypse of Peter)

It's a noble goal to wish to understand what the gnostics of history were really about; a lifelong pursuit, or perhaps it might take even longer than that.

"Is that a real poncho... I mean Is that a mexican poncho Or is that a sears poncho? Hmmm... No foolin." -- Frank Zappa

[popcartoonkabala]

Trinities, dualities, retirements and euphemisms: division into clarity (Chesed-Gevurah-Tipheret she b Malchut)               PART I! [Superman is not Batman]

Phillip K. Dick z”l likes Kabbalah, as a tool for making sense of the mad world around him through a kind of schizophrenic observation of patterns around him to testify a larger message. The greatest and most perfect vessel for this, as testified in the Gnostic tradition, is trash culture, pop garbage i.e. the only place where divinity is expressible, where the evil demi-urge isn't looking to stop the holy serpent from emerging with original light. In order for there to be a world at all, the world has to be ruled by the unfair, ugly, and chaotically inconsistent. Not like heaven at all, right? Almost by definition, by Platonic or Aristotelian standards. But where does cosmic order emerge? Only at the margins, only at the fringes, and, ironically, there at the center stage too. 

That's commercial fiction and idolatry for you: at the center stage, selling for all the most cynical and manipulative purposes, through a penetrating insight and resonant rightness bound to all the trouble, which of itself reflects the larger pattern ultimately. Nature of stories, and this is why the different degrees of meaning that can be understood from a story go so far, from the very literal, to the allegorical, to the practical to the sublime. And so, the patterns manifest themselves beyond the wills of the ostensible authors of the stories, and hide themselves from the more over philosophers and theologians. Because the heart of the most crass and cynical yearns to speak truth the most completely, he will testify, like the reactionary with the profoundly naked insights.

Who's a cheaper whore than Superman? Maybe the word “cheap” is inappropriate, but maybe not. American/Roman Pop morality is naught but infinitely flexible and adaptable to new concerns and insistences; always ready and curious to be impressed. This is universal religion, “Catholic”. This is the aspect of Jesus on the cross, god manifest through his degradation, into and for the sake of, accessibility. Superman becomes whatever he is needed to be-- whatever powers whatever vulnerability, whatever issue, whatever justification we need for doing something or nothing at all, superman will stand for it. If not the Warner official version, then surely some instant satiric analogue. 

There was a great legal case once over the Adventures of Captain Marvel: a visual and capable rip-off of superman, with a twist of course, seeing as he was a kid who could turn into the superman at will, and existed through magic. The lawsuit came and went, and in the end, DC comics and Warner just went out and bought the rights to Captain Marvel, realizing that it was the best they could do to get a handle on a hero successful enough to be identified as distinct, with a narrative and identity suddenly irrepressible. All super-heroes are twists on the superman model, it turns out, and even he is a twist on something older, almost infinitely and unknowably older.  Generational waves of sub-character tend to be expressions of the original character into another era, I.e the Dick Grayson into Batman, or better yet, the evolution of the Blue Beetles from classic old school adventurer into whatever a Blue Beetle must become. Aspects reincarnate into the next necessary amendment of the original character, which occasionally (but rarely) effectively supplants the original character, as in the case of the silver age DC heroes like Flash or Green Lantern.  If only there was some guide to identifying the pattern that made a change resonant, helpful, or necessary; there is a long history of embarrassing attempts at revamping, gropes for relevance ending as repulsive and unwanted as desperate, blind insensitive groping tends to.

One of the most important of the Kabbalistic traditional practices has been the hope of charting the exact moment where good becomes bad, the exact moment when the shark is jumped, in the hopes of seeing the face of the divine in that interchange, in that second where something goes from either problematic to helpful, or from helpful to problematic. Helpful to problematic is easier to gauge because it's relatively easy to watch something “good” and appreciated go on, while abuses and crimes turned heroic tend to be more spontaneous, but the story of both or either are precisely the story of how and when G-d creates the universe, and splits the read sea.

There is a certain kind of apocalypse inherent to the cartoon narrative: i.e. The day the Golem went mad. Superman and Jean Grey are the most helpful of heroes, and every integral problem solver MUST GO BAD-- ULTIMATELY! This is inherent to any narrative that goes on forever, the day the hero either got mind controlled, justifiably corrupted, or just crushed by tragedy-- and became more of a problem than a help. In the biblical book of Lamentations, one of the most striking moments is when the G-d who often defined helpful friendliness throughout much of the bible, has suddenly become “Like an enemy, his bloodlust insatiable.” This is an inevitable moment with especially the most likeable and powerful of super-helpers, and this end is certainly the profound apocalypse most feared, who's fulfillment is the end of the heroic purity myth.

Superman ends like this a million times: the very first superman sequel, and the very ultimate Batman story (DKR), the last two episodes of the Superman cartoon, and the whole second season of the Justice League Unlimited, feature this nightmare tension, of a superman entirely corrupt, either sensibly (as is the case of the cynical political superman of Red Son, Justice League episode “Justice Lords” the Reagan lackey of Dark Knight Returns, and the marvel analogue Hyperion in the orginial Squadron Supreme) or from corruption or madness (like under Darkseid's control, or that of Red Kryptonite, or just frustration and natural alienation from humanity, like in Mark Waid's brilliant extended series Irredeemable, or John Arcudi and Peter Snejbjerg's sublime meditation on power and humanity A God Somewhere.) Alan Moore's Marvelman/Miracleman split the difference by having the maddened Kid Miracleman be the horror apocalypse, and then fighting the enlightened mature Miracleman, who defeats him and becomes the art messiah who fixes the whole world at last, just like we'd like superman to in our most ideal of fantasies.

In Gath Ennis's affectionate take on the problem, as well as the ones of other ostensibly cynical voices like Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and Jack Kirby: Superman's only able to do so much, and is strikingly tolerant and welcoming of criticism and alternative support. Many writers prefer the earnest and noble invincible hero to the crafty and cynical plotter, hence greater cynicism about Batman or Iron man gone awry than for Superman or Silver Surfer, those so powerful who haven't ALREADY become monsters might be trusted never to do so, or at least, not for long, and not without being sorry.

Even Ennis's twist on Superman in The Boys isn't as vicious as he initially appears, at least not because  of his own selfish obliviousness, one that generally seems even more noble than that of every other corrupt hero around.  But part of Ennis's art is humanizing and contextualize the most dangerous of  monster-people, the war criminals and punishers alike, even as he refuses to take away from the horror of what people do, all the time. But these are the three extremes that define the end of Superman: Benevolent divinity vs. Malevolent divinity vs. Death/alienated immortality. His death can only be tragic and heroic, but how much is his virtue lost in through his power? Superman is defined as the guy who becomes as awesome as a situation demands, in all and any ways-- that is infinitely helpful or infinitely dangerous or just only possible for finite time.

But what Sephira is Superman?

Lets say there were ten sephirot, or even lets say there's just seven: one of the biggest issues in Kabbalistic accounting and equalization is where does One stand relative to Two? Does Three come after Two, or does Four? We might want to just assume that One is before Two, but it's not always clear that Three is before Four, because the rumor is that Three and Four are created simultaneously, in much the same way that One and Zero are. Let me say it better: Superman is obviously a certain kind of hero number One.

But is Hero #1 Chesed or Tipheret?

Let me explain what I mean: Everybody knows...

...Chesed Is Original Kindness, infinite utterly and unitive, the                       right arm. Gevurah Is Original Restraint, infinite utterly and divisive, judgemental, the left arm.  And Tipheret Is the Original Harmony, perfect         in it's balance between Kindness and Restraint, relating infinitely, the central trunk of the tree, aka “Truth” and “Mercy.”

The First is identified often/sometimes with Jupiter, especially in Hellenistic models. This is fair if/when he rules the Heavens and makes rightness (צדק) between the other highest forces. Enthusiastic, appreciated but too comfortable to be too respected: so is a certain cosmic ruler and standard. The middle pillar, on the other hand, generally ultimately identified with the Sun, which confounds the order of days of the week, implying that Sunday is not the natural first day of the week, but rather should be the Third!  But this is not how the ancient Romans calculated. Our modern international sequence comes from, as described in Ptolemy's Almagest and the Talmudic Shabbos BT (100-102), emerges from observation of which star was most visible in the first hour of each given evening. Is that arbitrary? Or full of meaning?

---

There's a parallel from the iconic super team of Marvel to that of D.C.-- While the Fantastic Four was commissioned to exploit the popularity of the Justice League of America, the Avengers were the authentic doppelgangers-- in different aspects, certainly, but with certain fundamental similarities inherent to the iconic pantheistic model. Once one is collating the assorted gods of all regions into a proper pantheon, one starts to notice syncreticsms and synchronicities. Both teams, maybe the Avengers more so, just because they had less overt precedent than the Justice League, grew and grow through a process of throwing more and more shit on the wall to see what sticks. There have been incarnations of both teams with an absolute minimum of iconic team players, and those experiments honestly tend to be much less successful, because who cares about peripheral characters? Who wants to identify with, or feel safe because of, the peripheral?  Even heroes of the periphery like Spider-man stop being peripheral as soon as they emerge into action mode, and suddenly become the most visible and important people in the room. Same with spy heroes like the Black Widow or The Vision or Bronze Tiger or The Huntress or any of them: their value in the team dynamic only comes from the moment where they too become central to the narrative.

If Aquaman can't maintain his functional centrality, he's not gonna be on the A-team for long-- unless the whole concept becomes boring, and some urgent manic experiment offers to make him fundamentally central, as in the case of Justice League Detroit, or Martian Manhunter's JLTask Force.  From this process emerges the true iconic figures, hero or villain: Divinities are defined by their never-endingness. That's why the days of the week are named after, and associated with, gods: because they keep on coming, forever. The mystery of identifying patterns in that infinitude are the beginning of all wisdom.

The heroes, like gods are defined by their values and priorities. The gangster extreme of self-indulgence, the scientist extreme of blind unapologetic exploration-- to be resonant, they just need to be inspiring-- but to be national myths, they must be tempered with moral limitations pleasing and comforting to the controllers of the mediums expressed through.

One of the first great American pop heroes of the 20th century, avatar of the electrical media of radio and television, and precursor to the  model of secret identity bonded to uncompromising moral code is of course, the Lone Ranger. Composed very intentionally as a moral alternative to the traditional savage, cynical and self-interested Western hero-model, much of the strange-but-endearing commitment to Certain Social Principles of profound civic idealism, which in the Lone Ranger's case includes subtleties as square as a refusal to use any slang or pidgin english, but also as inherent to mainstream cartoon heroes as the commitment to avoid killing any villain whenever possible, despite actually carrying a sacramental pistol, packed with specifically silver bullets, a metal with very noble alchemical associationsi. This shifting of the wild, independent loner into the trustworthy hero depends on his commitment to these social principles, much as the biblical Samson and David are able to be pious warriors, once they've committed themselves to mosaic law, and made clear that there is a charming and co-identifiable limit to their violence that will not degrade into the most disruptive of role models.

Through this kind of covenantal circumcision of the heart, the modern hero is able to be trusted by even his enemies within the conservative mainstream, otherwise afeared of the wildness of the West inverting into the romantic lawless relative amorality that becomes the gangster, once the expanse of the West gives way to the cramped urban jungle of the Cities that become America. This is observed strongly in the relationship between Spider-man and J Jonah Jameson, as opposed to Superman and Batman who are ultimately more than tacitly encouraged and appreciated by their local constabulary and media, who know that these heroes are only here to help and would never do certain terrible things, any terrible things, by definition and nature.  This may be because spider-man is an avatar of instability, stepping between margins that a bat, super or wonder person would gracefully step over and avoid the weakness and vulnerability of. The spider-tipheret-middle pillar walker will be elaborated, but first, I just want to clarify:

In Thirty Two Paths of “Awesome Science”!

Jah                                                                         Deus

The Lord of Hosts                                                     Odin

Living god                                                                 Thor

El Shaddai                                                                Freya

High and Guiding                                                       Sun

Staying until (forever) and Sacred his name             Moon

Superior and Holy he                                               Saturn/Loki

Created his Universe in three spheres

1) In Digit, ספר

2) Media, ספר

3) and Narrative סיפור

10 spheirot ספירות(“cyphers”) “without-what?”

And 22 signature-marks אותיות (“letters”)

3 mothers אמהות and

7 doubles כפולותand

12 simples פשותות

                                                                      Sepher Yetzirah (1:1)

I'm saying!

3 mothers = The Trinity, a term openly used in DC cosmolopgy to mean

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman

the foundation and inherent electoral board of the Justice League,

without these three IN SOME FORM OR ANOTHER there is no democratic team dynamic

The Marvel Trinity is obviously

Captain America, Thor, and Iron-man

and

Captain America is NOT a founding member! But the team did not glue until he was aboard, and this is the secret of Tipheret/Harmony coming down from Daat/knowledge-- Captain America joins the team to guide it and ground it:

Man out of time? Not far out of time, he is the only ancient Marvel Hero to join the team from recent modernity-- Thor is an ancient hero, but not originative in the medium-- he's notably absent from the Golden age except as a villain (in Kirby and Simon's Sandman reboot)! Unlike Samson or Hercules, ancient heroes inoffensive in their relative moral grounding with relationship to democracy. As opposed to Germanic Thor, only identifiable then with the “cursed Hun” and his nihilistic confidence.

But by the sixties, comics enter The Silver age, and any alchemist who knows knows that Silver is so much more divine and resonant than Gold. By then, the redeemed Captain could descend, specifically from the moment in history that created the pop-superhero, the World War 2. All three foundational Justice Leaguers come from Golden Age to Silver, intact as opposed to their mostly rebooted comrades like Green Lantern, Hawkman/Hawkgirl and Flash. Not so with the Avengers: only one of the marvel heroes returns from recent antiquity, That war-- but is he Chesed or Tipheret?

Michael, identified with Chesed is a war god, master of legions, but in the context of the Avengers, Cap is the balancier,  not the childish infinite power that Marvel's Thor, or the Powerpuff girls's Bubbles, represent.

On the other hand, the shield is identified with Abraham, not Jacob, and Thor is more the Eternal Son, killed and resurrected, and humbled by the sublimation of his divinity into human form so that he might change his essential nature and gain new sensitivities; This Is the aspect of “Israel”: similar to Jacob, Joseph, and Jesus, except more into hitting than getting hit, dying only in order to win better. Compare with heroes on the level of King Saul and Solomon alike, who must be defeated in order for the love they represent and embody to be expressed.

3 becomes 7 by doubling, and then the axis that both are on is the 7th.  This is Shabtai/Saturn/Shiva: conceptualized ultimately as Time itself (Cronos/Shabbat) this star is what binds the week and initiates creation, by being willing to be, and satanically shuts down time, as soon as he doesn't care anymore.  Identified with the god of Israel by the Romans, Saturn is identified with and synchretized with Dionysus(Liber) in his exctatic/nihilistic aspect (the Attic/Anatolian/Ancient-Eastern “Sabezius”). This same Saturn initiates law and civilization, all by being the axis that the other Celestials revolve around, which all the rest do in their way, at their point. They all imitate their absented-defeated father, as is the way. Shabatai/Saturn/Shiva encompasses all and implies the rest-- if you have Shiva, then you have had Brahma and all the rest at once. Cronos/Saturn similarly devours all his children, not destroying them, but just encompassing them, in the hopes of keeping All One and All Whole and All Self until Jupiter/Guru/Tzadek cuts him open, making space for story, peace and generations. Mothers, Doubles, Etc.

But

Every version of the Sepher Yetzira i've seen has a different sequence for the correspondences between the seven planets and the associated days of the week. Why?  

I asked a rabbi who had published my favorite version of the Sepher Yetzira, tidily framed like a poetry book, like a modern translation of the Dao De Ching, one simple quatrain per page. His version, as with a predominant majority of the extant Hebrew versions of the Sefer Yetzirah in circulation, has the planets and days in an order contrary to the Julian order that seems to be almost universally popular in the world. You know the order i'm talking about, right? Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and then Saturn. The order of the days in Norse, Vedic, and Greco-Roman tradition. Ostensibly based on emergence of the celestial body during the first hour of a given day, it's really popular... and yet almost no version of The Sefer Yetzira, which lists those same 7 deities along with the seven days of the week, helpfully numbered (The first day, second day etc) has them in a order like Sun on the first day Moon on the second, etc. Why not?

I found him at a wedding, Avraham Leader, and I asked him. He looked off into the sky, closed his eyes, and testified: “they're changing all the time, rotating.” There's something honest and authentic in that very witty deconstruction-- the pattern is observed, 3 mothers and 7 doubles, but which is which shifts, as is the nature of dynamic relationships. Maybe there's some pattern to how, i'm sure some number of people have tried to chart it, always, from all angles. And maybe that's one of the blessings of pop-cartoon media: the constant unfolding of the stone, and the chance to watch the same divinities engage each other in different permutations according to the new clarity of each new day. New comics come out on Woden's day, but they are printed on Moon day and shipped on Tyr's.

But all that would change as the technologies and conveniences do, because no tradition is more stable than the context that nurses it. Subsequently:

There's a problem in identifying which day of the week is which Sephira

Lets say there are three intial “mothers” as the sepher yetzira insists. One forms the other, and then a balance is found it between it's two infinite extremes that is the third that defines the polarity forever, it's harmony and balanced aspect.

For example-- heat, when created, immediately exists in the context of cold, and right there, are the two mothers חום/heat and קוּר/cold, and the balance that forms between them is the harmony that becomes known as רויה/temper(ature), and time is defined by these extremes.

This pattern is also itself triplicate in the Sepher Yetzirah, the above triumvirate reflecting Time, another triumvirate reflecting Space and a third personifying Psyche, a.k.a. Soul, a.k.a. Feeling.

The absurdity of these narratives is that the third, the harmonizer, in all case must actually be the first, in some conceptual sense, and tends to actually be listed first in most versions, despite being defined only by its relationship to balancing the other two infinities.  This is expressed by the three letters through which the idea of the Three Mothers is first elaborated: מ (“Mem” )initiates, ש (Shin) stops and א (Aleph) balances. The joke is: א is the original letter, the first, identified with the moment before creation. The aleph is the original alpha, yet here it comes only to balance the conflict between an initial oM and a silencing Sh-- as if to say that, although it's initial conception predates all existence, it only comes into functional existence in the context of the schism that the world itself is made of. The schism between before and after that creates history, the schism between close and far that invents space, and the schism between gut and head that facilitates experience-- they are all founded in the tacit and unexpressed primordial distinction between being, unbeing, and the liminal space inbetween that actually, naturally, predates the distinction.

This space is not to be identified with God, who is still defined as implicit in, and beyond, this whole game and process. But if one would identify it with a degree of God, it would be the degree yearned for and sought by the gnostics who insisted that all else of power and presence in the world of lies was only extant to repress that pure initial light. That's the prize for everyone and anyone trying to get beyond the distinction and the world, but the whole and true G-d is only encounterable in the whole entirety, being and non-being and the bridge all together at once with everything AND nothing.

All the stories are about the invasion of these patterns into each other, and the hilarity, terror and novelty that ensue. But they are just decorations so that we have some impression of the invisible Queen, who cannot be known except by the veils she wears, which ironically free her to be as public as she would be.  The veils have patterns because the shape of the face has patterns: Most of Kabbalistic meditation is looking at a thing and then it's opposite, and then at once glancing at what they have in common, through which they are bound and ground.

The first creates the second. The second splits into both third and fourth at once. But one and two have an eternity together. An eternity to work out as much as is interesting or meaningful in their interaction. Any two characters on a given situation comedy are inevitably going to have time to do everything there is with each other than can be milked for humor and/or pathos. One and two live together, depend on each other, especially veiled as 0 and 1. Notice how the Latin word for god parallels the number two “Deux” rather than the number one “Uno,” identified with the moment before creation. No wonder the ancient west had no concept of “Zero”: they just called it “One” instead, with Two being the triumphant god “Tiwaz” vs. One/”Wotan, (Three/Thor, Four/Freya, etc.) Pop-culture, especially of a sort geared toward children, has trouble acknowledging post-romantic sexual dynamics, limiting the possibility of super-hero couples as being viable outside of a larger team dynamic.  This is one of the tremendous distinctions between normative pagan hierarchy and that of both Kabbalah and Pop-Cartoons: the ability to acknowledge a divine couple that is male and female equally. A great recent example is the Sym-bionic Titan, G. Tartatovsky's ambitious, epic and rightly awesome  but short lived follow up to Samurai Jack. Princess and Protector and Awesome Robot supervisor vs. Evil alien empire and G. I. Joe in the form of armored Transformers, that can bond into a full mini Voltron.  Here, the problem is adressed by defining the roles distinctly, mythically, and idealistically-platonically. He is there to protect her, She needs not protecting but wants to help Everyone, and Awesome Robot is the Knowledge resource that helps them bridge their gaps of priority and inherent personal distance, without need for ultimate compromise of personal identity.  So sometimes a way is found, to relate to the masculine and feminine in a dynamic in its entirety, but this rarely happens. It's hard on pop cartoons, made for kids assumed to be in relatively homo-genderous stages of developmental priority, not to just decide to pander to Boy Fantasy of infinite play-war, or Girl Fantasy of infinite play-drama.    

In Pop culture sitcomedy, it's easy: the tension between a central couple is the source of all tension and humor, and generally there's at least one secondary Dyad (Fred and Ethyl Mertz, for classic example) to take the pressure off the starring couple, to split with them into sub-teams, and then come back together in the comic denouement, often in paroxysms of laughter and celebration at an episodes end.  Something similar plays out in the ancient story of Dumuzi and Innana, where Dumuzi's sister-twin comes out of nowhere to play a central role once her bro has been dispatched to Hades for his insensitivity. His twin sister represents his interests, from a feminine perspective, to his feminine counterpart, who lives as a lover-foil, rather than as an empty gender-switched reflection. I believe this is the secret of the difference between an opposite and a contrapositive or an inversion, depending on which direction the wheel of priority turns.

In both the Hebrew Bible and the Pop Comic Book, power couples do emerge, and the stronger dualistic framework is that of the Hero/Villain dyad, where the tension is infinite, and the room for betrayal just as much.  Romance is expressed mostly through this format, with “partners” existing in a sibling limbo of proffessional-sacred uneroticism.  Notice how much silver-age Lois Lane ultimately functions as something more like an enemy than a partner, disrupting in the hopes of courting, Superman's tantric greatness being his ability to maintain integrity and grace while still dodging the compromise that Lois is constantly trying to insist. Superman and Batman don't have to be lovers to be PARTNERS, neither do Jonathan and David. But they ARE lovers, as mythicly bonded as Dumuzi and Innana-- and maybe even more securely.

In the great future, they have a fight to the death, says one vision of the end of the Batman/Superman team. One goes awry (or appears to) and the other must stop him. The only constant hope of salvation that the team/coupling has in this model is to be interrupted by a greater villain, watching, clapping, laughing, or invading, who they are then united against. This is the great model of ALL super-hero encounters in the original Marvel way, to the point where an immediate camraderie and spirit of co-operation becomes suspect, ominous, and due to inevitably collapse, because of mind -control or some other subversion.

Because the characters are MADE to ENGAGE each other, generally with violence, because this is a visual medium. Whereas Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty only came to fisticuffs once, and even then, not in a manner choreographed through words, but instead described almost passingly, and with more attention to detail given to the environment that they were to have their final encounter in, rather than lovingly detailed Biffs! And Pows! Because analog literature prized the narrative and insight form of conflict much more than what Warren Ellis calls the Explodo! Model, of action prized far over lush description.

[ramrodd]

Does it mean that when God told Abraham, that Ishmael will produce 12 chieftains, and God will make him become a great nation meant Mohammed will be born and become the prophet?

COMMENTARY:

Sura 74:32 establishes the Divine nature of the Quran and abrogates the 200-odd abrogations of the Medinan Suras.

Mohammad’s mother/wife Khadijah was the medium between Mohammad and Gabriel (Gabriel) in pretty much the same manner as the Witch of Endor. The role of Gabriel was to announce the coming of the Son of God, that is, Jesus of Nazareth, and the role of Mohammad was to lead the Children of Ishmael back into covenant with Abraham and relationship with Jesus via Sura 19:1 - 33.

The Gospel of Matthew anticipates the rise of Mohammad and is the gateway Gospel for the Lavant.

Only, Khadijah died before Mohammad could assimilate the essential structures of the Christian credo: Sura 12 Yusef was the last Sura transmitted as a consolation for the death of Khadijah and Mohammad drifted off into increasing psychosis and various sociopathologies that eventually conveyed to his followers into the Messiah of the Sword of the apocalypsic Jewish and Evangelical Born Again Christian expectations.

Islam is a gnostic doctrine, which is why Aristotle was so cherished by Muslim scholars. Allah is the demi-urge of Moloch and Baal and is an analogue of the Spirit of God in the Judeo-Christian ontology. In some respects, the Quran is a hymnal for the Gospel of Thomas.

Islam is the re-invention of Judaism and both share the denial of the Holy Ghost as the essential fallacy of their doctrine. The scriptures of the Hebrew Bible provide a partial substitute for the Holy Ghost and the emotional impact of the Quran transmitted by the human voice provides a similar function for Muslims and both genre have been created to overcome the inertia of Free Will in the human condition. Original Sin is a Jewish construct that Islam embraces because it appeals to the impulse to Jihad.

Jesus went to the cross in order to validate the Roman God Hypothesis with Resurrection in order to escape the orbit of the intellectual cul-de-sac of Judaism. Jesus declares Cornelius the first Christian in Matthew 8:10 before the Roman soldiers invented “Christian” as their working slander for the followers of Jesus. Tiberius introduced the term “Christian” to Rome sometime before his death in 37 CE and the Word of the Resurrection had circulated throughout the 30 legions spread out across the Empire before either Peter or Paul began their missionary careers.

The Gospel According to Mark was originally authored by Cornelius as a follow-up intelligence report to the intelligence shop of the Praetorian Guard. It was originally written in Latin and arrived in Rome shortly after Peter was debriefed in Acts X, that is, around 40 CE. The distribution of εὐθὺς throughout the text of Mark suggests that it is an apparatus of the intelligence protocols that designate points in Peter’s testimony that is validated by independent sources in the Q source, which is the original intelligence portfolio on Jesus’s activities after He appeared above the Roman military horizon as a potential insurgent when He was Baptized,

Paul’s use of εὐαγγελίου, generally, but in Philippians, in particular, indicates Paul had read the Gospel According to Mark as early as 48.

The Gospel of John was written by John Mark, who was the publisher of the Gospel According to Mark in Alexandria, as well as a character, editor and contributor to Mark. The Gospel of John Mark is a companion to the narrative of Mark, which is the drawing of the boa constrictor that swallowed the elephant the aviator made for The Little Prince and the Gospel of John is the drawing of the boa constrictor which swallowed the elephant from the inside.

The narratives of Mark and John converge at Chapter 6 with the feeding of the 5000 and in Chapter 11 on Palm Sunday, with the Trimphal Entry in the morning in Jerusalem in the morning and the raising of Lazarus in Bethany before the end of the day.

The Canon of the Gospels is a Roman construct. It is no more a product of the oral tradition than Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.