October 12th

Today Started off with a prayer by Michelle. Then we finished up the class presentations with the Middle East. We took notes off of their slides:
Regions: Mesopotamia and Sumerior

Geography: Arid and Dry, Fertile crescent, The religions in the different regions are centered around the geography. Stories explain why things happen agriculturally.

Basics: polythesitic, St. sponsored religions, purification and cleansing rituals, regional, sacrifices, Divination, Conjuring and Talismans( Dreams tell the future and smoke is an important symbol)

Euphrates and Tigris Rivers: "flood myths", Gods seen as capricious and uncaring, the gods are responsible for the floods(when they are angry at the people)

Mesopotamia:(Babylonian and Assyrian Religions)
Gods-astrology-what happens on earth happens in the heavens
religions had conceptions of traits associated with god and duties that men were to fulfill.
Gods were easily angered
Demons influenced everyday lives
Humans listening to gods influenced afterlife
Beliefs played part in the viewpoint of the king

Egypt:
Positive view on religion
Nile river was the center of prosperity
Return of the snake=end of the world
Nature would rebel

Zoraastrianism:
Existence of Ahura Mazda= one holy god
Believed in a day of judgement
Good vs. Evil
Really important concept in the Middle Eastern religions

Sumerian and Babylonian Theology:
Enuma Elish-creation
Ish Tar's descent into the underworld-seasons
Gilgamesh-Fate of Humanity

Role of Humans:
They were at the mercy of the gods
The Priests were given important roles in society and played an important role in religion
Religious Governments-Theocracy

After that Presentation Jenn Prayed. We then Discussed the test format(test is on Thursday). The questions will contain a quote, Having to define a term and then make a connection. The format of the questions are very similar to the format of the questions on the four quizzes we have had on Islam vocab. We then had a powerpoint where Shari'a and Esposito were discussed. The main topics discussed were: Resurgence of Islam in the World(future of their society) and Ethics in society.

Our Homework for next class is test prep. Next class we are supposed to have a sub and create 5 or 6 Questions that might be topics on the test and then post them on circumlectio.