Anthropological Theology Thread - Discuss religious/spiritual beliefs from an academic anthropological viewpoint.

[Joseph McCarthy]

There is a Christian theology thread, but not one on other religions or the general academic anthropological study of theology. Use this thread to sperg about any cultural woo-woo shit, any major religion, or why you think religion exists and how it affects culture. You don't have to be personally religious to discuss any of this.

Keep discussion of Jews as a people to the General Antisemitism Thread, but you can discuss Judaism as a faith and what their religious texts say here. Keep AI psychosis slop and conspiracy theories unrelated to religious texts/traditions to the Conspiracy Theory thread or the Schizo Conspiracy Thread.

I'll start by saying some opinions I have on theology:

• Religion and churches provide a vital third space and community support. Millennials and Gen Z are so mentally ill because they reject religion and replace it with ideologies like liberalism.
• I find it interesting how many repeated themes appear in world religions, such as the Flood Myth. While some consider religion to be metaphorical, I believe real historical events, such as a Great Flood did happen, due to how much they pop up repeatedly around the world.
• You cannot divorce Christian morality from Western ethics. Atheistfags always say you can be moral without religion, and while true, they leave out the fact that their Western ethic system was founded by Christianity. And without religion, they begin to start playing Devil's Advocate for immoral behavior that is typically shunned by religion, such as sexual degeneracy.
• Communists ban religion because they do not want their citizens believing in a power higher than them. They want political figures to be worshipped instead, like how the Kim family in North Korea want to be worshipped as gods.

 

[ScarletDevil]

Fuck Foucault

 

[Joseph McCarthy]

Fuck Foucault

Foucault is a faggot and I am not referring to any of his ideas in making this thread. I just want to be able to discuss theology as a whole. Theologians were around before Foucault was born.

 

[Joseph McCarthy]

if hashem doesnt want us murdering then why does he permit israel killing muslims? checkmate liberals

This isn't a political thread. It's for discussing religious texts and traditions.

Back on thread topic:
I want to read every major holy book eventually. I was reading an ESV Study Bible that had context and maps provided, but a friend recently recommended me a better study bible that also includes apocrypha (The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Revised Standard Version, Expanded Edition), so I'm waiting for that one in the mail. The ESV Study Bible was over 1000 pages, and this new one I ordered is like 2000 pages. I might make Bible collecting a new autistic hobby of mine. I prefer the study ones since they have a lot of information and try to have the most accurate translations. But I'd love to get some vintage ones too.

 

[Joseph McCarthy]

my post is religious tho, murder is a great sin in judaism yet still god allows the jews to kill muslims

There's 1,000 other threads on this website for this topic. There's an Iran vs. Israel thread. But hardly any threads talk about reading the actual books (outside of just reposting quotes from social media). Post things about the Torah, Kabbalah, etc, but I don't want this to become another Middle East politics thread because I don't care whatsoever about that.

 

[Joseph McCarthy]

@WelperHelper99 Do you recommend any sources for learning more about Mormonism? Mormonism has always intrigued me, and I want to read the Book of Mormon at some point. I don't know a lot about Mormonism, but I find it interesting that Joseph Smith claimed there were Israelites in America. Considering there is some evidence toward pre-Columbus red-haired people in America (via accounts of numerous Native tribes and red-hair found in caves), I can't help but think he was onto something with that claim, whether accidentally or whether he actually did have some knowledge others didn't (he was a Freemason I think, right?).

 

[AFAB]

Do groups like Buddhism count or is this strictly towards Abrahamic religions only?

 

[Joseph McCarthy]

Do groups like Buddhism count or is this strictly towards Abrahamic religions only?

Any religion. Doesn't have to be Abrahamic. One of the reasons I made this thread was because there wasn't a good thread for discussing Eastern religions like Buddhism. We talk too much about Abrahamic religion but feel free to sperg about Eastern ones too.

 

[VeteranOfTheRetardWars]

I highly recommend reading the Tao Te Ching, especially a copy with additional commentary, because it’s both an incredibly fascinating religion and philosophy.
Basically (it’s not basic at all tbh), there’s the religious aspect of Taoism (Daojiao) and the philosophical aspect of Taoism (Daojia). The philosophy came first, and as time went on it became religious with gods and rituals and all that.

 

[WelperHelper99]

@WelperHelper99 Do you recommend any sources for learning more about Mormonism? Mormonism has always intrigued me, and I want to read the Book of Mormon at some point. I don't know a lot about Mormonism, but I find it interesting that Joseph Smith claimed there were Israelites in America. Considering there is some evidence toward pre-Columbus red-haired people in America (via accounts of numerous Native tribes and red-hair found in caves), I can't help but think he was onto something with that claim, whether accidentally or whether he actually did have some knowledge others didn't (he was a Freemason I think, right?).

There is the Book of Mormon. For more general history, there is doctrine and covenants, which provides a first hand account of the early days of the church.

 

[Joseph McCarthy]

I highly recommend reading the Tao Te Ching, especially a copy with additional commentary, because it’s both an incredibly fascinating religion and philosophy.
Basically (it’s not basic at all tbh), there’s the religious aspect of Taoism (Daojiao) and the philosophical aspect of Taoism (Daojia). The philosophy came first, and as time went on it became religious with gods and rituals and all that.

I appreciate the book rec, I'll add that to my reading list. This is the type of thing this thread was made for.

 

[Cnidarian]

Are there any books from an Eastern religious background that you'd recommend as a source of wisdom and advice to general audiences, whatever the reader may believe?

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

A lot of Jewish/semitic laws have justification in the climate or health benefits. Washing yourself before eating/after mensuration is obvious. Also not raising pigs due to high water consumption (useful in a desert). Not eating shellfish because they spoil quickly in the heat.

I heard of the idea that human sacrifice is banned due to it being a previous thing Jews did, but it might as well have been other tribes that did it so it was outlawed to justify wiping them out.

There's a similar theory with cows in India, that the ban to eating them is due to them tilling the land so you had to force the farmers not to eat them and then starve the next season. Not sure about eating cow shit/piss.

 

[Male Idiot]

A good place to drop the Jesus: Parthian Prince study.

This is deep bible and turan spergery about why Jesus wasn't a jew but a proto-Hungarian.

I give you the Scythian Jesus, see attachment.

 

[squidward tentacles]

While some consider religion to be metaphorical, I believe real historical events, such as a Great Flood did happen, due to how much they pop up repeatedly around the world.

Considering how many religions specifically in the Levant/Middle East reference it (the Abrahamic religions, but also Zoroastrianism, Egyptian mythology, and the Epic of Gilgamesh), I would bet there was some truly catastrophic flood in that area prior to 2500 BC.

Otherwise! It's reddit, but I really like the subreddit r/academicbiblical. There's a lot of very interesting discussion there.

 

[Long Dong Silver 2025]

If you are new to biblical archaeology, then you should check out "The Popular Handbook of Archaeology and the Bible: Discoveries That Confirm the Reliability of Scripture"

For some listening and viewing, I highly recommend Inspiring Philosophy's youtube channel, he does a very good job laying out the archaeological findings that support the Bible and he tends to put sources out there for you to find easily, something that a lot of archaeological channels often fail to do.

 

[VM_]

A good place to drop the Jesus: Parthian Prince study.

This is deep bible and turan spergery about why Jesus wasn't a jew but a proto-Hungarian.

I give you the Scythian Jesus, see attachment.

This sort of aligns with Ralph Ellis's theory that Jesus was the Parthian king Izates II, who converted to Judaism later in life and ruled in Adiabene (modern Iraq) and Linda Malcor's research into the Scythian origins of the grail myth. Ralph posits that the grail myth is essentially Christian with Arthur being a allegory of Izates, or a Christianized retelling of an older myth used as crusader propaganda/coded truth that worked because it tapped into the blood memory of the Aryan Europeans. He actually believed Izates survived a Roman crucifixion and was brought over to England as part of a Napoleon esque exile afterwards, while Linda posits that the grail myth was imported by the Scythian Alan recruits that the Romans had in their army, also introducing dragon motifs in banners and arms that later were heavily adapted in medieval culture.

There IS something about that Anatolian region, which is the birthplace of religion (as far as we know), and the Romans originated there with Troy, a glorified Aryan-Hittite buffer state. The Phoenicians adapted a lot of the Anatolian traditions, fusing them with Judaic ones, as the Phoenician/Canaanites and Hebrews could be one and the same, not to mention Armenia was the first to adopt Christianity as a state religion, north of the area where Izates reigned in Adiabene, a Jewish Parthian buffer state in between Rome and Persia.

Roman Jewish Pharisee Josephus on the conversion of Izates:

(3 And when he perceived that his mother was highly pleased with the Jewish customs, he made haste to convert and to embrace them entirely. As he supposed that he could not be thoroughly a Jew unless he was circumcised, he was ready to have it done. (39) But when his mother understood his intention, she endeavored to hinder him from doing it. She said to him that it would bring him into danger; and that since he was a king, he would thereby bring about great disaffection among his subjects when they would find out that he was so devoted to rites that were to them strange and foreign, and that they would never bear to be ruled over by a Jew. (40) This it what she said to him, and for the present she persuaded him to forbear. When he had related what she had said to Ananias, he confirmed what his mother had said. He also threatened to leave him and to leave the land unless he complied with him. (41) He said that he was afraid lest if such an action became public, he should himself be in danger of punishment for having been the cause of it, having been the king’s instructor in actions that were unseemly. He said that Izates might worship God without being circumcised, if he had resolved to be a devoted adherent of Judaism and that such worship of God was of a superior nature to circumcision. (42) He added that God would forgive him, though he did not perform the operation, since it was omitted out of necessity and for fear of his subjects. So the king at that time complied with these persuasions of Ananias.

(43) But afterwards, as he had not given up his desire of doing this, a certain other Jew from Galilee, whose name was Eleazer, and who was esteemed very skillful in the learning of his country, persuaded him to do it. (44) For as he entered into his palace to pay him respects and found him reading the law of Moses, he said to him, “You do not consider, O king! that you unjustly break what is commanded in those laws and transgress against God himself for you ought not only to read them, but even more to practice what they enjoin you. (45) How long will you continue to be uncircumcised? If you have not yet read the law about circumcision, and do not know how great an impiety you art guilty of by neglecting it, read it now.” (46) When the king had heard what he said, he delayed the thing no longer, but retired to another room and sent for a surgeon, and did what he was commanded to do. He then sent for his mother, and Ananias his tutor, and informed them that he had done this. (47) They were immediately struck with astonishment and fear beyond measure lest the thing should be openly discovered and censured, and the king should risk the loss of his kingdom since his subjects would not bear to be governed by a man who was so zealous for another religion and lest they should themselves run some risk because they would be supposed the cause of his so doing. (4 But it was God himself who prevented what they feared from taking effect. For He preserved both Izates himself and his sons when they fell into many dangers and procured their deliverance when it seemed to be impossible, and demonstrated thereby that the reward for piety does not perish for those who have regard to Him and fix their faith upon Him only, but these events we shall relate below.

And later he mentions Izates sons and "brethren" surrendered to Rome during the Jewish wars. I'm sure Scythian recruits were used heavily around that area during this time period.

4. On the same day it was that the sons and brethren of Izates the king, together with many others of the eminent men of the populace, got together there, and besought Caesar to give them his right hand for their security; upon which, though he was very angry at all that were now remaining, yet did he not lay aside his old moderation, but received these men. At that time, indeed, he kept them all in custody, but still bound the king's sons and kinsmen, and led them with him to Rome, in order to make them hostages for their country's fidelity to the Romans.

On the potential origins of the Arthurian myth taken form a book called The Alchemy Key.

The last surviving remnants of these ancient northern Iranian peoples are the Ossetians in the Caucasus Mountains, who are descendants of the Sarmatian-Alans.205 Their lands are now divided between the Russian Republic and the new state of Georgia. The Ossetians are the famous blacksmith tribe previously called Kalybs. Its name, Kalybs, became Latin for steel. Though threatened politically, militarily, and culturally from many directions over a thousand years, the Ossetians still speak their ancestral Iranian language with an archaic dialect, called Iron, meaning “noble”. They maintain an oral narrative referred to as the Nart sagas. These Nart sagas contain parallels with Arthurian legend so numerous and so uncannily close that it is impossible they are unrelated.

There is an Ossetain basis for most of the prominent elements of the Arthurian cycle, including:

• all the characters Arthur, Lancelot, Perceval, Galahad, Gawain, Kay, Tristan, Bedivere, Bors, Caradoc, King Ban de Benoich, the Maimed King, St. George, Elaine (Helaine), the Lady in the Lake, Merlin and others;
• sacred swords, the ‘sword in the stone’ episode, King Arthur’s sword (Cali-burn) that bears a similar name to the tribe Kalybs, and throwing of the sword into a lake, which causes it to seethe, and the sword-rising-out-of-the-roiling-water;
• heads taken in battle and carried to the King for reward then scalped and made into cloaks of human hair;
• sculls sliced, gilded and used as magical drinking cups; cauldrons of heavenly splendor that never run dry and appear at feasts before the bravest of the heroes;
• Scythian griffins and Sarmatians dragons as magical beasts. The very name Sarmatian means lizard people;
• the Sarmatians dragon used as a as military standard. The Sarmatians used a very particular battle standard, consisting of a silken windsock sewn into the shape of a serpentine dragon, which hissed when it filled with air as its bearer charged into battle;
• women as warriors. Greek and Chinese described the Amazon women who were Scythian female warriors that fought alongside their men. Adam of Bremen wrote that these women lived along the Baltic Coast.206 Saxo Grammaticus described the same women in Denmark.207 He said: their eagerness for military glory was so strong that you would have thought they were no longer women; and
• women's chivalric role. An Iranian gold plaque from the Peter the Great’s Siberian collection dated around 300 BC shows a woman seated under a tree, holding a sleeping man’s head in her lap. Nearby a groom holds a pair of horses. His weapons hang in the branches of the tree. It is not difficult to recognize the scene of Arthur’s death.

The archetypal Scythian horsemen hero George was later used as crusade propaganda as well - who is the patron saint of England and practically all of Europe. The dragon motif only makes sense in Scythian context.

 

[Joseph McCarthy]

I'm glad this thread is finally getting some quality discussion.

 

[squidward tentacles]

There's a similar theory with cows in India, that the ban to eating them is due to them tilling the land so you had to force the farmers not to eat them and then starve the next season. Not sure about eating cow shit/piss.

Possibly some sort of extremely misinterpreted game of telephone about variolation? Cowpox pustules blown in another person's nose is protective against smallpox->cows are protective against smallpox->hundreds of years of rumors spreading through remote jungle villages->?????->cow poop is good for you.

I could be wrong about my timelines though—not sure when cow, uh, excrement worship began in India, but the Chinese were using variolation as early as the 11th century.