This may have been asked before , but I ask it again now. In the Legendarium (of which I have read very little) it is stated multiple times that Death is a gift to Men from the One. Men are allowed to be free of the world and depart, but that is hard for me to view with the Christian view of death, in which it was never intended for Men to die, and indeed it was the eating of the Apple and the Fall which allowed for the punishment of death. Has Tolkien ever written on this?
Core-ean
For what I've read, what is modern day Tunisia, coastal Libya and northeastern Algeria, the roman province of Africa (Ifriqiya in arabic) was one of the biggests centers of christianity. It was apparently heavily christianized from early on, and was the home of many important christians (St. Augustine of Hippo being the most notable). However, after the arabic invasions and the islamization of the area, basically no traces of Christianity remained, or remained in very insignificant numbers. Meanwhile, in Egypt, the Levant and Mesopotamia, while a minority, christianity remained being an important religion and a very big minority, being majority in Lebanon until recently and like around 10% of Egypt as of now, and entire ethnic groups such as the Copts and the Assyrians remained basing their existence on the christian religion.
So why didn't this happen in North Africa (Apart from Egypt)? Why Tunisia, Libya or Algeria doesn't have important christian minorities apart from recent post-colonial imports such as the kabyle catholics? What were the historical or cultural reasons for the dissappearence of the Christian religion in the Maghreb? Also why groups such as the Assyrians and Copts managed to survive arabization and Islamization but not the African Romans and Cyrenaican Greeks?
I'm reading /u/itsallfolklore 's book on trolls and it's really striking how many of these stories attempt to reconcile the spiritual destiny of faeries, trolls, etc. with the spiritual cosmology introduced by Christianity and the pre-Christian conflict of good and evil.
Do we know what these stories looked like before that kind of moral construction existed? What were faeries and trolls and so forth up to before they had to start worrying about their immortal souls? How did the people of Europe view these creatures' place in the universe?
While I've tagged the author of the book in this post, please don't feel excluded from answering if you have some insight!
First off i apoligize if i say something that is offensive.
Hello i am new to this area. my origin is Central America catholic. My family talks about some difference of catholism in the USA to Central America. So i was wondering what are some practices of catholism in the middle east? Some practices, traditions and special days that most middle east catholics do? Also things like dating and families?
Thanks for reading
Before you answer let me give you some background on how I thought up this scenario.
First of all a lot of people tend to see Caesar as a villain because he become a dictator and brought an end to the Roman Republic. However, what I think what most people don't know about is that Caesar was very fair for his day. He was very tolerant of other cultures and he granted citizenship and rights to non-Romans like Jews, Greeks, and Gauls. He also enacted land reform for Rome's poor and veterans and before his death he was making plans to create a meritocratic bureaucracy and trying to find a way to end slavery. While his actions were driven more by personal ambition than true altruism compared to the Oligarchs running the Republic he was the lesser of two evils.
Second, I think some people are unaware of how liberal the Hellenistic culture Cleopatra came from was a lot more tolerant of other cultures and beliefs than the Romans, much more vested in promoting the arts and science, and some Hellenistic thinkers even believed that women should have a right to education. This got me thinking what if Caesar saw the merits of Hellenistic Civilization and wanted the merge the best of aspects of Roman culture with the best aspects of Hellenistic culture. But instead of achieving this by marrying Cleopatra himself, he would arrange to have Cleopatra married to his adopted son Octavian/Augustus. This would also prevent the two from engaging in a power struggle against each other after Caesar dies. I'm not sure if they would love each other, but I think they would at least make good rulers for the Roman empire.
Finally, another thing some people overlook is that during the Hellenistic period the Greeks in Egypt developed the first steam engine but it was never fully developed for a variety of reasons like the lack of a steel industry, and the preference of slave labor over mechanical labor. But what if Caesar saw the potential of this device and created state-owned technical colleges, universities, and industrial enterprises to find ways to make more of them and kickstart an industrial revolution?
All of this information got me thinking what if Caesar had arranged for Octavian to marry Cleopatra and helped start an industrial revolution to end slavery?
Basically, Caesar would arrange to have Octavian married Cleopatra for political reasons (access to Egypt's resources and bring Hellenistic ideas to Romans). While the two of them would be apprehensive about each other,
... keep reading on reddit ➡I’m curious as all my friends are secular and they don’t go to church so I don’t have much insight into this. Does this come up at all?
Edit: I guess to be more specific im wondering about Christian’s who aren’t young earth creationists. (Like hopefully all our politicians in congress who claim to be Christian and I’m relying on them to understand science to make things like energy policy happen)
Is there a single thing the church puts forward for Christians who understand the irrefutable science that our earth is billions of years old and our universe is 10+ billions of years old? Or is this a big no-no to talk about for them?
Hey, guys, this is my first post in this Reddit and was hoping to get this question answered. I love all the Catholic, chivalrous, and morally good themes within the various Middle Earth stories. The problem with such great things is that they come to an end too soon. I'm getting close to finishing the various works that Christopher Tolkein published and I feel like I'm gonna get afterburn hard when it's all finished. I just want to know if you guys know of some other great traditional Christian/Catholic influenced fantasy book series to read afterward. I've been considering the Narnia books but it's my understanding that those are more simplistic, aimed at children. I am hoping for something gripping with that beautiful English that Tolkien uses. I know it's a heavy order to fill but any suggestions would be appreciated.
Yours in Christ.
Things like; you must believe in hell or else, evolution isn't real, unborn lives matter (I can't get too upset with people who "care" about unborn babies but hijacking black lives matter seems very obtuse).
r/Christianity had a debate yesterday about whether or not Genesis was literally true and the Earth was created in 6 days.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/p1pluz/the_claim_that_the_universe_was_made_in_seven/ is the full thread. The OP introduces it as a joke, but then proceeds to fully argue for a young earth in the comments.
Christ Himself has said that the account of genesis is real.
How do you decide what is metaphorical and what is meant literal
If you aren’t religious or theist what is the historical combination of the Middle East producing such explosive and unique religions?
I feel like the mystery and the possibilities of what Tom could be is what makes me love him so much. He is ancient, and very well mannered with an amazing disposition on life. How do you feel about Tom?
I think they'd be philosophers, poets, craft jewels, singers,...
In The Two Towers the Uruk Hai and Mordor/Moria orcs referred to each other as apes when they argued. I am now imagining Gibbons Apes swinging around branches in Mirkwood.
Why did Tolkien hate allegory? Do you think it's inherently wrong to apply allegory to Tolkien's works (for instance, by assuming that Middle-Earth is a predecessor to our world, or that the Elves are Jews while Men are Christians)?
I am sorry if I am not making any sense. I know the Middle-Earth example probably isn't the best as it doesn't quite fit the definition of an allegory, but hopefully I am getting my point across.
Is it innately wrong to see deeper meanings?
I am not saying I think allegory should be applied, but I am curious if it's condemnable.
Like here's a basic summary of the God/Poseidon:
- The God here is like a somewhat benevolent Poseidon i.e. He's good, he appeared in the world a thousand years ago and occasionally a devoted follower gets a blessing from them
- Blessings are 1 in 1.75 Million (i.e. One in fifty people can probably meet someone who has been blessed by such God in their lifetimes)
- Blessings are such but only one:
- Eternal Youth But not invincibility
- Divinity of the following day but only whilst traveling on a ship
- Flight but only over one body of water
- Enhanced Human Condition - Think Demigods but mortal
- Shapeshifting but only one form that is of their favorites (e.g. Horses)
- Four Virtues of this Religion
- Compassion
- Justice
- Lust (But not rape)
- Forgiveness
- It is important to get his blessing before the Voyage at sea. People that get his proper blessings are 95% less likely to die at sea (the other 5% is due to stupidity or neglect or other conditions). People that don't get his blessing are like regular folk at sea with no "luck". People that piss him off or tarnish his name or religion are twice as likely to die at or over water bodies or drown than those with "no luck".
- So people that get his proper blessings are 40 times more likely to survive over water bodies than those that don't.
- The Setting is still the High Middle Ages; only God is Poseidon lite here.
- Christianity or there version of Catholicism would exist along with all the other major religions
Given this combination; what would the version of this world's Christianity look like and how would it begin?
Hi I already posted this question in r/askanthropology but was adviced to post it here as well.
For what I've read, what is modern day Tunisia, coastal Libya and northeastern Algeria, the roman province of Africa (Ifriqiya in arabic) was one of the biggests centers of christianity. It was apparently heavily christianized from early on, and was the home of many important christians (St. Augustine of Hippo being the most notable). However, after the arabic invasions and the islamization of the area, basically no traces of Christianity remained, or remained in very insignificant numbers. Meanwhile, in Egypt, the Levant and Mesopotamia, while a minority, christianity remained being an important religion and a very big minority, being majority in Lebanon until recently and like around 10% of Egypt as of now, and entire ethnic groups such as the Copts and the Assyrians remained basing their existence on the christian religion.
So why didn't this happen in North Africa (Apart from Egypt)? Why Tunisia, Libya or Algeria doesn't have important christian minorities apart from recent post-colonial imports such as the kabyle catholics? What were the historical or cultural reasons for the dissappearence of the Christian religion in the Maghreb? Also why groups such as the Assyrians and Copts managed to survive arabization and Islamization but not the African Romans and Cyrenaican Greeks?
Before you answer let me give you some background on how I thought up this scenario.
First of all a lot of people tend to see Caesar as a villain because he become a dictator and brought an end to the Roman Republic. However, what I think what most people don't know about is that Caesar was very fair for his day. He was very tolerant of other cultures and he granted citizenship and rights to non-Romans like Jews, Greeks, and Gauls. He also enacted land reform for Rome's poor and veterans and before his death he was making plans to create a meritocratic bureaucracy and trying to find a way to end slavery. While his actions were driven more by personal ambition than true altruism compared to the Oligarchs running the Republic he was the lesser of two evils.
Second, I think some people are unaware of how liberal the Hellenistic culture Cleopatra came from was a lot more tolerant of other cultures and beliefs than the Romans, much more vested in promoting the arts and science, and some Hellenistic thinkers even believed that women should have a right to education. This got me thinking what if Caesar saw the merits of Hellenistic Civilization and wanted the merge the best of aspects of Roman culture with the best aspects of Hellenistic culture. But instead of achieving this by marrying Cleopatra himself, he would arrange to have Cleopatra married to his adopted son Octavian/Augustus. This would also prevent the two from engaging in a power struggle against each other after Caesar dies. I'm not sure if they would love each other, but I think they would at least make good rulers for the Roman empire.
Finally, another thing some people overlook is that during the Hellenistic period the Greeks in Egypt developed the first steam engine but it was never fully developed for a variety of reasons like the lack of a steel industry, and the preference of slave labor over mechanical labor. But what if Caesar saw the potential of this device and created state-owned technical colleges, universities, and industrial enterprises to find ways to make more of them and kickstart an industrial revolution?
All of this information got me thinking what if Caesar had arranged for Octavian to marry Cleopatra and helped start an industrial revolution to end slavery?
Basically, Caesar would arrange to have Octavian married Cleopatra for political reasons (access to Egypt's resources and bring Hellenistic ideas to Romans). While the two of them would be apprehensive about each other,
... keep reading on reddit ➡Before you answer let me give you some background on how I thought up this scenario.
First of all a lot of people tend to see Caesar as a villain because he become a dictator and brought an end to the Roman Republic. However, what I think what most people don't know about is that Caesar was very fair for his day. He was very tolerant of other cultures and he granted citizenship and rights to non-Romans like Jews, Greeks, and Gauls. He also enacted land reform for Rome's poor and veterans and before his death he was making plans to create a meritocratic bureaucracy and trying to find a way to end slavery. While his actions were driven more by personal ambition than true altruism compared to the Oligarchs running the Republic he was the lesser of two evils.
Second, I think some people are unaware of how liberal the Hellenistic culture Cleopatra came from was a lot more tolerant of other cultures and beliefs than the Romans, much more vested in promoting the arts and science, and some Hellenistic thinkers even believed that women should have a right to education. This got me thinking what if Caesar saw the merits of Hellenistic Civilization and wanted the merge the best of aspects of Roman culture with the best aspects of Hellenistic culture. But instead of achieving this by marrying Cleopatra himself, he would arrange to have Cleopatra married to his adopted son Octavian/Augustus. This would also prevent the two from engaging in a power struggle against each other after Caesar dies. I'm not sure if they would love each other, but I think they would at least make good rulers for the Roman empire.
Finally, another thing some people overlook is that during the Hellenistic period the Greeks in Egypt developed the first steam engine but it was never fully developed for a variety of reasons like the lack of a steel industry, and the preference of slave labor over mechanical labor. But what if Caesar saw the potential of this device and created state-owned technical colleges, universities, and industrial enterprises to find ways to make more of them and kickstart an industrial revolution?
All of this information got me thinking what if Caesar had arranged for Octavian to marry Cleopatra and helped start an industrial revolution to end slavery?
Basically, Caesar would arrange to have Octavian married Cleopatra for political reasons (access to Egypt's resources and bring Hellenistic ideas to Romans). While the two of them would be apprehensive about each other,
... keep reading on reddit ➡
