The evolution of religion : $b An anthropological study — John Shaqi
The evolution of religion : $b An anthropological studyFarnell, Lewis Richard
Religion
The evolution of religion : $b An anthropological study
Farnell, Lewis Richard
Prayer; Religions; Rites and ceremonies
not strongly {138} or generally possessed with the belief in the
aboriginal impurity or sinfulness of the flesh and the earthly life.
And Greek ritual itself, conservative as it was and never abandoning
its code of purification, comes at last to be influenced by this freer
atmosphere and to reconcile ceremonious purity with a higher moral
law. Before the temple of Asclepios at Epidauros stood the text,
“Within the incense-filled sanctuary one must be pure; and purity is
to have righteous thoughts.”[138.1] An inscription on a temple in
Rhodes of the time of Hadrian[138.2] shows a strange blend of
primitive and advanced thought. Its preamble mentions “rules
concerning righteous entrance into the shrine.” “The first and
greatest rule is to be pure and unblemished in hand and heart and to
be free from an evil conscience.” Then follows the usual ceremonious
code of rules concerning the impurities of food, {139} funerals, and
natural affections of the body: and the last clause shows the ethical
idea penetrating even these, for the code prescribes that a person may
enter the shrine “on the same day after lawful married intercourse.”
This means that the adulteress was excluded, as she was at Athens by a
law quoted by Demosthenes.[139.1] It appears then that the liberal
ethic judgment attributed to Theano, the female Pythagorean teacher,
that while lawful intercourse was no bar to participating in a
religious service on the same day, the adulteress was to be for ever
excluded,[139.2] was not wholly out of accordance with the advanced
ritualistic code of Greece.
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