The Evolution of Theology: an Anthropological Study: Essay #8 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition"Huxley, Thomas Henry
Religion
The Evolution of Theology: an Anthropological Study: Essay #8 from "Science and Hebrew Tradition"
Huxley, Thomas Henry
Bible and science; Evolution; Paleontology; Science
Semitic influences penetrated Egypt that the Egyptian language, during
the period of the nineteenth dynasty, is said by Brugsch to be as full
of Semitisms as German is of Gallicisms; while Semitic deities had
supplanted the Egyptian gods at Heliopolis and elsewhere. On the other
hand, the Semites, as far as Phenicia, were extensively influenced by
Egypt.
It is generally admitted [31] that Moses, Phinehas (and perhaps Aaron),
are names of Egyptian origin, and there is excellent authority for
the statement that the name _Abir,_ which the Israelites gave to their
golden calf, and which is also used to signify the strong, the heavenly,
and even God, [32] is simply the Egyptian Apis. Brugsch points out that
the god, Tum or Tom, who was the special object of worship in the city
of Pi-Tom, with which the Israelites were only too familiar, was called
Ankh and the "great god," and had no image. Ankh means "He who lives,"
"the living one," a name the resemblance of which to the "I am that I
am" of Exodus is unmistakable, whatever may be the value of the fact.
Every discussion of Israelitic ritual seeks and finds the explanation
of its details in the portable sacred chests, the altars, the priestly
dress, the breastplate, the incense, and the sacrifices depicted on the
monuments of Egypt. But it must be remembered that these signs of the
influence of Egypt upon Israel are not necessarily evidence that such
influence was exerted before the Exodus. It may have come much later,
through the close connection of the Israel of David and Solomon, first
with Phenicia and then with Egypt.
If we suppose Moses to have been a man of the stamp of Calvin, there is
no difficulty in conceiving that he may have constructed the substance
of the ten words, and even of the Book of the Covenant, which curiously
resembles parts of the Book of the Dead, from the foundation of Egyptian
ethics and theology which had filtered through to the Israelites
in general, or had been furnished specially to himself by his early
education; just as the great Genevese reformer built up a puritanic
social organisation on so much as remained of the ethics and theology of
the Roman Church, after he had trimmed them to his liking.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account