3.3.3 Atheism: A History of God (Part 1)

I explain how I learned from A History of God by Karen Armstrong that the evidence indicates that the Jewish concept of monotheism evolved from the syncretism of various polytheistic sources like Canaanite and Babylonian polytheism.

Books and Concepts:

A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam:
http://www.amazon.com/History-God-000...

Well-sourced Wikipedia articles describing the evolution of Jewish monotheism from polytheism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monothei...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh#E...

Enuma Elish:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En%C3%BB...
Library of Ashurbanipal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_...
Canaanite Religion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canaanit...
Did Jewish Slaves Build the Pyramids?:
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4191

Taanach Cult Stand:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh#D...
Israel Enters Recorded History in Egypt at 1200 BCE:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_...

Jeremiah's Monolatrist Polytheism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of...

Exodus Renaming by P verified in The Bible with Sources Revealed:
http://www.amazon.com/Sources-Reveale...

--

All excerpts used in this video are either copyright-free or covered under "fair use" in Title 17 § 107 of the USC, including:

The Prince of Egypt:
http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Egypt-Va...

Vector Attributions:
A huge thanks to Snap2Objects for the many businessmen vectors I use:
http://www.snap2objects.com/freebies/
Iron Age Israel and Judah:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kin...
Cloaked Israelite Women:
http://all-silhouettes.com/super-girls/
Gods and Israelites of War:
http://all-silhouettes.com/fighting-p...
Tiamat:
http://all-silhouettes.com/vector-ori...
Asherah and Baal:
http://all-silhouettes.com/jumping-pe...
Israelites:
http://all-silhouettes.com/miscsilhou...
Sun:
http://greeengirl.deviantart.com/art/...
Clouds:
http://all-silhouettes.com/vector-clo...
Plants:
http://www.vecteezy.com/Flowers/127-1...
Babies:
http://browse.deviantart.com/resource...
Ares:
http://browse.deviantart.com/resource...
Deuteronomy Flourishes:
http://all-silhouettes.com/vector-flo...
Blood:
http://www.vecteezy.com/Spills-Splatt...
Paint Splatters:
http://www.vecteezy.com/Spills-Splatt...

Image Attributions:
Badlands:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...
Heaven:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...
Babylonian Tablet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ven...
Babylonian Exile:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_h...
Baal Epic:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...

--

Music:
"Saladin" by Harry Gregson-Williams
"Saladin" remixed by Hybrid

.

• Category

  Education

[Kiba Bloodfang]

Wha... why isn't this common knowledge!? Why isn't this important history lesson taught in schools!?

[StickInMudd]

Just curious. On a scale of 1-10 (10 the greatest), how devoted/radical were you in your beliefs?

Also, what/who was is that influenced you to become an atheist?

I had a stint while in college with christianity after a few odd 'spiritual' experiences I had. I would have to say, beyond everything else, just simply reading the bible all the way through, got me right out of the faith. There's no way an all-knowing, benevolent deity inspired that book!

[Thesortvokter]

MrOneontop is a Poe, everybody, he's not a christian.

[Doc D]

Delicious!!!

[Latzi von Büren]

Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and other classic Christian traditions have NO PROBLEM agreeing with everything said here. The problem is with the Bible Belt Evangelical Christian fundamentalists ONLY.

[P. Wilson]

You know why.

CONTROL and who or whom has it.

[MrOneontop]

Fact is God wants to adopt a few of us orphans He created i.e. those who love Righteousness and "OVERCOME" evil.

[mbot48]

They did teach it in schools...in the soviet union.

[Mike Xie]

because in some states I heard that it is illegal for an atheist to run for government office.

[Baltasar Gracian]

It is common knowledge to those who read what is outside the school system.

[Nathan Dawson]

I think that is monolatrism, not monotheism.

Monolatrism is the recognition of the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one deity. (11:17-11:43)

Monotheism is the recognition AND worship of only one deity. (13:18-13:31)