tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088594771713549642.post851996676358716247..comments2022-03-31T01:37:16.286-04:00Comments on My Heart in Ancient Egypt: AtenismUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088594771713549642.post-89682577925328650722012-11-25T15:47:40.314-05:002012-11-25T15:47:40.314-05:00There is much in the Amarna texts and those just p...There is much in the Amarna texts and those just prior to Akhenaten's rule that talk about the beginnings of Monotheistic practices in the court. Because the pharaoh is the chief priest of the state and head of the "main religion" in the cultural context most texts refer to the state religion as being monotheistic and do not place the same limitations on the individuals of the society. There are many precedents in Egyptian texts for many people worshiping in ways other than that of the state religion. However, through much of Egyptian history the Pharaonic Law required all persons to take part in the main religious ceremonies of the state's chief deity. During the time of Akhenaten this would be participation in his monotheistic styled Aten worship. At any time in Egyptian history it is important to distinguish between personal worship of the citizens and the state/formal worship. Often they were different. You are correct that, as I also talked about, Aten was originally one of many gods, an aspect of Ra. Some texts seem to suggest that the ideas of Aten and Ra diverged when Aten was still seen as a healing and gentle god/aspect/being and Ra was taken to be a more war-like god as some of the pharaohs began military campaigns. In any event it is a very interesting topic to think about. I understand you are coming from the view of a practitioner and I am going on the archeological details which do not always come to perfect agreement. I also follow Aten but in the more ancient form where Aten is an aspect of Ra and Benu (i.e. their shining parts).<br /><br />I do agree that their is not proof for a correlation between Moses and him being an Aten priest. My point was that with all the back and forth conquering between Egypt and the Middle East all during Egyptian history that it is quite possible that beliefs flowed between the two cultures. I am certain that during the centuries of Egyptian and Middle Eastern history that the repeated conquering mixed beliefs in some areas. (After all this did happen with Roman and Egyptian religious practices later on.)<br /><br />Henotheism is also appropriate to mention here. It is basically a monotheist who thinks.. well maybe their are other gods but I don't believe they exist really or follow them. Many scholars also use this term for Akhenaten's personal religious beliefs and those beliefs he partially imposed on the state.<br /><br />I however do not agree on the idea of one psalm indicating that Atenism directly influenced the creation of Judaism. Part of this is due to the disconnect in the research about who wrote them. Most of the psalms are attributed to Moses, David and Solomon, however, there are a number of psalms that reference things that existed or took place after these figures would have died... such as a temple in Jerusalem and references to things believed to deal with the exile to Babylon. Another concern with this interpretation is dates. Akhenaten was ruling in mid/late 1300s BC and the psalm in question (according to church references and biblical scholars) doesn't seem to have been written until 1100 BC or even as late as 900 BC. This puts a vast distance of time between monotheistic Atenism and the writing of psalm 104.<br /><br />Jesus, Mary and the Saints are not gods. Monotheism means one god. You can have prophets, heroes, holy men/women and so on and still be monotheistic if you only have one Deity. Worship of lesser beings such as angels, prophets or holy persons does not define whether something is monotheistic or not as they are not deities. Titaniahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09489204947223193175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1088594771713549642.post-56997171187922622502012-11-25T14:31:40.591-05:002012-11-25T14:31:40.591-05:00As an Atenist,at first the aten was worshiped as o...As an Atenist,at first the aten was worshiped as one of many gods,in the time of Aken Aten however,Amenhotep the fourth started as a polytheist(as much as we know),then raised the Aten as chief god,then progressed to monotheism,so one must judge the first worship of only one god in light of this natural progression.<br />Secondly,there is no proof that Moses was an atonist priest,true,but then there is no proof that Moses actually even existed,so one has to speculate on dates,likelihoods and circumstantial evidence.I think with the nearest dates of Moses being just after the worship of one true god,aten and the removal of idols to be replaced by symbols ending in allowance of only the name of aten,the striking similarities with the famous psalm 104 with the atenist prayer,one can only come to a strong conclusion that Moses was indeed influenced by atenism in the creation of the Jewish religion.<br />Also please remember that in the monotheistic religions of say Christianity,god the creator and sustain-er of life is also worshiped with Jesus,the virgin Mary and the saints and yet it is still ultimately a monotheistic religion.valentinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07763909210112021279noreply@blogger.com