This Side of Heaven: Race, Ethnicity, and Christian Faith

HISTORY OF MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION

The name Mesopotamia , is a Greek name which means `the land between the rivers , refers to the geographic region which lies near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and not to any particular civilization . The land of Mesopotamia is made fertile by the irregular and often violent flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers . While these floods aided agricultural endeavors by adding rich silt to the soil every year , it took a tremendous amount of human labor to successfully irrigate the land and to protect the young plants from

the surging flood waters Given the combination of fertile soil and the need for organized human labor , perhaps it is not surprising that the first civilization developed in Mesopotamia . Sumerians were the first settlers in Sumeria By c .3500 BCE , the Sumerians had developed many of the features that characterized subsequent civilizations . Cuneiform was a system of writing established by the Sumerians which became the dominant system of writing in Mesopotamia for over 2000 years

Mesopotamia is widely recognized as one of the regions in the Near East first experiencing the developmental transition to hydraulic and urban civilization , duly celebrated as a cradle of civilization ' and the eastern segment of the Fertile Crescent

Mesopotamian religion is the religious beliefs and practices of the Sumerians and Akkadians , which were noted the first developed civilizations and religions and later of their successors , the Babylonians and Assyrians (Lindemans , 2007 . In general terms , it constitutes the greater part of what is now Iraq , eastern Syria , and south-eastern Turkey . The deities of Sumer were usually associated with aspects of nature , such as fertility of the fields and livestock . Among

the most important of the many Mesopatamian gods were Anu , the god of heaven Enki the

god of water and Enlil , the earth god . Deities were often associated with particular cities . Astral deities such as Shamash and Sin were also worshipped . The Mesopatamians are skilled astrologers who studied the movements of heavenly bodies . Priests also determined the will

of the gods through the observation of omens , especially by reading the entrails of sacrificed animals . The king functioned as the chief priest presiding at the new-year festival held in spring , when the kingship is renewed and the triumph of the deity over the powers of chaos was celebrated

In Mesopotamia , each city state had its own god who owned it , and although other gods were admitted , they were always subordinate to the city god . Everyone had to belong to a temple , whatever rank they had in society . If they belonged to the temple of Marduk , they considered themselves `the people of the God Marduk . The god was the lord and the people served him as slaves or at least as servants . Part of everyone 's produce belonged to the god and had to be brought as a sacrifice . The land itself belonged to the god and had to be leased from him . God have never been any good at signing agreements so the contracts were...