EARLY RELIGIONS
TAKEN FROM JD BERNAL – SCIENCE IN HISTORY
FROM THE FIRST CENTURY ONWARDS PHILOSOPHIC MYSTICISM FUSED WITH THAT OF SALVATION RELIGIONS.
CHRISTIANITY WAS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL.
THEIR COMMON INTELLECTUAL FEATURE WAS A RELIANCE ON INSPIRATION AND REVELATION, AS A HIGHER SOURCE OF TRUTH THAN THE SENSES OR EVEN THAT OF REASON.
AS TERTULLIAN EXPRESSED IT :-
“I BELIEVE BECAUSE IT IS ABSURD”
THE RISE OF THESE RELIGIONS WAS ITSELF A SYMPTOM OF HOPELESSNESS OF THE SLAVE AND EVEN OF THE CITIZEN, IN THE FACE OF A SYSTEM THAT GROUND HIM DOWN AND FROM WHICH IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE TO ESCAPE.
HE COULD TAKE HIS CHOICE OF INDULGING IN ALMOST REVOLUTIONARY DENUNCIATION OF THESYSTEM, SUCH AS FOUND IN THE APOCALYPSE,AND STIRRING UP RESISTANCE OF OFFICIAL WORSHIP;OR OF RETIRING TO THE DESERT TO AVOID CONTAMINATION OF THE EVILS OF THE WORLD.
TO THE RELIGIOUS IT WAS NOT ONLY IDOLATRY BUT ALL THAT WENT WITH THE HATED,THE UPPER CLASS STATE, THAT WAS ABOMINABLE;THE LUXURY, THE ART,THE PHILOSOPHY, THE SCIENCE WERE ALL SIGNPOSTS ON THE WAY TO HELL.
From a "Science in History" by J.D. Bernall
