When I was still an interfaith spiritual seeker, ecosocial activism was already important to me thanks to Ralph Nader´s legacy. At that time years ago, I received Al Gore´s first book as a gift. Al Gore´s courageous activism as a Christian had begunn as a young Congressman in calling attention to environmental concerns addressed the abusive consequences of profiteering corporate executive industrial profiteering, and led him to write his book Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit. He also left the Southern Baptists because of their conservatism, as did Jimmy Carter, the Human Rights president who put solar panels on the White House. Gore now refers to himself as an ecumenical, i.e. interdenominational, Christian.
Such courage is a consequence of high integrity Christianity derived from its Jewish roots that showed occasional healing and social justice through the 50 plus prophets. The pioneering role of Abraham, also associated with Islam, raises an interesting account of a special relationship with the "supernatural."
In Genesis 12, God, the Lord, says to Abraham (Abram), "Leave your country...." It´s a spectacular request that builds on Abraham´s own father´s apparent original plan to leave "Ur of the Chaldeans" and go to Canaan. Generations earlier are attributed to Noah´s three sons, including Ham, whose son Cush had a son Nimrod, written in the Bible to have become king of Babylon, Akkad, and elsewhere, and later Assyria.
In the archeological record, scholar P-A Beaulieu points out that "Sargon of Akkad appears to have taken over the rule of Kish at some point, and later also much of Mesopotamia, referring to himself as "Sargon, king of Akkad, overseer of Inanna (Ishtar), king of Kish, anointed of Anu, king of the land [Mesopotamia], governor (ensi) of Enlil" all after 2,500 BC/E. S. Bauer indicates that, "The Sumerian king list makes him the cup-bearer to king Ur-Zababa of Kish." Akkad has not yet been located archelogically. Sargonic victory steles have been recovered from Susa, Elam as of ca. 1300 BC/E.
Anu is the sky or supreme god, and Enlil the god of wind, air, earth, and storms had a main temple at Nippur, an ancient Sumerian city. In another conquest, the Levantine god of Canaan Dagan, thought to be a fertility god, was referred to. While Al Gore shows how the supernatural God through Jesus can amplify Christian integrity, ancient relationships of rulers were layered through and mixed with natural forces for conquests.
Cooper et al found a Sumerian-language "Sargon legend" at Nippur that gives an older account of an Assyrian one, that King Ur-Zababa called his young cup-bearer Sargon to discuss Sargon´s dream of the goddess Inanna (Ishtar) drowning the King Ur-Zababa. No version is complete unfortunately.
Any thoughts on how all this relates to the supernatural and the natural, or other aspects of spirituality and religion?
Such courage is a consequence of high integrity Christianity derived from its Jewish roots that showed occasional healing and social justice through the 50 plus prophets. The pioneering role of Abraham, also associated with Islam, raises an interesting account of a special relationship with the "supernatural."
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