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GT and Literature Overview The Great Transformation: Classic Texts cited or alluded to: Literature by chapter and by tradition; underlined are found in Norton’s Anthology Note: in many cases the name of an author or tradition is used rather than a specific text; Greece Israel India China Chapter 1: Hexateuch Zend Avesta Genesis 1-3; Brahmanas Exodus 19-20; Rig Vedas; 2: Demeter 2 Kings 9; Dionysus Joshua 24; 3: Iliad Amos; Hosea; 6 Classics; Odyssey; Isaiah; 4: Hesiod 1-2 Kings 13 Upanishads Jeremiah; 5: Orpheus; 2nd Isaiah; Patanjali’s Yoga Psalms 137; Samkhya Job; Ezekiel; Genesis 1; Enuma Elish; 6: Aeschylus 2nd Isaiah Jain literature Sophocles Haggai; Euripides Zechariah; 1-2 Chronicles; 7: Zeno; 2nd Isaiah Dhammapada Yangzi Parmenides; Ezra; Mahabharata Mozi Empedocles; Nehemiah; Zhuangzi Anaxogorus; Democritus; Sophists; Protagorus; Thucydides; Herodotus; Aristophanes; Plato; Aristotle; 8: Plato; Mahabharata Yangzi Aristotle; Zhuangzi 9: Epicurus; I Maccabbees; Shvetashvatara Legalists; Zeno; Upanishad Han Fei; Pyrrho; Bhagavad-Gita Xunzi Epictetus; Daodejing 10: Talmud; Gospels; Paul; Quran; The Great Transformation: The Beginning of our Religious Traditions, 2006. An outline by Dr. Kenney (this first installment includes Introduction, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2). Introduction: 1: The current state of affairs: A: Progress: 1: economic; 2. scientific B: Problems: 1: nuclear capacity; 2: environmental issues; 3: religious terrorism; 4: irrelevance of religion; 5: secularization; 6: fundamentalism; C: Solutions: 1: insights from the axial age and Karl Jaspers; a: Four distinct regions and traditions: 900-200 BCE 1: China: Confucianism and Daoism; 2: India: Hinduism and Buddhism; 3: Israel: Monotheism; 4: Greece: Philosophical rationalism; key quote: “The Axial Age was one of the most seminal periods of intellectual, psychological, philosophical, and religious change in recorded society” 2: Why study the Axial Age religions? A: “we have never surpassed the insights of the Axial Age” (xvii) B: Rabbinic Judaism, Christianity, and Islam “all latter day flowerings of the original Axial Age” (xvii) C: “the prophets, mystics, philosophers, and poets were so advanced and their vision so radical that later generations tended to dilute it” (xvii) 1: discovered a transcendent dimension in the core of their being; 2: not a matter of believing certain propositions; 3: silence the only correct attitude; 4: not be imposed on others; 5: behavior mattered most; 6: ritual downplayed; 7: ethics and compassion most important; 8: commitment and change required; 9: a spirituality of empathy and compassion developed; 10: benevolence was for all; 11: the golden rule ruled; D: The Axial Age ethos needs to be rediscovered; E: “the consensus of the Axial Age is an eloquent testimony to the unanimity of the spiritual quest of the human race” (xix) 3: A study of the pre-Axial religion of antiquity is needed: A: importance of a High God/Sky God; B: importance of animal sacrifice; C: importance of the perennial philosophy: “every single person, object, or experience on earth was a replica—a pale shadow---of a reality in the divine world” (xxi) 4: The Axial Age was not perfect: A: indifference to women; no female axial age sages; B: did not evolve in a uniform way; 5: Plan of Book: A: chart the progress of the four axial age peoples (China; India; Israel; Greece) side by side; B: adopt insights to ourselves; .
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