Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont CGU Theses & Dissertations CGU Student Scholarship Spring 2019 Mobile Societies, Mobile Religions: On the Ecological Roots of Two Religions Deemed Monotheistic Edward Surman Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, and the History of Religions of Western Origin Commons Recommended Citation Surman, Edward. (2019). Mobile Societies, Mobile Religions: On the Ecological Roots of Two Religions Deemed Monotheistic. CGU Theses & Dissertations, 151. https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_etd/151. doi: 10.5642/cguetd/151 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the CGU Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in CGU Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Mobile Societies, Mobile Religions: On the Ecological Roots of Two Religions Deemed Monotheistic By Edward N Surman Claremont Graduate University 2019 © Copyright Edward N. Surman, 2019 All rights reserved APPROVAL OF THE DISSERTATION COMMITTEE This dissertation has been duly read, reviewed, and critiqued by the Committee listed below, which hereby approves the manuscript of Edward N. Surman as fulfilling the scope and quality requirements for meriting the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Religion Tammi J. Schneider, Chair Claremont Graduate University Professor of Religion Jenny Rose Claremont Graduate University Adjunct Professor and Historian of Religions Cynthia Eller Claremont Graduate University Professor of Religion Abstract Mobile Societies, Mobile Religions: On the Ecological Roots of Two Religions Deemed Monotheistic by Edward N Surman Claremont Graduate University: 2019 How do environments affect the generation and development of religions? The investigation taken up in this dissertation is one attempt to address this question. This work focuses on one comparative case study: the potential causal relationship between agriculturally marginal landscapes and the two oldest religions deemed monotheistic. This dissertation argues that the respective origins (and early development) of communities of worship centered around Ahura Mazda and YHWH were affected by similar environmental contexts. The dearth of literature concerning the effects of environments on religions extends to established theoretical and methodological approaches on the topic. The framework for approaching this research is based on Frachetti’s Non-Uniform Complexity Theory and Taves’ Building Block Approach to Religious Studies. Rather than discussing monotheistic religions, this examination considers the category into which fall the respective worship of YHWH and Ahura Mazda as religions deemed monotheistic. This category appears to be defined by a set of certain building blocks that serve as referents for usage of the term monotheism. This dissertation shows that the presence or absence of certain building blocks in this set can be traced to the mobile pastoralist social and agriculturally marginal environmental contexts in which the communities of worship centered around YHWH and Ahura Mazda appear to have originated. Among the building blocks present in these religions are: emphatic concepts of Truth; perceptions of incompatibility with other religions; perspectives that separate social or ethnic identities from religious identities; narratives of prophet-founders; texts deemed religious; a focus on supernatural agent/s that exist beyond the material world. This dissertation also examines the absence of buildings deemed religious and art deemed religious originating with these religions: that these building blocks appear to have been adopted or developed eventually suggests adaptive change in these communities for the sake of survival. Indicative of the biological and cultural evolutionary fitness of these components is the survival of some key building blocks that define each of these religions across time and space. The geographic and social mobility, characteristic of these communities of worship, that have contributed to survival into the modern period ultimately appear to be connected to the parallel environmental contexts in which they developed. This research has implications for the impact of natural and built environments on the generation and development of cultural systems in the modern world. In the face of climate change, the strategic value of innovation and adaptation to the survival of human beings cannot be ignored. Dedication This work is dedicated to my mom, Theresa Escobedo and my stepmom, Rita Chenoweth, two brilliant, generous, and pragmatic strategists. Acknowledgements This research would not have been possible without financial support from the Klavins Family Trust. I am very grateful for the generous foresight and extraordinary kindness of John and Olga Klavins. This work is the result of careful guidance by each of my dissertation committee members; I am lucky to have had the privilege to learn from three most incredible scholars. I am greatly indebted to Tammi Schneider for her resolute support in this ambitious project, her pragmatic encouragement to push my work to greater heights, and her rigorous supervision in training a next generation “data girl.” Tammi’s pragmatic brilliance, stalwart confidence in the potential of her students, and courage to see beyond “traditional” limits on scholarship have provided the needed freedom, security, and inspiration for this scholar and his research to develop. The “origin” of this dissertation can be traced back to a class taught by Jenny Rose and I owe a great deal of thanks for her careful attention to detail, kind honesty, and powerhouse intellect. I am very grateful for Jenny’s generous investment of time, energy, and support – far beyond the limits of her job at CGU – for the sake of my development and potential scholarship. Throughout the process of planning and producing this dissertation, when I have faced a particularly tangled mess of a problem, Cynthia Eller has appeared with a magnificent solution. I am in her debt for bringing strategic problem-solving abilities, an incredible mind, and generous support to this endeavor. I am particularly thankful for the generous friendship of Dr. Mariam Youssef, who knows each thread in the complex tapestry of this work and went with me to pick out the skeins. Thanks to David Krausman and Andrew Kravig for their encouragement, discussions, and patience. It takes a village to raise a scholar: this work is the product of much love, kindness, and support from my colleagues, family, and friends. vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Chapter Two: An Approach: Theories and Methodology ............................................................. 22 Chapter Three: Religions Deemed Monotheistic .......................................................................... 45 Religions ................................................................................................................................... 47 Deemed ..................................................................................................................................... 65 Monotheistic ............................................................................................................................. 76 Chapter Four: Mobile Pastoralism ................................................................................................. 80 Chapter Five: Agriculturally Marginal Landscapes .................................................................... 106 Chapter Six: Buildings Deemed Religious .................................................................................. 130 Chapter Seven: Art Deemed Religious ........................................................................................ 147 Chapter Eight: People (and Texts) Deemed Religious ................................................................ 171 Chapter Nine: Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 199 Appendix A: Supplementary Figures .......................................................................................... 203 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 204 vii Table of Figures Figure 1: Agricultural Land and Cradles of Civilization ............................................................. 109 Figure 2: Agricultural Land and Modern Cities .......................................................................... 111 Figure 3: Agricultural Land and Ancient Settlements ................................................................. 112 Figure 4: Soil Composition and the Distribution of Ancient Settlements ................................... 114 Figure 5: Topographic Distribution of Ancient Settlements ....................................................... 117 Figure 6: Freshwater Regions and the Distribution of Ancient Settlements ............................... 118 Figure 7: Ancient Annual Precipitation and the Distribution