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, 17 October 2023→Introduction
(→Versus modern science: Thank you so much for the feedback Lightyears! I'll get applying it asap and let you know when I think it's complete :)) |
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===Introduction=== | ===Introduction=== | ||
Humans have always looked up at night and seen the stars lighting the sky. Folklore around stars, before our modern understanding of them as gigantic balls of gases, creating light energy via nuclear fusion,<ref>[https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/#:~:text=The%20Sun%20is%20Earth's%20major,all%20stars%20is%20nuclear%20fusion. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/#:~:text=The%20Sun%20is%20Earth's%20major,all%20stars%20is%20nuclear%20fusion.]</ref> has been creative and varied. | Humans have always looked up at night and seen the stars lighting the sky. Folklore around stars, before our modern understanding of them as gigantic balls of gases, <s>creating light energy via nuclear fusion,</s><ref>[https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/#:~:text=The%20Sun%20is%20Earth's%20major,all%20stars%20is%20nuclear%20fusion. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/#:~:text=The%20Sun%20is%20Earth's%20major,all%20stars%20is%20nuclear%20fusion.]</ref> has been creative and varied.<ref group="Earth Science. Nuclear Fusion.">https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/</ref><ref>https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-science/what-causes-meteor-shower<!-- Earth Science. Nuclear Fusion. --></ref>(''[https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-earthscience/chapter/nuclear-fusion/ Claire M. Coyne. lumenlearning. Earth and Science. Nuclear Fusion.]'') | ||
Due to their similar size and appearance, many ancient people have confused meteors, which are small rocky masses or grains of debris which burn up after entering the earth's atmosphere as stars streaking across the sky, which is why they were often called shooting stars(as we do in English), broken stars or falling stars. | Due to their similar size and appearance, many ancient people have confused meteors, which are small rocky masses or grains of debris which burn up after entering the earth's atmosphere as stars streaking across the sky, which is why they were often called shooting stars(as we do in English), broken stars or falling stars. | ||
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'''Biblical motifs''' | '''Biblical motifs''' | ||
Though there is no direct stories of the functions of star in this way in the bible (or biblical literature), Dr Julien Decharneux notes in book exploring the connections between the cosmology of the Qur’ān and various cosmological traditions of Late Antiquity, with a focus on Syriac Christianity,<ref> | Though there is no direct stories of the functions of star in this way in the bible (or biblical literature), Dr Julien Decharneux notes in his book exploring the connections between the cosmology of the Qur’ān and various cosmological traditions of Late Antiquity, with a focus on Syriac Christianity,<ref>https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110794083/html</ref> there are some general motifs that link to this imagery; such as Talmudic stories of demons listening in to divine councils, and separately fire as weapons from the upper skies. However, there is no direct story for this (yet) found in biblical literature. He notes it is more likely rooted in Iranian mythology: {{Quote|Decharneux, Julien. Creation and Contemplation: The Cosmology of the Qur'ān and Its Late Antique Background (Studies in the History and Culture of the Middle East Book 47) (pp. 316-317). De Gruyter.|The image of fallen angels trying to approach the firmament in order to listen to the heavenly council is found in the Talmud. Crone in fact already notes the presence of the motif in the first-century Greek Testament of Solomon. Here however, demons are not chased by fiery missiles, but they themselves look like shooting stars after falling from the sky out of exhaustion. Although a systematic skimming of the sources would probably reveal the presence of the motif of stars chasing demons away from the heavenly council in patristic and Christian apocryphal literature, our sources show that it was still lively in the imagery of the 8th century in the Church of the East. Theodore bar Koni, in his Scolion, discusses the activity of demons: | ||
<i>Can the demons ascend to the place on high anyway? They cannot because they are held back by the power of the one who destroyed them. It is not proper that defiled ones approach the Tent of the Saints […]. The fact that our Lord compared him to a lightning means two things: either that he lasted in his domination for the time of the sight of a lightning, or that when while he was shining as a lightning in glory, he was quenched at once and no traces of his splendour was left.</i> | <i>Can the demons ascend to the place on high anyway? They cannot because they are held back by the power of the one who destroyed them. It is not proper that defiled ones approach the Tent of the Saints […]. The fact that our Lord compared him to a lightning means two things: either that he lasted in his domination for the time of the sight of a lightning, or that when while he was shining as a lightning in glory, he was quenched at once and no traces of his splendour was left.</i> | ||
In fact, the motif of demons chased by flames finds particularly original renderings in the writings of Pseudo-Macarius and that of Syriac mystic authors studied in the second chapter. Building on the motif the inner divine fire that animates the mystic, they hold that it is the flames of this fire that chase away the demons from the heart. All in all, we see that Crone’s hypothesis of an eastern origin and development for the motif is quite likely. The image of fire and flames chasing demons away was not only widespread in Jewish circle as witnessed by the Babylonian Talmud, but it was also quite in use in the Church of the East tradition.}}'''Weapons against demons:''' | In fact, the motif of demons chased by flames finds particularly original renderings in the writings of Pseudo-Macarius and that of Syriac mystic authors studied in the second chapter. Building on the motif the inner divine fire that animates the mystic, they hold that it is the flames of this fire that chase away the demons from the heart. All in all, we see that Crone’s hypothesis of an eastern origin and development for the motif is quite likely. The image of fire and flames chasing demons away was not only widespread in Jewish circle as witnessed by the Babylonian Talmud, but it was also quite in use in the Church of the East tradition.}}'''Weapons against demons:''' | ||
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Other relevant verses are {{Quran|55|33-35}} (flame of fire and smoke, though a slightly different context): | Other relevant verses are {{Quran|55|33-35}} (flame of fire and smoke, though a slightly different context): | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|55|33-35}}|O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority [from Allah]. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? There will be sent upon you a flame of fire and smoke, and you will not defend yourselves.}}Note that no astronauts or robots leaving Earth have yet been hit by fire and smoke, both which cannot actually occur in space due to the lack of oxygen.<ref>https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24733000-900-lighting-fires-in-space-is-helping-us-make-greener-energy-on-earth/ | {{Quote|{{Quran|55|33-35}}|O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority [from Allah]. So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny? There will be sent upon you a flame of fire and smoke, and you will not defend yourselves.}}Note that no astronauts or robots leaving Earth have yet been hit by fire and smoke, both which cannot actually occur in space due to the lack of oxygen.<ref>https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24733000-900-lighting-fires-in-space-is-helping-us-make-greener-energy-on-earth/</ref> | ||
And [https://quran.com/21?startingVerse=32 Quran 21:32], which many classical commentators have associated with protection against devils: | And [https://quran.com/21?startingVerse=32 Quran 21:32], which many classical commentators have associated with protection against devils: | ||