Siva and Vishnu (was: Kinship systems)

[Stephen Hodge]

Vanbakkam Vijayaraghavan wrote:
> a. Jews and other semites don't need to learn racism from aryan
texts, it is
> inborn.
> b. Jews in their sojourn in Egypt learnt it from the Egyptians.

Alternative a) is possible but Hebrew biblical "racism" by and large
seems to be based not on colour -- it is more to do with concepts of
ritual cleanliness etc (obsessively so).
As for alternative b) are you aware that the Torah (and many later
portions of the Prophets and the Writings) was mostly compiled,
redacted and edited after the exile -- probably by Ezra and his group
c.445BCE -- although they drew on earlier material ?  There are a
number of indications of Persian influence throughout -- these are
also quite marked in the sectarian literature of Qumran ("Dead Sea
Scrolls"), hence their talk of the eschatological war between the Sons
of Light and the Sons of Darkness.

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge