I.

JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN LITERATURE

A. Significant and important works and writings that influence world literature.

The basis of Jewish and tradition is the Torah also known as the Pentateuch or the
Five Books of Moses. According to rabbinic tradition there are 613 commandments in the
Torah. Some of these laws are directed only to men or to women, some only to the
ancient priestly groups, the Kohanim and Leviyim (members of the tribe of Levi),some
only to farmers within the land of Israel. Many laws were only applicable when the
Temple in Jerusalem existed, and fewer than 300 of these commandments are still
applicable today.

While there have been Jewish groups whose beliefs were claimed to be based on the
written text of the Torah alone (examples. The Sadducees, and the Karaites), most
Jews believed in what they call the oral law. These oral traditions were transmitted by
the Pharisee sect of ancient Judaism, and were later recorded in written form and
expanded upon by rabbis.

While falling within the strict definition of literature, the Bible is not generally
considered literature. However, the Bible has been treated and appreciated as
literature.

Allegory is a style of literature having the form of story, but using symbolic figures,
actions, or representations to express truths-Christian truths, in the case of Christian
allegory. Beginning with the parables of Jesus, there has been a long tradition of
Christian allegory, including Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy and John Bunyan’s
The Pilgrim’s Progress.

B. Summary

Supporters of Judeo-Christian Literature concept point to the Christian claim that

Christianity is the heir to Biblical Judaism, and that the whole logic of Christianity as
a religion is that exist only as a religion built upon Judaism. Two major views of the
relationship exist. In addition, although the order of the books in the Protestant Old
Testament excluding Biblical apocrypha and the Tenakh (Hebrew Bible) differ, the
books are the same. The majority of the Bible is, in fact, Jewish scripture, and it is
used as moral and spiritual teaching material throughout the Christian world. The
prophets, patriarchs, and heroes of the Jewish scripture are also known in
Christianity, which uses the Jewish text as the basis for its understanding of historic
Judeo-Christian figures such as Abraham, Elijah, and Moses. As a result, a vast chunk
of Jewish and Christian teachings are based on common sacred text.
Genesis describes the creation of the world by divine speech in seven days. Man
and woman are created to be God’s regents over this new creation.
The Book of job helps us to understand the following: Satan cannot bring
financial and physical destruction upon us unless it is by God’s permission. God has
power over what Satan can and cannot do. It is beyond our human ability to
understand “why’s” behind all the suffering in the world. The wicked will receive
their just dues. We cannot always blame our suffering and sin on our lifestyles.
Suffering may sometimes be allowed in our lives to purify, test, teach or strengthen
the soul. God remains enough, deserves and requests our love and praise in all
circumstances of life.
The Prodigal Son, also known as the Lost Son, is one of the best known parables of
Jesus. It appears only in the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Bible.
A parable is a brief, succinct story, in prose or verse that illustrates a moral or
religious lesson. It differs from a fable in that fable use in animals, plants, inanimate
objects, and focuses of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human
characters. It is a type of analogy. This is an age which news has been superseded by
propaganda and education by brain washing and indoctrination. From the advertising
used to sell poor quality goods, to the classes in schools designed to make children
into conditioned robots of the state, the art of persuasion has displaced the simple
virtue of truth.

At some point in our prehistory people started telling stories to one another. Later,
stories were composed in forms that others could repeat. Story-telling is easy to
envision as the origin of some forms of literature, especially bardic ballads, novels,
and plays. Even philosophy is an attempt to explain a story or truth about the world.
Here is a quick look at how the genres of Greek and Latin literature evolved and
many of the major contributors to the genres -- at least those whose works survive.
II. CLASSICAL LITEARTURE ( GREEK AND ROMAN )

Classical Literature refers to the great masterpieces of the Greek, Roman, and other
ancient civilizations: Homer's "Iliad," Ovid's "Metamorphoses," Virgil's "Aeneid,"
"Oedipus the King" by Sophocles, Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" to Twain's "The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" along with works by
other ancient writers in epic, lyric, tragedy, comedy, pastoral, and other forms.

B.
Ancient thinkers wrote verse about what they observed in nature. Did that make them
scientists? poets? Yes, but they are generally referred to as Presocratic Philosophers.
Many aspects of culture were still without distinct form at this time, which was during the
Archaic Age of Ancient Greece.

Drama / Plays

The origin of drama is mired in legend, but to the best of our information, drama seems to
have arisen as part of religious worship. Today we divide plays into the categories of
comedy and tragedy.

• Tragedy
The word tragedy appears to come from the words for 'goat' and 'song' or 'ode'.
• Chorus
The first element in Greek tragedy was the chorus, which danced and sang poetry
created by the dramatist at the religious festivals.
• Actors
Actors came later, with the great tragedians.
• Comedy
Comedy seems to have come from phallic processions followed by sacrifices, but
we don't know. Its etymology appears to come from komos (connected with
revels), plus the word for 'song'.

Poetry

• Epic Poetry
The man credited with creating the epics we know of as the Iliad and Odyssey,
(whom we refer to as Homer) was a rhapsode, a person who accompanied his
improvised performances with a musical instrument. Epic poetry came to be
distinguished by its distinct (epic) meter.
 • Lyric Poetry
Lyric poetry, developed according to legend, by Terpander, was poetry
accompanied by a lyre.
• Epigrams
Epigrams were composed for funerals. It was an epigrammatist, Mimnermus of
Smyrna, who is credited with developing the elegiac meter that was used for love
poetry (elegies).

Prose

• History
History, as developed by Herodotus, was a (prose) story about whatever
Herodotus set his inquiring mind to.
Ancient Historians Timeline
• Satire
In ancient Rome, satire was a recognized and somewhat defined literary verse
genre. It was the only genre the Romans claimed as their own invention. Some
early novels fell within the genre of (Menippean) satire.

III. LITERATURE IN THE AGE OF REASON

B.
The Age of Enlightenment (or simply the Enlightenment) is a term used to describe a
time in Western philosophy and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century, in
which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority.[1]
François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), better known by the pen
name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher famous for
his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion and free
trade. Voltaire was a prolific writer and produced works in almost every literary form
including plays, poetry, novels, essays, historical and scientific works, more than 20,000
letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken supporter of
social reform, despite strict censorship laws and harsh penalties for those who broke
them. A satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize Catholic
Church dogma and the French institutions of his day.

The Pensées (literally, "thoughts") represented a defense of the Christian religion by

Blaise Pascal, the renowned 17th century philosopher and mathematician. Pascal's
religious conversion led him into a life of asceticism, and the Pensées was in many ways
his life's work."Pascal's Wager" is found here. The Pensées is in fact a name given
posthumously to his fragments, which he had been preparing for an Apology of Christian
Religion which was never completed. Prometheus Bound –
 I. JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN LITERATURE

A. Significant and important works and writings that influence

world literature.

HEBREW JUDAISM (ISRAEL)