Overview
"Humanity" explores how and where the Bible developed. It suggests the origin of the name YHWH and describes how the Biblical text has been mistranslated to write out the feminine element.
Description
"Humanity" briefly describes the cultures among which the Hebrews developed, then began to write and to express their ideas. They overcame a cataclysmic volcanic eruption and were the first to postulate an imageless, inclusive Deity. "Humanity" explores the idea of that imageless Deity and suggests the source of the concept. The book discusses how the development of written language and early Goddess societies contributed to that concept of the Hebrew Deity and that Deity's name. The story then describes how the Bible has been changed over the course of 2000 years to write out the feminine element. At the end of the book, the author proposes the Deity's ("God's") last word to humanity – "Okay, Humans, here is the low-down. I gave you a perfectly good Earth – a wonderful ball of goodness. And I put you BOTH in charge."
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: What is the Bible? Or, How Does My Dog Think? Or, the Knowing of Not Knowing
Chapter 2: But Long Before the Bible
Chapter 3: UH, OH, Now We Get Trouble
Chapter 4: The Sumerians Were Before the Hebrews
Chapter 5: Egyptians Were Also Thinking
Chapter 6: The Isle of Crete In the Mediterranean
Chapter 7: Isis’s Alter Ego in Ionia
Chapter 8: Thera Erupts
Chapter 9: After Thera
Chapter 10: Elohim
Chapter 11: YHWH
Chapter 12: Prophesying Trouble
Chapter 13: There Was Daniel
Chapter 14: For Heaven’s Sake
Chapter 15: JESUS Taught & Pharisees Gritted Teeth
Chapter 16: Virgin Mary’s House and Burial – What Did She Know?
Chapter 17: Now, Why Did Paul Do That?
Chapter 18: Was JESUS a Eunuch for a Cause?
Chapter 19: We’re Still Making Images
Chapter 20: That is Not the End of the Story
Chapter 21: Patriarchy is a System
Chapter 22: God’s Last Word
Author Postscript
Analysis of Biblical Texts
Chapters 1 to 20 provide a fascinating analysis of biblical texts. Understanding how the early Hebrews used their newly developing language to include both females and males is very important. It was a process termed Poetic Parallelism. They would write comments first using a masculine (or feminine) word form and then say virtually the same thing using a word form of the opposite sex. Examples:
Not in your anger (m.)
Rebuke me
And in your anger (f.)
Chasten me.
Psalm 38:1
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Take hold
Of a shield (m.)
And a shield (f.)
And arise (m.)
As my help (f.)
Psalm 35:1-2
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You are my help (f.)
And my deliverer (m.)
Psalm 40:18
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Chapter 13, 'There Was Daniel,' has brief explanation of this use and a number examples.
A second language development in the very early Hebrew language was the use of some Hebrew consonants for vowels. There were no separate written signs for the vowels A, E, I, O, U. Instead the consonants Y, H, and W were used in their place. That is how the name IAOA (or short form IO) is the same as the deity name YHWH (or short form YA).
Finally, the language developed into what we know as early Greek. That language added a NEUTER form to their language with a specific word form for it. The texts about Jesus were written in that more advanced language. Many texts about Jesus were written using a NEUTER word rather than the masculine word that one would expect. That was to indicate that Jesus embodied BOTH masculine and feminine concepts, i.e., was INCLUSIVE.
Relevance to Social and Ecological Justice
Chapters 21 and 22 summarize the relevance of the biblical texts for guiding actions pursuant to managing the worldwide social and ecological crisis we are now facing.
Chapter 21 ~ Patriarchy is a System…
Of Male dominance, rooted in the ethos of war which legitimates violence, sanctified by religious symbols, in which men dominate women through violence…..Men assume that they can perpetrate that violence. They even feel that they have the right to cause violence by making all pregnant women carry a fetus to term no matter the danger to the health of the mother, or whether the pregnancy is a product of rape or incest (more male violence) or even in the case of an unviable or damaged fetus. It is organized around an obsession with control. Certain religious factions have used the biblical document to promote their aims. Yet, as I have described it, our current religious document is highly corrupted (mainly by men) and has been for years.
Chapter 22 ~ God’s Last Word
If there is a God what would She/He say? Okay, Humans, here is the low-down. I gave you a perfectly good Earth – a wonderful ball of goodness. And I put you in charge.
Now, what have you accomplished? I’d say you are messing up! You have populated the Earth with your species so much that you are squeezing and trampling everything. Pushing out all My other creations.
I’m not supposed to fix things for you I gave you the Earth as your responsibility. And don’t think you can jet off to Mars to escape things.
Now start using good sense – another thing that I’d hoped you had learned from me.
What would a good farmer do? First she/he wouldn’t fight with their neighbors – people over the fence. Learn to get along – divide property fairly. Also, help the people who don’t have the ability to think things through or the ones who can’t afford property.
Then with your property take care of it. That means don’t overgraze it. Don’t put 50 dairy cattle in a pasture that has grass for only 20 cows. Don’t dump crap in your drinking water. Don’t kill off all of My critters and those birds and bees that also have a right to live on My earth. Don’t fill the air above with stinky poisonous fumes.
And, speaking of water – how about your seas. All those things you throw in them – the plastic, the bottle rings, empty bottles, mesh nets, etc. & etc. Don’t you know what they do to my fish and other sea creatures? How objects like that trap sea creatures until they starve. Or the sea creatures starve from eating nonfood objects like plastic.
Finally, in your fenced areas don’t put six bulls/males in a field with one heifer – use sense – you know what will happen!
Humanity this is about My last word. I tried a flood once but that didn’t work. I caused the volcano Thera to explode and wipe out flourishing civilizations. And we’ve had the episodes of war after war. Now, you face having your climate shut down or possibly a nuclear war. What more warning do you want?
HUMANS: Get your She & He and IT together!
Note: The kindle edition of this book became available 7 October 2024. The paper edition will become available 18 December 2024. People who want a copy of my book but are unwilling/unable to spend the price of the paperback copy can purchase an eBook for $2.99.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jennifer McKenzie, raised in Madison, Wisconsin, holds a degree in Fine Art with high honors from the University of Utah. Driven by questions about women's roles in society, she explored feminist literature, theology, and the origins of languages, studying Hebrew, Greek, and ancient history. She published I Will Love Unloved in 1986, followed by A Gender Neutral God/ess in 2012. Her latest book, Humanity: The She & He & It, 2024, investigates the lost balance between male and female perspectives in biblical texts. Throughout her studies, Jennifer has been fascinated by the mysteries surrounding the evolution of human communication and language—the profound realization that there is still so much we do not know.
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