Introductory Essay 4

How to Write and for Whom to Write?

How to write these books is difficult since I need to try and communicate with those of faith, avoiding offense as much as I can, and those of logic, those who are well educated and also those not so well invested in history. There are several ways to present the information to try to reach all interested, including a highly technical journal approach complete with extensive cites and foot notes (often longer than the text). Another is popular history with more narrative and story telling and less documentation. A third method is to tell the events as a “personal journey of exploration” allowing me license to write extensive thoughts without extensive data to support the book.

None of these approaches are completely satisfying to me. While the later two make the work accessible to most people, the information given is often too unsupported. The first option, a journal type article, makes “hard reading” for most persons. (Of course, there is also the approach of “historical fiction” which I also do not like very much either.)

Therefore, I will attempt to take the best parts of these modern ways to telling history and use them where needed to tell this forgotten story of one of the foundations of modern religions. Where possible, I will give websites to give access to immediate support for arguments put forward and to show the origins of my thinking on this effort to understand how forgotten religions impact our modern religions. I will also use traditional citations when needed as well, but I will avoid foot notes. And, I will also just tell “my personal story” and not have to document that too much.

I will have to speak in “generally accepted” terms rather than actual and “more correct” terms that may make things a bit more confusing. My arguments may be difficult enough. For example, when speaking about Alexander the Great, I will refer to him and his army as representing Greece and Greek culture, which might be only partly true but is mostly popularly “believed.” Alexander, of course, was a Macedonian, a kingdom north of what was considered Greece.

• The Greeks themselves, considered the Macedonians as nearly barbaric (not quite as bad as the Scythians, but pretty close). His father, Philip II had subjugated Greece through war (to the great shame of the Greeks), and one of the first acts that Alexander had to do once claiming the throne of his assassinated father was to put down two Greek efforts to overthrow Macedonian hegemony (if not direct rule). While the first revolt was put down mainly by negotiations, the second revolt occurred the very next year. He responded by obliterating Thebes (Greek Thebes not Thebes of Egypt), something the Persians could or did not even do in the invasion of Greece. Alexander then sold almost all survivors of the city’s sack into slavery (335 BC). The rest of Greeks cities were overwhelmed by this example of “shock and awe.” They quickly begged for peace and accepted the role of “free allies” of Macedonia. (see. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlexandertheGreat )

While it would be more proper to refer to Alexander and his army as Macedonian and the culture he spread as “Hellenistic” I will use the more “popular terms” “Greek Culture ” on somewhat of an equal basis to “Hellenistic culture” (and, proper historians forgive me.) In addition, I will use the archaic BC and AD as opposed to the more correct, but by no means perfect, BCE (before the common era), and CE (common era). Neither of these terms (BC/AD or BCE/CE) are good, and show little respect to Islamic, Jewish, Chinese, Indian, etc, cultures who have an entirely independent point of reference for judging the “year” of events.” But “dating” events is necessary, and I am writing to a mainly “Western” audience, so I will use the most commonly understood point of reference for dating, (and again, proper historians forgive me).

So to all — forgive my transgressions (and those who transgress against me) Or, as Ricky Nelson once sang — yes, I get to quote Ricky Nelson,

It’s alright now, I learned my lesson well.
You can’t please everyone, 
So, you got to please yourself.

So I’m writing this to basically please myself. I hope others can be pleased as well.