Sermon 1

A Sermon on the Anthropology of Judeo/Christian Ethics Copyright 2026 3.0 David Santin Kilday (DSK) — Anthropology means, to me, the study of other societies so that we may better understand our own society and our own place in it. When I asked the Gemini to explain the science of anthropology, Gemini replied: <Anthropology is the scientific and humanistic study of humanity across time and space. Unlike disciplines that focus on a single aspect of human existence (like economics or psychology), anthropology is inherently holistic—it examines the intersection of biology, culture, history, and language to understand what makes us uniquely human. No matter the subfield, anthropological research is guided by a few core scientific principles: Holism: The commitment to viewing the human condition as a whole—meaning you cannot fully understand human biology without considering culture, and vice versa. The Comparative Method: Anthropologists do not make generalizations about human nature based on a single society or era. Theories must be tested by comparing data across diverse cultures and time periods. Biocultural Perspective: Acknowledging that our biology and our culture constantly influence each other. For example, the invention of agriculture (culture) radically altered human diets, which in turn changed our teeth, jaws, and disease resistance (biology). Anthropology applies scientific rigor to answer profound questions: Where did we come from? Why do we behave the way we do? How can we solve contemporary global problems? By studying everything from ancient stone tools to modern digital communities, anthropology provides the ultimate mirror, reflecting the vast diversity and shared threads of the human experience.> Why this long quotation from Gemini? Because when we read the Holy Bible today, we read it as anthropologists. We study an ancient society, the Hebrews, and their history of wandering and warfare. We hold the Hebrew history told in the Old Testament up to the fun-house mirror to our own. We don't herd animals anymore. The Hebrews of the Old Testament Holy Bible mostly herded flocks of goats, sheep, or cattle. We don't live in tents anymore except recreationally. We don't dress in what we kill anymore although I had a remarkable Science teacher once who wore a vest he had made from the pelts of rats he had dissected over the years. When we sin, the priests don't come to us to demand a herd animal (or more) from our flock, as it used to be, as an atonement for our sin as judged by the priests themselves. The priests no longer kill the atonement animal on the bloody altar in the tent sanctuary in the center of their mobile tent community. They no longer make a ritual of burning most of the carcass on the altar. The priests no longer burn the sacrificial animal while setting aside a little for their own nourishment. That was the tradition of the Hebrews. This tradition of blood sacrifice is the root of Christianity, I'm sorry to say. Violent Christians have killed tens of millions of “heathen,” probably hundreds of million, in the name of simpleton identity and superstitious fear of the other. The herd is easily led, and Christian leaders have too often given the Christian laity and the Christian militants reason to kill. Christian militants killed between 50 million and 100 million people they regarded as subhuman heathen in the Americas alone (Gemini). Maybe it was the Christians who were subhuman because of their inhumanity. The lives lost in the Americas, Christian genocide, is not to mention the lives lost in the Crusades and the French wars of religion. Think of the war between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. Sometimes religion seems of no use but to throw people against one another when the message of Christ ought to be an inclusive one. The ethos of the Hebrews informs every aspect of Christianity. In a herd society, your herd was your food, your wealth, and your legacy. To lose a goat to the priests pained one materially. How far is this situation from the selling of Indulgences by Catholic authorities that spurred the Christian schism and the birth of a Protestantism in which we read our own Bibles, wrestle with our Gods, and are comforted by Christ the Comforter, the Prince of Peace, the King of the Jews. The Bible was originally written in Hebrew. If you wonder about my source for this presentation of the early history of Christianity, it is the Book of Leviticus itself, the third book in the Holy Bible! Read this thin book and see for yourself (SFY). In Leviticus, the phrase “until the even,” frequently comes up. This is the notion that one sacrifices herd animals to the priests until sin is atoned and a balance, or even-point, has been restored. To be a Christian is to be at the mercy of God. In Leviticus, God killed two of the sons of his first priest Aaron with a fire that “devoured” them. They had confused their fire with his own. In the Book of Leviticus, God is present with Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s two sons: “10. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense therein, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. 2. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. 3. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace (The Thomas Merton Holy Bible).” Aaron lost two sons but did not experience any rebellion. He was at peace with the judgement of the Lord. His other sons went on to follow him as the first priests of Israel. God's message: sanctify and glorify me because of my lethality. Also respect my perspective, foreknowledge, and vast sense of time. Do you know the Indigo Girls CD Strange Fire? I hope I am more amenable than their doctor of philosophy with a beard down to his knees. Really, learning is fun and self-improvement counters the effects of aging. So does a hammer and a nail. For the able, Habitat for Humanity, in which volunteers build affordable housing for those in need, is a nonprofit for the moment. We suffer in this country from a lack of affordable housing. In the letters of the apostle Paul towards the end of The New Testament we are inspired to contemplate the true purpose of Christianity. This true purpose of Christianity is identical between Hebrews and later Christians and it is to lift up the other, to walk in the path of Christ, to dispel the demons possessing the minds of the afflicted, and to cure the sick and deformed. In the spirit of Christ, as articulated by Apostle Paul in his letters, Christians don't tear people down, we lift people up. Amen.