The Encyclopedia of World Religions

106 S covenant

cycles, stretching infinitely into the past and the future. Other religions have cyclical views of the universe, too. Religions explain the origin of the universe in different ways. One familiar way is creation by a G OD . This may be creation from nothing, as Jews, Christians, and Muslims usually think today, or it may also involve creation by a god who works on preexisting matter, which is one way to read the first verse of G ENESIS . Other stories may not tell of creation in a strict sense, but they do tell about the origin of things. One common story attributes the world to the sexual activity of two divine beings. For example, a Babylonian poem, the “Enuma Elish,” attributes the world to the union of Apsu and Tiamat, sweet waters and salt waters. Navajo tradition tells what is sometimes called an “emergence myth.” Origi nally, the ancestors lived in the center of the earth, but through a variety of means they arrived on the earth’s surface and organized the world that is known today. Another type of Native Ameri can myth attributes the creation of the earth to an “earth-diver.” For example, the Yokuts Indians of California believed that a duck dove down deep below the surface of the waters and brought up dirt, from which dry land was made. Somewhat similarly, ancient Japanese stories identified the islands of Japan with dirt that divine beings brought up from the bottom of the sea. A passage in the U PANISHADS , a sacred text in H INDUISM , envi sions the origin of the universe as the splitting of a primal egg. Different parts of the egg became parts of the world; for example, the shells became the sky and the earth. Another Hindu text, a hymn in the Rig V EDA , attributes the origin of the world to the sacrifice of a primal person. A similar motif appears in N ORDIC RELIGION and some stories from Oceania. Jews, Christians, and Muslims generally think of time as beginning at creation and extending to the Day of Judgment, but other religions think in terms of world cycles. That is, they think that worlds come into and go out of existence repeatedly. Human beings often measure time by refer ring to cycles such as months. Some people have

The Council of Constance (1415) condemned the teachings of John Wycliffe ( c. 1325–84) and Jan Hus ( c. 1369–1415). The Council of Trent (1545– 63; see T RENT , C OUNCIL OF ) formulated the Catholic Church’s response to the Protestant R EFORMATION . The First Vatican Council (1870–71) established that the pope was infallible. The Second Vatican Council (1961–65) changed many of the Church’s practices. For example, it recommended singing the Mass in local languages rather than in Latin ( see V ATICAN C OUNCILS ). covenant A legally binding agreement; espe cially the way in which the relationship between G OD and human beings has been conceived in J UDAISM . In origin, a covenant was a formal agree ment, often between two unequal parties and political in nature. The people of Israel adopted the covenant form to express the nature of their relationship with God. Jewish tradition recognizes several covenants, such as the covenant with N OAH that applies to all human beings and the covenant with A BRAHAM . But “the” covenant is that made with the people under M OSES at Mount Sinai—called Mount Horeb in the book of Deuteronomy. In that covenant, the god YHWH (“the Lord”) enters into a special relationship with the Jewish people. The covenant obligations begin with the T EN C OMMANDMENTS . Later biblical writers continued to use the covenant idea. In reflecting on his nation’s his tory, the prophet J EREMIAH looked forward to a new covenant, which will be written in people’s hearts (Jeremiah 31.31–34). Christians claim that their religion is this new covenant. The Q UR ’ AN also talks about the relationship of people and God as a covenant. creation and world cycles Religious views on the origin and course of the universe. Many reli gions tell about the origins of the world, but not all do. For example, the B UDDHA refused to talk about the origin of the universe. Buddhists there fore usually envision the universe as a series of