Pastoral Societies Research Paper

Introduction: The emergence of agriculture was a major stepping stone in human history. During this birth of agriculture, also known as the Neolithic revolution, humans began inhabiting permanent settlements, grow their own crops, and domesticate both plants and animals for food (Weisdorf, 2005). Considering humans have been hunter-gatherers for majority of their approximately 7 million years of existence, the emergence of agriculture in the Old World only occurring 10,000-5,000 years ago, marks a significant transformation in food sustenance techniques (Weisdorf, 2005). However, this turning point in history is associated with both positive and negative implications.

Social classes and hierarchies, especially patriarchy, is another common pattern in ancient civilizations. Social classes first began in Mesopotamia and Egypt when farmers who had surpluses got wealthier and more powerful then other people. As cities developed into a more urban society, social hierarchies began to appear. Mesopotamia and Egypt both had similar hierarchies. The ruling class was at the top, this consisted of royal families and wealthy landowners. Below the ruling class were merchants and craftsmen, and below them were slaves and day laborers. Patriarchy is another common pattern in these two civilizations. As societies became more urban, men became more dominant over women in all areas of society. The patriarchy in Mesopotamia and Egypt was mild at first compared to other societies, but still drastically affected a woman’s life. In Mesopotamia, females held high positions in the ruling class as priestesses, queen consorts, and even queens. A woman could only become queen though through family extensions. In Egypt, women in the ruling class also held high positions in society and were considered equal to their male counterparts. This patriarchal society is best seen in the Code of Hammurabi, law 142 states “If a women hates her husband so much that she says “You may not

About 5,000 years ago the farmers and gatherers who had dominated the previous 5,000 years began to gather and form into small urban communities. Starting in river valleys with water for farming, cities began to rise, marking the beginning of civilization. These cities became opportunities for industry and huge buildings. With the accumulation of people emerged more developed religions and social ranks. Because of the marketing and records needed these civilizations developed different writing. Various traditions and trades emerged, giving these societies distinct and recognizable cultures. The long distance trade and developments in the technological and industrial societies, as well as social and cultural change are what mark the rise of

Ancient civilizations surrounding Egypt and Mesopotamia during this time period had similar political and social structures to either of the civilizations. Most societies with a centralized government did not see their rulers as divine as pharaohs. Some civilizations, like the Chinese rulers and their Mandate of Heaven, ruled with a power similar to the Egyptian pharaohs. However, the Chinese empire could also be overthrown if they were a bad ruler. The Greek city-states also constantly fought each to gain power over all of Greece. Socially, ancient civilizations were not as lenient towards their women. Since social inequalities developed starting around the development of agriculture, women of ancient times were

landowning men had the highest status amongst society with women and other races being lower in the

When studied, early complex civilizations naturally settled in groups and developed social hierarchies. Whatever the emerging culture, there must of course be a leader. Whether it is a warrior protecting the group from warring neighbors, forcing his way to the head of the pack, or a wise and eloquent father figure, gently guiding and imparting knowledge to his subjects, in order for a society to function there must be a leader for the people to follow. Jared Diamond claimed that the emergence of social elites and eventually kings were dependent on the establishment or sedentary cultures, according to him, “only in farming populations could a healthy, non-producing elite set itself above the disease-ridden masses?”. (Diamond, 1987)

In today 's culture the congregational expectations on a pastor are quite different from the vocational spiritual disciplines required for faithful pastoral ministry. The office of the pastor, for the congregation, has become nothing more than a managerial position of running a religious organization. In response to this Eugene Peterson offers his take on the distinctive work of the pastor and the practices that shape pastoral integrity. In his book, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, Peterson outlines the practices of prayer, Scripture and spiritual direction as the backbone of faithful pastoral ministry. The following will discuss these practice, there benefit to pastoral ministry and why Peterson call to these practice are important to pastors today.

This resulted in the ideology in both Mesopotamia and Egypt that men were more valued in societies. Since men were seen as the leaders women weren't given the same opportunities to thrive and women were dictated by their spouse.

When people first shifted to agriculture, they abandoned their nomadic past in favor of a stationary lifestyle. As a result, new ideas and culture initially began to be transferred less and less. However, with the advent of agriculture also came the emergence of pastoralists. Such people became the critical vectors of cultural and technological exchange, representing one of the first globalizations of the world. Whereas civilizations had no means to establish trade routes, pastoralists naturally came across civilizations as they travelled with their grazing animals. With such

The impact that pastoral nomads and transhumant herders can still be seen today. They had a huge impact in Egyptian, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley civilizations. Some of the impacts were things such as culture, agriculture, religion, social classes/hierarchies, gender roles, and specialization of labor. Throughout all of these influences, it is seen that none of these societies were isolated from each other.

They were regarded as objects to give birth and take care of the family affairs including performing the farm work. They were subjects of their husbands. This was the origin of the patriarchal society in this continent. Africa has been dominated by male folk for since 1500 (Bonnie, 559). This domineering habit has brought with it other characters such as polygamy and society leadership by men only. This left woman without any significance in the political and economic development of the African society. Their place was in kitchen only. Men were the only leaders in the village, county and national level. There was no single women leader. It was regarded as a bad omen for a woman to participate in any political affair. Women had no voice in the society; they could not question the decisions of their husbands or their male grown up

Women in the classical civilizations seemed to get put on the back burner. This was very true in Early Chinese civilization. In Mesopotamia, the first river-valley civilization, they seemed to take agriculture on and the shift from somewhat equality to male superiority was a by-product of civilization. All civilizations that came about because of agriculture had the switch of power because women could stay home to just take care of housework and children. There were exceptions to this which we see in the Indus-valley river civilizations.

This led to the creation of institutionalized political and economic hierarchies with wealthy rulers, priests, and merchants on one end and slaves at the other end. Gender hierarchies may have arisen because the success of every household depended on bearing as much children as possible, so women usually had less opportunities to take specialized roles, some of which may have brought wealth and power. Men claimed natural superiority based on their role in power structures, and women were increasingly defined by their role within the household and to men, thus the rise

Since food became more available and a surplus the population began to grow. They also had more free time. In their free time they were able to specialise in other pursuits that weren't farming and tool-making, such as milling, pottery, weaving, and carpentry. In order to control the villages and protect them from crimes and threats that happened inside and outside the villages they had to create some sort of government. There were people who "... were in a position to enforce laws, punish law-breakers, rule over internal disputes, fight wars, and commission public

In addition to the connection with the divine power, rulers in ancient world had one very distinct feature. Almost always rulers were men, with very few exceptions. Thus it is clearly seen that people at that time lived in patriarchal society. Moreover, rulers promoted patriarchy implicitly or sometimes even explicitly through their rules. For example, according to