Our worldview affects how we interpret the world around us as well as the literature we consume. Both ancient and modern worldviews have been heavily influenced by religions central to their cultures. One ancient culture whose worldview was strongly influenced by religion was Mesopotamia, as seen from their texts such as the Enuma Elish. Mesopotamian worldviews contrast from modern worldviews, which in turn cause our perspectives on every aspect of life to vary. One aspect in which modern and Mesopotamian views disagree is the topic of origin. Many with a modern, Christian worldview believe there is only one God and He created the world. The Mesopotamians, according to the Enuma Elish, believed in multiple gods and they seemingly were constantly fighting amongst themselves. Tiamat was the name given to chaos and it was through her defeat that the world was created. Later in the story, Marduk creates humans to essentially be servants to the gods. This creation …show more content…
Some of the major differences can be seen in the ideas of origin and the meaning of life. In today’s society, as a whole, most do not believe that the world was created because various gods were fighting or because a monster of chaos was destroyed. In a modern, Christian worldview, we believe God created us and the earth and that He genuinely cares for us. For us, the meaning of life is similar in the idea that happiness is a goal; however, we find meaning in what we do and how we impact others. The Mesopotamians on the other hand never gave much evidence to support the idea that they were invested in the people around them and making their lives better along with their own. Learning about ancient worldviews has significance in the fact that it allows us to better understand literature from that period as well as allowing us to explore our own