Talk: Priest
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"There are priests in Christianity, Shintoism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam"
- Are there priests in Islam? -- An article may want to include a note about Jewish priesthood during the time of the Temple, absence of same afterward (or link to appropriate entry on this).
No priests in Islam that I'm aware of - lots of officials, ritual butchers for halal meat, the whole ulema, but not priests.
I'd be interested in knowing where that statement came from that men are not ordained until age 35. I was in the Catholic seminary six years and never heard of that. The usual age was 26. RSvK 03:54, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)
One definition of "priest" is "one who acts as a mediator between men and the divinity or the gods in any form of religion". On that purpose priests existed (as far as we know) since 9000 years. (Catalhoyuk - Konya, Turkey ; the bull deity and its mediator) Then there are sun-god believers and reincarnation believers. (such as shamanism). Though in the beginning; priests were old warriors (or hunters, we can't specifically know it. As far as we can see from paintings on the walls, they were going out chasing either people or animals with weapons). When they got old, it was quite dangerous for them to join any fight or hunting because they were generally getting killed.(being a priest was always a way to get out of wars.) To survive they convinced youngs that they were the mediators between them and the divinity of the gods (or the god, or the after-life. We can't know this specifically as well). Actually the word "priest" comes from the late latin word "presbyter" which comes from older greek word "presbyteros" comperative to "presbys" meaning "elder". Later on astronomers, (or/and first scientists were also using the same technique to survive.). Later on older widows in Europe during 17th century has used the same technique and predicted themselves as witches. (It was the only way for them to survive in the society) Priests also existed in ancient religions of Egypt & Greece etc. I guess it is quite wrong to analyze it only under Abrahamic religions. (Imam by the way means "Leader" in arabic, it was also used for governors of arabic countries) Thus we can state that Imams are generally muslim priests. --Nerval 09:33, 9 Sep 2004 (UTC)
Vestments
Recently added section in Christian Traditions needs a tweak, as it suggests that only Orthodox clergy wear ceremonial crosses, cassocks and other vestments. Any religious clothing experts out there to revise? Otherwise I'll give it a go...eventually. Quill 21:23, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)
