George,
...and no doubt quasi-religious is probably a more useful term.
Quasi-religious is not merely a more useful term, it is, for a change,
an extremely accurate term.
All, repeat *all*, craft and/or skill clans/guilds/corporations/etc. are
quasi-religious. An ancient clan craftmaster or
I haven't been following this thred too much, but something just struck me
in this message. In Mesopotamia there are guilds and they take loyalty
oaths. David Weisberg studied this genre in his PhD dissertation,
published on the YNER series.
the Mesopotamian craftsmen who produced cult statues in
Dr. Altman,
You wrote:
These clans were not guild-like; they **WERE** guilds [emphasis mine]
with whatever specialty upon which they were economically dependent
passed down within the clan/guild and whose secrets were guarded by
the clan craftmaster. The role of clan craftmaster has nothing
George,
It's easy to explain why quasi-religious is an accurate term to describe
craft-clans and guilds. It's also easy enough to explain why the teacher/
guardian role of craftmaster can be confused with a priestly role.
But your question is unanswerable by anybody except the Talmudists and
