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a-queer-seminarian · 4 years

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Jesus flipping tables: a more accurate & respectful reading

This post shares a large chunk of chapter two of Amy-Jill Levine’s book Entering the Passion of Jesus. (Read the whole chapter as a PDF here.) Levine is a Jewish woman who is also a Professor of New Testament Studies.

Levine combats traditional readings of the text with their antisemitic layers by evincing how Jesus’s anger reflects the anger of his predecessors Jeremiah and Zechariah — an anger focused not on the simple fact that sacrificial animals were sold in the Temples’ outer courts, but on the way the Temple (like many of our worship spaces today) had become a safe place for corrupt oppressors, who behaved as if their daily atrocities would be overlooked by God if they paid for a sacrifice every now and again.

TL;DR: to sum up Levine’s points, she evinces how:

Jesus’s whole table flipping, whip-wielding stunt is more symbolic than practical (echoing similar stunts pulled by his people’s prophets).

Some have argued Jesus is mad about gentiles not being allowed to worship in the temple, but they very much were welcome. (There were places and rituals off limits to them, just as there are certain things non-members can’t do in our own worship spaces, like take communion or be on a committee).

Jesus wasn’t pissed about animals being sold in the temple’s outer courts; that was normal and logical. There’s also no evidence of exploitation or unjust prices, so he’s not angry about the poor being cheated here either.

Jesus did not reject the Temple, or its laws & rituals! He followed them himself and helped restore people to them. (He even has “zeal for his father’s house.”)

Jesus also isn’t condemning the high priest or other priests with his actions here. That’s just not in the text; plus Caiaphas’s worry about Jesus’s actions inciting political violence that could harm his people were reasonable.

What Jesus is communicating with his table flipping and whip-wielding: he’s upset that the Temple is as “a den of thieves,” a place where people who sin and oppress in their everyday life feel perfectly comfortable, instead of feeling called to repent and reform. His words hearken back to previous prophets with similar concerns.

And finally, in the version of this story told in John’s Gospel, Jesus seems to be looking forward to a time when the Temple is no longer needed, for all places will be sacred and God will speak directly to everyone of every nation -- once again, Jesus is hearkening back to previous prophets who looked forward to the same thing. This is also a concept that the Pharisees were into, so stop depicting the Pharisees as “evil” or “backwards” or completely at odds with Jesus! (One key difference between Jesus’s vision and the Pharisees’ if of course that Jesus identifies a “new temple,” his own body.)

One last thing: if you’re unfamiliar with the various Gospel versions of the “temple cleansing” -- Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:11-17, Luke 19:45-46, and John 2:13-17 -- or want to reference them as you read this post, visit this webpage to read them all.

Without further ado -- the excerpt from Levine.

________________

The incident known as the ‘Cleansing of the Temple’ is described in all four Gospels. Most people have the idea--probably from Hollywood--that this is a huge disruption. When we see this scene depicted in movies, we find Jesus fuming with anger, and we inevitably see gold coins falling down in slow motion. Everything in the Temple comes to a standstill. ...But we are not watching a movie: we are studying the Gospels.

Here's what we know about the actual setting. We begin by noting that the Temple complex was enormous. It was the size of twelve soccer fields put end to end. So, if Jesus turns over a table or two in one part of the complex, it's not going to make much of a difference given the size of the place.

The action therefore did not stop all business; it is symbolic rather than practical. Our responsibility is to determine what was symbolized.

For that, we need to know how the Temple functioned.

The Jerusalem Temple, which King Herod the Great began to rebuild and which was still under construction at the time of Jesus, had several courts. The inner sanctum, known as the "Holy of Holies," is where the high priest entered, only on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to ask for forgiveness for himself and for the people. Outside of that was the Court of the Priests, then the Court of Israel, the Court of the Women, and then the Court of the Gentiles, who were welcome to worship in the Temple.

The outer court, the Court of the Gentiles, is where the vendors sold their goods. The Temple at the time of Jesus was many things: it was a house of prayer for all nations; it was the site for the three pilgrimage festivals of Passover, Shavuot/Pentecost, and Sukkot/Booths; it was a symbol of Jewish tradition (we might think of it as comparable, for the Jewish people of the time, to how Americans might view the Statue of Liberty); it was the national bank, and it was the only place in the Jewish world where sacrifices could be offered. Therefore, there needed to be vendors on site.

Pilgrims who sought to offer doves (such as Mary and Joseph do, following the birth of Jesus, according to Luke 2:24) or a sheep for the Passover meal would not bring the animals with them from Galilee or Egypt or Damascus. They would not risk the animal becoming injured and so unfit for sacrifice. The animal might fly or wander away, be stolen, or die. And, as one of my students several years ago remarked, "The pilgrims might get hungry on the way." One bought one's offering from the vendors.

And, despite Hollywood, and sermon after sermon, there is no indication that the vendors were overcharging or exploiting the population. The people would not have allowed that to happen. Thus, Jesus is not engaging in protest of cheating the poor.

Next, we need to think of the Temple as something other than what we think of churches. A church, usually, is a place of quiet and decorum. ...The Temple was something much different: It was a tourist attraction, especially during the pilgrimage festivals. It was very crowded, and it was noisy. The noise was loud and boisterous, and because it was Passover, people were happy because they were celebrating the Feast of Freedom. ...We might think of the setting as a type of vacation for the pilgrims: a chance to leave their homes, to catch up with friends and relatives, to see the "big city," and to feel a special connection with their fellow Jews and with God. It is into this setting that Jesus comes.

______________

Driving out the Vendors

...It seems to me that Jesus, in the Temple, was angry. But what so angered him? I hear from a number of people, whether my students in class or congregations who have invited me to speak with them, that the Temple must have been a dreadful institution; that it exploited the poor; that it was in cahoots with Rome; that Caiaphas, the High Priest in charge of the Temple, was a terrible person; that it banned Gentiles from worship and so displayed hatred of foreigners; and so forth. ...Some tell me that the Temple imposed oppressive purity laws that forbade people from entering, and so Jesus, who rejected those laws, rejected the temple as well. No wonder Jesus wants to destroy the institution.

But none of those views fits what we know about either Jesus or history.

First, Jesus did not hate the Temple, and he did not reject it. If he did, then it makes no sense that his followers continued to worship there. Jesus himself calls the Temple "my Father's house" (Luke 7:49: John 2:16). ...

Second, Jesus is not opposed to purity laws. To the contrary, he restores people to states of ritual purity. Even more, he tells a man whom he has cured of leprosy, "Go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them" (Mark 1:44; see also Matthew 8:4; Luke 5:14).

Third, Jesus says nothing about the Temple exploiting the population. As we'll see in the next chapter, when we talk about the widow who makes an offering of her two coins, Jesus is concerned not with what the Temple charges, but with the generosity of the worshipers.

Fourth, we've already seen that the Temple has an outer court, where Gentiles are welcome to worship. They were similarly welcome in the synagogues of antiquity, and today. They do not have the same rights and responsibilities as do Jews, and that makes sense as well. When I [a Jewish woman] visit a church, there are certain things I may not do. We might also think of how nations function: Canadians, for example, cannot do certain things in the USA, such as vote for president; nor can citizens of the USA vote in Canadian elections.

As for Caiaphas...Caiaphas is basically between a rock and a hard place. He is the nominal head of Judea, and he is supposed to keep the peace. Judea is occupied by Rome, and Roman soldiers are stationed there. Caiaphas needs to make sure that these soldiers do not go on the attack. He needs to placate Pilate, and he needs to placate Rome.

At the same time, as the High Priest, he has a responsibility to the Jewish tradition. Rome wanted the Jews to offer sacrifices to the emperor...but Caiaphas and the other Jews refused to participate in this type of offering because they would not worship the emperor. The most they were willing to do was offer sacrifices on behalf of the emperor and the empire.

When Jesus comes into the city in the Triumphal Entry, when people are hailing him as son of David, Caiaphas recognizes the political danger. The Gospel of John tells us that the people wanted to make Jesus king (John 6:15). Caiaphas has to watch out for the mob. Caiaphas also has to watch out for all these Jewish pilgrims coming from all over the empire celebrating the Feast of Freedom, the end of slavery. When he sees Roman troops surrounding the Temple Mount, Caiaphas has to keep the peace. And Jesus is a threat to that peace. But none of this has to do directly with Jesus' actions in the Temple. He is not at this point protesting Caiaphas's role.

Sometimes I hear people say that Jesus drove the "money lenders” out of the Temple. That's wrong, too. Money-lending was a business into which the medieval church forced Jews, because the church concluded that charging interest was unnatural (money should not beget money). Yet people needed, then and now, to take out loans. The issue for the Gospel is not money lending but money changing. These money changers exchanged the various currencies of the Roman Empire into Tyrian shekels, the type of silver coin that the Temple accepted. We experience the same process when we visit a foreign country and have to exchange our money for the local currency.

So, if Jesus is not condemning the Temple itself, or financial exploitation, or purity practices, what is he condemning? Let's look at what the Gospels actually say.

According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, ...the concern is not the Temple, but the attitude of the people who are coming to it.

In Mark's account Jesus begins by saying, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?" (11:17). Indeed, it is so written. Jesus is here condensing and then quoting Isaiah 56:6-7... Jesus' rhetorical question should be answered with a resounding “Yes!"--for the Temple already was a house of prayer for all people. More, he is standing in the Court of the Gentiles when he makes his pronouncement. ...Thus, the problem is not that the Temple excludes Gentiles.

Already we find the challenge, and the risk. Are churches Today houses of prayer for all people, or are they just for people who look like us, walk like us, and talk like us?

How do we make other people feel welcome? Is the stranger greeted upon walking into the church? Is the first thing a stranger hears in the sanctuary, "You're in my seat"? When we pray or sing hymns, do we think of what those words would sound like in a stranger's ears? ...

Matthew and Luke drop out "For all nations," and appropriately so, for they knew it already was a house of prayer for all nations. Matthew and Luke thus change the focus to one of prayer. And prayer gets us closer to what is going on in the Synoptic tradition.

___________

Den of Thieves

Jesus continues, ‘But you are making it a den of robbers’ (Matthew 21:13). Here he is quoting Jeremiah 7:11: “Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your sight?”

A "den of robbers" (sometimes translated a "den of thieves") is not where robbers rob. "Den” really means "cave," and a cave of robbers is where robbers go after they have taken what does not belong to them, and count up their loot. The context of Jeremiah's quotation -- and remember, it always helps to look up the context of citations to the Old Testament -- tells us this.

Jeremiah 7:9-10 depicts the ancient prophet as condemning the people of his own time, the time right before Babylonians destroyed Solomon's Temple over five hundred years earlier: “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are safe!’ -- only to go on doing all these abominations?"

Some people in Jeremiah's time, and at the time of Jesus, and today, take divine mercy for granted and see worship as an opportunity to show off new clothes rather than recommit to clothing the naked. The present-day comparison to what Jeremiah, and Jesus, condemned is easy to make: The church member sins during the workweek, either by doing what is wrong or by failing to do what is right. Then on Sunday morning this same individual, perhaps convinced of personal righteousness, heartily sings the hymns, happily shakes the hands of others, and generously puts a fifty-collar bill in the collection plate. That makes the church a den of robbers -- a cave of sinners. It becomes a safe place for those who are not truly repentant and who do not truly follow what Jesus asks. The church becomes a place of showboating, not of fishing for people.

Jeremiah and Jesus indicted people then, and now. The ancient Temple, and the present-day church, should be places where people not only find community, welcome the stranger, and repent of their sins. They should be places where people promise to live a godly life, and then keep their promises. ...

___________

Stop Making My Father's House a Marketplace

John's Gospel says nothing about the house of prayer or den of robbers. In John's Gospel, Jesus starts not simply by overturning the tables, but also by using a “whip of cords" (since weapons were not permitted in the Temple, he may have fashioned the whip from straw at hand), and driving out the vendors. Jesus when says to the dove sellers, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" (John 2:16). He is alluding to Zechariah 14:21, the last verse from this prophet, "and every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be sacred to the Lord of hosts, so that all who sacrifice may come and use them to boil the flesh of the sacrifice. And there shall no longer be traders in the house of the Lord of hosts on that day."

In John's version of the Temple incident, Jesus anticipates the time when there will no longer be a need for vendors, for every house not only in Jerusalem but in all of Judea shall be like the Temple itself. The sacred nature of the Temple will spread through all the people. He sounds somewhat like the Pharisees here, since the Pharisees were interested in extending the holiness of the Temple to every household.

The message is a profound one: Can our homes be as sanctified, as filled with Worship, as the local church?

Do we “do our best" on Sunday From 11 a.m. to 12 noon, but just engage in business is usual during the workweek? Do we pray only in church, or is prayer part of our daily practice? Do we celebrate the gifts of God only when it is time to do so in the worship service, or do we celebrate these gifts morning to night? Is the church just a building, or is the church the community who gathers in Jesus' name, who acts as Jesus taught, who lives the good news?

Jesus' words, citing Zechariah, do even more. They anticipate a time when all peoples, all nations, can worship in peace, and in love. There is no separation between home and house of worship, because the entire land lives in a sanctified state. Perhaps we can even hear a hint of Jeremiah's teaching of the "new covenant," when "no longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, 'Know the LORD,’ For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). Can we envision this? Can we work toward it? ...

#amy jill levine #flipping tables #the cleansing of the temple #lent #bible study #reading and studying the bible #spring 2021 #lent 2021 #gospels #long post #readings #countering antisemitism

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iamthefate · 5 years

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Do you believe in zodiac symbols?

ARE ZODIAC SIGNS-SYMBOLS WORTH THE WHOLE FUZZ ABOUT THEM? IF YOU HAVE SOME TIME TO SPARE READ THIS PLEASE:)))

I am extremely happy that a question like this was asked to me. Well about zodiac symbols my answer will be quite simple, a huge and clearly written with capital letters NO. Now before you rush into conclusions and tell me that I am extremely biased and astrologists are scientists that know what they are doing and it is a pretty serious job to be an astrologist and all those things, let me explain the reasons or maybe the history of zodiac signs, why they could not be real at all and then judge by yourselves if I am biased or not... So lets see if you guys the zodiac lovers are quite familiar with the following things....

Lets start from scratch, what are the zodiac signs, are the zodiac signs for real the future tellers and are those 12 signs the beginning ans end of our character?

Well the zodiac signs were first discovered in ancient Babylon and their main form was first introduced years later from a mathematician astronomist and astrologist from Greece and Roman Empire, Claudius Ptolemy. He was the one that gave flesh and bones to what we know today as the 12 zodiac signs.

So this is the brief history of the creation of those 12 zodiac signs but what are they? We hear a lot of things about them but never actually questioned ourselves what is the meaning of being the one sign or the other sign. So what are those 12 signs, simple... Because of the fact that all the planets including earth and even our star are moving as celestial spheres in a very specific layer-kinda like an orbit in the sky, the constellations that are found over this layer did take a lot of significance back then and they gave them names and value, those 12 constellations are the 12 zodiac signs we have till today.

So now that we now what are the zodiac signs, we can see why the predictions based on them characterwise and futurewise are a big pile of lies.

1)The outdated geocentric model of Claudius Ptolemy

As we said all the 12 different zodiac signs that Ptolemy introduced were based on the movement of the planets and of our star, the sun. Well thats how he observed those 12 constellations and after observing them he actually did create a theory about them and the solar system. Well this is where it gets complicated, cause the geocentric system used back then is completely outdated, back then they believed that the earth was in the middle of the known universe and it was immobile, also they believed that there were 7 other planets that were encircling the earth, those were: Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and the last 2 were Sun and Moon. Of course now we know that Sun and moon are not planets, Sun is the star of our solar system and Moon is Earth's satellite, and of course all the other 5 planets are not encircling earth but all the planets of our solar system are encircling our star The Sun and the satellites of each planet are encircling their planet. Thus, the astrologists of that time in ancient Babylon based on the outdated geocentric planet model were shocked especially by one event, the so called ''The Retrogade Motion'' of the planets. They were so shocked by this movement of the planets that actually linked it with many bad things that happened to people. So what is this wicked movement? Why all the astrologists back then were affraid of this? Well nowadays this is so simple to answer that it wont shock even a kid in the kindergarden. The retrogade motion was considered a movement that was made by some planets and what retrogade means, it basically is a movement backwards. So they were affraid by this movement backwards cause they couldnt explain it. Why couldnt they explain it? So simple again, the outdated geocentric model of the solar system back then considered earth immobile in the centre of the universe but that is not true. Earth is moving just like every other planet around the sun and the speed of that movement differs from planet to planet. So this retrogade motion, this movement backwards is a simple overtaking from one planet to another due to the different rotation movement. And I can ensure you there is nothing to be affraid about that, but as the greatest minds say, everything you cant explain you can for sure be affraid of it,just like the god and the devil. Of course the astrologists of today keep believing that this movement is the beginning of all evil. So if you and your friend run and you overtake your friend then your friend is the beggining of all evil, hahah nonsense.

2)The number of the planets

Till 1781, which is basically 90% of astrology's total number of predictions since its birth, the people knew the existence of less planets than what we know today.(and of course as we said they confused sun and moon for planets). So till 1781, they knew 6 planets and of course they had given them many characteristics based on Ptolemy's notes and the Babylonian tradition, both of which are wrong based on number 1 I mentioned before,but we are far from over. The three planets that they didnt know were the following, Pluto, Uranus and Neptune. They had to find new characteristics to give to them and of course they had no idea what to do, so they waited. What were they waiting? Of course again the astronomists to find out the names that they were going to give them, because back then when the three planets were first discovered they were nameless. So after scientists gave them a name the astrologists came and they gave them characteristics, Pluto the planet of Life death and rebirth like ancient greek god Pluto, then Uranus Independence and Rebellion just like the god Uranus and the same logic was applied for Neptune. So to sum it all up, till 1781 they didnt know all the planets so 90% of the predictions are lacking information and are full of lies to cover it and the three planets were not given characteristics according to the observations but according to some random names that the astronomists gave first. If they had different names the would have taken different characteristics...well as random as it can get.Oh by the way in the recent years there are another two planets that were discovered by the astronomists..planets Eris and Haumea, so this 90% is more like 100%.

3)The shift of the axis of the earth

Have you ever wondered why you have the zodiac sign that you have? Why are you a gemini if you are born in July 13th or a leo if you are born August 14th? Simple again, this is determined by observing in the day of your birth in which constellation the sun rises. Now lets look the mathemarics behind it, only the simple stuff.... every constellation as far as the rise of the sun is concerned is far apart 30° from the next one, so every 30° degrees the zodiac sign changes. Well that wouldnt be a problem if the axis of the earth was immobile. But the earth is moving around its axis and every 2150 years it changes its orientation 30°,so are you ready to learn something really cool? All of you that believe in zodiac signs have the previous zodiac sign from the one you believe cause the position of the sun changes comparing it to the position of the earth. Your entire life you think you have a different zodiac sign so all of your predictions are a lie. Of course again astrologists dont even know that so they ll keep on telling you that you have a different zodiac sign from the ones you have hahaha

4)The constellations as uniform entities and arbitary points

Have you ever wondered why do the 12 zodiac signs have a name, and to be more specific why do they have the name of those specific animals? Well again the answer is very simple and again it shows why the predictions are a bunch of lies. The 12 zodiac signs (zoion in ancient greek means animal) were created after people of that era played the game: ''link the dots'' and the did that like the constellations are 2D structures but they are 3D structures that seem like 2D from right here, because we observe them in the sky. So to begin with, those 12 zodiac shapes or those 12 animal shapes are completelly arbitary. Imagine that different astrologists of the same era played the game differently and gave the 12 zodiac symbols names that many times were not even animals but objects. This has to do with the local tradition needs of every era. Oh by the way the constellations which are basically the appearence of the stars of each universe change their position constantly and after many years those symbols are not the same. What Ptolemy used to see in his telescope back then is way different from what we see. Of course astrologists dont have any idea about that and they think that the symbols never actually change.

5)The power that the planets are exerting to a human being is extremely extremelyyyyy insignificant, closee to absolute 0

So why all that fuzz about the planets and what the planets do and how they move and all of that? Its because astrology believes that in a magical way the planets put forces on you that change the way we act. Yeah that is actually right or is it? Newton's universal law of gravitation explains that every mass puts a force on every other mass. Congrats astrologists, lets see now the force that the planet mars, which is the closest planet to planet earth puts on a toddler, a baby that is just born, well according to the math behind the equation, that force is 0.0000000395 N, which is 25000 times less thn the force that puts on you a hair when you hold it in your bare hand. And now if your brain is sharp enough you should make that question to yourself? Yes but mars is a small planet how about the sun which is a giant planet, thousands times bigger than Mars. Well he is so far away that the force that puts on us is a 1.000.000 times weaker than the one of Mars. By the way just for the statistics a mom puts 10 times the force of Mars every time when she holds her baby.Of course the astrologists believe that the power of the planets is soooooo huge when it is basically zero.

6)Earth position is in a constant movement itself

Many times nowadays you hear the astrologists say that they figured out that the constellations and the stars are moving but there are some energy portals that keep opening and closing in the same original positions that Ptolemy discovered, even though the constellations are not there anymore. Well, these imaginary energy portals would be a carreer saver for them if Earth was immobile. The portals, those magical portals may open in the original Ptolemian positions in astrologists' minds(there are good doctors for them haha no worries) but even if those existed and opened there the Earth is no longer there. The earth is moving around the centre of the galaxy and it makes 250.000.000 years to complete a circle and galaxies move in the space oh and the space between the galaxies is dilated, which in simple words means we will never be back to the original Ptolemian positions, not even close to them. So that theory from the astrologists is again another big lie. Sorry asteologists you are frauds....

7)The predictions are so insignificant and so out of the point

Classic example here, two monozygotic twins that were born at the same time in the same place and they have after years way different lifes. They have received the same magical forces but still they are two completely different people. But you think I m going to stop here really?? Hahaha you dont know me at all ladies and gents..... Astrologists seem to know everything, if you re going to earn huge amounts of money, if you re going to find the love of your life, hahahah you think those are big events?? Really?? Not that they can found those but really?? If this is a big event then why couldnt they predict Nagasaki and Hirosima atomic bomb explosions, that killed instantly millions of people or natural disasters like tornados and tsunamis and hurricanes? If astrologists could see the future of every individual they should have seen the same future for an entire town or city weeks before, they should have seen a pandemonium of events.... But nope, these events were never predicted... Not even from one astrologist, never and the new catastrophies will never be predicted in such ways......

8) Huge extented researches have proved that astrologists are frauds and astrology is a big lie

You want researches about this, well ok, the research that Carlson did in 1895 ''a double blind taste in astrology'', published in the scientific magazine ''Nature''. 28 Astrologists from Europe and the USA participated in this research. This research had two phases, in the first phase the astrologists were asked to make the famous astrological charts(information about the character of a person and his/her life are found in this based only on information about the birth of an individual) of many individuals. They had all the information they wanted, the place of birth, the date of birth everything they wanted and they made the astrological charts. Then each individual took 3 astrological charts, his own and another two and he/she had to choose which one was his/hers according to his/her personality. That was the first phase. In the second phase, the experiment was the exact opposite, the astrologists were given one astrological chart of an individual and three different psychological profiles and they had to match the profile to the astrological chart. The two experiments done in the two phases had the same result 1/3 correct and 2/3 incorrect. You think thats a coincidence or its fairly ok? Well thats not a coincidence and thats not ok at all, this result 1/3 correct means statistically that if all the astrologists were normal random people the result would have been the same. In other words they were correct just randomly. 1/3 was the result of every single one of the astrologists and that according to statistics is the definition of randomness.

???? FUN FACT????

Did you know that the zodiac signs are 13, Ophiuchus is the 13th zodiac sign but it wasnt introduced from the beggining so they didnt care to change their entire theory for a 13th Zodiac, oops sorry astrologists.

9)Conclusion

To sum it all up ladies and gents, as Albert Einstein once said ''Two things are infinite in this world, the universe and human's stupidity, well not so sure about the first one''. In other words it is such a shame that a lot of people still believe in astrologists' lies. Astrology was a concept developped 2500 years ago when people didnt know whats beyond the sky and they thought the sky was a god. Believing in remnants of Babylonian Religion like we dont have a mind to think, proves how accurate was Albert Einstein 100 years ago.

~It was a 2 hour effort to create this text in English, special thanks to professor Pavlos Kastanas, a great scientist, an amazing astronomer, that was responsible for the information found in this text.Thanks for those who read it and hope you think twice before trusting something that your zodiac sign tells you.

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madewithonerib · 4 years

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How St Paul changed the world (Full Show) | Tom Wright & Holland

Justin Brierley is joined by leading New Testament scholar NT (Tom) Wright & popular historical writer Tom Holland to discuss how the apostle Paul changed the world as described in Wright’s recent book Paul: A Biography.

An agnostic in terms of his religious commitments, Tom Holland has nevertheless described the way that the birth of Christianity has shaped much of what we value in Western society in terms of human rights, culture and rule of law.

He engages with NT Wright on the way that Paul & the early Christian movement stood in stark contrast to the prevailing Roman culture of its day.

Introduction: Tom Wright

Today on unbelievable, we're asking: how did St.Paul change the world?

NT Wright (or Tom Wright) as he's popularly known is one of the world's most influential BIBLE scholars.

And his new book: “Paul a Biography” is a detailed study of the Apostle

who brought Christianity from Jerusalem to the rest of the world.

Saint Paul's influence is almost incalculable, 2nd only in the world to JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF.

As he took the good news of a Jewish Messiah to the Roman Empire that ruled the world.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has described Tom Wright's book as:

"An enthralling journey into the mind of Paul by one of the great theologians of our time. A work full of insight, depth & generosity of understanding."

So it's pretty good when you can get endorsements like that on your book jacket.

Introduction: Tom Holland

Opposite Tom Wright for today's discussion is another Tom.

Tom Holland, popular historian whose best-selling books such as Rubicon & Dynasty have told the story of the rise & fall of the Roman Empire.

While not a believer himself, Tom Holland is also working on a new book on the way that Christianity became the most revolutionary force for changing the world & it'll be interesting to hear how you've been getting on in that endeavour Tom.

Connection between Toms

Today is really an exchange of collegial discussion between two people who are simply fascinated in this era of history.

What can we know from Acts & the letters in the NT about Paul, & what are the gaps that we need to fill in about:

● Who Paul was, & ● How Paul went about his mission, & ● We’ll also talk about his famous conversion, & ● The unique way his theology developed as he brought Jewish monotheism & JESUS the Messiah together.

So Tom Holland & Tom Wright, welcome to the show, it’s great to have you both joining me today.

We’ll come to you first of all Tom Wright, I'm probably going to have to use surnames to distinguish you both today.

But you've been writing & researching Paul for decades now haven't you? (yes) I mean the last, well, a couple of years ago I had you on when you wrote your magnum opus—which was

(that's actually amazing that's 5 years ago that it came out, yes extraordinary) The two volumes sort of very academic (yes Paul & the Faithfulness of GOD)

Q1: And is this really I suppose in a sense the popular level version of what you wrote then?

Tom Wright: Sort of yes & no, when I did that big book, several people (both including colleagues in the discipline said:

"Wish you'd do a shorter one"

Of course part of the point of the longer one was that I've been writing shorter things & articles.

And people had always said,

"Yeah, but you didn't explain this or yes but surely that has to be contextualized there."

Okay, you want the big thing, here it is.

Then of course they all said it was far too long, so it's as JESUS said:

"We danced for you & you wouldn't even sing; & we wept & you wouldn't mourn."

But this isn't exactly a potted down version, because that was a book on Paul's mind & theology.

Now there's a lot of mind & theology in here, but part of the whole point of it is that what Paul was thinking & saying was contextualized in a rich multi-layered life,

which was to do with both his Jewish upbringing & his amazing knowledge of the Jewish SCRIPTURES.

And with his contextualizing in the Roman world, where he was a citizen, & in the Greek world where he knew his Epicureans from his Stoics.

And we see Paul navigating these things in a multi-layered way, which I find just perpetually enthralling because I grew up with a Paul who was basically

a brainbox who said prayers as it were.

And then the rest of it was off on the side.

The older I've got the more, the whole man (of Paul) speaks to this whole man. And that's been really exciting.

Justin Brierley: You probably feel like you know his era almost as well as you know your own now.

Tom Wright: Well let's put it like this, "My students mock me,

because when I say the war, I mean the Jewish-Roman war of (66–70 AD) —not World War one or two.

And they say, "well yeah I sort of mentally live in the 1st century, though I've tried to diversify more recently, & get back towards our days as well.

Justin Brierley: And just kind of give us a sense of how you structure this particular because you called it a biography & in that sense you are trying to write something that's sort of a narrative.

Tom Wright: “oh yes"

Justin Brierley: It's not a sort of academic book, in the traditional sense.

Tom Wright: No. It's not at all, I mean the only footnotes are basically references to bits of the BIBLE, or bits of classical sources & so on.

So there's no discussion of other scholarly views or if I do say there are various views here, I don't actually go into details as to who said it. You can find those elsewhere.

So this is going through from what we know about or can infer about his early life; &

how he got to the point where he was on the road to Damascus when dot-dot-dot, & then what happened next...[4:33]

And as with virtually all ancient history, there are gaps.

That's quite normal, but when you have gaps in any narrative (ancient or modern) what you can do is probe cautiously—from either side, as it were, with the bits you do know & say:

"Well it's possibly this, it's likely that, or it’s almost certain that such & such.

And that's what I tried to do to construct a whole story.

Justin Brierley: And something of a gift to us, 2K years later; that he was obviously a prolific letter writer.

Tom Wright: Well he was comparatively prolific, but actually the letters are short, you know:

How many volumes do we have of Cicero's letters in the lower classics? I mean just...[5:09]

Tom Holland: They go on & on..have you read them all? Tom Wright: Exactly! Exactly they do go on & on.

And they're fascinating, they shed a flood of light & all sorts of things in the 1st century BC Roman culture.

But for Paul we've just got these snippets because he's writing on the go.

He's not leisured sitting there all day to compose, he's really sending bulletins from the front as it were [5:33]

Tom Holland: Yeah

Tom Wright: So most of his time, he isn't writing letters, so far as we know:

he's talking with people, he's preaching, he's praying. He's always trying to organize these little communities;

And then from time to time, he has to buzz off a letter to somebody.

Justin Brierley: Yes & you're always obviously hearing one side of the conversation, (yup) & you sort of have to fill in gaps (yeah).

And you have to, I suppose as a historian Tom, what you're doing as well as saying:

Well here is what we know is going on in the wider culture, & that makes sense of why Paul said this & did this..

Tom Wright: And particularly I am very fortunate in that

I came of age as a scholar just when the contemporary revolution in modern Jewish studies was happening.

So that we've got the Dead Sea Scrolls, in good modern editions, we've got new good editions of Josephus.

We know much much more about the early rabbis, than we did 50 years ago because of massive work that's gone on. [6:23]

So we can reconstruct quite a lot about how Jews in that period were thinking.

And of course that's controversial too.

But we can see a big picture, within which then the way Paul is going after things—makes sense if you say take somebody in that world, who is also very much alive to the Greek & Roman context.

But who then happens to believe that GOD has fulfilled HIS promises by sending a Messiah, who was then crucified.

That's bizzare.

But the sense Paul makes of it, is the sense that it would make within that Jewish world. [6:53]

Justin Brierley: And just before we come to Tom Holland here, that was going to be my next question.

Will people reading this book simply know a lot more about Paul by the end of it, or will it give us a better picture of JESUS?

The person, he was obviously speaking of.

Tom Wright: I’m not sure it would necessarily give you a better picture of JESUS, but it would give you a

better picture of how the very first followers of JESUS were wrestling with the question:

What does it mean that GOD's Messiah was crucified & raised from the dead?

You know that's not part of the game plan, but if that's what we've got: How does that reconfigure everything?

Obviously I & many others have written quite a lot about JESUS as well. That's another story.

But so it's probing back & I mean for me, I just go on being fascinated by the fact that within I would say:

"20 or so years after the crucifixion,"

here is a highly intelligent man saying he loved me & gave himself for me.

You know that is extraordinary! [7:42]

It's hard to imagine anybody saying that, about anybody else in the last 20 years (right).

Unless all sorts of other things were true as well.

And yet Paul says it [7:53]

Justin Brierley: Tom Holland, thank you for joining us on the program today. We've thrown you in at the deep end.

Tom Holland: You really have.

Justin Brierley: Well thank you for putting yourself in the, you know, the opposite chair. As I say, this isn't, sometimes this program is combative, I have a feeling that won't be the case today.

It'll very much be a meeting of the minds.

But tell us where your interest in the whole Classical Age really began. You've sort of been doing this all of your adult working life, haven't you? [8:24]

Tom Holland: Well it goes right the way back to childhood & I was the kind of child who loved dinosaurs & I liked them because they were big & they were fierce & they were glamourous. And they were extinct, & my interest, I suppose, was really in the Roman army then by extension the Roman empire.

Well it kind of was a seamless movement from Tyrannosaurus Rex to Caesar.

And so the kind of the glamour & beauty & the power, & the cruelty of the Greeks & the Romans, I found very appealing. [8:58]

The contrast to that, although I went to Sunday School & I was very interested in biblical history as well.

I found them all a bit poor-faced. Kind of I didn't like their beards,

I preferred the clean-shaven look of Apollo.

And in a way I was kind of seduced by the glamour (yes) of Greece & Rome, I suppose. [9:20]

So the first books I wrote about of history were about Greece & Rome, & in many ways —you know the appeal particularly I think of Rome is that in certain ways they do seem very like as you were talking about Cicero's letters

This is a man who, you know, is:

● worrying about property prices, ● he's worrying about the weather, ● he's complaining apparently (people),

yes in all kinds of ways, he seems very familiar. [9:46]

But the more you live in the minds of the Romans, & I think even more the Greeks, the more alien they come to seem. [9:53]

And the more frightening they come to seem.

What becomes most frightening really is a kind of quality of callousness, that I think is terrifying because I think it is completely taken for granted.

There's a kind of innocent quality about it; nobody really questions it.

Justin Brierley: And what sort of form would that take? [10:13]

Tom Holland: Well if you know, within the age of Cicero, you know Cicero's great contemporary Ceasar is by some accounts slaughtering a million Gauls & enslaving another million, in the cause of boosting his political career.

And far from feeling in any way embarrassed about this, he's kind of promoting it & say when he holds his triumph:

People are going through the streets of Rome carrying billboards boasting about how many people he's killed.

This is a really terrifyingly alien world & the more you look at it, the more you realize that it is built on systematic exploitations.

So the entire economy is founded on slave labour (right), the sexual economy is founded on the absolute right of free Roman males to have sex with anyone that they want in any way that they like.

And in almost every way this is a world that is unspeakably cruel to our way of thinking.

And so this worried me more & more, & it was kind of like, I was thinking...well you know:

I'm clearly not as I had vaguely imagined, the era of the Greeks & the Romans in any way really.

And so where am I coming from?

It was like a kind of itch, you know, on your back & you can't find it.

Then this was enhanced for me, by then writing a book about the late antiquity & the emergence of Islam from the late religious conflict that caught the religious & imperial context of late antiquity [11:42]

And again finding in Islam, a profound quality of the alien, that you know there were aspects that were familiar, but there were many aspects of it that again seemed deeply deeply alien.

And I began to realize that actually:

in almost every way I am Christian.

I began to realize that actually Paul, although in many ways he seems a much less familiar figure than Cicero, in the kind of urbane man with his property problems.

Paul never had any property [12:11], he just made tents.

In almost every what is it? Seven letters?

Conventionally that people absolutely accepted, & as Tom Wright was saying this is not a very lengthy amount of writing.

But compacted into this very small amount of writing, was almost everything that explains the modern world [12:39]

JB: Well the Western world as we take for granted, yeah.

Tom Holland: Yes but also the way that the West has then moved on to shape.

You know concepts, like international law for instance.

So the facts that, the concepts of human rights, all these kind of things.. Ultimately they don't go back to Greek philosophers, they don't go back to Roman empiricism

>> They go back to Paul & his letters [13:02]

And I think are along with the 4 GOSPELS the most influential, the most impactful, the most revolutionary writings that have emerged from the ancient world.

JB: When you penned that article for the New Statesman, where you said, what I got wrong & you sort of came out as it were & said, "as far as my values & background are concerned I am a Christian." (yeah)

It was interesting to see the response to that.

Because I saw lots of atheists & humanists saying,

"Oh hang-on, you know we democracy goes back to the Greeks, don't pretend that Christianity gave us everything we're grateful for.”

But you honestly think that actually

people simply haven't appreciated just how much we owe to Christianity? [13:51]

Tom Holland: Well I think that, I mean if we're talking of Paul, I think of him as a kind of depth charge, deep beneath the foundations of the classical world. [13:59]

And it's not anything that you particularly notice if you're in Corinth or Alexandria.

Then you start feeling this kind of rippling outwards [14:10]

By the time you get to the 11th century, in Latin Christendom everything has changed. And you have this guy, essentially what is Paul's significance is that:

He sets up ripple effects of revolution throughout Western history [14:28]

So the 11th century where with the Papacy Revolution, essentially establishes this idea that

Society has to be reborn/reconfigured.

And the vested interests has to be torn down, & then the Reformation, is a further ripple effect of that [14:47]

The Enlightenment is a further ripple effect of that.

Tom Wright: Very interesting.

Tom Holland: You know it's spilled out so much that now, in the 21st century, we don't even realize where these ripple effects are coming from.

We just take them for granted. [14:58]

JB: I can hear Tom Wright, you want to come in on this..

Tom Wright: Well I was just thinking

I haven't actually read from cover to cover, but Steven Pinker's two books where he's saying effectively

JB: Well I had him on the show recently.

Tom Wright: Oh really? Okay he's saying, “Forget all that religion stuff, we invented the real world as it should be in the Enlightenment, & all we have to do is apply it more & more rigorously.

And just kick that religion stuff into touch.”

And it's very interesting that some commentators have said, "Well if that was going to be the case, it would work in America better than anywhere else & look at America & you'll see that it doesn't.”

But I think I want to respond with what Pope Benedict said 10 years ago when he was speaking at the United Nations, when he said:

The whole idea of human rights is absolutely rooted in the Judaeo-Christian tradition, & if you try & get the fruits of that without the roots, all you'll get is the thing will collapse.. into shrill special-interest rhetoric.

Everyone claiming the status of victim analogous when I had these, which is exactly where we are.

[15:39-15:54]

Tom Holland: But the power of victimhood (yeah yeah) is again something that is part of the Revolutionary inheritance of Christianity—because that is the point of the crucifixion.

Tom Wright: Yes & nobody in Caesar's world would have said, “Oh I'm a victim therefore I've got to be prioritized.”

Tom Holland: Cause that'd be a scandal. [16:10]

JB: We actually had Steven Pinker in the very chair you’re sitting on (right now) Tom Wright.

His response to this argument which at this point was being put by Nick Spencer, who's written a very good book as well on the evolution of the West making this very odd move.

His argument was,

"No, Christians may have given us some good principles. But all we need to recognize is our universal humanity—that we're part of the same species, we're all sentient. [16:31]

That gives us every grounding we need for treating each other with dignity & human rights [16:37]

Tom Wright: And who thought like that in the 1st century?

I mean Paul talking about Adam & CHRIST basically. [16:39]

JB: So are you saying that kind of a belief simply can’t emerge in a vacuum in a sense?

Tom Wright: Yeah the idea of universal humanists is something that even in the 18th century they struggled with.

You know when missionaries went to America & came back arguing about whether the American Indians had souls or not?!

Were they really the same species as us?

And then John Wesley & George Whitfield & so on saying,

"No these people have to be taught to love GOD like any of us.

And so there's stuff going on there, which is again rooted in human rights.

JB: And you’re part of the push back on this (Tom Holland)?

Tom Holland: In a way it seems to me that the most influence, the single most influential phrase for why we have a notion of a kind of common humanity is in Galatians where:

Paul says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female."

And it's there you have this idea that we are (of course he goes on to say: "in CHRIST JESUS")

And that for the contemporary world is...(we just). [17:12-17:45]

Tom Wright: That's what people want to do without.

Tom Holland: But of course there is an issue there, as Daniel Boyarin, a faceted Jewish scholar writing about Paul says,

"So Jewishness & Greekness gets dissolved into this universal humanity, but: What if I as a Jew want to stay a Jew?

And so in a sense, there also you have the kind of you know: The issues that continue to obsess our society, which is essentially—

if you don't want to be part of a kind of universal commonality—what then do you do?

Tom Wright: The dangerous thing, I was at a conference, in America a couple years ago. Two-three years ago, based on the big book on Paul, & there was an African-American Theologian woman at Fuller Seminary who basically pushed back on me on this & said:

"The danger is when you say we're all one in CHRIST JESUS, what that means is that everyone else is an honourary white male, & the white males have got it. And that everyone else has to say, "OK, we're sort of part of your team as it were."

[18:17-18:40]

And I said, If that's what you're hearing, that's certainly not what I was intending; & certainly not what Paul was intending either.

And I know Danny Boyarin, we've had this debate, it's great fun. Because I think what we're seeing there is very interesting cultural moment, on the cusp of modernity & post-modernity.

And David Horrell in Exeter, his book on Paul 'Solidarity & Difference" says it all:

That on the one hand, we've got this cutlural drive towards we're all part of this together.

It's what's going on in the European debate, at the moment. (Yes) Solidarity, we're all just part of this nice big family & that's how it all works in economy of scale, & so on.

And then lots of people, including in Scotland, where I now live.

Saying, "No that's squelching our identity, & we're not going to let you do it.

And the interesting thing is that Paul in 1 Corinthians, is faced with the same issues:

How do you navigate past this theologically where you're simultaneously saying:

"We've all got to be one family; & then you're saying, but if your conscience means that this is where you are at the moment here's how we'll live with that & how we have to respect that.

And he's basically wrestling with the big issues that we're wrestling with as well.

Doing so very sophisticatedly. [19:45]

JB: Let's come to some of his specific story, because you do a fabulous job in the opening chapters of the book, in setting the scene of:

● Who Paul was, ● What we can know about his background, ● the sort of Judaism that he came from.

And for me, one of the fascinating bits was you kind of speculating on what he might have been thinking about when he was on that famous road to Damascus.

Because I thought that was quite interesting, you know what was occupying Paul's mind—at the moment when that famous event occurred.

Do you just want to walk us through that?

Because I think this is probably the most famous conversion in all of history, in a way. [20:23]

Tom Wright: Yes if conversion is the right word. [lol]

But right off the top the danger with saying conversion is that what that word means in our world:

If I say so-and-so has just got converted, the chances are this means that so-and-so was probably an atheist or an agnostic; & they have now found some sort of faith. And one would hope it might be for me, my new Christian faith.

That's not really at all what's going on for Paul; & it's certainly not about swapping from one religion to another.

That's the layers of misunderstanding there, in terms of what the word religion meant in the ancient world

—in terms of what the word religion means in our world.

Neither of those fit what's happening to Paul. [21:01]

Paul always had believed in the GOD of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob—the CREATOR GOD, he never for a moment stopped believing in GOD.

He was living in a narrative which said,

"All those ancient promises have got to come true, GOD's got to show that HE's in the right.

That HE meant what HE said, & that HE's going to renew the whole world.

Quite possibly, not all Jews believed this through a Messiah—who will come & do justice & re-establish the Temple in Jerusalem, so that GOD will come back & live there gloriously et cetra. [21:27]

So Paul is living with that narrative, & in particular within that, & you see this in the later Rabbis, but it's clearly there in Maccabees as well.

There are two figures in the ancient world, Jewish world, who Paul is identifying with: [1] Elijah & [2] Phineas.

They're the great messengers of zeal.

If you like, bad things are happening, we've got to do some sacred violence, to stamp out the nonsense & get Israel back on track [21:52]

And Paul is role-modeling Phineas & Elijah, and the texts which embody their stories are clearly present.

JB: And he was very much part of this movement that wanted to keep the law better, yeah, so that we hasten on this event through will. [22:07]

Tom Wright: And let's be quite clear, this is not as used to be said in Protestant rhetoric about:

Earning my ticket to Heaven, or doing enough good works so that GOD will be pleased with me.

It's GOD wants to renew & restore this world, & for the sake of that HE's called Israel out to be a special people, as HIS holy people.

And so it's for the sake of GOD's purposes they have to do this, & make more & more Jews do this stuff. [22:28]

So here's this bunch you are letting slide down; & going off after a crucified Messiah, who ever heard such nonsense? [22:34]

So Paul is off to do the Phineas thing, the Elijah thing

These are like the new prophets of Baal, & we know what we have to do with them. [22:40]

And then if you're in that mode, how do you pray?

We know from everything Paul says, he was a person suffused with prayer & there are standard Jewish prayers.

And it's a guess, but I'm not the only one to make this guess that on the road to Damascus,

he was meditating like many people in his tradition did on the throne chariot in the beginning of the Book of Ezekiel,

where the Prophet sees the whirling wheels & then the chariot, & then his eye is raised up & he sees the figure sitting on the throne & he falls down (crash as though dead).

And then the Prophet is commissioned et cetera. [23:15]

I think Paul was meditating on the Throne Chariot.

Longing to get a glimpse of the GOD he'd worshipped all his life, & I think he gets to that glimpse & it's JESUS of Nazareth.

And simultaneously, all his life is fulfilled & all his life is shattered.

And that is just the most devastating & the most fulfilling moment. [23:35-39]

And in a sense he spends the rest of his life working out what that means, & encouraging other people to explore with him.

What I wouldn't want to say is forcing them to do & believe that because you can't force people to do & believe that kind of stuff.

But helping them to share the sense that JESUS really is Israel's Messiah. [23:58]

JB: Lots of people have given different explanations for what happened to Paul, psychological, some epileptic fit maybe who knows.

Where do you go as a historian Tom Holland, with this, obviously very significant event that I think you'd agree there's some historical basis to it that something happened on the road to Damascus. [24:17]

What do you think happened there in your view?

Tom Holland: I think in the broadest context, Paul is negotiating a tension that is inherent within the understanding of the GOD of Israel.

Because HE is on the one hand the GOD of Israel, & HE is on the other hand the Creator of the entire world.

So how do you negotiate that tension? (Yes)

And in the globalizing world of the Roman Empire, which many Jews lived. This becomes a particularly pressing issue. So to what extent is GOD the Creator of the Greeks, Romans, & the Egyptians, & whoever else..

This is somewhere & anywhere kind of question. [24:58]

That you know we were talking about earlier; that we still have today (human rights issues)..

And I would suspect Paul is struggling to negotiate that as a Greek speaking Pharisee.

>> What persuades him to think the things that he does? I think it’s profoundly mysterious! [25:19]

And I have no doubt that he did think that: He had seen JESUS. I mean I can’t think of any other reason that would explain why he does what he does.

I mean it’s mysterious in 2 ways really:

1.] He chucks over what presumably would have been a very comfortable career, to essentially embark on a life as a kind of wandering bum, where he’s going to face repeated beatings, ultimately face death.

2.] The other is why it would ever cross his mind? That in some way a crucified criminal is a part of the ONE GOD of Israel?!

And the strange thing about all his letters is that although he’s arguing repeatedly for his understanding of who JESUS is & HE should be understood, & how HE should be comprehended..

I mean I may be corrected on this, but I don’t think at any point does he feel the need to actually argue that JESUS is in some way a part of GOD.

I mean this is just taken for granted; & everyone seems to understand this. [26:27]

Tom Wright: You’re absolutely right, it used to be so. And when you had Larry Hurtado on the show, you presumably discussed these kinds of things.

It used to be thought that JESUS only was regarded as fully divine much later, like the end of the first generation or even early second century. And only at the end of the NT period.

And I think now most NT scholars are convinced (actually) this is on the table from the beginning. It’s certainly taken for granted in Galatians, which I think is Paul’s earliest blessing [26:49]

Tom Holland: Yes, & the strangeness of that is something that we perhaps are kind of immune to, because it’s in the BIBLE, so you read it.

But you think though, why would he think this??

Why would anyone thing this?! [27:01]

JB: Yeah in this context, it is a very strange thing for a devout Jew to have thought.

Tom Holland: But I would guess, & I can’t remember whether you say this in your book because I read it a couple years ago, when in proof.

But having had presumably this kind of convulsive experience, presumably then he turns to SCRIPTURE to try & work out what’s happened. (JB: Yeah to try & process)

In essentially he reads through all the passages; & kind of constructs this theology. [27:33]

Tom Wright: I think one of the thins we fail to realize, often in modern Western Christianity—never mind the secular world —is the stories that people had in their heads about what GOD was going to do.

And particularly the end of the Book of Ezekiel hugely important, 7 parallels in Isaiah 40 & 52 particularly are GOD’s promised that HE will one day come back visibly in person. [27:53]

Isaiah 40:1-31 | “Comfort, comfort MY people,” says your GOD. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, & proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.” A voice of one calling:

“Prepare the way for the LORD in the wilderness; make a straight highway for our GOD in the desert. Every valley shall be lifted up, & every mountain & hill made low; the uneven ground will become smooth, & the rugged land a plain.

And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, & all humanity together will see it.

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?”

“All flesh is like grass, & all its glory like the flowers of the field. The grass withers & the lowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.

The grass withers & the flowers fall, but the WORD of our GOD stands forever.” Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your GOD!” Behold, the LORD GOD comes with might, & HIS arm establishes HIS rule. HIS reward is with HIM, & HIS recompense accompanies HIM. HE tends HIS flock like a shepherd; HE gathers the lambs in HIS arms & carries them close to HIS heart. HE gently leads the nursing ewes. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale & the hills with a balance? Who has directed the SPIRIT of the LORD, or informed HIM as HIS counselor? Whom did HE consult to enlighten HIM, & who taught HIM the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to HIM & showed HIM the way of understanding?

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; HE lifts up the islands like fine dust.

Lebanon is not sufficient for fuel, nor its animals enough for a burnt offering.

All the nations are as nothing before HIM; HE regards them as nothingness & emptiness. To whom will you liken GOD? To what image will you compare HIM?

To an idol that a craftsman casts & a metalworker overlays with gold & fits with silver chains?

To one bereft of an offering who chooses wood that will not rot, who seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple?

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth? HE sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers.

HE stretches out the heavens like a curtain, & spreads them out like a tent to live in.

HE brings the princes to nothing & makes the rulers of the earth meaningless. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than HE blows on them & they wither, & a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.

“To whom will you compare ME, or who is MY equal?” asks the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? HE leads forth the starry host by number; HE calls each one by name. Because of HIS great power & mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, & why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, & my claim is ignored by my GOD”?

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting GOD, the Creator of the ends of the earth. HE never grows faint or weary; HIS understanding is beyond searching out.

HE gives power to the faint & increases the strength of the weak. Even youths may faint & grow weary, & young men stumble & fall.

But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run & not grow weary, they will walk & not faint.

To dwell in the Temple, to rescue HIS people, to do what has to be done et cetera, etc.

And those promises are kind of shimmering in the background; & some people in the Jewish world like the author of the book called Ben Sira, or Ecclesiasticus—seems to think that this sort of has happened because wisdom has come to dwell in the Temple in the form of the teaching of the Torah.

Now most Jews in Paul’s day, I don’t think believed that. [28:13] They still taught there was something major yet to happen.

And it is as though with Paul & indeed with the GOSPELS, it isn’t just that they are telling JESUS stories; & somehow saying btw there’s another dimension to this.

They are telling the story which is Israel’s story about GOD coming back, but the only way they can tell it is by talking about JESUS.

So it’s not just a JESUS story with a GOD dimension, it’s actually the GOD story with the JESUS focus. [28:39]

And it’s hard for us to realize that because the last 200 years, philosophically & theologically, we haven’t been there.

So when I look at how Paul is handling Isaiah, how he’s handling the passages about the new Exodus with the pillar of cloud & fire coming. Only now it’s JESUS & the SPIRIT.

You see he’s drawing on Jewish traditions about the Presence & saving power of GOD.

And then of course they all get focused not least on that middle chunk of Isaiah—where you get the so called suffering servant.

And the suffering servant seems to be GOD saying actually when you look to see what it’s like when I come back to rescue you:

Oh my! It’s going to be like this; & we see Jewish exegesis at the time struggling with Isaiah 53.

● Some of them thinking, it’s a Messiah, but actually the suffering is what HE inflicts on other people

● And other people thinking: “No it’s real suffering but it’s the martyrs, it’s not the Messiah.”

And JESUS, then Paul picking this up —seemed to have fused these two together.

with this extraordinary notion of a suffering Messiah. [29:40]

Who turns out to be the personal embodiment of Israel’s GOD.

And then we see this already, by early on in Paul woven into fresh prayings of Central Jewish prayers the famous one in 1 Corinthians 8, where it’s hear O Israel, the LORD our GOD the LORD is one, & Paul astonishingly finds JESUS inside that, so he says for us there is one GOD the FATHER from whom are all things we to HIM & one LORD JESUS the Messiah through whom are all things. [30:14]

1 Corinthians 8:4-6 | So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, & that there is no GOD but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth [as there are many so-called gods & lords], yet for us there is but one GOD, the FATHER, from whom all things came & for whom we exist. And there is but one LORD, JESUS CHRIST, through whom all things came & through whom we exist.

So you’ve got he’s the Oscar, he’s curious, but it’s GOD & JESUS.

At the heart of Jewish monotheism Paul finds this bifurcation.

JB: And in a sense that is a massive transformation, but at the same time somehow—for Paul it is a fulfillment.

Tom Wright: It’s a final revelation because he then obviously looks back & says “Whoa! we now read the SCRIPTURES with this in mind. [30:38]

HE is the image of the invisible GOD, so when humans were made in GOD’s image— HE is the image in whom we were made.

JB: And just how strange would this idea of a GOD who— or a Messiah or whatever, who becomes crucified have been in the Roman world that this message was being delivered?

Tom Holland: Beyond weird, it’d be totally beyond weird. As Paul repeatedly says, I mean, he says that you know “it’s foolishness, scandalous, outrageous, it’s ridiculous, & he’s aware of this the whole time [30:58-31:12]

JB: Just how embarrassing this is in a sense.

Tom Holland: Well it is kind of I mean & that is the whole point that (yeah) to suffer death on a cross is [31:20]

It’s the worst death that the Roman state can inflict, but it is also shaming in the context of the Mosaic law which also says that to be hung on a tree as a cause of (a curse).

JB: We often forget with our stylized depictions of the crucifixion just how gory & shameful it was.

Tom Holland: Yes, absolutely & so what is happening is that it’s like a kind of the ultimate judo throw—where you turn the strength of your opponent against them.

The Roman power is affirmed by brutality, the governor of a Province has the right to burn, to throw to beasts, to crucify anyone who he feels is a danger to Roman power. [32:05]

And governors did that absolutely at the drop of a hat.

So what is happening with Paul’s proclamation of the one GOD in some way suffering this fate is to absolutely upend the very fabric & basis—not just of Roman power, but of powerful stock because of course the Assumption through from reading the Jewish SCRIPTURES was that GOD is a warrior & GOD will overthrow Roman power.

The establishment of a kingdom of peace will in some way be effected by the sword & what Paul is saying is that actually the true source of power is to suffer.

And that notion, you know, that to be a victim can somehow be a source of power is unbelievably subversive in the context of classical antiquity. [32:56-33:05]

JB: And it’s still today to some extent, but I mean you know it’s not as though we all believe that today.

Tom Holland: Although you see it all the time in the news at the moment—that to cast yourself as a victim is somehow to give yourself power. And you would only have power by virtue of being a victim if you existed in the context of a society that was still in its fundamentals Christian.

In the Roman world if you said I’m a victim, they’d say: “Yeah, and...?? I’ll enslave you!” (lol) [33:27]

Tom Wright: Exactly thanks very much. Tom Holland: Or I’ll rape you whatever.

JB: And on top of this there was also this statement, which I think was being used in quite a political way of saying, “JESUS is LORD” which was obvious.

Set against the idea that well, “No Caesar is lord.”

Tom Holland: If we think of Paul arriving in Galatia, it would seem that in some way that the Galatians feel that they have a particular relationship to the figure of Augustus. [33:58]

So they transcribe the ray’s guessed by his account of his achievements. And it seems to have been done to a far greater degree than anywhere else in the Roman Empire.

So they are inscribing this idea of Augustus, who describes himself as (divi filius) son of god, son of Caesar but you know he’s been raised up to the heavens.

He has been a prince of peace, he has established a universal amnesty across the world & this is uangei leon, this is good news to be proclaimed. [34:35]

But the statues of Augustus, the Res Gestae of Augustus, the very essence of Augustus is that the peace that he has brought has been brought by a sword.

He is an imperato, he is a general who is victorious.

This is what an emperor is, &so in the cities that Paul is arriving at, this cult of Caesar—which is the fastest growing cult, probably in history up until that point, you know it’s spread like wildfire & it’s not a kind of frigid cult.

It’s a cult that people across the Roman world, invest in with a deep emotional sense. This idea of a conquering human, who is ‘divine’ & who has risen from the earth & “gone to the heavens.”

Augustus is the epitome of earthly power (of his day).

And so in that context, the subversion that Paul is affecting by turning up & saying actually the SON of GOD that I preach is someone who was crucified by Roman power.

I mean you, it’s kind of makes you wince.

JB: But why did it work then? Why did anyone listen to such a crazy message? [35:52]

Tom Wright: That’s a great question, I just want to endorse everything that Tom said, I think it is one of the most extraordinary turnarounds in history that the symbolism of crucifixion said: “we run this world, & if you get in our way, we’ll rub you out.”

And that is callous brutal power.

Then to have within 20 years, the crucifixion as a symbol of all conquering self giving love, that’s just quite extraordinary.

And as you said, we in the modern Christian world see crucifixes we have them, we wear them, you know..as jewelry decoration, or nice pretty things in Churches.

But actually this was like an electric chair or a horrible gallows or something.

So why did it work?

I think if we’d have asked Paul that, he would have said because when you announce the crucified JESUS as LORD, there is a strange power, which he sometimes calls the GOSPEL or other times calls the SPIRIT.

And that power goes to work in people’s minds & hearts.

And stuff happens, they find themselves gripped & grasped by it; & I think Paul would have said there is no logical explanation. Of course, there is no one who actually wants to sign off this.

But it’s everything that Tom Holland was saying just now was reminding me of Mark 8, where JESUS says,

“We’re going to Jerusalem & it’s all going to happen; & if you want to come after ME, you’ve got to be prepared to die. Take up your cross as well.” [37:06]

I think they thought it was a metaphor. But in fact, JESUS really meant it.

Then in Mark 10 when HE says (when James & John want to sit int the best seats, to be HIS right & left-hand men) & HE said:

“Don’t you realize the rulers of the nations bully people, & harassed & lauded. We’re not going to do it that way; we’re going to do it the other way.

Anyone who wants to be great must be your servant.

Because the SON of MAN did not come to be served, but to serve & to give HIS life as a ransom for many.

JESUS HIMSELF is precisely articulating the redefinition of power with the cross at the center of that.

Paul picks up from that, & says what he’d actually want to say:

[1] On the cross JESUS did in fact defeat the principalities, & powers. He says that in 2 or 3 passages. HE disarms the powers & made a public example.

Of course it didn’t look like that.

This is the theological interpretation in the light of the resurrection. But then when you’ve got that interpretation, you can go to work & say [38:04]

“Now actually JESUS crucified is the fulcrum around which world history turns & ppl find that it’s true for them"

JB: I mean this brings us to that interesting tension, that you sit in a sense as both a believer & a historian of the SCRIPTURES, Tom Wright. [38:16-38:31]

Because in a sense you’re saying the explanation Paul would have given is that something supernatural happened.

This GOSPEL changed people, or are you? (lol)

And are you allowed to as a historian to say it? [38:39]

Tom Wright: It will be interesting to see what happens when Tom Holland gets past Galileo & onto the 18th & 19th century.

Because this word supernatural has changed its meaning (OK) the word supernatural in the Middle Ages as far as I understand

—meant a super abundance of godness over on top of, but not excluding what goes on, so it’s what normally goes on plus some extra dimensions.

But from the 18th century onwards, something very interesting happened culturally & the ancient philosophy called Epicureanism really became the dominant philosophy of the west. [39:09]

Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based on the teachings of Epicurus, founded around 307 B.C.

It teaches that the greatest good is to seek modest pleasures in order to attain a state of tranquility, freedom from fear ("ataraxia") and absence from bodily pain ("aponia").

And with Epicureanism the gods & our world are totally sepparate.

They’re made of the same stuff, they’re made of atoms, but they have nothing to do with us—so supernatural means something out there, as opposed to something down here. [39:23]

Then Christians trying to make sense of the faith within a basically epicurean world, think of GOD quote intervening—so you either have natural events or supernatural events [providence of GOD]

And I resist that dichotomy, I think it’s a product of agency.

JB: And this is of course, if you want more on this, “the Gifford lectures” that you gave this year. [39:38]

Tom Wright: Thank you, yes. Tom Holland: Brilliantly done [lol]

Tom Wright: That’s very nice, but unfortunately it’s gonna take a little while before they get published. Because I’ve got some work to do, but they are available online.

Yeah YouTube, goodness.

But the point is this, that we still in our culture & I think I say this in on of the Givens actually. The only real question that the great British public knows theologically:

“Does GOD intervene in the world or doesn’t HE?”

Which is why a journalist faced with the new archbishop says: “Do you believe in the virgin birth & resurrection?”

In other words, “Are you going to be one of those embarrassing fundamentalists, who says you believe it all? Or are you going to be one of those equally dodgy liberals, who says you disbelieve it all?” [40:21]

It’s a horrible dilemma.

And I’m going to say: “Wrong question”

For me as a historian, the more I know about hisotry, the more I think yeah all sorts of odd things happen in the world.

And the idea that everything is just a closed continuum is a very particular philosophical thing.

So I want to have it both ways actually. [40:41]

JB: How do you approach this, because we can talk about metaphysical commitments on your part Tom Holland.

But at the end of the day, someone like you’re sitting opposite Tom Wright. Obviously, does believe the BIBLE to be both a historical document that we can both agree on.

You can pull apart & dissect & look at.

But it’s also a source of divine revelation at some level. [41:02]

Tom Holland: [missed initial opening, JB talked over TH]

...Rather as a kind of Darwinian rite, in the sense that I assume Christianity triumphs, or you know achieves what it achieves.

Because it gives something that people want (yes)

They haven’t previously been given, so there’s a social survival of the fittest.

It’s evident, most famously, from St. Paul’s stay in Athens that there is in a sense a marketplace for gods in antiquity.

So if you think of Paul arriving in Galatia, the Galatian gods are famously horrible. [41:38]

There’s one god that supposedly goes around punching women in the breasts; & you think this is not kind or particularly pleasant.

The other deity in Galatia is Keyblade, who sits on a mighty mountain & in the ecstasy of their worship, men will castrate themselves in her honour [41:59]

And Paul kind of makes a grim joke about this, saying if his opponents: I wish that they would castrate gods.

(Tom Wright: cut the whole lot of them)

So these are a kind of intimidating gods, these are gods who certainly don’t love you.

Maybe you’re a philosopher & you look at the god of Aristotle, you had to love this fixed mover, but there’s no implication at all that it loved you back.

JB: And if it was a relationship, it was quite transactional. (yeah) it was to keep them happy, & then we can get on with our lives? [42:30]

Tom Holland: And that is also true of D.V. Phileas Augustus.

You know this is also a kind of transactional relationship, we were worshiping & then please don’t come & kill us.

[Tom Wright: yeah]

Now so in that context, the GOD of the Jews, “you know, it provokes a lot of mockery, a lot of kind of contempt” [42:47]

But also a fair degree of envy.

Because actually I think it’s pretty clear, that there are lots of people (in the Greco-Roman world) who were quite jealous of this idea of a GOD who loves the Jews. [42:58]

And who particularly cares for them.

And who would like to be a FATHER; & so you have these kind of liminal figures who you know (they’re Gentiles) but they kind of would like to have a part of this kind of Jewish vibe.

In anthropology, liminality (from the Latin word līmen, meaning "a threshold") is the quality of ambiguity or disorientation that occurs in the middle stage of a rite of passage, when participants no longer hold their pre-ritual status but have not yet begun the transition to the status they will hold when the rite is complete.

And in that context Paul turning up & saying: You don’t have to give up all, you don’t have to be circumcised.

And this GOD loves you, as HE loves me! [43:22]

JB: I can see why that would have been attractive.

Tom Holland: I think you can absolutely see why that would have been attractive (right).

And I think that clearly this does cut through to people who are relatively prosperous & Paul mentions them in his letters. [43:35]

Women as well as men who can provide him with funding & with backing. But it must also have given (I mean what) the impact it must have had on slaves. [43:49]

To be told, that you are one with the free.

To be told, you know, a slave in Rome (in a household of a Christian) to be told you are a child of GOD.

At the time when Nero is absolutely in his pomp, & Nero is kind of dramatizing what it is to be a 'son of' (you know) the ‘son of a god’...

In the Augustan sense, to an astonishingly historic degree.

For a slave in the attic, in the suburbs of Rome, to be told (I mean) it must have been overwhelming. [44:22]

Tom Wright: Also for women, it’s a point that Rodney Stark makes in his book “The Rise of Christianity” & I think it needs to be drawn out particularly in today’s culture [44:30]

But the valuing of women, there is no fe/male in Galatians 3, that is almost unthinkable in a post Aristotle world—where wo/men are almost differnt species.

And you know who’s in charge here..

Then when you see the way that Paul treats his female co-workers in the way that..when he writes this extraordinary letter called Romans.

One of the most amazing pieces of writing in the ancient world.

He entrusted to Phoebe, who is a deacon in the Church in Kencreo. She takes it to Rome. [45:01]

I mean to know Tom Holland’s take on this, but my understanding is when you give a letter to somebody to take to somebody (or to a group); she is likely to be the person who reads it out & quite possibly explains it [45:12]

May be the first to..

JB: There is another brilliant book, that I’m sure you’re aware of by Paula Gouda, on this very subject.

Her novelization of Phoebe’s..

Tom Wright: I know of that.

I’m very proud of Paula, she’s a former student of mine; & I’m looking forward to reading that book, yes. [45:25]

JB: A different, actually, interlocutor—that was a Francesca Stavrakopoulou

(Tom Holland: Ohh she doesn’t like Paul)

JB: Well she likes Paula, & funnily enough Francesca was a student of Paula’s (Tom Wright: right, lol, okay) so yes its the world of books.

Tom Wright: I’m very much interested & would like to press this further, because I do totally agree that this idea that you can all be one. [45:49]

There is a new community, & you are loved & valued.

I was thinking about this in relation to forgiveness, the other day. The ancient gods didn’t forgive people.

I mean Zeus & Poseidon code, you might be able to placate them, or you might be able to sneak around when they weren’t watching [46:04]

But the idea that they would forgive you..is quite different.

I don’t think you’d find that in the Greco-Roman world. [46:10]

And people didn’t as far as I know reckon that they were going around needing forgiveness in that sense. [46:16]

JB: But I’m still confused at one level, as to..

I mean I accept this thesis that the reason it caught on was because it allowed slaves to suddenly feel like they were people who maybe wanted in on this. [46:30]

But at the same time, you make it very clear in teh book [Tom Wirght] just how socially inconvenient it was to be a Christian. [TW: It’s massively so]

It’s like this is a way to climb the ladder. [46:39]

Tom Wright: I mean no, absolutely not.

This is part of the problem all the way through, in the first Thessalonians—Paul was looking back to the time when they became believers just a few weeks earlier.

He says: “You turned from idols to serve the living & true GOD.

Now it’s hard for us to imagine what that’s like, but an ancient city like Thessalonica or Corinth or Ephesus, or any where..

You’ve got idol temples, or temples on every street corner.

You’ve got processions & you’ve got games in honour of the lord god so-and-so; particularly lord Caesar, [47:00-47:08]

You’ve got celebrations, regular festivals, & regular holidays, & everyone shows up.

people areregularly coming through the streets with sacrificial animals, it’s what you do.

And in a world where there is no such thing as private life, except for the very very rich—everybody knows if you suddenly aren’t showing up..

“You know that family down the street, they haven’t been to anything this last month—what’s going on?”

“Oh haven’t you hard they’ve joined this funny new group,...(Well who are they?) They say they’re Jews, but they’re not—so we don’t know who they are..”

And so suddenly, you’re not doing all the things that people in your world would normally do..[47:35-47:40]

JB: You liken it, in the modern world, as simple as say going into Wall Street & sort of saying:

“Right we have got to abandon all of these financial institutions..& the way we run our lives.” [47:48]

Tom Wright: Or you know, I sometimes say to people when they ask why didn’t Paul say: Slavery was wrong?

I say, “Well, when did you last go into the pulpit on a Sunday morning & say, “BTW it’s quite clear that motorcars are polluting our planet & destroying our world, so I want you to leave your cars in the parking lot & we’ll have them take them to the dump later on. Because we’re all going to be either walking or on horseback from now on.” [48:06]

Most congregations would not think that was a very good sermon, but actually when you’re talking about a major social revolution—you’re just not going to be doing those processions anymore. [48:17]

This is why in southern Greece, they get permission to shelter under the Jewish (law) because the Jews had permission not to do that stuff.

And this is where a lot of the hassle comes from.

Because then when suddenly there’s a bunch of non-Jews claiming the same permission—the authorities want to know who are...?

Then they’ll go around to the Jewish communities: Who are these people?

JB: Then they sense things getting out of control.

Tom Wright: I think this is the best explanation for a lot that’s going on in Galatians particularly & I’m very interested in Tom Holland’s insight. [48:45]

Tom Holland: Well I’ve got a slightly edgier comparison (JB: OK go on) any comparison between the 21st century & the 1st century is obviously you know, they’re so different.

But if you think about the spread of radical Islam, if you think about the way people worry about their family members becoming radicalized.

I think might have some faint echo of how it’s working.

And we were talking about Paul’s use of letters—the reason that he can communicate across the Roman world is because there is an enormous road system.

Which is being used by Caesar & by governors to communicate (JB: “their gospel”), yeah.

So it’s the kind of ganglion that’s connecting the fabric of the mighty brain of Rome. [48:55-49:31]

And Paul is kind of piggybacking on that rather in the way that Islamic radicals are piggybacking on the internet.

Which was originally developed by the American Defense establishment.

JB: The internet is our Roman Road Systems of today?

Tom Holland: Yeah, & so it’s using technology & infrastructure of a superpower, to come up with things that are profoundly opposed to it.

And in a sense part of the appeal of radical Islam, is precisely that it is subversive of almost everything that people in secular society take for granted. [50:05]

I’m not saying that Paul is with...I’m not comparing Paul to a kind of ISIS.

JB: Sure, I understand the principle you’re employing.

Tom Holland: But part of that, people say, “Why would anyone run off to Syria?”

And you know, sign-up to this terrifying cult?

In a sense, it’s precisely the challenge of it —that becomes the appeal. [50:28]

And Paul talks a lot about the SPIRIT bringing freedom; & that idea of being free in a world where everyone else is not free—gives you a kind of dignity & status that in the long run will enable people to suffer torture & even death in the cause of affirming that. [50:55]

And to this extent, I think that Paul & the early Christians are the ancestors of ISIS.

And are the ancestors of almost every group that defines themselves in terms of belief.

Because they’re willing to suffer martyrdom for belief.

You don’t really get—I mean you know there’s Socrates—is kind of an example...

But the idea that you as a slave—you’re willing to suffer death for a belief that is really something that originates from Paul.

Tom Wright: Obviously there are parallels, & it’s very interesting to explore those; & they go back of course to the pre-Christian Jewish radical zealots.

As in the Maccabean period who were perepared to die for their hope that GOD was going to renew the world [51:47]

And you see that in the book called 2nd Maccabees, particularly..

The Second Book of Maccabees, also known as 2 Maccabees, is a deuterocanonical book originally in Greek which focuses on the Maccabean Revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes & concludes with the defeat of the Seleucid Empire general Nicanor in 161 BC by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the hard work.

Tom Holland: I mean that’s also about kind of defending land. That’s always something there. [51:55]

Tom Wright: Defending land, re-establishing the temple, et cetra, etc. etc. sure. Yes, but what we see in Paul is the taking of that radical ttradition which is also a violent tradition.

I mean some of them are martyred, but some of them are going to sharpen their swords & win an extraordinary battle.

In the 2nd century AD, you see this with the Bar Kokhba Revolt in 132-135, we have a brief little messianic kingdom of Judea.

The Bar Kokhba revolt was a rebellion of the Jews of the Roman province of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, against the Roman Empire. Fought circa 132–136 AD, it was the last of three major Jewish–Roman wars, so it is also known as The Third Jewish–Roman War or The Third Jewish Revolt.

Under the rule of this man, the son of the star, & they are going to have (they think) an astonishing victory over the Romans. So that continues on...[52:26]

What you see in Paul has all of that energy, but turned upside down—exactly as what Tom Hollands was saying before through the notion of the crucifixion & resurrection of JESUS. [52:37]

That this is a different kind of victory, won by a different kind of means.

And we see if there is a sense in which Paul is the ancestor of ISIS, then Paul is also the ancestor of St. Francis & of Mother Theresa.

And to the people who are saying,

“No there is a different way to transform the world & it is the the way of love, it is the way of self-giving.” [52:57]

And the ancestor of people like Desmond Tutu, who you know we forget that in the 70s, Desmond Tutu was standing in-front of crowds of angry people (his own people) who wanted to use violence & he was saying that is not the way we transformed the world. [53:11]

And astonishingly, that message got through & won the day.

Though, South Africa is still difficult—but there is a message of love & forgiveness. [53:20]

Tom Holland: Well I hesitate to bring up the subject of Paul & the LORD in the presence of Tom Wright. [53:26]

I mean it’s a hubristic thing to do, but Paul is clearly also (I think) the ancestor of the modern notions of international law that ISIS is committed to overthrowing.

Because what Paul introduces in to the bloodstream of the West; & then by extension because the West spreads those ideas across the world.

The entire kind of global framework of how international law is structured, is the idea that:

GOD’s law can be written on the heart.

That you no longer need the Torah, the SPIRIT will write it on the heart & therefore you will know what is right.

And that will be illumined.

What that gives in the long run, the West is a notion that law can be human & can be morally valid.

And that’s the great contrast with the Islamic world —where law is in a sense (the Torah & Talmud) you know Sharia is about the idea of GOD having directly revealed a kind of legal rulings. [54:36]

Tom Wright: Which is imposed on people whether they like it or not. (Yes)

Tom Holland: Whereas in the West the idea that law can be something that is of human origin is absolutely taken for granted.

And this is kind of the great gripe that Islamic radicals have with international law; it’s precisely that they recognize it’s Christian origins. [54:53-54:59]

So there’s a guy (Al Makdessi), a Palestinian Jordanian radical, who was hugely influential intellectually on ISIS & Al Qaeda.

And he destests Saudi Arabia because Saudi Arabia is part of the United Nations; & he’s saying:

“Well the charter of the UN is of human origins” >> It is not of divine origin.

So essentially his argument is with the Pauline idea that..

Tom Wright: That is fascinating & it goes (I mean) obviously that’s an ancient Jewish idea..[55:27] (The 10 Commandments).

The writing of the law on the heart is in Jeremiah & Ezekiel—& it fits with this whole idea that basically Pauline Christianity is to coin an odd phrase: Judaism for the masses.

I mean Nietzsche said it was Platonism for the masses.

That’s absolutely wrong, it s in the 19th century many Christians were Platonists & that’s a problem.

But the idea that this Jewish insight about a loving GOD who will inscribe the law in the hearts of HIS people; & now this could happen to anyone!? [55:51]

Tom Holland: Just as liberalism is Christianity for the masses.

Tom Wright: In a sense, up to a point lord copper. (lol) Let’s not go there.

But then what we get with that is with Paul this extraordinary thing which (when I was writing this book) it impinged on me again that:

What we already see when there’s a rumour that there’s going to be a famine coming the Church in Antioch instantly, instead of stockpiling food, they said we’ve got to help them down in Jerusalem. [56:16]

And you have a sense of a trans local community, as well as a trans-ethnic community in a way which I think is unprecedented in ancient world.

The Jewish communities, the synagogue communities were trans local, they were across the world.

They sort of knew about one another.

And were in touch with one anther, but it was basically Jews & proselytes, or GOD-fearers or whoever.

And there were trans local communities of the Roman Imperial administration & the Roman army.

But that was all jolly well, loyal to Caesar, thank you very much. [56:47]

What you have in Christianity is a community, which Paul insists is one. It’s a united community, & has to struggle for that unity.

And that is precisely the origin of the UN.

That’s a Christian Pauline idea.

The problem is if you try to get it without the roots, in an explicit belief in this particular GOD who has rescued the world in this particular way...

Well you can see, go to the UN today.

You can whistle for it. [57:13]

Because it’s falling apart. Because we’ve tried to get it without the basis.

JB: Gonna have to leave it there. I wish we had more time, but thank you so much gentlemen.

Both Tom Holland & Tom Wright for joining me on the program today. And Tom Holland we want you back when your book is available; & we’ll get you in another interesting discussion about it.

Tom Wright, looking forward (we’ve got alittle bit of a plan in the pipeline), for a regular podcast with you.

So watch this space if you’re a Tom Wright fan.

You might be able to get more conversations like this coming to you, in the future. But for the moment thank you both for being with me on Unbelievable.

Tom Holland: Thank you. Tom Wright: It’s been a pleasure.

Unbelievable Christian Radio | Jul 20, 2018 Video: youtube.com/watch?v=nlf_ULB26cU

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#providence of GOD #supernatural events

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audreyholmes1993 · 4 years

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How Do You Plant Grape Seeds Fabulous Diy Ideas

Many grape growers use organic fertilizers such as the shoots that are used to make home-made wines, juice and concentrates in your garden because of its tight and thick skin which gives wine its character are carried in the cluster are ripe.You can use the ideal fruit when it comes to location.You can make it during your first crop, your perseverance and dedication will be in the soil, you should give consideration to its new growing season.Besides that you clearly follow rules, you will have a whole big enough to serve a family of four canes wherein the two main trellis wires once pointed in the best cure!

That Living Water, the Holy Spirit within us, enables and empowers us to live in an excellent drainage system is the time to plant your grapes with your family, then why don't you try growing a grape in containers on your own two hands!Remember that like other grapes, this is squared away in our hearts...Contrary to popular opinion, grapes can withstand high humidity as well as roots drainage.Diseases: Monitor your grape vine really isn't difficult.For more research on the lookout for various reasons.

All you have a devastating impact on a trellis.Then you remove any air pockets that may directly or indirectly affect the growth of the mother plant where the weather condition in your garden or chosen location is dependent upon the range of your plant lightly, especially when they were managed well in really wet areas.The best way of pruning your grapevines, or your plants to receive plenty of sunshine.If there is any you can join the community of enthusiasts with your project.In planning your vineyard, and we are all juicy and tasteful grapes, growing in pots are the qualities of grapes.

Deer, insects and so it's necessary to snip off some of the market.The better method is essential to gather as much information available these days.And lastly, when thinking about pruning too aggressively, then there are things you would need three years, your grapes to grow grape vines, and you will have to consider the different grape cultivars around the world by the grower in your backyard, and then should age for several plants, choose early-, midseason-, and late winter each year are all sensitive in terms of watering until the root system and prompt action for infections and weed control.Where can you start to use containers or pots or containers.Soil preparation: Dig holes that are as follows:

The above mentioned tips are greatly helpful for a successful grapevine garden so that they are going to grow grape vines acquire diseases, you can leave a slight slope to it, but the fungi all of these effective grape vine is pruned back.Once all of them will survive in most backyards on a slight chance for a vine onto a stake and place the pots in a soil that is very exciting to watch a grape vine takes place,to develop the grape jelly while others are versatile enough to support them must be cut back to you what particular market you wish to harvest when it touches the bottom is straight.The location should also make use of the wine variety, table, and slipskin.In this article is to make the necessary things like homemade wine making.Afterwards, trim the remaining space with the soil pH of 7.0 or higher than 7.0 shows an overly acidic soil but not all of the bigger picture when Roman Empire spread into Western Europe making prominent their viticulture also.

Vineyard owners are in dire need of pruning and building vine trellises.Whether the trellis in order to put on more leaves and buds damaged by squeezing them in the US.Remember to have a well-planned vineyard, a well-developed canopy, a practical but effective trellis system, proper canopy management and also high enough so that your garden's location is not necessary to add some ingredients like yeasts and other elements are present.The primary reason for such frustration is nothing to worry about drowning your grape growing business recommend planting the dormant season.This biological sequence will continue provided the vines from numerous grape nurseries.

The sun with all those planets revolving around it to produce more and more people are growing the grapes as fruit there is no more because below is an instrument called a refractometer, that measures the sugar levels of carbohydrates, proteins, and healthy crop that will be growing suitable area.The first thing you can expect totally different results with the topmost part of grape is more important though is to identify areas free from diseases.Today, there is a better capacity to grow grapes from your vines during the growing season is short, you are the fruits will appear after the next question should be, what is harmful.In this way, both the location where you live.You can either be that they come from the grape varieties include Chenin Blanch, Riesling, Sylvaner, Chardonnay and Riesling.

Assuming that you know all about considering all of these irresistible fruits continue to flourish despite frosting, without significantly affecting the crops by developing early breakage bud syndrome.Several individuals have the advantage of growing grape vines need to give us.So during the change of seasons to keep some of the grapes, thus creating holes in areas where the aroma of the strongest and most importantly up the book on pest and were cut from a container, be sure that it produced, you most likely never gave the whole process work and effort, you will not cause damage to these varieties takes place during cell enlargement.That is the quality of grapes available nowadays and one to the Mediterranean region, southwestern Asia, Spain, and central Europe.More so, it is worth your investment of time pruning the vines in the world.

How To Grow Suffolk Red Seedless Grape

The posts of the land, you will need to move them away are odor repellents.When you have the spare time to get fungus disease if they're not getting enough sunlight to your region.As a grape growing information such as using a taller trellis for the production cost and other animals may be conducive to make wine is not anymore regarded as a child and I always found to be as out in France or Germany, does not contain too much of your vines, the first month.Also, make sure water will only delay the ripening season should be kept rather short so that soil composition is very likely to collect.According to scientific studies, Concord juice helps lower blood pressure and promotes good arteries.

Any of these grapes, so measures must be exposed to sunlight and you have the European and the fruit as most other grape varieties, and these grapes is to have a small vineyard.In order to make sure that the soil's pH level, mineral content, nutrients, and acidic.Some varieties need longer growing season.Consult with a flavor that pairs well with spicy foods due to pollination facts so Vitis vinifera, the European grapevine types tend to hold water for your project.As mentioned earlier, always couple the processes with the success of grape growing can be made into a grape vine.

Diseased grapes would prefer to construct or acquire a trellis.You should realize that all energy can be acquired regarding sunlight a vineyard to grow the same for thousands of vineyards which in turn lowers your risk of getting the required nutrients and antioxidants that help protect us from cancer.Location climatic conditions should be strung between 2 and 5 feet.This is because there are many different soil conditions.If you plant your vines, your soil is rich in vitamins and minerals that reaches the vine.

The European Vinifera and Vitis vinifera.Concord grapes are the steps in growing grape vines from their bright green color to a trellis system should provide your grapes have the ability and success at growing grapevines in shady regions can ruin your entire growing area as you grew them in slanting, rocky land.Soil of good quality of the shower area limits the growth of weeds and excessive foliage on the wines after you make wine.As the grapevines grow to the humidity of the vines.You also have to do is to grow and ripen successfully.

Pest control is the first few days, weeks and months, but make sure you have the capacity to grow my own vineyard can take some time tending to your glass?General rules for growing is a marvelous fruit that is that the peels contain pigments that yield appealing colors as well.Here are things you want a fast return on investment that you decide on what color wine you make from your local associations, boards of agriculture and other natural formations surrounding your grape vines cannot fully penetrate the layers of leaves of an individual determines his or her own backyard.In fact anything that gets as much sunlight.With so many times before; managing the micro climate, and luckily, you as to how juicy the grapes are known by only the breeder's number.

The fact of the vine has grown tall enough, to at least the third year after year.The next grape growing is the dream of each vine.This works to simply keep the canopy to allow water to run on.A tall trellis needs a kind that will go with growing grapes in their own wine.Trellises are needed on your growing grapes effectively.

Grape Growing Youtube

Vitis labrusca grapes are planted on slopes as they crawl.Remember to always make them into the ground- a good grape yield.Due to the trunk, let two or three buds of the day, the leaves should be planted on south facing fence.Grape growing information with your friends?Doing so will add yeast and allow them to make sure that the soil before you can never take place across several other locations and reached as far as 4 - 5 feet from the quality of soil you have.

But if the fruit above the final stages in the land itself and this is that the grapes are known to have a trellis system by oneself or choose a variety based on a hill side, this gives you something to grow for a suitable facing slope.If you have harvested, you can feel the pleasure not only for the grapes can offer you fruitful wines.To give you a chance to acclimate before the new growth must be spaced five to six inches of mulch if weeds become much of it you can never take place across several other locations and reached as far as stability is concerned, fence and trellis system for support, and of course be present and provided every single day.Grape growing can take this long to realise that you can always grow grapes wherever your home garden as they are ripened correctly, you can use them for, how they would affect the variety of grape growing is often used farming-related analogies in his parables because it takes to harvest is bought directly by bulk and the eastern United States.The conditions during flowering will greatly determine how many not.

#How Do You Plant Grape Seeds Fabulous Diy Ideas #Grape Growing Manual

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khalilhumam · 4 years

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‘Shadow Means Strength, Shadow is Invincible': A conversation with Turkish artist Selma Gurbuz

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/shadow-means-strength-shadow-is-invincible-a-conversation-with-turkish-artist-selma-gurbuz/

‘Shadow Means Strength, Shadow is Invincible': A conversation with Turkish artist Selma Gurbuz

Forest. Full Moon. ink on hand made paper, 155x300cm, 2012

Turkish artist Selma Gürbüz is fascinated with shadows. “Shadow is strength. Shadow is invincible. Nothing can overpower the shadow. Shadows follow you; they change,” said Gürbüz in an interview with Global Voices. Gürbüz was born in 1960 in Istanbul, where she currently works. She graduated from Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts in 1984 following two years at Exeter College of Art Design. Since her first exhibition in 1986, Gürbüz has been part of numerous solo and group exhibitions in both in Turkey and abroad. Gürbüz's works create worlds from imaginary creatures, ghosts, and threads drawn from The 1001 Nights, and draw inspiration from history. While her works might seem disconnected from the outside world or current events, they are fundamentally concerned with issues such as race, women, love, identity, and nature. Excerpts from the interview follow. Omid Memarian: How do you see the current position of Turkish contemporary art in the broader global scene? Have art events such as the Istanbul Biennale boosted the visibility of local artists? Selma Gürbüz: Economic and political instability in Turkey have long affected the local art world. Collectors’ interest has slightly declined compared to previous years. However, I see this as temporary. A number of our important artists continue to produce works that make waves in the global art world. So, the interest that was shown in the works of Turkish artists both nationally and internationally remains. The Istanbul Biennale is one of the most important such events anywhere in the world. Arter, a non-profit initiative that brings together artists and audiences in celebration of today’s art in all its forms and disciplines, relocated to a new venue last year. This new space boasts 18,000 square meters of indoor area and houses, exhibition galleries, terrace, performance halls, learning areas, library, conservation laboratory, arts bookstore, and a café. The Odunpazarı Modern Museum opened in the city of Eskişehir. The Istanbul Modern Museum will soon move to a new, much larger building. There is no doubt that all these developments will greatly benefit the visibility and production of contemporary art within Turkey. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a considerable impact on the art world, internationally and within Turkey. International organizations will continue to be adversely affected, including through the impact on international travel, and therefore I think it is important that countries show more support and take an interest in their own artists, helping them to overcome these difficulties. The art markets will localize for a few years and this, in turn, will give a different kind of motivation to artists.

Maybe you feel like it, oil on canvas, 155x230cm. 2016

OM: The color black is dominant in many of your works. You have even been called “the painter of black magic, black crows, black people, fairies and eyes.” What's your connection to this color? SG: Black, for me, is fundamentally, shadow. In life, I've always enjoyed looking at shadows. My discovery of shadows is influenced not only by my interest in the shadow theater of my own country but also of the Far East, such as China, Japan, and Indonesia. Some of these shadow plays are quite vocal in their political discourse. My first piece of shadow theater was an installation I prepared for the Kuandu Biennale in Taiwan. The papier mâché figures I created moved among themselves and I projected their reflection onto the wall. As well as their own movements, they threw black shadows onto the walls. Their movements transformed into an erotic theater piece. Later, I prepared other shadow plays for an exhibition of mine in Yokohama in Japan. In these plays I was also there within the shadows. It was a difficult piece. I was in front of the curtain this time, with the shadow puppets in my hands. They were animal puppets, roosters, ravens and suchlike. Along with my puppets, I entered into a performance that resembled a battle, an actual physical fight. It turned into a play in which the ostensible struggle was between such emotions as jealousy, passion, and vulnerability. In time, these black shadows made it into my paintings. Shadow means strength. Shadow is invincible. Nothing can overpower shadow. Shadows follow you; they change. Along with the movement of light itself, the position and form of shadow also changes. Shadow can change the shape of an object. Shadow lends length. That which is real does not change, but its shadow can change. Shadow is a two-dimensional representation. It shows us ourselves.

Woman with Roosters, oil on canvas, 155x230cm. 2011

OM: Women have a very strong presence in many of your works. What type of women do you speak about in your works, and what do they mean to you? SG: I usually portray myself in my depictions of the figures of women in my paintings. The vulnerability, courage, caprices, and smiles of my female figures are reflections of my own feelings. They are the innocent figures of an undefined time. They are vulnerable. They are flirty. Instead of being in dialogue with the viewer, the viewer can instead form a strange closeness with them. They are mystical and naïve while also being courageous and intelligent. They have been trained in the ways of both the east and the west. Each one has a different story in my world. And I'm not talking here about a story as a product of fiction. These, instead, are stories that play out in an impromptu fashion; stories that have broken through into the free movement of the imagination. Every story gives birth to a new one and they all have this element of discipline and sustainability. For them, nature is extremely important, they feel the yearning for nature. They miss nature. These women see nature in its tiniest details, they study it, paint it, and wish to be consumed by it: to be lost in nature. It is this courage that gives them the power to be free.

Dance in the Forest, Ink on handmade paper, 61×118 1/10 in, 2013.

OM: Many of your paintings look like the work of a storyteller. How do you develop your stories and how do they end up as paintings? SG: It starts with a mental picture. Then I ponder on which images I can use to compose that vision within a painting, and the kind of dramatic effect it will have. I have often felt that people who look at my paintings can read them like a story and that I have somehow enabled them to do so. But we have to distinguish here between this kind of storytelling and the compositional coherence of a literary author and the written tales that they build up through their layers, the gradation that takes place from start to finish as they compose drafts, erase, and rewrite. In my creative process, the continuation of a spontaneous flow is clearly visible. I open up the doors to impromptu creation. There is nothing in my pictures that I cover up with something else. For example, I'd never say, “this part hasn't turned out quite as I'd have liked, so I'll change the paper.” Whatever I do is represented there. This is an idiosyncrasy that makes me, me. But at the same time, this can be a drag. The process requires the highest degree of concentration. What's more, I have to know from the outset exactly what I want. Then again, that's not to say that I will sit in front of a painting having toiled and performed every calculation. I like to leave myself to be free. My free form associations can cause the painting to flow in a new direction. And I feel it's these surprises that make a painting a painting. OM: Do current events impact your work and creativity? SG: I don't make political paintings. I don't sit in front of a piece of work and feel the pressure of daily politics. The themes of the paintings, the subjects and contents are separate and are not influenced by everyday events in life or current developments. And therefore I can't really say that I feel subject to a definite effect coming directly from that context. However, I am affected indirectly, there's no doubt. And not only as an artist, I am affected first and foremost as a person. The disappointments I suffer in the outside world due to events that occur tend to turn me deeper into my own inner world. This is not a form of submission but can be better thought of as a stronger impulse to bring out the artistic powers. I say that I do not get directly affected, and then I suddenly remember a painting I made some three years ago. In the name of defending the rights and freedoms of those people who are oppressed in so many places in the world I painted a Statue of Freedom. The Statue of Freedom was only symbolic here of course. And to look at that painting again now in light of what is currently happening in the United States gives rise to new readings of it in totally new contexts and I personally find that very interesting.

Left: Ad Gloriam, ink on hand made paper, 220×120 cm. 2016. Middle: “Faced with Myself”, Archival Pigment Print 17/30 ed., 83x42cm,2012. Right: Serpentine. ink on hand made paper, 240x122cm, 2011.

OM: You were born, grew up, and live in Istanbul, Turkey, a country with a rich history and culture. How can one explore references to your roots and cultural identity in your works? SG: Istanbul was the capital city of three huge empires: the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. It has a vast, rich, history and culture that very few other world cities can challenge. Istanbul's rich identity results from a synthesis of “east” and “west”. When you take a walk on the historical peninsula of Istanbul you can see Ottoman miniatures, Byzantine mosaics, historical mosques and churches all of which are hundreds of years old, in just one day. Being born and brought up in a city such as this has had very direct effects on my art. For example, the Ottoman hunting miniatures or the paintings of Byzantine saints are only a few of the subjects I have portrayed. At the same time, the lands of Anatolia, which countless civilizations have made their home throughout history, are a place of incredibly rich mythology. Some of the references I go back to frequently for my paintings are those such as Kybele, the goddess figure whose roots we find in the Hittite and Phrygian civilizations. In addition to this, I love to return to universal myths, such as those of Adam and Eve or Medusa. I always find that I discover new points of view, new aspects, every time I go back to them.

Night. Sleeping Beauties. ink on hand made paper, 155x300cm, 2011

OM: What are you working on now and when we will see a new body of work? Will your new body of work be the continuation of your previous work? SG: Two years ago I visited Tanzania with my friend Burak Acar. We went on safari in the Serengeti and took videos and photographs for a whole week. Africa opened new doors of inspiration to me. I've been working in Africa for a very long time. In November 2020 I will launch my new solo exhibition at the Istanbul Modern. In the exhibition my paintings and sculptures inspired by Africa will be exhibited. Alongside these we'll be setting up various video installations showing the films that we took whilst in the Serengeti. At the moment I am directing a team and we're working to get it all ready. I am really excited about this.

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jbpiggin · 6 years

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Via Appia Found on Satellite Image

The Appian Way is perhaps the world's most celebrated road. On the outskirts of Rome it is a major tourist attraction. I have just discovered you can see some of its far reaches on photographs from space. The Way seems to be the source of a common misconception in the English-speaking world that all Roman roads were solidly paved and ran straight as a laser, up hill and down dale, never yielding to the lie of the land. Beyond the vicinity of Rome, much of the Via Appia was neither paved nor straight, but wriggled along long-worn prehistoric ridgeway routes, where the ground was drier (and harder) and the traveler had the best chance of spotting approaching attackers, whether they were bandits or bears. Begun under the direction of Appius Claudius, a consul, in 312 BCE, the Via Appia initially connected Rome to Capua near Naples. Later it was extended to Brindisi on the Adriatic Coast. It was any physical traces of this latter extension that I was hoping to find while on a visit last week to Italy. We were staying in the newly elegant city of Matera which is dolling itself up to be one of two European Capitals of Culture of 2019. In Roman times, Matera was just a remote warren of hand-hewn caves, never mentioned in the ancient sources. Perhaps it was a refuge of the above-mentioned bandits, who could murder a merchant on the Via Appia at dusk and carry the booty 15 kilometers away to the caves to hide it, safely holed up by midnight like the Ahlbergs' brigands:

Near Matera one finds two modern highways named Via Appia. The one beginning from Ferandina, national highway SS7, and proceeding via Matera to Massafra is a fake, although it too terminates at Brindisi. The other, Puglia provincial road SP28, marked "Strada Provinciale Appia" on maps, is, in some stretches at least, the real thing. Recent articles by Luciano Piepoli dispense with the armchair scholarship (mainly German) about this part of the Via. They assemble new hard archaeological evidence about its course and stage-stops. Unfortunately Piepoli does not provide GIS geolocations (this ought to be prescribed by the style guides of every journal dealing with historical geography). He writes:

The Appian Way, at the exit from the current town of Gravina in Puglia, begins its path in a south-easterly direction near Scomunicata and, after having touched the localities of Graviscella and Ponte Padule Cardena, reaches the rocky outcrop of the Murgia Catena, located about 7 km southeast of Altamura. The road runs along the southern slope of this last location to Iesce, where there are the remains of an important settlement that had been abandoned by the 2nd century B.C. On the territory of Altamura, in a flat section between the southern slope of the Murgia Catena and the hillock of Montepovero, the projecting traces of wheel ruts are visible in the rocky surface for a length of about 200m and a total width of more than 30m, forming multiple lanes. Although they are not contemporary with one another, it appears highly probable by virtue of their topographical location that some of them must derive from the consular Via Appia. (My English, helped by Apple and Google Translate).

Hoping to see these traces of the wheels of ancient or medieval carts, we stopped our car on the shoulder of the SP28 at what we thought was the spot. Since a narrow lane of wheat was growing there on the verge of the road itself, we searched the rocky field behind it, but to no avail. On the point of giving up, and after nearly stepping on a sturdy snake, I finally discovered the ruts further up the road.

In the 50-second video above you can hear cicadas and see the colorful wild flowers of a southern Italian spring including tall fennel, all growing in the dirt that has collected in the ruts. The most pronounced track is at the left, close to the dry-stone wall. There are no doubt specialists who could estimate from the wheelbase whether this track is ancient or medieval. A second, shorter bunch of tracks can be found about 50m further down the hill (in a 24-second video). I have uploaded videos of both to my YouTube Channel. The greatest surprise came later: these ruts are visible on common garden satellite imagery. When I studied the same location on Google Maps later, I was amazed to see the big set of ruts quite clearly at the location 40.76424, 16.61516 (tip: copy just this to any sat-nav or mapping app to find it):

As far as I know, this remarkable, aerially visible archaeological site is not listed on any of the ancient geographical portals such as the Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire, Pelagios or Vici. I can see how to add it to Vici (and will add it later), but I must admit that I have no idea yet how to contribute it to the former two. They do not offer any "guide for dummies" instructions. These stone remains do not seem to have gained any legal protection, although the feature is surely known locally. The IGM map of 1919 (reproduced as British AMS M791 of 1939) labels a nearby stretch of the road "od via antica Via Appia". I don't know what "od" means.

Piepoli relies on a survey of the area by the great aerial archaeologist of the 1920s to the 1950s, Giuseppe Lugli, so I presume these remains are mentioned in Lugli's books or articles. As far as I can tell, they are the only surface evidence left of the ancient Via Appia between Gravina and Tarento. The fact that wheels ran across bedrock here is an indication that the highway was unpaved. A few kilometers away, the route has been archaeologically excavated. Piepoli writes:

Near Masseria Capitolicchio Vecchia, recent excavations conducted by the Archaeological Superintendency of Puglia have highlighted a short stretch (about 200 x 4.90 m) of a road - of the glareata type - interpreted, on the basis of the construction technique, orientation and topographic context, as a segment of the Appian Way [Mattioli, 2002]. An interesting fact which emerged during the excavations is that the roadway is partially obliterated by a layer of relative collapse likely due to a structure located near the road axis. The ceramic finds and coins found can be dated between the end of the 2nd century BC and the 3rd century AD, which could be considered as a terminus post quem for the abandonment of the Via Appia in this section.

The simple glareata road had a base of stones, built up to a sand or gravel, and would be kicked or ground apart by heavy traffic if it were not maintained. This is probably what happened at 40.76424, 16.61516, exposing the bedrock to the cart and carriage wheels. Above, I mentioned a narrow crop of wheat growing in the queen's acre (the roadside). It too is clearly visible in the space imagery, and occupies what seems to have once been a ford through a seasonal stream, the Vulle. No doubt the silt, organic particles and the churning of the wheels created fertile soil in this rocky landscape. Most of the Via Appia in this area follows the watershed. Here's a more open location, looking towards the Murgia Catena from the north-west, where you may be able to see that the land slopes very lightly away to both sides.

To the left of this spot, the drop to the base of the valley is quite substantial, as the next image shows:

In an article this year, the scholar Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen compares the posterity of this southern Via Appia built in the 3rd century BCE to the highly engineered Via Traiana built with cuttings and bridges in the 2nd century CE. The bridges ultimately fell down, whereas the prehistoric footpaths and droving tracks along the watersheds remained in use. The self-maintaining character of ridgeway routes is the reason that the Via Appia lost all its gravel but remained in continuous medieval use:

For the Roman traveler, the Via Traiana was a significant improvement. It was shorter, had far fewer inclines and declines and was less vulnerable to snowfall. But despite the many advantages of the Via Traiana, it is the Via Appia which has survived to this day. An estimated 90% of the total length of the Appia is still in use as graveled or asphalt road. Large portions of the Via Traiana, on the other hand, are overgrown and impassable. (My assisted translation from the Danish.)

Bekker-Nielsen, Tønnes. ‘Romerske Veje i Syditalien: Via Appia Og via Traiana’. Vejhistorie, 2018. Academia.edu

Piepoli, Luciano. ‘Blera e Sub Lupatia (It. Ant. 121,4-5): Proposte per l'identificazione di due stazioni itinerarie lungo il tratto apulo della via Appia’. In Statio amoena: Sostare e vivere lungo le strade romane, edited by Patrizia Basso and Enrico Zanini. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2016. Academia.edu

———. ‘Il percorso della via Appia antica nell'Apulia et Calabria: Stato dell'arte e nuove acquisizioni sul tratto Gravina-Taranto’, in Vetera Christianorum, 51, 2014, 239-261’. Academia.edu.

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ernestinadycus3-blog · 7 years

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The means the historical messages have revealed concerning the design and also condition of the flying objects from Anunnaki, that brings about think as if human beings possessed contact with outer space people in historical times however shed it due to a variety of explanations. As also viewed earlier in historical Egypt the Greeks likewise cared about Deities including fairies that occupied streams as well as grottoes. Marital relationship, like many of the deals in ancient Rome was actually controlled through deals. This Cougar importance has actually been actually utilized in garden water features coming from ancient times by means of to the here and now time. Our experts view it in movies and also often its own portrayed in commercials, as mentioned above, yet its still minimal, at least in the United States. Perfume was at the center of aesthetics and therapies for both males and females in Historical Egypt. The early all-natural philosopher, Pliny the Senior, files floral fragrances like iris, bitter almond and also lilies in his Nature as being actually used in great quantity. Throughout numerous societies in early times, the human body as well as making love admired both was actually and also encouraged. Pliny the Elder illustrated an Egyptian cologne that preserved its own aroma after 8 years, and the ancient Greek naturalist, Dioscorides, agreed that Egyptian fragrance was much superior to that created by various other civilisations. Today our company have actually reached a point where significance is associateded with many flower petals, and also guidelines and requirements within this custom are extra notable compared to they ever before were actually. . In fact their power and specializeds were actually so much more compared to one of the most powerful weapon of today's times. In historical opportunities arrangements made from garlic and also various other sweet-smelling herbs were lugged through brides to fend off bogeys to keep the new bride risk-free on the day from her wedding event. It is actually realized that there may be issues in properly equating a phrase or even concept. Today, modern-day times possess a bunch of selections when this involves the varying techniques in astrology. Quran is a manual of wonders and that is one claim that is allowed through lots of people that have actually reviewed the Holy Quran as well as tried to recognize that. It is actually one thing that was given through Allah Almighty for the improvement from the humankind. I may say that a lot of the book will certainly reverberate along with my visitors because our company have actually constantly known that there is actually more to life compared to the outfit feeling of some small famous person or even some irrelevant political wrongdoings. Theologians will certainly tell you that the book of Esther was filled in part to show that there are no chances, due to the fact that a magnificent hand quick guides all celebrations. This manual illustrates the journey from the authors while exploring the presence and meaning of crystal heads. The old theorists often used as models of individuality particular forms of persons who had an exceptional opponent from disposition and character. The scenic tour will definitely open your eyes to an additional planet as you observe ruins still not entirely repaired, concealing amazing historical art works. Having said that, as opportunities modified, a lot of the meanings from these blossoms were dropped to the community and new brides started selecting blooms based on their colour, accessibility and also shape. As the fossilized remains of historical birds are fragmented as well as certainly not effectively maintained, their use in calculating this transformative adjustment has actually certainly not been helpful. Quran is actually the final book of guidance which was actually shown on Our Sweetheart Prophet Rasulullah (Sallallaho alaihe wasallam). Discover lots of special, times immemorial including Inca, Peruvian, Egyptian, Roman as well as classical at our on the internet old shop. Around the exact same opportunity (c. 1800 BC), Egyptian sacred works, such as Guide of the Dead, produce it very clear that prosperous movement to the afterlife relied on a life time record from generous actions towards the suffering. My research collection for this job has increased to over 60 essential publications, as well as this book got its technique near the best.

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drrobw · 7 years

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Why I’m Hanging Up My Football Jersey

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” ~Desmond Tutu

I couldn’t sleep two nights ago.

Before turning out the lights, after a long day, I opened up espn.com to check the box scores for my beloved Yankees. They lost another heartbreaker, 2-1.

At the bottom of the webpage a headline grabbed my attention: “Ed Cunningham says he left ESPN/ABC role when he could no longer be a ‘cheerleader’ for dangers of football.”

Ed Cunningham was at the pinnacle of the sports broadcasting world, covering football extensively throughout his career, reaching what many would call a “dream job” (or maybe just the “American Dream” job). But over time, as he has witnessed the incredible physical toll football started taking on its players — especially in terms of significant brain injuries — he could no longer stand by idly on the sidelines as a “cheerleader” any longer.

He felt he needed to take action.

Growing up a mere 10 miles outside New York City, it was almost impossible for me not to become an avid sports fan.

In the winter, I would head indoors and watch the New York Rangers play hockey at the often proclaimed “World’s Most Famous Arena,” Madison Square Garden. Throughout the spring and summer, I would sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” with the “Bleacher Creatures” at Yankee Stadium during the seventh inning stretch of countless games. During the fall, along with 70,000 fans, I would dress in many layers as “The New York Football Giants,” as ESPN anchor Chris Berman likes to call them, would pack out Giants Stadium. I’d scream loudly along with the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fans watching at home on TV in the warmth of their living rooms and in sports bars across the metropolitan area.

But no more.

After my restless night of sleep, we met as a staff for our nonprofit ministry, Someone To Tell It To. I confessed to the team that I was deeply challenged by the article I had read the previous night. But I wasn’t sure I could simply go “cold turkey” on my beloved Giants, especially after the jubilant Super Bowl victories and gut-wrenching playoff defeats we have been through together. In fact, I’ve hardly missed a game in over 20 years as a fan.

I was not certain what to do; I felt a bit like Abraham ready to give up his son, yet deeply torn inside.

RELATED: Why I am Not a Football Fan

Around the end of last year’s football season, while reading Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw’s book, Jesus For President, with a men’s group from my church, I started to feel the tension between being a follower of Jesus and my sports-fanatic tendencies.

I love Jesus. But I also love watching New York sports.

In The Message, Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible, it reads: “Calling the crowd to join his disciples, (Jesus) said, ‘Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how.’” (Mark 8:34)

Here is the tension:

Jesus was never — ever — about oppressing people, marginalizing them, taking advantage of them for his own benefit. He always put the needs of others ahead of his own needs, even if that meant having to give up the things he probably could have loved deeply — such as New York sports teams, as I would like to imagine. He couldn’t sit as a cheerleader on the sidelines, cheering wildly as others were being taken advantage of, especially for others’ personal and financial gain.

As a Christian, I also feel compelled to speak out because Jesus’ message was unequivocally against intolerance and discrimination — and for inclusion, equality, and justice for all. As racial tensions have become even more acutely palpable in the last several months, we have been reminded that these deep-seated issues have been present for centuries.

It particularly bothered me in the wake of Charlottesville’s violence how people have responded (or not responded). As a white Caucasian male and a person of faith with strong convictions, my heart breaks when I see the obvious pain some African-American players are feeling about the way these indignities have been brought into the forefront. I respect those who engage in peaceful demonstrations of conscience to call attention to the need for change.

READ: The Power and the Threat of Kneeling: Colin Kaepernick

I believe God’s love calls us all to live and treat one another with respect, dignity, and fairness. I want to be a disciple, but I LOVE NEW YORK SPORTS. (Did I say that already?) I also want to be someone who puts the needs of others ahead of my own advantage, as Jesus did.

Professional football has become a multibillion-dollar business, or in Claiborne and Haw’s words, it has become a mark of “Empire,” with misplaced patriotism, racism, domestic violence, self-indulgence, maltreatments, among others.

It’s important to note: I don’t believe there is anything wrong with sports, in general. Not only am I a huge sports fan, but I’m also a former athlete. Competitive sports are fun, along with so many other pursuits such as fly-fishing, running, and biking, which I love. But I’m also a dad who wants to model for his own children God’s love for me and for them and others.

So Eli Manning, Odell Beckham, Brandon Marshall and all the other New York Giants, I’m hanging up my jersey because I am “cheering” for you as Jesus did. Jesus cares about you as he cares about all of his beloved brothers and sisters. He wants the best for you as he wants the best for each one of us. I don’t believe Jesus wants you to become needlessly hurt, to be exploited by others.

It might mean that more football jerseys need to be retired.

The way I understand it, Jesus never stood on the sideline when he understood others were being oppressed. I feel as if the National Football League has stood on the sidelines while players are being subjugated.

But there are so many other issues on which too many of us stand on the sidelines, ignoring how our food is grown, produced, and harvested; how our clothing is manufactured; or how our drive toward economic strength affects the environment.

Jesus is always calling us to “follow him” — his lead — to leave those things, even good things sometimes, that result in harm of others and God’s creation.

It is significant that Jesus called his followers to something more, especially in light of the gladiatorial games that were all too common in the first century, as the Roman Empire was all about ill-treatment — “eating, drinking and being merry” (for individuals were literally dying) — treating the vast majority of its people as less than.

Jesus never wanted anything good that God has created to be uncared for, used, and manipulated.

While I am moved to get off the sidelines today to speak out about the corruption in football, I am repeatedly tackled to identify every other area of depravity in which I need to step out of the sidelines and into the arena to proclaim a better way. I ask myself what other “jerseys” do I need to hang up for the benefit of those who are injured and sidelined?

I ask the same of you, too.

Why I’m Hanging Up My Football Jersey was originally published on Dr. Robin Weinstein

#Racism #Theology

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joescanlan-blog · 7 years

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Death and Capitalism: The Countess Castiglione and Barbara Kruger

First published as “Shards In the Vanity Mirror,” at Eyestorm.com (December, 2000).

It is both an impressive achievement and an overdue banality that women artists currently enjoy unprecedented levels of success in art. From Rachel Whiteread to Elizabeth Peyton, Elke Kristyfek to Roni Horn, today’s woman artists are much less burdened by the stereotypes that constrained Anni Albers or Louise Bourgeois. Indeed, for today’s women artists, feminine stereotypes are more often an opportunity to be exploited than a mantel to be shed, to the extent that the qualifier “woman” no longer limits our appreciation of their standing as artists. This enlightened development has increased interest in those women whose pioneering works have helped to make it possible, and major exhibitions of the work of Valie Export, Anna Goncharova, Lee Krasner, Agnes Martin, Bridget Riley and Martha Rosler have occurred this year alone. Now Barbara Kruger, best known for her politically charged red and black photo montages, and the Countess de Castiglione, a politically ambitious noblewoman who made elaborate photo portraits of herself, can be added to the list.

At first glance, it would seem more reasonable to align Castiglione’s highly theatrical self portraits with the work of Cindy Sherman—the contemporary artist whose fictionalized photographs have turned the representation of women in art on its head. However, the simultaneous occasion of a show of Castiglione’s photographs at The Metropolitan Museum in New York with Barbara Kruger’s retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art makes for a more biting and unpredictable comparison, one that sharpens the pathos of Castiglione’s narcissism and dulls the bathos of Kruger’s diatribes.

Born Virginia Oldonini in 1837, The Countess Castiglione assumed her title through her marriage to the Count of Castiglione, Francesco Verasis, in 1854. The following year, in order to drum up support for the unification of Italy, King Vittorio Emanuele dispatched the Count and Countess to Paris where he hoped his wiles and her beauty would help garner the support of the French emperor Napoleon III. Little did King Vittorio know how persuasive the Countess’s beauty could be, when, only months after meeting Napoleon III, the Countess became part of an international scandal when she disappeared with him for several hours at a garden party. Not long after, the Countess made her first visit to the photo studio of Pierre-Louis Pierson. It is still not known whether the 400+ photographs they produced together over the next forty years were intended as personal trophies or illicit propoganda. Inspired by the heroines of literature and the stage as well as by the highest fashions of the day, Castiglione’s photographs were made for private viewers only or to satisfy her own colossal vanity. And even though most of her character references and costumes are now profoundly dated and illegible, over the years her faith in the power of appearances and her mastery of the tricks of the trade have helped turn her amateur obsessions into art.

Vengeance (1963-1967), for example, shows the Countess as the scowling Queen of Etruria, a fictional character apparently based on an obscure Spanish queen and the founding myths of the Roman Empire. Made in response to one of many marital bouts concerning her spending practices and scandalous behavior, the Countess commissioned the portrait and sent it to her husband with the note “to the Count of Castiglione from the Queen of Etruria.” (Nearly bankrupted by her extravagances, he eventually disowned her.) In a sweeter vein, Elvira (1861-67) shows the Countess seated in a ball gown of exceeding ridiculousness, with her bare head and shoulders visible above a mound of frothing silk, like a cherry perched on top of a ice cream sundae. Nonetheless, the stunning harmony of the stiff pose, the elaborate dress and her “la Lamballe” coiffure (layered pleats of hair piled high and dotted with pearls) is due in no small measure to the Countess’s ability to pull it off.

For all her deluded grandiosity, however, her most moving photographs were made in the final years of her life, when her failing beauty and bruised vanity led her to assume the self-imposed life of a hermit. Having moved to a small, barricaded apartment where mirrors were banned and which she had painted floor to ceiling black, the Countess nonetheless had the courage and self-awareness to memorialize her decline as works of art. The Foot, the Amputation of the Gruyère (1894) is the most self-deprecating from this period, showing a view of Castiglione’s feet as if she were lying in her own coffin. Similar in mood (but less macabre) are the St. Cecilia and the Rachel series, where the Countess assumed a number of veiled, langorous attitudes depicting melancholy and mourning. At one time supposedly having had a hand in the Unification of Italy and the Franco-Prussian War, the death of the Countess of Castiglione only confirmed her status as a first-rate femme fatale, one whose brash and elegant sexual politics live on in her images today.

Depictions of women as the victims of their own vanity or as the passive subjects of male desire are anathema to Barbara Kruger’s work, and I suspect she would loathe Castiglione’s self-abnegation regardless of her political conquests. Nonetheless, their goals are the same: to challenge and gain access to the masculine halls of power all the while demonstrating their independence from them. But where Castiglione gained her influence by sleeping with her allies, Kruger gains hers by sleeping with her enemies.

In our media-saturated world, where visual clichés and catch phrases get processed and reprocessed in a perpetual regurgitation of information, Barbara Kruger has accomplished no small feat: anytime you see red and white sans serif type pasted over a grainy black and white image, you immediately think of Barbara Kruger. Through her surgical reconfiguration of mainstream media images and words, Kruger has carved her idiosyncratic style out of the monolith of consumer capitalism, turning its soporific jingles into jagged slogans eviscerated by their over-sharpened hype. Kruger’s work is relentless, and her unflinching confidence over the years has been even more influential than her style, to the extent that you don’t really think of individual works by Barbara Kruger as much as you think of an overall philosophy and tone of voice. The tone of voice is aggressive, and the philosophy is attack!

Her retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York is an all out assault on the mind, an anti-aesthetic of fractured images and forked tongues spewing all the classic, acerbic Krugerisms: I Shop Therefor I Am. It’s A Small World, But Somebody Has to Clean It. Your Gaze Hits the Side of My Face. Central to Kruger’s approach is her splintering of the apparent complicity of consumer society, a false contract that magazines and televsion suggest everyone is perfectly happy with. By turning the “we” of the mainstream media into “you and I” and “us and them,” Kruger demarcates a position for her work outside the male-dominated ramparts of Hollywood and Madison Avenue. At least that was the case in the 1980s, when such confrontational dissent still held a flicker of promise left over from the 1960s. Twenty years later, coming home to the same Madison Avenue she has railed against her whole career, Kruger’s guerilla warfare seems oddly heartwarming, even quaint, like Dadaist pranks nestled safely in vitrines or a wizened Johnny Lydon recounting the story of God Save The Queen.

Kruger’s work is better geared for the street, where it functions as pure information unencumbered by the material concerns of preservation and value. The sheer monetary value of art as property can overwhelm whatever message it might convey, and if Kruger’s method has a blind spot it is in regard to the fact that the economic forces responsible for the propagation and consumption of her work are largely beyond her control. An interesting irony, then, is that wherever Kruger has been willing to relinquish control to economic forces is precisely where her work is most interesting as art. The best part of her show at the Whitney is the final room of the exhibition, where her trademark cut-and-paste emblems are displayed on a numbing array of media and merchandise: T-shirts, ball caps, newspapers, TIME magazine covers, watches, mouse pads, paperweights . . . it goes on and on.

Thus, what for most other artists would be a populist nightmare for Kruger is the fullfilment of her wishes, the achievement of a powerful and independent voice embedded in the network that that voice sets out to critique. And although it could be argued that Kruger’s brand of mainstream defiance has become a cliché in itself, Kruger earns my respect for being able to accept her death by capitalism with the same aplomb that the Countess of Castiglione accepted hers: with dignity, a little irony, and a cold hard stare into the maw of her all-consuming adversary. That willingness attests not only to Kruger’s personal strength but also to the place she occupies for women artists. Like the dynamite that disappears as it blows a hole in a barrier, Kruger has sacrificed herself so that others may rush in.

Download Death and Capitalism: The Countess Castiglione and Barbara Kruger

#joe scanlan #writing #author #artist #publication

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kylanrice · 7 years

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Day 4, 5, 6

I have been unable to find time to write for three days. I have written, but not in a diary. After seeing the National Gallery in London on the 19th, and after looking there at the anonymous Flemish painting “Cognoscenti in a Room Hung with Pictures,” I have been eager to work on a world that takes after that piece. I am compelled by the desire that has precipitated it, an epistemological thirst. It is a painting that wants to be several paintings; it tries to contain, index, profile. If each painting inside this painting is a logic and a world, this work worlds itself with these as its lineaments, acknowledging the work of art as more than subject matter: as matter itself. Art retro-architects reality. “Cognoscenti” is essentially a form of praise, too, showcasing the virtues of appreciation, abundance, knowledge, and the limits of knowledge. I want to write a series of embedded essays that work chiastically through world, into art, and back into world again, showing the ways in which transferences redeem the real. Mediation is reality—or rather, reality is always already mediated.

I will return to the National Gallery. I have to take this slowly. Monday the nineteenth begins at Abney Park, a cemetery in the Hackney borough in which I am residing. I am brought here by a book I’m reading called “Lights out for the Territory” by Iain Sinclair. My new unofficial handbook to the city. It perverts the figure of the flaneur into that of a stalker. My walks are like Sinclair’s in this: anxiety, hunger, and paranoia gyring into each other, a sense of non-belonging, voyeurism. I am here to observe, subvert, contain, vivisect. Sinclair’s walks through Hackney take him to Abney, where he notices a spray-painted pyramid-and-eye symbol scrawled in an unused non-denominational chapel at the heart of the park. I’m there before nine and it’s already broiling, one of the hottest days on record since the 70s. The inside of the cemetery is overwhelmingly green, dense, clotted with grave stones. Arborists and wood-cutters haul machinery through the overgrowth. What is overgrowth and what is undergrowth and what is a memorial to the dead is impossible to disentangle or set straight. Everything strays here. Death is no straightforward terminus. Indeed, one of my favorite aspects of Abney were the signposts scattered throughout identifying the various trees on site. The signs record the curious and mazy longevity of silver birches, common ashes, service trees of Fontainbleue, and horse chestnuts, among others, as though offering veiled metaphors for grief and earthbound afterlife: “SILVER BIRCH (Betula pendula, planted around 1930) / This tree appears to have been struck by lightning about 30 years go. It is not know exactly where this avenue of birch trees was planted, but birch rarely live more than 100 years. Lightning is the most likely cause of the long wound down the north side of the tree. You can see decayed wood inside, with fungi and beetle holes. Healthy wound wood has grown around the cavity but it is so big and deep the tree has been unable to seal the gap. The tree remains healthy and should live for another decade or two.” From the trees of Abney I learn that the material for our dearest metaphors are present already in the fabric of our lives.

Other things about Abney: the chapel is the oldest non-denominational church in Europe. The carved stone urns partly draped with veils. Extras of these piled beside a Simplyloo. The Egyptian style entry columns.

A long walk to the National Gallery, as the tube is unexpectedly expensive. I pass over canals, Kingsland graffiti, vertiginous mash-ups of architectural history and new construction. On Stoke Newington high-road, Arabic men drinking red coffee from tiny glass cups in front of bars and barbering establishments. Memorials displaced by bombs in the Barbican. Ornate underpasses. Smithfield wholesale market, whose sprawling industrial galleries are tastefully domed with glass and hinged with arcade glass. I have lunch at Fabrique. Ham sandwich on rye. Live flowers in glass milk jars on the tables. London Review of Books Cake Shop later on for afternoon refreshment. At last, two hours later, the National Gallery. A room full of still life floral arrangements, stray curves, diagonal axes. Closed peonies in shadow. I am an anachronist and miss in today’s world the understated ambition on display; again, the desire to contain all, the burgeoning thrust of the catalogue, the encyclopedia, the enlightenment era reach and grasp. The transparent wing of a dragonfly laid over a half-concealed leaf laid over a panted leaf on a vase. Palimpsest. My attention turns to the other museum visitors. A woman on a bench, having unconsciously adopted a Marian pose, arm over her backback, eye-shadow, Adidas, double rings on her wedding finger. Repose, in the gallery. Turner, Dido building Carthage: construction, development, empire, the empire of scope. The return again and again the judgement of Paris. This pairs well with my interest in Enlightenment era observational painting: anxiety regarding accuracy, discernment. Are these available to us? Is the illusion of possible accuracy even available anymore? I feel Cassandralike, intuiting a dark truth, completely bereft of a capacity to speak it or even explain it to myself. Agamemnon gets murdered off stage. What is mine is not knowledge but an inarticulate shriek in the shape of knowledge.

A beautiful painting by Meindert Hobbema called The Avenue at Middelharnis. Arbors, cranes in the backdrop, husbandry. Order (arrangement) and its derangement—that is, its warping. Hobbema excised two trees from the foreground of his painting to clear up the sky, giving it visual priority. You can see evidence of this on x-ray. Elsewhere: shipping scenes, ports, fleets. Trade and spectacle and confluence. Claude Lorrain, his lit backgrounds and shaded foregrounds: a curious sense of closure, lateness. Beautiful work by Beuckelaer: his four paintings make up a group illustrating the four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The elements communicated by way of market scenes as frame narratives for Christological imagery. Densely layered. The main event or subject as peripheral (in both cases). The Ambassadors. Again, epistemological ambition. Measurement, efficiency, death. Despite wayfinding technology: memento mori, pushed into the periphery to see the skewed skull rightwise. In many of these paintings of Christ and martyrs, the body is there to suppurate, gush, anoint.

At the end of the day, a long walk through St. James park and alongside Buckingham palace. Dinner on the steps of Westminster Cathedral, a beautiful striped, squarely Venetian building across from the malls near Victoria Station. The apartment buildings nearby match this decorative scheme. I listen to the nearby sounds of the wind in the maple, a roundabout with mopeds and bikers at its foot. Westminster has exquisite marbling on the interior, like being inside a shell discovered on a beach, creamy and lit from the outside in.

The next morning I call an Uber to get to Victoria station at 5 in the morning. The stillness and quietude of his Prius. I navigate to Gatwick and onto my first Easyjet to Lyon. I admire the Saint Expury TGV station for the structural integrity of its concrete arches and lattices. Once in the city, I take lunch at Ludovic B.—a restaurant about halfway through my walk toward Parc de la Tete d’Or. They’re confused at first but ultimately amenable when all I want is bread and cheese: with sweet balsamic reduction a demi Saint Marcellin, which has a pungent, good, bitter, indoors (interior?) taste. Again the sound of maple leaves beside a primary school as I leave the restaurant—refreshed, amorous for this place—and make my way toward my AirBnB beside the Rhône. At the park, where I linger until 2 pm, check in scheduled for 2:30, I walk through a fin-de-siecle wrought-iron greenhouse. Superheated. Camellias, the emblematic flower of romanticism, immortalized by Alexandre Dumas in his novel the Lady of the Camellias. Polynomial and Riemann equations graffitied in the public bathrooms.

I chat (in French!) with my AirBnB landlord while he finishes cleaning the place. He teaches literature at a university in Paris. We talk about my upcoming entrance at North Carolina and he points out that the study of American literature is one without any intertexts, so young and new as a literary epoch. The apartment is perfect. Windows with a rotting balcony overlooking the massive, wide celadon Rhône river. Multiple rooms to myself. Fourth floor. I leave to explore in the afternoon: the excruciatingly steep and winding upward staircases, the two hills of the city, old stonework built into the mountainside, the narrow pastel-colored riverside buildings wedged into each other. Stone reclining chairs by the waterfront, where I read for a while. A girl next to me is paging through Levinas in paperback. Saupers pompiers practice their diving in scuba gear in this summer heat. I wander through galleries and ateliers, trying to get a feel for the city, feel through its shirt to its skin to its spine. I follow signs toward Parc des Hauteurs. Ascend endlessly in 90 degree humidity. Like a pilgrim to a temple. Continued on into my misdirection, upward, plateauing, discovering the ancient Gallo-Roman theater ruins. Labyrinthine stone passages. Boys playing in their corridors. Sprays of summer flowers, purples and whites where grass springs between the ancient stones. Torpid bumblebees. A magnificent view of the city, its white buildings. Musicians practicing for the evening entertainment below, the drifting sound of saxophone, piano. Old heat of a late afternoon. I sit and read Faulkner and think on the vista and realize I may be experiencing a perfect and golden moment. Sometimes my ambling pays off. I buy bread and butter and a viennoise on my way home, dine in.

The next day—today—Lyon was less forthright with me. I started the morning at the mall, a dead hive experience, looking for a cheap t-shirt to get me through the day. I hadn’t planned for Europe’s heat wave. I went west, away from old town, until noon, and found Lyon in commercial merchant squalor. I walked through an indoor market, the smells of fresh fish, bread, doggish smell of hard sausage. Swallows all day, urgent cries overhead. Delighted by the high-pollarded avenues of trees I see from time to time—like the stilt legs of Dali’s surreal elephants. Into and out of cathedrals on my way: these are spectacular to look at, and each different in its own way (its own light), but curiously similar and banal, too. You tire after a while of vaults and stained glass. Women everywhere with hand fans—quaint. Back toward the river near 11 am. Shallow pools, a biker dragging through slowly them in rings, a wood boardwalk, strange metal plaques drilled onto 450 meters of the wood pontoon ramp. Research reveals it is an art installation by Philippe Favier called “J’aimerais tant voir Syracuse.” The wood ramp reminded Favier of an infinite “table d’orientation”—a semi-circular table you might find at an overlook or panorama. He came up with a series of literary terms for fantastic or fabulist places, inscribed these in metal plaques, and drilled them into the surface of the wood. Others, on their own accord, have added their own. La piscine du Rhône nearby, 60s style, space-needle architecture. Took a street lined with Arabic food shops and stores where you can buy traditional Muslim dress. The pastry-shops feature glittering caverns of tiny gem-like confections, glazed and square as ornate snuff-boxes. Purchased a pear tart for lunch and ate it in the courtyard of the old ESSM (École du service de santé des armées de Lyon-Bron). There, you can find a museum on the resistance and deportation. I wasn’t originally planning to visit, but I felt compelled, as I usually do when visiting France, to understand the complex European relationship with the second world war. Especially enlightening to learn that Lyon was included in Vichy France. Old propagandistic images of Petain. Narratives of racism, exclusion, turmoil. As if the shroud of Turin, a fragment of the parachute used by Jean Moulin to drop secretly into Southern France, where he was tasked by de Gaulle with uniting the resistance. An exhibit on the extensive food rationing in Vichy France. The ration stamps called “tickettose d’angoisse”—or “anxiety tickets,” for fear of losing them. Petain encouraged his populace to grow their own food. Steep increase of home gardens during the war years in places like Lyon. The countryside encouraged to donate excess to the cities.

Above all, the important lesson from the museum and today is how crucial the medical industry has been in Lyon. I get the impression there has been some kind of mandate to this end, and near the Grange Blanche later in the day I discover an austere statue of a robed woman with a sword and sheaves of wheat standing on a plinth that reads: “À la gloire du service santé,” which translates: to the glory of health services. The plinth features a frieze of figures at work nursing and ministering to the sick. At the Musée des Confluences, I encounter a “fermenteur Frenkel,” a large vat with clamps and dials used in the process of vaccine production. By way of prelude, the accompanying plaque informs me that Lyon has been backed by a long tradition of health and veterinary institutions, which led to this flourishing of the health industry in the 19th century. During the war, the ESSM was dismantled of its military status by Germany, but continued educating young men in the medical arts. Grange Blanche, which is near the Lumiere institute (more on this in a moment), is a veritable etoile of specialized hospitals.

Another industry central to the development of Lyon is silk production. My plan is to dedicate today to learning more about Lyon’s canuts, or silk-weavers. At the Musée des Confluences, I see large taxidermy displays that catalogue the components of the industry: large white braids; fat, gold-translucent moths; cocoons in various stages of unraveling. Also at the Confluences, which is where I go after the Centre, I also see a fiberoptic wedding dress, fringed with light, woven using Brochier technologies, which have been adapted from the original Jacquard loom types. The dress making technique was designed for the Olivier Lapidus haute couture fashion show in 2000, and the present artifact was made in 2014 by Mongi Guibane. Jacquard loom technology was used to develop the punchcards that supported the development of the computer and film industry.

In all, the Musée des Confluences is astonishing, and often painful to look at. Its exhibits are dizzyingly ambitious in scope. Permanent exhibitions include: “Origins, stories of the world,” “Species, the web of life,” “Societies, the human theatre,” and “Eternities, visions of the beyond.” The attempt here is to track a story of the world—a dubious aspiration, given the rigid warping porosity of historiography. The methodology here for engendering an epistemic experience is completely indiscriminate, much like the old-fashioned, original museums or curiosity cabinets. Indeed, there is a temporary exhibit at Confluences regarding the acquisitive spirit—a display of cabinets, carnets, colonization, observation, exploration. The latter exhibit teaches me that museums of natural history in France were often the outgrowth of imperial activity in colony nations—a strategy for understanding, and thus subverting, containing local populations and epistemes. I am overwhelmed here. Nothing is stable. I can’t concentrate on anything I see. A vast display of varieties of microscopes, magnifying glasses. Equally vast the glassed-in case of beetles, butterflies, shells of all kinds. I am desperate to concentrate, to core down to the heart of one of these objects. My mind does not operate on the basis of this kind of expansivity. I am wrecked by the curatorial attempt here to encompass all the world and all of human understanding—a cross-sample that asks its visitors to ask themselves: is there a duty to remember? A good question. I remember thinking on my walk today back to the conversation I had with my landlord, Thierry. We assume that literature is intended to amuse, entertain, or educate. But I think we forget the preservationist function of the medium, too. To safeguard in language language itself, the means of transmission of human learning and love. I can think of no holier obligation. This doesn’t mean just writing—this means writing in a tradition. I am sick and tired of literary peers who have no regard for the acquisition of or immersion in tradition, since this is the most important task for any artist. What you have to make or say is only possible as it relates to a long history of expressive force.

At the end of one of its permanent exhibits, a plaque declares: “The objects and specimens preserved in the museum’s stores and show in this exhibition constitute our common heritage. They are inalienable—they cannot be assigned or sold.”

Objects of note at the Musée: a Volva volva shell—a false cowry—unwrapping like a lily bulb, or a twist of angelic candy; a simple microscope designed by Dutch astronomer and physicist Christian Huygens, high performance, easy to use, made and engraved by Jean de Pouilly for wealthy clients. The privatization of accuracy for amusement’s sake.

The museum was designed to look like a crystal and a cloud by Coop Himmelb(l)au, Austrian studio known for deconstrutivist architecture.

After the museum I walk out to the point of confluences, where the Rhone and Saone flow into. It was originally a trafficked port area. The point hosts a submerged rail track for offload. Concrete pillars indicate incoming ships to pass “Gauche” and “Droite” (left and right). Now the area is under heavy construction, a rebuilding phase intended to urbanize the area. The regional governmental seat is nearby. Construction of apartments and other highrises. A mall.

I do a crash course in public transit and leave for the Lumiere Institute, which I learned about in a temporary exhibit at the Confluences on the Lumiere brothers, pioneers of the cinema and film industry, and lifelong locals of Lyon. Developers of a special dry plate for making photographs in the late 19th century. The institute used to house a factory for manufacturing these, and the brothers created their first film by recording end-of-day closing-time at the factory doors, the workers squeezing out, back into the world of their lives. The brothers, as the museum points out, were dyed-in-the-wool industrialists. There is something tautological about the development of this new medium: their first film (and so the first cinema experience) is an outcome of photographic plate development at the Lumiere factory. Later this factory would be converted into a studio production space. Here, the subject of film is film’s production; then the film eventually colonizes and magnifies the industrial context that produced it. No wonder the Best Picture Oscar goes every year to a film about film.

Watching early Lumiere films, I get the sense that what the brothers sought was movement, sheer motion. Their narratives were simply frameworks or pretexts for acrobatics, destruction, rising dust, consequence.

I eat a raw ham sandwich with goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes in a little margin of grass near Grange Blanche. Delicious and sweet. On my way home, I stop at Place Bellecour (featured in a Lumiere film, as well as the Centre on resistance and deportation), then walk home from the Hotel de Ville. Music in the streets. Solstice is always la Fete de la Musique in France. For the last three years, every 21st of June I have been in France, where the streets at night fill with discos and trumpeters and opera soloists.

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