Kushana's Bible Question Page
A religion scholar muses on her field and recent discoveries
Questions welcome
Kushana's Bible Question Page

A Little Birdie Told Me

Look at the Twitter pane (somewhere along the left) for updates.  My computer access is intermittent.

-Kushana

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Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 6/26/2009 12:09 AM | Add Comment

Someone Running On My Grave?

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Mass grave found at British Olympic site:

"It is rare to find a burial site like this one," Score said. "There are lots of different types of burial where skeletons may be aligned along a compass axis or in a crouched position, but to find something like this is just incredible."
http://tinyurl.com/njw4em

I have no idea what this is:  it looks interesting.

-Kushana

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Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 6/12/2009 5:39 PM | Add Comment

The Bible: To Hot for Television?

My Hebrew tutor once told me that every great story has already been told in the Bible.  Case in point:

So a new NBC drama, Kings, posed some unique challenges as executives tried to model the storyline on David's life without raising the eyebrows of network censors.

"Strangely enough, they've not yet asked us to censor the Bible," creator Michael Green recently told reporters. "The stuff we've done that's most challenging is also straight out of the text. They've tried, and then I show them what ...<< MORE >>

Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 5/26/2009 5:33 PM | Add Comment

Should You Buy That Oil Lamp Souvenier?

Some good thoughts by a noted archaeologist:
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6855
(click on the PDF to read.)

-Kushana

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Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 5/18/2009 3:08 PM | Add Comment

Students Insult Latin

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The students of Newnham College (University of Cambridge) have written a new grace that Classicist Mary Beard disapproves of:

http://timesonline.typepad.com/dons_life/2009/05/does-college-need-a-new-grace.html

My response:
1) Any current students can write in Latin?  Saints be praised!
2) Citizens of the Roman Empire used Latin to say everything, be it vapid, vague, scandalous, or heretical.  We have so long used Latin as the language of education and the Church that we forget it was the language of racetrack betters, political campaigns, prostitutes, and slaves.

I recommend Dr. Beard reread the Satyricon .

From the Land where Latin is No Longer Taught —

-Kushana

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Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 5/18/2009 2:37 PM | Add Comment

Art Nouveau Nefertiti



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"The bust has no left eye and was never crafted to have one. This is
an insult for an ancient Egyptian who believed the statue was the
person themself."

He also said the shoulders were
cut vertically in the style practised since the 19th century while
"Egyptians cut shoulders horizontally" and that the features were
accentuated in a manner recalling that of Art Nouveau.

http://www.archaeologynews.org/story.asp?ID=434238&Title=Famed Nefertiti bust a fake: expert

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Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 5/5/2009 3:29 PM | Add Comment

The Oldest Monotheists?

My helper tells my another visitor came to this weblog with another terrific question:  what is the oldest form of monotheism?

Zoroastrianism.  (At least as old as Hindiusm but without the Veda's polytheism.)


Often unfairly described as dualists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) have one God who is wholly good.  The evil principle is not worshiped, indeed the whole point of Zoroastrianism is "good thoughts, good words, good deeds", the living of a life loyal to the one, utterly good, God.

A nice << MORE >>
Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 5/1/2009 5:14 PM | Add Comment

Was There A Skeleton Found With The Nag Hammadi Library?

(You are more than welcome to email me questions using the contact button on the sidebar:  I do not bite.)

My helper tells me someone came to this weblog with a splendid question:  was a skeleton found with the Nag Hammadi Library?

Short answer:  No.


Long answer:  It depends on how you treat oral history.

Muhammad Ali, the discoverer of the Nag Hammadi Library told James Robinson, the American scholar who interviewed him, that he found a mummy next to the jar which contained the books.  Later attempts by Robinson and others to examine the exact spot found no trace ...<< MORE >>
Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 5/1/2009 4:08 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment

Waiting For Summer

It is the end-of-semester-crush:  things will be a bit slow for the time being.

-Kushana

...<< MORE >>
Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 4/28/2009 3:59 PM | Add Comment

Repost: Education Must Be Free?

I suspect this is advertisement for his textbook service, however, I will post it:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705298649,00.html

I can think of several problems with his ideas (which are not all bad), the first of which is feedback.
Teaching
is a kind of performance, it is interactive.  I cannot pass recordings
into a slot in a black box and get exam papers handed back.  Teaching
is like live theater - or live music, once recorded there is something
a little pickled, a little dead about it.

Also, I do not wish to
compete with the latest song or the scores of distractions available on
a computer:  I ...<< MORE >>
Posted by Kushana Torumekia at 4/22/2009 1:43 PM | Add Comment
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