50bookchallenge, 15000pages

Book #101 -- Tom Harpur, The Pagan Christ, 228 pages.

This is one of those books that I think every Christian should read. The literalist approach to the Bible is what turned me away from Christianity in the first place -- if I'd been taught the approach this book suggests, I'd probably still be Christian. Harpur, an Anglican minister, lays out very convincing evidence that the gospels are not nor were ever intended to be the biography of a historical man. Instead he presents them as versions of a mystery play -- a retelling of an older 'saviour' archetype recast in a Jewish setting. The parallels between the biblical Jesus and other examples of the type, particularly the Egyptian Horus, are hard to ignore. Interpreting the gospels as an allegorical drama rather than historical biography immediately clears up most of the more troublesome contradictions and improbabilities as well. Moreover, as Harpur shows, the insistence on a literal interpretation is not evident in the writings of the Church Fathers until the 3rd or 4th centuries. Harpur's argument, and it is well supported, is that the literalist approach was invented around that time as a way to exert control on the uneducated masses. After all, not only was a religion based on an allegorical guide to self-enlightenment beyond the understanding and interest of the common people of the time, it is much easier to dictate people's actions when you claim to be doing the will of a literal god-figure whom they cannot hope to understand or emulate except through your guidance. Finally, it is Harpur's contention that the reimagining of the Biblical Christ as a spiritual Everyman and his 'biography' as an allegory for the Soul's journey through life does not in any way detract from the power of Christianity. On the contrary, it enhances it, making formerly inscrutable 'events' come alive with symbolic meaning. Hmmm . . . maybe I should try giving this book to my father . . .


Progress toward goals: 280/366 = 76.5%

Books: 101/150 = 67.3%

Pages: 26703/50000 = 53.4%

2008 Book List

cross-posted to 15000pages, 50bookchallenge, and gwynraven

Daily post

Sleep: 1am to 3am, 4am to 6am

Weather: clear, 80F, 65% humidity, high 85F

Daily BPAL: WILEY'S SWAMP
Description: Water-logged and rotting wood, fallen chestnuts, oak leaf, bog laurel, and Virginia creeper.
In bottle: Aquatic notes, chestnuts, and green sap. Very wet and woodsy.
On me: Chestnuts and green sap, with an undertone of swampy notes and an afterscent of rotten wood and oak.

Daily Tarot: 4 of Cups, Reversed: Waking from a period of contentment or contemplation. New relationships now possible. New goals, new ambition.

MyMiniCity: Increase Population
Increase Transportation
Increase Industry
Increase Security

Reading:
Lost in Katrina by Mikel Schaefer
Myths of the Norsemen: from the Eddas and Sagas by H. A. Guerber
Letters by Cicero
Th1rte3n by Richard K. Morgan
Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Busy busy busy

I have been the Queen of Productivity today! Not that it means much to most of you, but so far today I have organized and narrowed down the information on one weeding report and scheduled and downloaded the results from two more, verified a citation for an email patron, trouble-shooted the VR system, followed up on a paper submission, arranged my desk coverage for Thanksgiving, completed and filed my monthly report for September, and solicited and scheduled half a dozen weekend shifts to help make up my leave balance so I can actually *have* both Thanksgiving and Christmas. In 15 minutes I go on desk and I can relax and get some reading done (work-related, of course (no, really!)) in between patrons.

Yup, a finely productive day all around.

Shiny Things Creations

So, my downstairs neighbour saw a bracelet I was wearing that I made myself and really liked it. I showed her some of the other stuff I made and she offered to put some of it out for consignment at the shop she works in! This means I have price and tag what I already have, and make more . . .

The squirrels are ok!

Last week I was very worried because usually, when I see the albino squirrels, I see them both together, but all last week I only ever saw the female by herself. I was starting to think that maybe the hawk came by for another try and was more successful this time. I fretted about it all week and all weekend long, until this morning I went into work and saw both of them out there. They were both out again when I went home. So I guess the male went on vacation by himself last week. Hope he had a good time!

Pictures!!

Ok, so I got my camera fixed. That means you get pictures!!

So click:



Cats -- more recent pics at the bottom.




Snakes

and




Mama Quilla (a local stray) and our friendly neighbourhood raccoon, Ralph.

Bad scholarship. A rant.

Ok, so I have never viewed the Discovery channel or their Discovery.com website as a citeable source by any stretch of the imagination, but I did credit them with generally trying to give accurate facts, even if the delivery were slanted in favour of one theory or another. However, this article has completely blown any faith I may have had in their credibility.

The article describes a bowl recently found and dated to between the 2nd century BC/BCE and the 1st century AD/CE as the "earliest reference to Christ". The bowl apparently carries a Greek inscription which the article transliterated as "DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS" and translated as meaning either, "by Christ the magician" or "the magician by Christ." A photograph of the bowl is provided for our edification.

Let's look at that, shall we?




Now, I don't read Greek, but I *do* know my Greek letters. Bear with me a moment here. Clearly visible in the picture is the "DIA CHRSTOU" part of the inscription. Let's take a look. For those of you who don't know the Greek letters, allow me to 'spell' it out for you:

Δ = capital D
ι = lowercase i
α = lowercase a (it's a little distorted here, but hey, they're carving on clay)
Χ = capital CH (in Greek, the hard 'Ch' sound as in 'Christ' is one letter)
ρ = lowercase r (yes, I know it looks like a 'p'. It's an 'r')
σ = lowercase s (oftentimes, like here, truncated so it looks more like a 'c')
τ = lowercase t
ο = lowercase o (short o, not long o)
υ = lowercase u (again, looks like a 'v', it's actually a 'u')

D-i-a CH-r-s-t-o-u yes? But wait! you say. You're missing something. There's an extra letter in there, nice and clear, between the ρ and the σ. Why, so there is! And look, it's η

η = lowercase e. Yes, 'e', not 'i'. Remember, 'i' is ι It's actually a pretty clear inscription. No amount of hemming and hawing is going to make that η a ι; make that 'e' an 'i'.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, our ever-helpful Oxford English Dictionary gives the root word (helpfully spelled out in both English and Greek) as Χριστος where ς is the lowercase 's' when it comes at the end of the word. In other words, "CH-r-i-s-t-o-s" The "-ou" instead of the "-os" in the inscription makes the noun possessive.

So, summing up, the bowl does *not* say "DIA CHRISTOU O GOISTAIS". It doesn't even say "DIA CHRSTOU O GOISTAIS" (note how the article conveniently omits the troublesome vowel entirely in its transcription). It says "DIA CHRESTOU O GOISTAIS". "Chrestou" ≠ 'Christ,' folks

Only hint in the whole article that this whole "earliest reference to Christ" thing might not be all it's cracked up to be? One sentence, buried on the second page: "Bert Smith, a professor of classical archaeology and art at Oxford University, suggests the engraving might be a dedication, or present, made by a certain 'Chrestos' belonging to a possible religious association called Ogoistais."

Yeah, way to show the unbiased scholarship, guys.