Because it’s the Bible

Last updated on: October 25, 2011 at 4:49 am By Peter Leithart

Peter James, et. al., ( Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Chronology of Old World Archaeology ) are no fans of the “devout breed of archaeologist happy to dig with a trowel in one hand and a Bible in the other.” At the same time, they are critical of the knee-jerk skepticism about biblical dates that “can be as blind as faith itself.” They note that since Darwin “biblical texts have been subjected to the most painstaking scrutiny and... Read more

Because it’s the Bible

Last updated on: October 25, 2011 at 4:49 am By Peter Leithart

Date of creation

Last updated on: October 24, 2011 at 6:41 pm By Peter Leithart

Peter James ( Centuries of Darkness: A Challenge to the Chronology of Old World Archaeology ) notes: Going Ussher one better, “Dr John Lightfoot, author of the wonderfully titled A Few and New Observations on the book of Genesis, the most of them certain, the rest probably, all harmless, strange and rarely heard of before (1642), set the beginning of the world at the September Equinox. He later refined his calcaultion to match the start of the academic year at... Read more

Young Moses

Last updated on: October 24, 2011 at 2:21 pm By Peter Leithart

According to Josephus ( Antiquities , 2.10), Moses spent his youth leading Egyptian armies against invading Kushite/Ethiopians: “Moses, at the persuasion both of Thermuthis and the king himself, cheerfully undertook the business: and the sacred scribes of both nations were glad; those of the Egyptians, that they should at once overcome their enemies by his valor, and that by the same piece of management Moses would be slain; but those of the Hebrews, that they should escape from the Egyptians,... Read more

True Horus

Last updated on: October 24, 2011 at 2:15 pm By Peter Leithart

According to the Jewish historian Artapanus (quoted by Eusebius in his Preparation for the Gospel ), the Pharaoh of Moses’ nativity was Palmanothes, and his daughter, who rescued Moses, was named “Merris.” Josephus says that the daughter’s name was Thermuthis, Greek for Tawaret, “the hippopotamus goddess of wet-nursing who was a manifestation of Isis.” David Rohl ( A TEST OF TIME: THE BIBLE – FROM MYTH TO HISTORY V. 1 (A CHANNEL FOUR BOOK) ) comments: “There may be an... Read more

PenultiMate

Last updated on: October 22, 2011 at 10:13 am By Peter Leithart

My son Sheffield and some of his friends have launched a YouTube program. Also a dating service. You can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/user/greatgranduncletv Read more

Discovery of astronomy

Last updated on: October 22, 2011 at 9:26 am By Peter Leithart

Josephus ( Antiquities 1.3) says that the pre-diluvians lived a long time so they could make astronomical discoveries that required a lifetime of at least 600 years: “God afforded them a longer time of life on account of their virtue, and the good use they made of it in astronomical and geometrical discoveries, which would not have afforded the time of foretelling [the periods of the stars] unless they had lived six hundred years; for the great year is completed... Read more

Zeusophany

Last updated on: October 21, 2011 at 12:20 pm By Peter Leithart

A description of war in heaven from The Fall of Troy by Quintus of Smyrna sounds familiar to Bible readers: “Yet men feared not, for naught they knew of all That strife, by Heaven’s decree. Then her high peaks The Gods’ hands wrenched from Ida’s crest, and hurled Against each other: but like crumbling sands Shivered they fell round those invincible limbs, Shattered to small dust. But the mind of Zeus, At the utmost verge of earth, was ware of... Read more

Active/Contemplative

Last updated on: October 21, 2011 at 5:28 am By Peter Leithart

I discuss the ancient question of the active and contemplative life over at http://www.firstthings.com/ Read more

Sacrifice coopted

Last updated on: October 20, 2011 at 1:00 pm By Peter Leithart

What is modern politics? Kahn describes it as “a distinctive form of religious experience” that depends on the shift of sovereignty (Schmitt) from the monarch to the people. When the miraculous of sovereignty shifts, so does sacrifice: “The domain of sacrifice shifted [in modern politics] from that of religious resistance to the state to that of political patriotism. Modern stories of sacrifice are less likely to be of religious resistance to the state than of individuals whose faith in the... Read more