I know they look boring, but: ancient tablets discovered at Persepolis contain incredibly valuable information not only to scholars of the ancient Near East but to all of us. But they’re most valuable when considered together and publicly available as part of our collective human heritage. The book that I’m writing now has morphed from …
I love technology… when it helps me. I do not love tech for tech’s sake. So when things go wrong, I get really stressed out. I have a new computer, the old was running slower and slower and was awfully heavy to tote. But switching to the new required hours and hours under Best Buy’s …
People hunted with birds in Cyrus the Great’s time and place (6th cent BC, Mesopotamia).* Just another of many things I’ve learned recently while working on my next book. Trying to figure out what bird to give him, I spent the better part of Friday night learning what kinds might have been found in his area. …
Alternatively: “On Not Reading the Bible”; but then I must hastily add that I’m not against reading the Bible… not exactly. But when it comes to the Bible, reading and knowing about it can be quite different things. Some time ago (if you read here regularly, you may remember), I was a bit put off …
Click here for quick and easy voting.* I’m honored that Bible Babel is in the company of excellent nonfiction books short-listed for the Library of Virginia’s 14th annual “People’s Choice” literary award. Thank you for following the link to cast your ballot. Please tell your friends and family, too! Each year the Library of Virginia recognizes authors from the state …
CNN published an essay I wrote but with edits that got it wrong. Unintentionally, I’m sure, but it says exactly what I’ve been arguing against. I disagree with both the title and the final sentence, arguably the most powerful parts. Neither of them are mine. Nevertheless, the essay concludes with the mandatory disclaimer that “The …
“It’s one thing to read the Bible, quite another to appreciate the historical context in which its various books were written, the different translations and versions that have emerged over the centuries and the indelible impact the book continues to have on our culture. With her new book ‘Bible Babel: Making Sense of the Most …
Babylon, bab-ilu, Babel, “Gate of the gods” was the Big Apple of its day. Yet we get “the whore of Babylon” and the “Tower of Babel,” Bob Marley’s Babylon site of oppression and reputation for excess. The biblical view of Babylon is no less real in its critique than the grandeur that we know Babylon …
I finally broke down and went all junior-high with my research — different colored pens for the different accounts of Cyrus’ taking Babylon. The most ancient records are notoriously problematic. Each one has a either a bone to pick or a bridge to sell, and they simply don’t agree on the facts. Did or did …
As writers, do we ever get off the first page? Not just the physical first to which most of us return again and again (before discarding) but the writing itself. It’s always empty, always new. These days, I’m reading all sorts of things about the transition from Babylonian to Persian rule in the ancient Near …
