Happy Feast Day of the Ass! No kidding. Animals get short shrift in religious beliefs and practice (apart from the Hindu cow, and sacrifice, of course), so I found it quite wonderful to stumble on an old tradition celebrating the biblical donkey. For a time, Christians seriously honored the animal who brought a pregnant Mary …
*A version of this article is also available on The Huffington Post. “We, three kings of Orient are,” intone the guys in robes and crowns. But were they really three, or kings for that matter, and from where exactly did they come? Every year at this time, questions about historicity – what really happened (and …
Water. Out of the great rivers long ago, mermen of a kind — the Seven Sages — emerged. It was they, ancient Mesopotamians told, who brought the gifts of civilization to humankind. But water was also the amniotic soup of chaos. Only after a god-hero split the sea monster Tiamat in two was life on …
There’s a new game in town. Finally, a video game based on biblical, or sort-of-biblical, stories. Bible-reading folks frequently say that there are really great stories in the Bible; but what they usually mean is that its stories instruct, correct, or otherwise inform the ways that people should live. Sure, there are such didactic texts; but …
I just finished Anne Rice’s Servant of the Bones. From the original queen of vampire writing, who’d have thought? A book that includes not just the gothic but profound questions of purpose and identity and (here’s what’s especially intriguing to me right now) reflects some good research into ancient Near Eastern religion and history. Marduk, …
Ok, there are probably a lot of problems with angels, but consider this: If an angel steps in to change the course of events to benefit a person, there may be a downside for someone else. What should we do with that? Related, what about the person who simply is not helped by an angel …
I’m really excited about my new project, which has me thinking about all things paranormal. Turns out, they’re all around us — almost, well, normal. The Bible is one source for images and ideas, but the appeal (some would say awareness) seems basic to our humanity. If we don’t believe, exactly, we are nevertheless captivated and strangely affected by the supernatural. There’s …
There’s Twilight of course, and True Blood, and going back in time a little, there was Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all those Anne Rice novels. I shouldn’t have been surprised to stumble on two more that feature vampires front and center — Moonlight and The Gates. You’d have to live under a rock in …
“Yuck-o and the Fiery Serpent” sounds like a YA short story or moralistic tale. It is neither. Instead, it’s how anyone might react to reading about a particularly awful parasite called the guinea worm. Because it burns like hell on its way out, it shares description as a “fiery serpent” with strange biblical creatures. I’ll spare you the details …
Out of the heaps of snow we’ve been getting lately, someone in my neighborhood has fashioned a great big Cupid in her front yard…or is it a cherub? Shoot, is Cupid himself some kind of cherub? I stood contemplating those questions for a minute or so until my dog started snuffling about at the smooshed …
