In a contribution to Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice, David Frankfurter analyzes several contexts of Egyptian religion on the way to a critique of the whole category of “sacrifice.”In some of these contexts, no animals were slaughtered; no violence done. In some contexts, though, . . . . Continue Reading »
Jonathan Klawans asserts in an essay in Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice that “symbolic action was an undeniably central feature of ancient Israelite culture” (114).As evidence, he points to passages in the Hebrew Bible that highlight the memorial function of rituals. Passover, . . . . Continue Reading »
In his treatise On Abstinence from Killing Animals, Porphyry states a principle of philosophical sacrifice: Different strokes for different deities.For “intelligible gods,” the best worship is “hymn-singing in words,” since “sacrifice is an offering to each god . . . . Continue Reading »
John Steven explains at Slate why the ceasefire in South Sudan, like many ceasefires, could well backfire”“The cease-fire is making it worse. Indeed, this uncomfortable truth isn’t even unique to South Sudan. Cease-fires almost always make a conflict worse, delaying . . . . Continue Reading »
“Being lonely is a lot more worrying for your health than obesity,” writes Philippa Perry.She draws on research by John Cacioppo that shows that for the elderly “Feeling isolated from others can disrupt sleep, raise blood pressure, lower immunity, increase depression, lower . . . . Continue Reading »
Stephen Finlan (The Background and Contents of Paul’s Cultic Atonement Metaphors) thinks that Paul mixes his metaphors:“Paul indicates that salvation is not free: ‘you were bought with a price’ (1 Cor 6:20; 7:23). Here, the Christian gets a new owner: Christ. The death . . . . Continue Reading »
Jacob Milgrom argued that the notion that Yahweh was appeased by sacrificial aromas is rare, and that the notion that Yahweh fed on sacrificial food was found only in “rare linguistic fossils” (Leviticus 1-16, 250).Finlan (Paul’s Cultic Atonement Metaphors, 30) rightly protests: . . . . Continue Reading »
Before assessing the Best Picture nominees at TNR, David Thomson reminds us what the Best Picture award is:“First of all, remind yourself that ‘Best Picture’ is not a certificate of value passed down by God. It is a construct, and a con, dreamed up by the American Academy of Motion . . . . Continue Reading »
Reviewing Colin Burrow’s Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity in the TLS, Michael Silk refers to Dante’s debt to Virgil, and then observes:“There is surely no counterpart to this in the case of Shakespeare - though one might perhaps consider it (Burrow himself doesn’t . . . . Continue Reading »
Tim Crane points out in his TLS review of John Caputo’s Truth that “Aristotelian” ideas of truth are in no way incompatible with the insight that there is a plurality of perspectives on truth:“to believe in truth in this [Aristotelian] sense is not to believe that . . . . Continue Reading »
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