By Patrick Hunt – Gehenna is an old Hebrew toponym (place name) that began as a literal, physical location – the Valley of Hinnom – and gradually transformed into a metaphor for hell through various processes including religious defilement. One of the immediate problems of any hermeneutics about Gehenna is […]
Controversies
Paleopathology and the Destruction of Sennacherib’s Army Besieging Jerusalem in II Chronicles 32, II Kings 19
By Patrick Hunt – Historians know disease often stalks armies in history. [1] The specter of invisible pathogens haunting ancient warfare may have at times seemed instead like a punitive deity taking sides. Sometimes it’s merely a much simpler question of contagion and the inability to protect against it. While […]
Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Woman Beyond Her Time
Marriage of Eleanor and Louis VII and Louis Leaving for Crusade, 15th c., Chroniques de St. Denis (image public domain) By Emmanuel Zilber – Defying so many male imposed status quo “rules”, Eleanor of Aquitaine (ca. 1124-1204) was remarkable, but not only for […]
Chimpanzees and Bees or Genetics and Morality of Individuals and Societies – A Review of The Progressive Gene
How Conservative Britain saw the New America in 1776: “Rebellious Slut” By P. F. Sommerfeldt – Morality is often such a morass of competing and even conflicting values that few scientists wade into its murky waters. Thus despite reluctance to define morality and teach values and whatever might be defined […]
Paleolithic Instincts and Insights?
Bison painting, Chauvet Cave, Ardeche France, ca 32,000 BP (Image public domain) By Patrick Hunt – How much human behavior can be quantitatively attributed to instinct is largely arguable and untested, especially since we are usually inclined to believe we are rationally able to rise above any such deeper-than-cognitive triggers […]
Neanderthals, Scandinavian Trolls and Troglodytes
By Patrick Hunt – Neanderthal humans (Homo neanderthalensis) are documented in European contexts for around 430,000 years according to new studies,(1) and the accepted genomic contribution of Neanderthal DNA in modern Homo sapiens from Eurasia, including Scandinavian, Siberian, Asian population and the rest of Europe, with a range of around 2-4% […]
Four Popes and a Would-Be Emperor: The Council of Constance 1414-1418
By Andrea M. Gáldy – Das Konstanzer Konzil. Weltereignis des Mittelalters 1414-1418. Grosse Landesausstellung 2014 im Konzilgebäude Konstanz (27. April – 21. September 2014), organised by the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe. www.konstanzerkonzil2014.de Karl-Heinz Braun, Mathias Herweg, Hans W. Hubert, Joachim Schneider und Thomas Zotz, eds. Das Konstanzer Konzil. Catalogue and volume […]
Mozart and Mathematics
By Patrick Hunt – In the great scheme of things theoretical, one might suppose that Classical music composition could be perceived as applied mathematics. Can ordered melody and harmonics and other elements in chord progressions somehow approach something like emotional equations, however subtle or sublime as in the case of […]
Plague and the Medieval Triumph of Death, Palazzo Abatellis, Palermo
By Patrick Hunt – Plague in the Middle Ages was a constant specter of death for much of the population for centuries, especially in the Mediterranean where ports were the point of entry for plagues in many kingdoms. Sicily was no exception, one of the first places where the […]
Africa’s Great Zimbabwe
By Patrick Hunt – The Great Zimbabwe ruins in Zimbabwe form what is probably the greatest African monument ever, impressive in the high granite walls of the Great Enclosure towering up to 36 feet high and length of walls extending over 820 feet. This site’s importance is such that the […]