tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526736757651414061.post1156940880260561333..comments2024-03-29T00:28:38.155+00:00Comments on Nigeness: 'To dwell in a mean street...'Nigehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526736757651414061.post-43014612229049627242009-01-05T14:53:00.000+00:002009-01-05T14:53:00.000+00:00This is a perfect post for me today. I am currentl...This is a perfect post for me today. I am currently reading (preparatory to teaching) "Gilgamesh," and will soon revisit Job and the four Gospel boys.<BR/><BR/>And I'm now seriously jonesing to get to the British Museum again as most of the cuneiform tablets of the Babylonian epic are gathered there. Assyriology is a fading discipline now, but it shouldn't be: There's still a lot of literature yet to be found, yet found it eventually will be: Clay tablets, unlike papyrus, don't disintegrate.<BR/><BR/>Your country's George Smith was a genius. Where is his like today?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526736757651414061.post-72036114163146902232009-01-05T13:47:00.000+00:002009-01-05T13:47:00.000+00:00I have been taught and tried to teach parts of the...I have been taught and tried to teach parts of the Bible as Literature and found the whole business horribly difficult. It's a matter, I think, of having the right selection, the right guidance, and of looking at its relationship to other works, both modern and ancient. Reading the Romantics with a Bible to one side is illuminating, as is reading the Bible in terms of its place alongside other myths. I have also learned more from those people who are fiercely religious without 'having' religion, if you see what I mean.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11666081019459640549noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2526736757651414061.post-86183627007428363892009-01-05T12:49:00.000+00:002009-01-05T12:49:00.000+00:00Guilty as charged, Nige; my knowledge of the bible...Guilty as charged, Nige; my knowledge of the bible is embarassingly poor. I don't hold any religious beliefs, but I suspect that the same is true for many of today's self-described christians. I had the misfortune lately to attend a couple of christian talks at a university (a friend of mine is an avid fan of Dawkins, Harris et al.) which soon turned into quite fierce debates. What surprised me was that the christian approach to the bible was near identical to that of the athiests, it was seen as a simple manifesto or rule-book, verses thrown about simply to support (or demolish) cartoonish metaphysical propositions. With one exception all the discussions were equally sterile and superficial. The lone dissenter, my favourite, a vicar I think, spoke like he was discussing poetry, or literature. My nu-athiest friend disliked it thoroughly, said it was 'bafflement and obscurantism'. I happily agreed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com