Following up on A Copper Mine in Ancient Israel and Environmental Destruction in Ancient Israel, and a note on King David:
More about the Timna copper mines
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Tag Archives: bible
The Bible as Fantasy Novel
Notes from a panel at Capricon 44, Chicago, Feb. 3, 2024. Any mistakes are mine. The panelists are not responsible for any errors here.
Janice Gelb (moderator); Jeana Jorgensen; Will Saddler, Lucy A Synk, Susan Weiner
The Bible uses fantastic elements in describing the inexplicable, prophecies, and fables. What elements of the Bible correlate to common tropes in fantasy literature? How have the fantasy elements in the Bible influence writers of fantasy?
A brief note about John the Baptist
The sermon at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church was given by Bob Shoemake. He preached on the appointed Gospel John 1:29-42. This passage is about Jesus and John the Baptist. One thing Bob said was that, unlike in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), there is no baptism of Jesus by John. Why the Gospel of John Depicted John the Baptist So Differently suggests that is because John (the Evangelist) has a different, “higher” Christology.
Mining Our Biblical Matriarchs
A workshop on Friday, September 2, 2022 at Chicon 8, presented by Sally Wiener Grotta
The women of the Bible (Eve, Esther, Miriam, etc.) have been amongst the West’s most enduring female archetypes. As lush and varied as any mythology, their stories have been reinterpreted by every generation’s artists, clerics, and political leaders, according to how they expected women to be. However, these archetypes have been largely overlooked by modern spec fic authors. In this workshop, we’ll have fun challenging and toppling common preconceptions about various women of the Bible, as we mine this rich mother lode for SF&F story ideas.
The following are my notes and amplifications. I am solely responsible for their content and any mistakes.
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Environmental Destruction in Ancient Israel, and a note on King David
In March 2021 I wrote about A Copper Mine in Ancient Israel, which seems to data from the time of David or Solomon. It now seems that Wood cut to fuel King Solomon’s ancient mines caused environmental collapse – study.
Chicon 8
Thursday
On Thursday, Sept. 1, Mia McDavid and I drove to Chicago for Chicon 8: The 80th World Science Fiction Convention at the Hyatt Regency Chicago . This was our 5th Chicon. Previously we had attended:
- Chicon 7 (2012)
- Chicon 2000 (2000)
- Chicon V (1991)
- Chicon IV (1982)
Despite some glitches, we really enjoyed the Con, and visiting downtown Chicago again.
A Note on Acts 16
This morning at St. Clement’s Epicopal Church the first lesson was from Acts, part of which reads:
Church Notes from the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday closest to July 13
Proper 10. Track 2.
It turned out that I was the assigned reader for the first lesson and my wife Mia the reader for the second, but nobody had informed us of this. So we had to wing it. We did OK.
Continue readingSermon Notes from Lent 1
Notes from a sermon by the Rev. Joy Caires, Lent 1B, And Now You Protest?. Preached at St. Clement’s Episcopal Churcn, St. Paul, MN. Readings
Here are the key Biblical passages referenced in the sermon.
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A Copper Mine in Ancient Israel
I wrote in The Archaeology of Armageddon:
The site was occupied almost continuously from about 3500 BCE until about 586 BCE, but a direct connection to King Solomon has yet to be found. What were thought to be Solomon’s stables now seem to date from the reign of Ahab, about 870-850 BCE. Ahab and his father Omri get a terrible press in the Biblical book of 1 Kings, but unlike their predecessors in both Israel and Judah, they are mentioned in contemporary Moabite and Assyrian records. We do not yet have such a verification of the Biblical account for David and SolomonHowever, somebody at that time was operating a large copper mine in what is now Israel with fortifications. Continue reading
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 