Friday, August 29, 2008

David

David Hebrew: דָּוִד, Standard Dawid Tiberian Dāwîḏ, Arabic: داوود or داود, Dāwūd, "beloved"), was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. He is depicted as a righteous king—although not without fault—as well as an acclaimed warrior, musician and poet (he is traditionally credited with the authorship of many of the Psalms). The biblical chronology places his life c.1037 - 967 BC, his reign over Judah c.1007 - 1000 BC, and over Judah and Israel c.1000 - 967 BC.[1] An alternative transliteration of the Hebrew name David is Daveed as found in the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the King James Bible in the Hebrew Lexicon.

More here.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Fall readings and schedule

Just a reminder that the texts for our reading this fall will include Samuel I and II and the beginning of Kings from the Old Testament.


An excellent edition of the entire epic tale is Robert Alter's The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel.








The text of the Eliot recommended by Paul is the The Waste Land, Norton Critical Edition.

First meeting will be Wed., Sept. 3, 1 - 3 p.m. at the Fruitville.

All meetings WEDNESDAYS 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M.

September 3

September 10

September 24

October 1

October 8

October 22

November 5

November 26

December 3

December 10

December 31

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Dead Sea Scroll on Stone

JERUSALEM — A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.
...

Much of the text, a vision of the apocalypse transmitted by the angel Gabriel, draws on the Old Testament, especially the prophets Daniel, Zechariah and Haggai. New York Times.

A different sort of Genesis story

This has nothing directly to do with either the David story, or the roots of Modernism, but as a remarkable effort to represent the current state of our knowledge of human migration, it's "context" nonetheless.