Scientists have determined the youngest known supernova in the Milky Way galaxy is a mere 140 years old, being born in the fiery explosion around 1868 of a star located “near the center of the galaxy.” But the distance from the Sun to the center of the Milky Way is estimated to be around 26,000 light years. So, if we can see the thing from Earth observatories—if light or other forms of radiation from the explosion has had time to reach us—shouldn’t it be at least 26,000 years old?
In 1 Samuel 18:20-30, Saul demands of David the foreskins of 100 Philistines as a kind of “bride price” in order to marry his daughter Michal. Not to shrink from a challenge, we are told that David went out and killed 200 Philistines and presented Saul with the requisite tribute.
I’m pondering where Saul got the idea that a pile of Philistine foreskins would make an appropriate gift. The obvious answer would seem to be Egypt. At the temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu, there is in fact the depiction of piles of the severed penises and hands of the pharaoh’s enemies. Among foreigners who did not practice circumcision (such as Libyans and Hittites), the male organ were removed, tallied—soldiers were rewarded according to the number of slain enemies—and perhaps kept as war trophies. If, like the Egyptians, the foreign casualties were circumcised, the right hand served the same purpose. Diodorus Siculus seems to report the same kind of depiction at the Ramesseum of Ramesses II, but it is doubtful whether he saw the structure firsthand and, at any rate, his report is quite garbled. There is also an un-illustrated textual description of the same practice found at Karnak and describing the practice during the reign of Merneptah.
As far as I have been able to ascertain, this is the sum total of Egyptian evidence for the practice of taking the penises of slain foes as war trophies, a 120-year interval spanning the 19th and 20th Dynasties. In conventional chronology, we’re in the 13th and early 12th centuries.
Saul, however, would have reigned in the late 11th century. So I’m wondering if there is other documentary evidence I’ve been unable to track down, either of the same custom enduring in Egypt into later times or of the custom being practiced by other cultures in the Ancient Near East. In the absence of such evidence, might this strange story from 1 Samuel be circumstantial evidence in favor of a circa 200-year down-dating of Egyptian chronology such as proposed by Jeremy Goldberg or Pierce Furlong?
It blew through Macon, Georgia early on Pentecost Sunday. Alas, it wasn’t the Holy Spirit but an F-2 tornado (actually, probably more than one!). We were without power until about an hour ago.
There was one fatality in Dublin, Georgia and a lot of property damage here in Macon. We are all safe and unharmed, however. We are truly blessed to have avoided three large tree branches each falling within inches of our house on three sides, and thanks to a friend from church with a chainsaw our windfall of lumber is now stacked and ready for the county to pick up.
If you think of it, please say a prayer for the tirelessly working power company crews, law enforcement personnel, and others who have converged on Macon to get us through this emergency situation.
Read Rod Dreher’s review of a piece in The Atlantic by a disillusioned college English professor, then comment here if you like.
Press deadlines are coming up in another week. Then maybe I’ll write something creative.
The recently released Evangelical Manfesto is “an open declaration of who Evangelicals are and what they stand for.” In particular, it states a determination to distance the movement from lockstep conformity with right-wing political causes while still advocating vigorous participation in the public square. According to the Executive Summary,
[W]e wish to reposition ourselves in public life. To be Evangelical is to be faithful to the freedom, justice, peace, and well-being that are at the heart of the good news of Jesus. Fundamentalism was world-denying and politically disengaged at its outset, but Evangelicals have made a distinguished contribution to politics—attested by causes such the abolition of slavery and woman’s suffrage, and by names such as John Jay, John Witherspoon, Frances Willard, and Sojourner Truth in America and William Wilberforce and Lord Shaftesbury in England.
Here is a brief roundup of commentary on the document, both pro and con:
A lesson from Basil the Great, via Wei-Hsien Wan of Torn Notebook.
Although he himself was a proponent of the divinity of the Spirit, St. Basil refrained from proclaiming it directly for the sake of reconciling these separated believers to the Church. He was willing in his day to accept differences in something so essential as the nature of the Spirit, as long as there was a minimum adherence to the Nicene Creed.
Now, do we often find this kind of broadness of mind among Catholics who regard themselves as “faithful to the Magisterium”? My experience suggests the contrary. Rather, there is frequently a kind of theological maximalism in the Church today that is quite obsessed with distinguishing an orthodox remnant from the heterodox masses. How shall we, who are so eager to delineate divisions in the Body of Christ rather than mend them, find a good defense before the dread tribunal of Christ?
It’s an interesting reflection on what I mean by the term Mere Catholicity.
Update: Be sure to read the follow-up post on Gregory the Theologian.
Update 2: … and some thoughts about Christians’ will to unity.
Update 3: … and here are parts four and five.
It’s a very good movie, if you like superhero flicks. So says…
That’s good enough for me 
Peter Kirk points to some interesting posts on the subject of glossolalia, and shares a bit of his own experience in the process. I have previously written about various forms of experience of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps you will find that old post helpful in sorting out what Scripture teaches on the issue.
