Book of the week: Cleopatra VII

Book of the Week is a serialized reading of Joyce Tyldesley's Cleopatra. The book takes issue with almost everything that is attached to her, from her reported beauty and powers of seduction to her motives and abilities. Indeed, Joyce says in order to understand the real Cleopatra, we must disregard everything we know about her, beginning with that alleged promiscuity.

"Who she wasn’t was this glamorous seductress that film-makers seem to like so much. There’s no evidence that she had more than two sexual partners - Julius Caesar, who she was faithful to until he died, and Mark Antony - but I think we like to see her that way – there’s something appealing about it, but it’s most unfair."

"She was a very clever woman. She ruled for over 20 years and managed to delay the Romans taking over Egypt, which was something that was threatening throughout her reign. Plus, she took over a country from her father that was fairly poor and strengthened the economy so that when she died, Egypt was in a good position."

She considers whether Cleopatra could be a Black Greek.

Paul: In and Out of the Canon

I've written the first part of a series on noncanonical texts over at Episcopal Cafe. This one's on Paul in and out of the New Testament. While I enjoy the ad hoc nature of blogging (my own and other people's), writing a series is more focused.

Interestingly enough, descriptions of how St Paul looked such as this one can be found in the Acts of Paul and Thecla 1:7:

"At length they saw a man coming (namely Paul), of a low stature, bald (or shaved) on the head, crooked thighs, handsome legs, hollow-eyed; had a crooked nose; full of grace; for sometimes he appeared as a man, sometimes he had the countenance of an angel."

The Pauline scholar William Ramsay in his book Paul the Traveller and Roman Citizen points out that to the ancient reader this description is not unflattering: small stature suggested a quick intelligence, bowed legs and meeting eyebrows were admired characteristics, and a hook nose was a sign of magnanimity. The bald head may indeed, he thinks, be a genuine recollection of Paul's physical appearance.

Further information about the Acts of Paul and Thecla may be found on Paul Halsall's pages from the 1820 edition of the text by William Hone:-

Tertullian says that this piece was forged by a Presbyter of Asia, who being convicted, "confessed that he did it out of respect of Paul," and Pope Gelasius, in his Decree against apocryphal books, inserted it among them. Notwithstanding this, a large part of the history was credited, and looked upon as genuine among the primitive Christians. Cyprian, Eusebius, Epiphanius, Austin [Augustine], Gregory Nazianzen, Chrysostom, and Severus Sulpitius, who all lived within the fourth century, mention Thecla, or refer to her history. Basil of Seleucia wrote her acts, sufferings, and victories, in verse; and Euagrius Scholasticus, an ecclesiastical historian, about 590, relates that "after the Emperor Zeno had abdicated his empire, and Basilik had taken possession of it, he had a vision of the holy and excellent martyr Thecla, who promised him the restoration of his empire; for which, when it was brought about, he erected and dedicated a most noble and sumptuous temple to this famous martyr Thecla, at Seleucia, a city of Isauria, and bestowed upon it very noble endowments, which (says the author) are preserved even to this day." (Hist. Eccl., IIb. 3, cap. 8)

Cardinal Baronius, Locrinus, Archbishop Wake, and others, and also the learned Grabe, who edited the Septuagint, and revived the Acts of Paul and Thecla, consider them as having been written in the Apostolic age; as containing nothing superstitious, or disagreeing from the opinions and belief of those times; and, in short, as genuine and authentic history. Again, it is said, that this is not the original book of the early Christians; but however that may be, it is published from the Greek MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, which Dr. Mills copied and transmitted to Dr. Grabe.

Magaret Miles, "God's Love, Mother's Milk"

In this week's Christian century, Margaret Miles writes on the significance of paintings of the nursing Virgin in 14thC Tuscany:

For medieval and early modern people the breast was anything but an abstract symbol. In societies that lacked refrigeration and in which animal milk was thought to foster stupidity in the infant who imbibed it, almost all people experienced their first nourishment and pleasure at a woman's breast. In texts and images, religious meaning bonded with physical experience to form a singularly powerful symbol. Although theologians may have claimed that crucifixion scenes exhibited the extremity of God's love for humans, it was scenes of the child suckling at the breast that spoke to people on the basis of their earliest experience.

Several prominent theologians also described God's love for humanity as that of a mother who offers care and provision to her dependent child, both in her womb and in its early experience in the world. Theologians such as Clement of Alexandria, Augustine, Anselm and Bernard of Clairvaux pictured the Christian's nourishment as coming from God's breasts. But it was Julian of Norwich (d. about 1416) who most explicitly analyzed God's care as closely resembling that of a mother: "The mother's service is nearest, readiest, and surest: nearest because it is most natural; readiest because it is most loving; surest because it is truest" (Showings, Long text 59).

But by 1750 the public meaning of breasts was "largely medical or erotic." After 1750 she has not been able to find a single religious image of the breast. The crucifixion scene represents God's love for humanity. She muses on loss of the earlier image:

The value of the nursing breast as a symbol of God's provision might need to be reconsidered in our own time, a time in which the technological capacity for, and interest in, objectifying women's bodies contributes to eating disorders among young women as well as to rape. Understanding the complex social, religious and technological factors that resulted in the eclipse of the nursing Virgin could prepare the way for a critical recovery of this symbol. In societies in which violence is rampant on the street and in the media, the nursing Virgin can perhaps communicate God's love to people in a way that a violent image, the image of one more sacrificial victim, cannot.

Her book, A Complex Delight: The Secularization of the Breast, 1350-1750, is just out from the University of California Press.

The Sacrament of Baptism presented by Father Matthew

Father Matthew starts a series of videos on the sacraments. If you haven't seen any of his videos, check this one out!

I spent part of the morning touring our new Desmond Tutu Conference Center with a graduate who has moved back to the area as a parish priest. The Photo Gallery gives you some idea of the conference rooms and accomodation. There are 60 en suite bedrooms with Internet access, and seven conference rooms with all amenities. Its fabulous!

In the BBC World Service "Heart and Soul" available today for a week Michael Buerk examines Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s claim that the worldwide Anglican Church is obsessed with human sexuality, rather than with issues of war and injustice and poverty.

Bishop Duncan, Lord Carey, and Archbishop Tutu speak but not actually to each other. Lord Carey respects the right of homosexuals to their relationships but not to have relationships sanctioned or recognised by the Church. Jesus spoke instead of the sacramentality of marriage. Lord Carey knows that the Bible is clearly against practicing homosexuals. One shouldn't mix religion and politics.

Archbishop Tutu, on the other hand, says people who want to separate religion and politics are generally well off. God freed slaves and this is a political act. We need to tackle the real sins of this world: poverty, sin and disease. We need to deal not with personal but structural sins. When are we going to have a fair economic system that reflects the righteousness of God? "God is weeping looking at the atrocities we commit against one another. The Anglican Church is almost obsessed with questions of human sexuality." Archbishop Tutu pleads for the Church to be inclusive but instead, "we have become homophobic and exclusive." He is sad and ashamed. "If God is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God." Jesus spoke of a shepherd who goes to look for the most troublesome sheep not a lamb.

Birdfeeding and Birdwatching

Julie Zickefoose's piece, "Restaurant for the Birds" on NPR yesterday is so well written and a pleasure to read. Yes, we can disturb patterns by bird feeding in our backyards but there are larger disruptions such as the one that brought Redpolls south to our feeders in mid-coast Maine this winter. Last week a friend in Nashville called to say she had seen two Whooping Cranes in a nearby area. Today I saw a Scott's Oriole in Union Square Park--a first for New York City. Its been around since December 2007. At least we can witness.

I was introduced to birdwatching by my father. He and my mother are avid bird-watchers. They go on birding holidays to places like the Scottish highlands and Islands to see birds like dotterels. They are not actually "twitchers," nor do they employ twitchers' vocabulary. They simply love birdwatching. Its an activity I enjoy sharing with them and we often converse about it.


Birdwatching involves patience and tenacity. Every bird sighting is an epiphany. You can do it anytime, anyplace. It builds community--introducing you to new places and people. I recommend it highly. All you need is a pair of binoculars and a willingness to wait.

"Jerusalem in the Time of Herod"

Jodi Magness

Archaeologist and Distinguished Professor in Early Judaism
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies at Princeton University

Monday Feb. 4, 2008
6:00 pm
Held Auditorium
304 Barnard Hall

Barnard College

Open to the public. Part of The Underground Lecture Series:
What Archaeology Tells Us About Ancient Israel
Sponsored by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East and LionPAC

Tariq Ramadan

Tariq Ramadan has been on view at Trinity Institute this week and here's a review of his book "The Messenger" in this week's TLS by Barnaby Rogerson. Here's the opening paragraph:-

Read this book, but be careful to read it with an alert awareness of its subtitle. It is an act of piety, a beautifully articulated sermon that selects incidents from the life of the Prophet that can inspire the conduct of modern Muslims. It blends textual criticism with a lively appreciation of contemporary concepts and other faith traditions, while remaining grounded on an absolute bedrock of belief. The result is that, while some incidents are deconstructed to reveal inspiring early role models for Islamic democracy, spiritual self-sufficiency, ecology and women’s rights, the Angel Gabriel also makes frequent quite matter-of-fact appearances as the ambassador-messenger of God.

Being a Sausage: Who Might Be the Next Miss Marple?

Organ Grinder at the Guardian blogs on Who should be the next Miss Marple now that Geraldine MacEwan has announced her retirement.

If ITV's looking to appeal more to the US, Maggie Smith or Helen Mirren would bring a bit of spice to the role.

But why not go completely left-field and bring in David Suchet? Think of the cross-promotion opportunities.

Top suggestion here at Media Guardian Towers though is someone renowned for her sharp tongue and ability to tease out people's secrets.

Yes...the campaign for Dame Edna Everage for Miss Marple starts here.

"Twilight of the Books" by Caleb Crain from the Dec 24&31st New Yorker

How I missed this essay when it first came out I don't know, but Caleb Crain's essay, "Twilight of the Books" from the New Yorker is enlightening and provocative. He notes, "some sociologists speculate that reading books for pleasure will one day be the province of a special “reading class,” much as it was before the arrival of mass literacy, in the second half of the nineteenth century. They warn that it probably won’t regain the prestige of exclusivity; it may just become “an increasingly arcane hobby.” Such a shift would change the texture of society." Think of the implications for biblical literacy.

I was alerted to the article by the letter from Maryanne Wolf in this week's New Yorker whose book "Proust and the Squid: The Story and the Science of the Reading Brain" is the subject of Crain's article. She writes to clarify two important points from the article: "As it develops expertise, the circuity for reading in the brain becomes both "smaller" in its streamlined regions and also "larger," that is more widely activated--in those regions engaged in sophisticated thinking like inference, critical analysis, and insight. This type of activation is the basis for 'deep reading' and the highest form of thought in a society, from novel thinking to the deliberation of virtue.My primary concern for the future of reading is that these critical areas will be short-circuited in the next generation of readers, whose formative years may be immersed too early in digitally driven media."

It turns out that Mr Crain (of course) has a blog with several entries referring to this article and providing further research and documentation. Here is much food for thought.