Roman Weapons and Armour in Water as a Religious Ritual

Classical accounts, the presence of specific water deities, and the archaeology of Celtic groups in Britain and Gaul suggest that soldiers stationed in the western Roman provinces witnessed and eventually adopted a strong religious tradition of water veneration, whereby individuals dedicated valuable military gear in water. Unlike the Celtic material, Roman helmets far exceed swords, and the highest concentration of Roman gear is found along the Rhine River, the frontier between Rome and Germany.

The hybrid Romano-Celtic deities and the similar practices in the deposition of arms and armor in water paints an interesting picture of Roman and Celtic religion and interaction from the first century B.C.E. to first century C.E. The religious practices of the Roman army did not take over and replace native Celtic forms nor did Celtic religion remain the same. The Roman practice of offering military gear in water was a result of Celtic interaction. The purpose and belief systems behind such a tradition varied across time and space. Celtic culture saw water as a life force, key to wellbeing and fertility. It is impossible to determine if Roman soldiers who dedicated their gear perceived water or their newly adopted ritual in the same way. Although generally, in practice, the Roman and Celtic traditions concerning water appears similar, different cultural and ideological backgrounds gave the ritual a distinctively different meaning.     

2011 Brandon Olsen article, Anthrojournal

A great discussion on the reception history of John 20

Recently, I sailed into a lecture room to do an Adult Education forum in a nearby church on the reception history of John 20 as "Ban and Blessing" continuing their theme of resurrection in the post-Easter season leading up to Pentecost. All the chairs were set up in front of a screen. In the centre of the room stood the LCD projector on a podium with all the connecting cables out and ready for my lap top. They had a Thunderbolt connector which connected to a Thunderbolt port on my MacBook Air. And we had sound through the sound cable connected to two loudspeakers. When the associate priest arrived, I was ready to demonstrate images and sound for the presentation. She introduced me to the IT guy whom I thanked profusely.

This is the way life should be.

I gave an overview of the presentation. How is it, I asked, that in the reception history of John 20, two contrasting strands of ban and blessing emerge: "Do not touch me!" and an encounter with Jesus in the garden?

We begin with a discussion of the composition and motifs of Titian's Noli Me Tangere: Imagine you had never seen this painting before, I suggest, what do you notice? We discuss colors and lines, the tree and the path to the village. We notice the half naked man with an implement in his left hand and the clothed woman reaching towards him. We try to determine if he has any scars from the nails on the cross (the image is small).

Then we go back in time to the Biblia Pauperum of the Middle Ages and discuss this image below with three panels. We discuss typology and prefiguring.

We notice cruciform halos (nimbus) around the head of Christ. And we notice a halo around the head of the woman in the centre panel but not around the head of the woman in the right panel.

We discuss landscapes and buildings, walled gardens, lanterns and jars, gardening implements and facial expressions. And the inscription recording the woman's speech in the right panel: ‘I have found him whom my soul loves; I will hold him and I will not let him go.’

Then we discuss the Song of Songs and the use of motifs around searching and finding the beloved in the garden to expand the scene of Jesus and Mary encountering each other in the garden. I play a motet, "Maria Magdalene stabat ad monumentum flores" and we discuss musical interpretations of John 20.

Finally we return to Titian and discuss how this single painting could be seen as blessing and ban at the same time.

This is indeed the way life can be at an adult education forum with good discussions and great energy. 

The relative novelty of the term "man" by Aysa Peraltsvaig

First consider its history merely within English over the past millennium and a half. Today, it is pronounced /mæn/ and means one of two things: either ‘an adult male person’ or ‘a person of either gender’. The latter meaning, however, is considered sexist by many, and is thus falling out of use. Words such as chairman, fisherman, and policeman are thus being replaced by such gender-neutral forms as chairperson, fisher, and police officer, just as mankind is yielding to humankind. But as the gender-neutral meaning of man is still evident in manslaughter and in the phrase no man’s land. As it turns out, the meaning of ‘an adult male’ is relatively new. In Old English (roughly, prior to the Norman invasion of 1066), this word—pronounced then with a vowel articulated further back in the mouth—did not mean a ‘male person’ but had only the gender-neutral sense of ‘a human being, person (male or female)’. The word acquired the sense of ‘adult male’ in Middle English. Prior to that time, an adult male was a wer, as distinguished from a wif, which then meant ‘woman (of any marital status)’, as it still does in idiomatic expressions like old wives’ tale and in the compound midwife, originally meaning ‘with woman (during labor)’. The word wer began to disappear in the late 13the century and was eventually replaced byman, which retained its old, more general meaning as it acquired the new, gender-specific one. (The term wer did survive, however, in such terms as “werewolf,” which make one wonder whether a female lycanthrope should be referred to as “wifwolf”.) Note also that the Old English man had additional meanings besides ‘person’, including ‘servant, vassal’, as in all the king’s horses and all the king’s men (we retain this meaning to this day). Thus, clearly the meanings of even “ultraconserved words” show considerable change over much shorter periods than 15,000 years.

Pronunciations of such core terms change too, as I indicated above with the shift in vowel articulation in man through the history of English. Within the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family, the reflexes of the reconstructed ancestral Proto-Germanic form *manwaz include Old Norse maðr, Danish mand, Gothic manna. In other Indo-European branches we find Sanskrit (Indic) manuh, Avestan (Iranian) manu-, Old Church Slavonic (Slavic) mozi. The latter is related to the Russian form muzh, found in the Russian version of the odd “Stone Age” passage above. This plethora of phonological forms in related languages is a result of sound changes, different in each family.

Source: http://geocurrents.info/cultural-geography/linguistic-geography/do-ultraconserved-words-reveal-linguistic-macro-families#ixzz2SuSX3u3Q

Now I am on a search to find Old English Bible translations!

May is Mary's Month

18. The May Magnificat, Gerard Manly Hopkins

MAY is Mary’s month, and I Muse at that and wonder why:     Her feasts follow reason,     Dated due to season—   Candlemas, Lady Day;         5 But the Lady Month, May,     Why fasten that upon her,     With a feasting in her honour?   Is it only its being brighter Than the most are must delight her?         10     Is it opportunest     And flowers finds soonest?   Ask of her, the mighty mother: Her reply puts this other     Question: What is Spring?—         15     Growth in every thing—   Flesh and fleece, fur and feather, Grass and greenworld all together;     Star-eyed strawberry-breasted     Throstle above her nested         20   Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin Forms and warms the life within;     And bird and blossom swell     In sod or sheath or shell.   All things rising, all things sizing         25 Mary sees, sympathising     With that world of good,     Nature’s motherhood.   Their magnifying of each its kind With delight calls to mind         30     How she did in her stored     Magnify the Lord.   Well but there was more than this: Spring’s universal bliss     Much, had much to say         35     To offering Mary May.   When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple Bloom lights the orchard-apple     And thicket and thorp are merry     With silver-surfèd cherry         40   And azuring-over greybell makes Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes     And magic cuckoocall     Caps, clears, and clinches all—   This ecstasy all through mothering earth         45 Tells Mary her mirth till Christ’s birth     To remember and exultation     In God who was her salvation. 3rd Century Prayer Greek Text English Translation Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν, καταφεύγομεν, Θεοτόκε. Τὰς ἡμῶν ἱκεσίας, μὴ παρίδῃς ἐν περιστάσει, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ κινδύνων λύτρωσαι ἡμᾶς, μόνη Ἁγνή, μόνη εὐλογημένη. Beneath your compassion, We take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble: but rescue us from dangers, only pure, only blessed one.

Conditions for an excellent presentation

I rejoice in experiences of speaking in churches and synagogues far and near to small and larger gatherings of laity and clergy. It is exciting, honest, and dynamic work.

Now I want to speak to those who invite me. You want the best experience for all present: good pedagogy, good exchanges, and substantial discussion. I want to do everything I can to make that happen. May I say that the only way to ensure an excellent presentation and a great Q&A, is to provide technical support of the best quality? If you invite me to tell you what technology I need for my presentation, and you promise to provide it, and the IT support, please make sure you deliver in advance of the presentation. If necessary, stay to make sure it continues to work.

Here's my point. I need to be in the best possible frame of mind to provide you and those who have taken the time and trouble to come with the best possible event. I need to be alert and yet relaxed; calm and yet fully prepared. If I have to bring my laptop because I am anxious that yours won't be there, or if I arrive at the event well in advance of the starting time only to find that there is no IT person there and no IT equipment in sight, you will not get the best possible presentation. Because now my energy must go into locating the event organisor to find the IT person or equipment in enough time to start the event on schedule. And if equipment appears without IT support, I must now figure out how to make it work. Or, worst case scenario, how to deliver the presentation and engage participants using plan B, C or Z without technology.

I believe myself capable of connecting my laptop to a projector you provide. But I'd prefer not to have to do this right when I need to be concentrating on content and delivery of my presentation particularly if I want to meet any of the participants in the room before the presentation. For pedagogical reasons I'd prefer to focus on them and their interests in being there, not on technology.

Everyone will be happier and the event will be much better if you attend to these details.  

Elaine Pagels May 6th at St James Madison Avenue on Revelation

Elaine Pagels, the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University, will speak at St. James’ Church at 6:30pm on Monday, May 6. The church is located at the corner of Madison Ave. and 71^st St., and the talk is FREE. Pagels, the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, is best known for her work on the Gnostic Gospels, and is most recently the author of Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation (Viking, 2012), which was favorably reviewed in the New York Times Book Review and the New Yorker. She will offer Art, Music, and Politics in the Book of Revelation, a multimedia presentation on the use of language and imagery from the Book of Revelation in times of war and conflict.

May 5th 12.45am-3.30pm Miriamic Procession at the Cathedral of St John the Divine, NYC

1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 112th Street New York, New York 10025 stjohndivine.org 212.316.7490

The Congregation of Saint Saviour presents

The Miriamic Procession

Professors Phyllis Trible, Deirdre Good and Robyn Neville

The Miriamic procession is both auditory and visual. The sound starts with the

glorious song of Miriam who sings the "Song of the Sea" in Exodus 15

celebrating Israel's deliverance with music and dance. The Miriamic

procession continues in the New Testament from Mary, the mother in the birth

stories, through women disciples in Jesus' ministry, to the women at the

empty tomb and at the resurrection. Miriam's song resonates in the Magnificat,

the lament psalms of Pistis Sophia, the Manichaean psalms, Peter Abelard's

Easter sermon, and medieval and baroque music of the east and west. Mary's

role and function as the mother of Jesus advances in the procession from

Christological debates into medieval texts with a particular focus on Mary in

medieval Ireland.

Professor Trible will discuss Exodus 15 and traditions around Miriam

Professor Good will discuss Luke 2, John 20 and traditions around Mary and

Mary Magdalene

Professor Neville will discuss the dynamic narrative history of Mary in the early

and medieval church

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Conference Room, Cathedral House

Registration Fee: $25.00 (includes lunch)

12:45 – 1:30 pm: Registration and Lunch

1:30 – 3:30 pm: Course

Please RSVP by May 1 to office@saintsaviour.org or 212.316.7483.

Pompei of the North: 8,000 (and counting) Roman artefacts in London

Six months into the dig of Bloomberg place (yes, the London dwelling to be of our own Mayor Bloomberg perhaps when he leaves office) archaeologists have uncovered the largest site of Roman finds in London to date.

Archaeologists have so far discovered 8,000 objects and expect that to rise to 10,000 by the time the project is finished. These include writing tablets, clothing, jewellery and pottery as well as parts of buildings that will help build a picture of thriving London life from around 40 AD to the fifth century.

Ms Jackson said: “Why the site is so incredibly important is the preservation of archaeological finds which are normally decayed, or lost or destroyed on other sites.” The reason many of the objects are so well preserved is that one of London’s lost rivers, the Walbrook River, ran under the site, with the damp conditions preserving the objects.

Michael Marshall, Roman find specialist at Mola, said the findings would “completely transform” understanding of Roman London. “There are very few civilian sites. This is the largest assemblage discovered in London.”

Over 150 fragments of writing tablets have been discovered in one room - in what was described as similar to finding an abandoned filing cabinet - with information written on or scratched into them about people who lived in London at the time.

Archaeologists expect to double the number of names known in London to over 30, although nothing is certain. Mr Marshall said: “It’s an amazing accident when the text survives.”

Ms Jackson added: ““These are really exciting; there are only 14 references to London in all of Roman literature.”

The objects ended up in the ground generally from two ways, people throwing objects into refuse pits, or throwing them into the river as offerings.

The wetness of the ground proved particularly fortuitous, helping preserve the organic remains, and Mr Marshall called it the “best site in London” for Roman remains.

“No oxygen could get at the organics, so wood, leather, horn, and occasionally textiles survive in these conditions. The rest of the city of London doesn’t get that water logging. It gives us a picture of what it would have been all over the whole city.”

CBS Sunday Morning on Mary, Jesus' mother

Tomorrow at 9.00 ET, Martha Teichner reports on Mary, Jesus' Mother with interviews on "The Testament of Mary" now in previews on Broadway and conversations on Mary with Profs Robin Jensen, Craig Evans, myself and a Catholic priest at St Mary's Church in NYC. Enjoy!!

Tony Benn on Jesus

Reports of 9th Coptic Text on Holy Week: Pseudo Cyril of Jerusalem

Recent reports in MSNBC news identify an edited text by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem, Homily on the Life and Passion of Christ, Ms 610 of the Pierpont Morgan Library, NYC. The manuscript probably dates from late 9th C CE. Some of the Brill 2013 book by R. van den Broek can be accessed through Google Books.