Controversies

Controversies

Should Freemasonry Be Considered Controversial?

Freemasonry Lodge in Vienna, 1789 (courtesy of Wienmuseum) By Pauline Chakmakjian – My publisher Markosia in the UK recently released my trilogy: The Sphinxing Rabbit: Her Sovereign Majesty, The Sphinxing Rabbit: Book of Hours and The Sphinxing Rabbit: Clubs and Societies.  All three books in the series from a publisher noted for graphic novels make […]

Artifacts of Material History Controversies

Possible Chinese Silk in Bronze Age or Iron Age Jericho: the “Babylonish” Garment from Shin’ar in Joshua 7 ?

By Patrick Hunt –  One of the more intriguing passages of the Hebrew Bible, Joshua 7: 10-23 & ff. describes the sin of Achan and his “accursed” secret purloined material spoliation after the taking of Jericho by the Israelites, a narrative with controversial historicity. Regardless of when it can be […]

Controversies

The Demagogues of Ancient Athens

The phenomenon of unscrupulous politicians stoking tensions in society for their own ends is as old as democracy itself. By John Leonard – “[T]he main cause of the overthrow of democracies is the outrageous behavior of demagogues.’  Aristotle, Politics I.1304b.20 As ancient Athens moved away from kingship and Archaic-era tyranny […]

Controversies

Gehenna: Hell as Metaphor? What and Where was it?

By Patrick Hunt –  Gehenna is an old Hebrew toponym (place name) that began as a literal, physical location – the Valley of Hinnom – and gradually transformed into a metaphor for hell through various processes including religious defilement. One of the immediate problems of any hermeneutics about Gehenna is […]

Artifacts of Material History Controversies

Paleopathology and the Destruction of Sennacherib’s Army Besieging Jerusalem in II Chronicles 32, II Kings 19

By Patrick Hunt – Historians know disease often stalks armies in history. [1] The specter of invisible pathogens haunting ancient warfare may have at times seemed instead like a punitive deity taking sides. Sometimes it’s merely a much simpler question of contagion and the inability to protect against it. While […]

Controversies

Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Woman Beyond Her Time 

Marriage of Eleanor and Louis VII and Louis Leaving for Crusade, 15th c., Chroniques de St. Denis (image public domain)                    By Emmanuel Zilber –  Defying so many male imposed status quo “rules”, Eleanor of Aquitaine (ca. 1124-1204) was remarkable, but not only for […]