JimII

On a separate note: reading Tolstoy makes one admire the ruthless compactness of Hebrew storytelling. #booksky #CriticalBible

Finished Everett Fox's translation of Genesis. I wondered "How did smart ppl read these stylized stories as history?". Then recall Galen kept people from seeing blood circulation; Ptolemy heliocentrism. Proof by authority is dangerous, folks. #booksky

Bible Gateway passage: Genesis 34 - New International Version Dinah and the Shechemites - Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her...

The rape of Dinah told in Gen. 34 is awful because it is a rape and because her brothers respond with murder and a bunch more rape. But also they justify their violence by claiming to be defending their sister's honor. Nauseating. #booksky #critbible

Agree. Seems unlikely a handgun will be named the "artisan of peace."

Wow, very cool!

"now spread a mist of damp and smoke and a strange acid smell of saltpeter and blood ... in every soul: 'For what, for whom, must I kill and be killed?' ... they stumbled and panted with fatigue, perspiring and stained with blood and powder. ... flame of battle burned slowly out." #Tolstoy #booksky

For any Tolstoy scholars or fans, I wonder how close дух армии translated as spirit of the army is to esprit de corps. Esp. since French language plays such a role in War & Peace. #booksky

Guau, acabo realizar que "gu" es "w" en español. Guillermo, guerra, etc.

My Pre-School Geru life partner tells me exhaustion is a part of learning and a period of chaos is necessary for growth. But that doesn't make it any less exhausting!

Beloved is one of those books that haunts me. I read it as an adult. Not at any particularly meaningful period in my life, but it seems to lurk in my subconscious still. Which is frankly, kind of on the nose for that text. #booksky

An inspirational poster in need of being made.

Bible Gateway passage: Ezekiel 16:49 - New International Version “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.

Mortimer Adler assigned me Genesis in this year's Great Books reading list. Reading the story of Sodom and Gamora reminded me of Ezekiel s commentary on the story, "the sin of your sister Sodom ... They did not help the poor and the needy." Have we been using 'sodomite' wrong? #booksky

A fascinating thing about War & Peace is that I don't think I like any of the characters. As exemplified with this tirade from Andrew, I may empathize with them, but I rarely root for them. Maybe this itself is evidence of Tolstoy's brilliance in drawing characters. #booksky.

"Take no prisoners, but kill and be killed! ... [L]et war be war and not a game." Bolkonsky's justification for rage brought on by the loss of his family estate and vague premonitions of his own death. We would have less war if these were the rules, he rationalizes. #booksky

Enoch's Aramaic replaces knowledge from Genesis' Hebrew with wisdom and drops the moral pairing (of good and evil). I have personally always felt this ambivalence FWIW. #CriticalBible

#CriticalBible reading the first book of 1 Enoch especially ch. 30, where the tree of wisdom is beautiful and fragrant, does this author feel ambivalent toward trading wisdom for paradise? I read no ambivalence in Gen. 2-3.

This description from Enoch of the beginning of his heavenly vision fascinates me especially because its writer never experienced flight. #BibleCrit

Interesting. I just looked and see that my translation in fact does not say obey in those chapters. I think I got it from phrases like "they do not divert from their appointed order," AND the close juxtaposition to the passages on judgment. Thanks.

Ok, after reading lots of front matter -- Chs 1-5 of 1 Enoch is pretty interesting. The idea up top is obey since it is natural (teleologically?) to do so--sort of opposite if Jesus and the fig tree where he demands unnatural response. #CriticalBible Is it natural to be good?

Important to keep in mind when your in the customer (client) service business.

I really am worried about this over $200 book. Feeling like a wimp n

From Tolstoy: “The Russian is self-confident just because he knows nothing and does not want to know anything, believing that nothing can be known fully.” Maybe despite 23 and me, I'm a little Russian. #booksky

Listening to Tolstoy's descriptions of Napoleon, especial in the book of Part II of War and Peace keeps reminding me of Trump. #projection #booksky

I would like to be added to the list.

Question: This is the next book in my theist meets an atheist in college and they read holy books series. Can I add my own marginalia to a book like this? That's how I usually show 💛 for a text. Pero, ¡está muy caro! 🏷️💵 #criticalbible #booksky

For year six of the reading list, I am finishing the second half of War & Peace. Adler suggests reading it at the end of the year, but I decided to start it today. Wow, Chapter 1 of Book 2 is a masterpiece. #tolstoy #booksky

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Had a chance to see this work yesterday. Funny how I sort of applify the value of a piece if I recognize it from somewhere else.

Well #booksky year five of the Great Books reading list is complete. I listened to a good portion of this year's list, but that worked well enough with the fiction and lecture style readings and provided time to dig into some of the more complex philosophical stuff. Yay 2025.

@aineyoremd.bsky.social this feels like some conversations weay have had once or a hundred time thirty years ago!