Brian Ulrich

This article examines the paradox of the humanities: they are simultaneously denigrated while non-humanities disciplines utilize (and champion) the very skills that are considered uniquely cultivated by a humanities education. My examination reveals that with the fissure between the humanities and other disciplines, knowledge about what the humanities do—and thus contribute to education in other fields—continues to diminish, furthering the cycle of marginalizing the humanities while also benefitting from them without attribution. I consider a time when a humanities education explicitly played a crucial role in the development of leaders, especially in business, because of the role the humanities played in the cultivation of analytical skills and the development of good judgement. I use this examination to consider what this lost connection means not only for the development of leaders but also for realizing the significant role that the humanities play across the professions and in our universities. The pedagogical role of the humanities in its development of analytical ability and judgment is crucial to public life from the flourishing of the business world to the lives we lead living with each other as fellow citizens.

Wow.

h/t @samanthabrennan.bsky.social

This looks really incredible.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

My review of Paula Fredriksen's Ancient Christianities is up at BMCR:

Ancient Christianities: the first five hundred years – Bryn Mawr Classical Review share.google/agnGwlBZmvkJ...

Thangiah explains impact of AI and how SRU is preparing students – SRU News Artificial intelligence is transforming the way the world works — and Slippery Rock University is ensuring its graduates…

“Because of ChatGPT, people assume that AI is just a chatbot, but AI is much broader." —Professor Sam Thangiah, Slippery Rock University

Yes!!!

Another (quite exciting looking!) book from Tübingen!!

Every day is a good day to protest the ongoing Gaza genocide, and I don't think every protest needs to mention Hamas's massacre.

However, holding a special mass protest on the 7th Oct anniversary without acknowledgment of Hamas's massacres on that day, is a very different thing.

It is a great book, and actually talks about comedy as an arena for social critique

I actually used a chapter of this about #SaudiArabia's emerging comedy scene in a class last year:

Best piece I’ve read on Saudi’s comedy festival by a mile.

Unlike standard critics of “-washing” (sports-washing, pink-washing, green-washing & now comedy-washing), Leber grapples w/ domestic drivers of regime behaviour—and w/ how many everyday Saudis feel.

carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...

Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

The famed limestone ostracon listing workers and their reasons for missing work is from the reign of Ramses II, circa 1250 BCE. Making beer (for the Gods) and taking care of one’s mother and fetching stone for a scribe are indeed valid excuses for missing work. www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

The latter, Midwest

cover of Arabic book أسماء الأسد

Arabic has 348 words for "lion". Here is the cover of Ibn Khālawayh's (d. 980, Baghdad) book on the subject.

It seems that the situation in Morocco has spiraled out of control.

Reports indicate that there are several civilian casualties and injuries in the streets due to severe violence by the police forces.

Gen Z Morocco protests turn violent as gov’t pledges talks The protests in Morocco are part of a global wave, stretching from Nepal to Madagascar, where Gen Z is protesting against corruption and social injustice.

"For the fourth consecutive night, young people protested Tuesday under the banner of the online collective 'GenZ 212', a loosely organised movement mobilising mainly through gaming platform Discord." #Morocco

Morocco had some of its largest anti-government protests in years as police clashed with youth-led demonstrators.

Read more: https://cnn.it/4nZrDHJ

No President Trump, people in the Middle East haven’t been fighting for thousands of years: actually, pragmatic coexistence was the historical norm

I wrote about this the last time this tiresome false claim was trotted out by a Trump administration official
time.com/5764119/midd...

Awesome and necessary

The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video

Coming from @stanfordpress.bsky.social in the summer of 2026! @lisablaydes.bsky.social and I edited a book "Ba'thist Iraq through Archives" with a star studded list of contributors!

Yes!
I just spoke to a librarian and they are spending time trying to find fake citations - they are being given pages of fake references to find via inter-library loan
Again, digital asbestos - quick to produce, but so much cost and labour to clean-up.

Thanks for this, and because I clicked on the author to see what else she'd written, came across this incredibly engrossing earlier research by her: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Crystal A. Ennis, Millennial Dreams in Oil Economies: Job Seeking and the Global Political Economy of Labour in Oman (New Texts Out Now) The idea of this book is to retell the story of Oman’s modern economic development from the perspective of labor instead of oil—bringing in people from the margins of (global) political economy analys...

"The idea...is to retell the story of #Oman’s modern economic development from the perspective of #labor instead of oil... 'The story of Oman’s history and of development is the story of living and working. You want to understand the Omani story? Follow the workers.'" - @crystalennis.bsky.social

Thus says the LORD the God of hosts: Woe to the complacent in Zion! Lying upon beds of ivory, stretched comfortably on their couches, they eat lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall! Improvising to the music of the harp, like David, they devise their own accompaniment. They drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the best oils; yet they are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph! Therefore, now they shall be the first to go into exile, and their wanton revelry shall be done away with.

Jesus said to the Pharisees: "There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.'

'My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.' He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.' But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.' He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"

I saw the White House directives about going after people for being anti-Christian, anti-America, etc.

Here the beef: I'm anti-capitalist BECAUSE I'm such a faithful Christian. I'm not anti-American but I'm anti-state violence BECAUSE I'm such a faithful Christian.

Today's readings explain such:

Two bobcats sleeping next to each other on a ledge stretched out in opposite directions

Nap time for #bobcats at ZooAmerica in Hershey, Pennsylvania

Dr. Allen Dieterich-Ward, @dieterichward.bsky.social , author of Cradle of Conservation: An Environmental History of Pennsylvania, is at the PA Greenways & Trails Summit in the Harrisburg Hilton today. Stop by, check out his book, all the other great exhibits, and sessions! Maybe see him too! 😉

VT just closed its religious studies department.

{New Blogpost} Introducing Material Encounters between Jews and Christians: From the Silk and Spice Routes to the Highlands of Ethiopia www.arc-humanities.org/blog/2025/09...

oh & unlike academia dot edu you don't have to join to access archives on KC!

I have all my stuff on KC linked on my professional website and you can access it all from there (along with my various course websites and online essays):

andrewjacobs.org/vita.html

Clearly academia.edu is a sinking ship.

So what are the alternatives you are all using? Is there a general consensus on any platform, or is it still at the stage of competing fiefdoms?

Squinting in Middle East Studies