Elikplim Zanthia

2026 feels like 2020 on full reset, and we’re only eight days in

God, Slavery, and Early Christianity is out in the real world with @universitypress.cambridge.org!

I have some extra, so retweet this by the end of Oct. 19 if you’re interested in receiving a copy!

Book info here: www.cambridge.org/core/books/g...

In this post, I demonstrate graphically, materiality from Near Eastern (Israel included), Mediterranean, Asia, and premodern African contexts that the fetish is not a marker of African “primitivity.” Rather, it reveals, most tellingly, Christianity’s troubled relation to the material sacred.

the God Zeus Zeus, the chief deity of the twelve Olympian gods, occupied the highest position within the Greek pantheon. Commonly invoked as “Father,” he was venerated as the god of thunder and the “cloud-gatherer.” As the divine arbiter of weather, Zeus was also the source of signs and omens. From his throne atop Mount Olympus, he exercised supreme authority. He also maintains justice and order among both gods and humankind. Copyright: Robert H.Consoli

the God Marduk Marduk, meaning “bull calf,” was the patron deity of Babylon and the supreme god of the Babylonian pantheon. He is known to have defeated the chaos goddess Tiamat, fashioned the cosmos from her body, and established divine order. Marduk is associated with justice, healing, magic, agriculture, and storms. Copyright: Wikimedia Commons

However, at its core, the term “fetish” has been deployed as a colonial tool to undervalue and delegitimize African notions of value and sacredness.

Twin Altar Among the Ewe people of Ghana, these figures called Venavi, are venerated as sacred beings. They are known for their protective functions and are believed to safeguard families, bring fertility, and ensure the well-being of the community. In addition, they serve as intermediaries between the living and the spiritual world. Credit: MET Museum

the God Shapona Ṣọ̀pọ̀na (also spelled Shapona or Sopona) is the Yoruba deity associated with smallpox, disease, and healing. Revered as both a bringer of affliction and a source of cure, Ṣọ̀pọ̀na embodies the power of illness as a force of divine judgment and purification. Copyright: Gift of Rafe and Ilze Henderson, 1995.014, CDCM Collection

With this background, the fetish is inseparable from the history of religion, insofar as it has long persisted as a constitutive element within universal religious practice itself.

the God Vishnu The god Vishnu is an Indian deity (ca. second half of the 7th century from the ancient kingdom of Kashmir) known for maintaining cosmic order and balance. Copyright: MET Museum

the God Ptah The deity Ptah, the great Egyptian god of the Third Intermediate Period (ca. 1070–712 BCE), was revered both as a creator and as a divine being who listens to the prayers of individuals. Copyright: MET Museum

The Ark of the Covenant The Ark symbolized God's presence among the Israelites. It was involved in miraculous events like the splitting of the Jordan River and the fall of Jericho's walls. It also often accompanied Israel into battle as a guarantor of divine victory. Copyright: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Matzevah The matzevah constitutes one of the most contested forms of religious representation in ancient Israel. It was widely used in early Israelite cultic practice before later biblical texts began to polemicize against its use. Nevertheless, it is fair to observe that within the Hebrew Bible appear as legitimate objects of worship and lawful practice (see Gen 31:13; 35:14, 20; Deut 27:5–6; cf. Josh 24:25–26; אבן here not מַצֵּבָה, but the function is nonetheless analogous). Copyright: Tel Arad temple “holy of holies”; a matzevah can be seen in the far corner.

On the Function of the Fetish
Across the world, material representations of deities are ubiquitous. It was these representations that would become what Portuguese merchants called "fetish" upon encountering West African cultic objects.

this is urgent! black biblical scholars, it’s time to whip up the interest of black students in biblical studies. just finished reading a 200+ page monograph on violence in the hebrew bible, and not once did the author cite a black scholar. the erasure is staggering. sigh!

OK i get what this is about: Eagles won the SuperBowl and someone somewhere is salty. then watched the replay and came up with the idea to ban the “tush push” because no team does it better than the Eagles. good!

me people say “only when the rain beats the goat does it learn the way home.”

No foreign power has ever posed as massive and immediate a threat to the United States as the current administration.

How To Be a Writer, #111:
Open laptop
Look into the void
Scream into the void
Consider that maybe the void also sometimes feels this way about you
Ask the void if it takes milk
Choose a nice mug for the void
And maybe a chocolate biscuit
Lose yourself in the void
Tea

we shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice

—martin luther king jr

doublethink. yes, that’s the one word which describes our current zeitgeist.

what a contrast to the earthly reality! bruh, even their white corpses segregate against your black ass corpse. think about it!

legislations have made it illegal for the burial of blacks and whites in the same cemetery. but for some unknown reasons many black people hold the belief that at the end of time, they will share eternity with white people in heaven.

Five graduates in caps and gowns with red tassels. One is jumping up from the back with hands outstretched.

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There's not much Mr Asimov says that I don't agree with . . . 📚 📖 📚

#greenwitchtea #greenwitch #books #learning #sciencefiction #fairytales #fantasy #library #reading #witchsky #witch #isaacasimov

we love to see it tumble down like the “walls of jericho”—if that was ever historical

if you made art this year, you did well. a sketch, even if it was scrapped ; a poem, even if it was deleted — mattered. you put thought to paper, you engaged with the creative alchemy of turning feeling to something tangible. doesn't matter if you weren't productive "enough." or good "enough."

The three things that cannot be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

— Buddha

@humblyjay.bsky.social Be Kind ☺️

If you’re afraid that books might change someone’s thinking, you’re not afraid of books, you’re afraid of thinking.

ha. let’s see it!

posted as seen

I'm talking about snow, it's on the ground next to the bushes

Dog woke me up on urgent business and as I took her outside I was confronted with the first sky dandruff of the season

ICC Issues Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant: Israel-Hamas War Live Updates The International Criminal Court rejected Israel’s challenges to its jurisdiction, and also issued a warrant for a top Hamas official. Its chief prosecutor had sought the arrests for war crimes in Gaza.

Breaking News: The ICC issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a former Israeli defense minister for war crimes in Gaza. It also issued a warrant for Hamas’s military chief.

Follow live updates.