Archive for the ‘World Literature’ Category

New History

Monday, May 24th, 2010

I am excited about the new edition of my BRITISH HISTORY that will be available in July.  FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS will offer 8 different history choices:  American, British, World, Epoch I (Creation to the Middle Ages), Epoch II (The Middle Ages to French Revolution), Epoch III (French Revolution to Gilded Age), Epoch IV (Gilded Age to the Present).  The following is a section on “Druids,” in my British History:

A druid was a member of the priestly class active in Gaul (Northern Germany), and in Celtic Britain.  They were priest, judge, scholar, and teacher to their Briton communities. The core points of druidic religious beliefs included reincarnation and human sacrifice.

Druids were highly educated for their culture.  Yet, they wrote nothing.  Some Druids spent 20 years memorizing oral traditions of Druidic lore. The Druid priesthood was open only to males.  All instruction was communicated orally so there was no record of Druid ritual or theology.

Druids could punish members of Celtic society by a form of “excommunication”, preventing them from attending religious festivals.  Druids, then, had both priestly and political roles and were instrumental in maintaining order.

Druid religion included rituals performed at so called Druid temples, usually stone structures built into the side of a hill.  Stonehenge may be an exception.

Stonehenge is a place of pilgrimage for neo-druids, and for certain others following pagan or neo-pagan beliefs, but it was probably nothing more than a burial site.

One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones. It included several hundred burial mounds.

Archaeologists had believed that the iconic stone monument was erected around 2500 BC. The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.

Stonehenge was associated with burial from the earliest period of its existence. Stonehenge evolved in several construction phases spanning at least 1500 years. There is evidence of large-scale construction on and around the monument that perhaps extends the landscape’s time frame to 6500 years.

Scholars believe that Stonehenge once stood as a magnificent complete monument. This cannot be proved as around half of the stones that should be present are missing, and many of the assumed stone sockets have never been found.

One final personal message. If one asked this author, when I was an eight year old, what my favorite holiday was, he  would have enthusiastically proclaimed: Halloween!  Haunted houses, costumes, candy–it all captured his imagination.  But that was 1961 and this is today.

Halloween clearly is not a Christian holiday.  In fact it is anything but Christian.  In fact the origins and traditions of Halloween can be traced back thousands of years to the Druids.  The eve of October 31 marked the transition from summer into the darkness of winter.  On this night, the spirits of the dead rose up.  Demons, fairies, and ghouls roamed about the town.  They destroyed crops, killed cattle, soured milk, and generally made life miserable . . . unless an appropriate appeasement was offered.  Namely, a human sacrifice.  So, anticipating these goblins, Druid towns annually, on October, chose young maidens and sacrificed them in honor of the pagan gods.   This is not the same as having a Christmas tree, or believing in the Easter Bunny–Halloween is a celebration of death, destruction, and hell.

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.  He is hope and mercy and love–not death, destruction, and murder.  There are alternative celebrations you know.  Some parents hold costume parties and have the kids dress as Bible heroes (no trick or treat though!).  Other groups hold hayrides and harvest celebrations. Halloween is a time to rejoice in the fact that “the Son of God appeared that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8)!”  God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).  You were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light . . . and do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them (Eph. 5:8,11).

Immanuel Kant

Friday, August 7th, 2009

As I travel across country this summer, I have been blessed to have many hours of reading time. My son Peter, thankfully, is doing most of the driving and I have been able to focus on long overdue reading assignments.

One of those is Immanuel Kant. I highlight Kant in my FIRE THAT BURNS (2005) book as a “seminal 18th century thinker.” Will Durant says that “never was a system of thought so dominate an epoch as the philosophy of Immanuel Kant.” Kant as it were, brilliant no doubt, tried to reclaim philosophy from the cold stupor of 18th century rationalism (e.g., John Locke) and self-indulgent narcissism of French romanticism (e.g., Rousseau).

Kant makes a great observation–Knowledge cannot be derived entirely from the senses. Hitting one’s finger with a hammer, for instance, is surely a sensory catastrophe, but, in the long one, it can be much more: it may cause us to flinch everytime we hold or see a hammer which is more than a sensory response. Kant says there is knowledge that separate from experience a priori knowledge, so to speak. There is, Kant, explains a transcendent dialect that goes beyond the senses. And where does that take us? Religion. And what is religion? Why it is morality.

Later in another book. RELIGION WITHIN THE LIMITS OF PURE REASON, argues that “an interest in the beauty of nature for its own sake is always a sign of goodness.” Indeed. Sounds a lot like Ralph Waldo Emerson! Goodness is tied to nature. Hum . . .

To Kant, churches and dogma have value only so far as they assist in the moral development of the race (Durant).

Well, Kant is better than Locke or Berkeley but he ultimately misses the mark. The God we serve is not a moral dogma, however altruistic. He is not a good feeling or good moral. He is the I AM. He is the Creator of the Universe. He is, as Carl Henry later so eloquently explains, transcends even the Kant. In fact the God I serve leaves Immanuel Kant gropping in a metaphysical darkness. It is not so much that God is farther than Kant could reach; He is in another universe. The mind cannot take us to that universe.

But the heart can. And God reached down and touched our hearts. God so loved the world to create in us a transcendental dialectic. Ha! I don’t think so. Thank you very much Mr. Kant.

Is There Anything Else?

Friday, July 24th, 2009

“The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways–I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.” – Socrates in THE DEATH OF SOCRATES (Plato) (World Literature, James P. Stobaugh).

Socrates is at the end of his life.

Socrates opposed the Sophists, arguing that there are absolute, transcendent standards of right and wrong, good and bad. He argued that once we recognize what is truly good, we will act in accord with that knowledge–hence his claim that “the virtues are a kind of knowledge.” He also firmly believed that the cosmos is grounded in goodness, hence that a good person cannot suffer unduly and that death is not something to be feared.

I also oppose the Sophists, those who profane the sacred. I believe there are realities beyond our senses. Unfortunately, I do not believe that we will do what is good.

“Is there anything else?” Socrates asks just before he dies.

Most assuredly there is, most assuredly there is.

Literature Curricula Contents

Friday, April 10th, 2009

Some of you have asked me to tell you what is exactly in my literature curricula. Well here it is!

World Literature

Sumerian, Egyptian & Hebrew:
Authors Unknown
Gilgamesh Epic
Enuma Elish
Papyrus of Ani: Egyptian Book of the Dead
Hymn to Osiris
Ancient Greece (800 BC-300 BC):
Aeschylus (525-456 BC)
Agamemnon (from the Oresteia Trilogy)
Homer (8th Century BC)
Illiad (760 BC)
Odyssey (680 BC)
Herodtus (484-425 BC)
Histories (440 BC)
Sophocles (495-406 BC)
Oedipus Rex, also… Oedipus the Kingg (428 BC)
Plato (424-348 BC)
The Death of Socrates (360 BC)
The Republic (360 BC)
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
The Rhetoric and Poetics (335 BC)
Ancient Rome (300 BC–500 AD)):
Virgil (70-90 BC)
Aeneid (20 BC)
Aurelius, Marcus (121-180 AD)
Meditations (180 AD)
Early Church History (30-500 AD):
Matthew recording the teachings of Jesus (30 AD)
The Sermon on the Mount
Author Unknown
Didache “Teaching” (early second century)
Teachings of the 12 Apostles
St. Clement I, Pope of Rome (Papacy: 88-99 AD)
Writings to the Church in Corinth
St. Justin Martyr (100-165 AD)
Writings
Author Unknown
The Martyrdom of Polycarp (mid 3rd Century)
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)
Confessions (398 AD)
Japanese:
Ono no Komachi (825-900 AD)
Poems
Hitomaro, Kakinomoto (662-710 AD)
“In Praise of Empress Jito”
“I Loved Her Like the Leaves”
Shunrai, Minamoto no, also Toshiyori) (1055-1129 AD)
Waka Poems
Shikibu, Izumi (974-1034 AD)
“The Cuckoo”
Shikubu, Murasakai (978-1016 AD)
The Tales of Jenji
Shonagon, Sei (966-1017 AD)
Pillow Book
Indian:
Author Unknown (composed from ~4th century BC-500 AD)
The Bhagavad-Gâtâ- (from the Mah-Bhrata)
Bidpai (3rd century AD) – Hindu wise man
Panchatantra ”Five Principles”
Mirabai (1498-1546) – Hindu Brahman Aristocrat
“Oh Friends on this Path”
“This Bundle of Suffering”
Mahadeviyakka (19th Century AD) – Hindu
“Other Men”
“It Was Like a Stream”
Persian & Arabic (600-1400 AD):
Mohammed (570-632 AD) – Arab Muslim
The Koran
Rabi’a al-Adawiyya (717-801 AD) – Iraqian
“In Love”
“Doorkeeper of the Heart”
Kassiane (810-867 AD) – Byzantine Christian Hymn Writer
“Hymn”
“Most Impartial Judge”
Omar Khayyam (1048-1131 AD) –Iranian
The Rubaiyat
Chinese (1400 BC-1890 AD):
Confucius (551-479 BC)
The Analects (Sayings)
T’ao Ch’ien (365-427 BC)
“After the Ancients”
“Without All That Racket”
“Peach Blossom Spring”
Pan Zhao (48-117 AD)
“Needle and Thread”
Wang Wei (699-759 AD)
“Deer Forest Hermitage”
“Magnolia Hermitage”
“On Parting with Spring”
Li Po (701-762 AD)
“Drinking Alone with the Moon”
Middle Ages (500-1500):
Author Unknown – Spanish
Poema del Cid (1140)
Dante, Alighieri (1265–1321) – Italian
Divine Comedy (The Inferno only)
Sor Juana Inéz de la Cruz (1651-1695) – Mexican
“May Heaven Serve as Plate for the Engraving”
“Yet if, for Singing your Praise”

Romanticism:
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832) – German
Tragedy of Faust (part 1, 1808 and part 2, 1833)
Rossetti, Christina Georgina (1830-1894) – English
“Where are the Songs I Used to Know?” (1904)
“There is a Budding Morrow in the Midnight”
Realism:
Dostoevsky, Fyodor (1821-1881) – Russian
Crime and Punishment (1866)

Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910) – Russian
War and Peace (1869)
The Death of Ivan Ilych (1886)
Ibsen, Henrik (1828-1906) – Norwegian
; A Doll’s House (1879)

Chekhov, Anton (1866-1904) – Russian
“Easter Eve” (1886)
“The Bet” (1889)

Tsvetaeva, Marina Ivanova (1892-1941) – Russian
“What Shall I Do?””

Modern Age:
Mistral, Gabriela (1892-1957) – Chilean
“I Am Not Alone”
“Tiny Feet”
Márquez, Gabriel García (1982 Nobel Prize) – Columbia
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”
Lagerl̦f, Selma Louisa (1858-1940) РSwedish
The Löwensköld Ring (1925)
Sodergran, Edith (1892-1923) – Finnish
“Pains Governs All”
Camus, Albert (1913-1960) – French
The Stranger (1942)

Remarque, Erich Maria (1998-1970) – German
All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)
Markandaya, Kamala (1924-2004) – Hindu
Nectarina Sieve (1955)
Paton, Alan (1903-1988) – South African
Cry the Beloved Country (1948)

World Literature

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Sumerian, Egyptian & Hebrew:

Authors Unknown
Gilgamesh Epic
Enuma Elish
Papyrus of Ani: Egyptian Book of the Dead
Hymn to Osiris

Ancient Greece (800 BC-300 BC):

Aeschylus (525-456 BC)
Agamemnon (from the Oresteia Trilogy)

Homer (8th Century BC)
Illiad (760 BC)
Odyssey (680 BC)

Herodtus (484-425 BC)
Histories (440 BC)

Sophocles (495-406 BC)
Oedipus Rex, also? Oedipus thee King (428 BC)

Plato (424-348 BC)
The Death of Socrates (360 BC)
The Republic (360 BC)

Aristotle (384-322 BC)
The Rhetoric and Poetics (335 BC)

Ancient Rome (300 BC?500 AD):>

Virgil (70-90 BC)
Aeneid (20 BC)

Aurelius, Marcus (121-180 AD)
Meditations (180 AD)

Early Church History (30-500 AD):

Matthew recording the teachings of Jesus (30 AD)
The Sermon on the Mount

Author Unknown
Didache “Teaching” (early second century)
Teachings of the 12 Apostles

St. Clement I, Pope of Rome (Papacy: 88-99 AD)
Writings to the Church in Corinth

St. Justin Martyr (100-165 AD)
Writings

Author Unknown
The Martyrdom of Polycarp (mid 3rd Century)

St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)
Confessions (398 AD)

Japanese:

Ono no Komachi (825-900 AD)
Poems

Hitomaro, Kakinomoto (662-710 AD)
“In Praise of Empress Jito”
“I Loved Her Like the Leaves”

Shunrai, Minamoto no, also Toshiyori) (1055-1129 AD)
Waka Poems

Shikibu, Izumi (974-1034 AD)
“The Cuckoo”

Shikubu, Murasakai (978-1016 AD)
The Tales of Jenji

Shonagon, Sei (966-1017 AD)
Pillow Book

Indian:

Author Unknown (composed from ~4th century BC-500 AD)
The Bhagavad-Gâtâ- (from the Mah-Bhrata)

Bidpai (3rd century AD) ? Hindu wise man
Panchatantra ”Five Principles”

Mirabai (1498-1546) – Hindu Brahman Aristocrat
“Oh Friends on this Path”
“This Bundle of Suffering”

Mahadeviyakka (19th Century AD) – Hindu
“Other Men”
“It Was Like a Stream”

Persian & Arabic (600-1400 AD):

Mohammed (570-632 AD) – Arab Muslim
The Koran

Rabi’a al-Adawiyya (717-801 AD) – Iraqian
“In Love”
“Doorkeeper of the Heart”

Kassiane (810-867 AD) – Byzantine Christian Hymn Writer
“Hymn”
“Most Impartial Judge”

Omar Khayyam (1048-1131 AD) ?Iranian
The Rubaiyat

Chinese (1400 BC-1890 AD):

Confucius (551-479 BC)
The Analects (Sayings)

T’ao Ch’ien (365-427 BC)
“After the Ancients”
“Without All That Racket”
“Peach Blossom Spring”

Pan Zhao (48-117 AD)
“Needle and Thread”

Wang Wei (699-759 AD)
“Deer Forest Hermitage”
“Magnolia Hermitage”
“On Parting with Spring”

Li Po (701-762 AD)
“Drinking Alone with the Moon”

Middle Ages (500-1500):

Author Unknown – Spanish
Poema del Cid (1140)

Dante, Alighieri (1265?1321) – Italian
Divine Comedy (The Inferno only)

Sor Juana In̩z de la Cruz (1651-1695) РMexican
“May Heaven Serve as Plate for the Engraving”
“Yet if, for Singing your Praise”

Romanticism:

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832) – German
Tragedy of Faust (part 1, 1808 and part 2, 1833)

Rossetti, Christina Georgina (1830-1894) – English
“Where are the Songs I Used to Know?” (1904)
“There is a Budding Morrow in the Midnight”

Realism:

Dostoevsky, Fyodor (1821-1881) – Russian
Crime and Punishment (1866)

Tolstoy, Leo (1828-1910) – Russian
War and Peace (1869)
The Death of Ivan Ilych (1886)

Ibsen, Henrik (1828-1906) – Norwegian
A Doll’s House (1879)

Chekhov, Anton (1866-1904) – Russian
“Easter Eve” (1886)
“The Bet” (1889)

Tsvetaeva, Marina Ivanova (1892-1941) – Russian
“What Shall I Do?””

Modern Age:

Mistral, Gabriela (1892-1957) – Chilean
“I Am Not Alone”
“Tiny Feet”

Márquez, Gabriel García (1982 Nobel Prize) ? Columbia
“A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings”

Lagerlöf, Selma Louisa (1858-1940) – Swedish
The Löwensköld Ring (1925)

Sodergran, Edith (1892-1923) – Finnish
“Pains Governs All”

Camus, Albert (1913-1960) – French
The Stranger (1942)

Remarque, Erich Maria (1998-1970) – German
All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)

Markandaya, Kamala (1924-2004) – Hindu
Nectarina Sieve (1955)

Paton, Alan (1903-1988) – South African
Cry the Beloved Country (1948)