Thursday, January 21, 2010
China. Is China the future that works?
Here is a loving post on China. The author is "bullish" but the next article demonstrates that the author has no illusions about price being paid to get there. Even Dickens' or Engel's portrait of the brutality of early industrial England has nothing to match this. How do we reconcile these two portraits of contemporary Chine
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Religion, Bible, Judaism
The Torah session continues to be productive in spite of the absence of Bible scholars. I wish I could get my classes to be as responsive to these texts as our motley crew at the Torah session.
Today we read and discussed Kings 1 Ch.2. David is on his deathbed, uttering his last words to his heir and successor Solomon. The first few lines are "religious", an admonition to keep the faith,the laws and statutes of Moses so that"no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel" Then, without a pause,David switches into the warlord or Mafia Boss. "Bump off Joab, Be friendly to another guy who helped me out and sleep with one eye open when dealing with so and so etc.
The first part was rather priestly (according to Alter it was inserted by the Deuteronomist) But it illustrates a crucial point about the ancient Hebrew Kingship. Though the King is God's anointed the succession is not a done deal. After all God anointed Saul but then got rid of him(albeit for not being thorough in committing genocide) David's kingship and his succession are only legitimate if he and the people keep the covenant. This is not the Oriental Kingship which is inherently Divine-it is tentative(as subsequent developments, especially the breakup of the kingdom under Solomon) will show. The King is responsible to the elctorate, though this electorate consist o of one Divine being Since,according to the prophets the people violated these Divine precepts why are we(not me-I mean religious messianics) still talking about the restoration of the temple and David's line.
The Mafia warlord section will disturb those who believe that religion should be purely spiritual leaving politicians to do the dirty work. THis part of David's speech could easily be incorporated into a segment of The Godfather.Because Judaism is like that. It accepts the reality of dirty hands. I will discuss this issue in a later blog.
Today we read and discussed Kings 1 Ch.2. David is on his deathbed, uttering his last words to his heir and successor Solomon. The first few lines are "religious", an admonition to keep the faith,the laws and statutes of Moses so that"no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel" Then, without a pause,David switches into the warlord or Mafia Boss. "Bump off Joab, Be friendly to another guy who helped me out and sleep with one eye open when dealing with so and so etc.
The first part was rather priestly (according to Alter it was inserted by the Deuteronomist) But it illustrates a crucial point about the ancient Hebrew Kingship. Though the King is God's anointed the succession is not a done deal. After all God anointed Saul but then got rid of him(albeit for not being thorough in committing genocide) David's kingship and his succession are only legitimate if he and the people keep the covenant. This is not the Oriental Kingship which is inherently Divine-it is tentative(as subsequent developments, especially the breakup of the kingdom under Solomon) will show. The King is responsible to the elctorate, though this electorate consist o of one Divine being Since,according to the prophets the people violated these Divine precepts why are we(not me-I mean religious messianics) still talking about the restoration of the temple and David's line.
The Mafia warlord section will disturb those who believe that religion should be purely spiritual leaving politicians to do the dirty work. THis part of David's speech could easily be incorporated into a segment of The Godfather.Because Judaism is like that. It accepts the reality of dirty hands. I will discuss this issue in a later blog.
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