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You don't think the Jews originated with a strong military? Perhaps not when compared to stronger civilizations but it was indeed a militaristic tradition within that community, dating back to Abraham. But even if we set that issue aside, I consider Judaism and Christianity together, and I consider Christianity within the strong military because of Rome's adoption of it. Without that, Christianity obviously would not be associated with this kind of power. Islam also became associated with strong armies.That said, of course you are right about the relevancy of the message they present.
Consider this,The Jewish people were a small tribe to begin with. The Old Testament is full of stories about how they were subjugated and basically treated bad first by the Egyptians, then the Babylonians, and finally the Romans who were the authors of the Diaspora after their revolt in A.D. 79. While they were militaristic they were certainly not a power. The only reason we know of them is because of the strength and relevance of their religion, that is their claim to fame, as it were.Christianity had been around for almost four hundred years before its official adoption by Rome. Indeed, the Romans had systematically tried to stamp them out as being a subversive influence to the empire. Once again, Christianity survived, even flourished because of the strength of its message.The same can be said of Islam. Islam grew in strength because of its message, temporal, read military, power came second.Therefore, it seems to me that the deciding factor in a major religion is the strength of its message. All of the major religions that have stood the test of time have a redemptive message where the religions that have not flourished do not. That is my take.
But then again, Texans are so full of themselves that I bet there are at least 75 statues of Sam Houston scattered throughout the state.
I like history because I think the past is simply fascinating. When I was a child I used to play elaborate mind games imagining what it must have been like to live in different time periods. I even went so far as to try and build things the way they were built in the past to get an idea of the level of effort involved in making them. In high school I built a Roman Spatha in metal shop. Even using modern tools it was amazingly difficult to get the balance correct so that swinging or stabbing with it was not awkward. I also tried to build a shoulder rig from a suit of plate armor using plans I got from a history book. Needless to say, I was unsuccessful. I could not get the articulation right.I like to try and get inside the heads of people from the past, I think it is only possible to understand the past and why decisions were made if the historian attempts to recreate the thoughts and attitudes of historical actors. Those in the past did things for entirely different reasons than we would. I wonder what it was like to be a Legionnaire fighting the Gauls, or a settler in 17th century America. I would love to sit down with Caesar and discuss his conquest of Gaul, or Hannibal and Scipio to talk about the Punic Wars. Can you imagine debating Socrates or Plato?Lastly, I think it is impossible to understand where humanity is going without knowing from whence we came. The past is still endlessly fascinating because their is always something new to learn.
My first visit to the Kriminalmuseum was when I was 25, I was young and thought it was cool then. I took my son about 3 1/2 years ago and was alarmed at man's cruelty to man. Especially given that I had to explain everything to my son. It is amazing the different ways the same things are viewed as we age. I guess I am growing up, if rather slowly.
I don't think two rooms are necessary, one room would cover both. Donald is right, a combination would keep the room more lively. I only have time to read for fun in-between or when I have light classes which is rare. My next class has 8 books totaling almost 4000 pages of reading plus whatever I have to read for my term paper. If I can be so bold as to suggest a name for the room it would be something like “Historical Theory and Book Reviews“I thought about adding some mangled version of Tolkien's ring poem here but decide to forgo it for fear of being labeled a geek. I know too, that I am a relatively new though active participant in this forum and don't want to get ahead of myself or wear out my welcome by being to forward either.
I would define the major religions as ones that have more than 5 million or so adherents in the present. This puts Judaism on the ragged edge of being major even before the holocaust. My list would be Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hindu, Sikhism, Shintoism, and Buddhism. I agree with ski that Confucianism and Taoism are more philosophies than religions because they have no divine figure. I guess that means I should add Shintoism as a religion not emanating from the Middle East as well.Judaism, did not arise with a militarily strong society, the Jews have always been a small people. My thoughts point more towards the major religions having survived and prospered because of the profundity and relevance of their message. Of course, military strength has something to do with it, but Christianity grew because its message answered a need long before Christians were an influential people.Ski,Doesn't current science point to Africa, specifically sub-Saharan Africa as the birthplace of mankind?
Interesting segment. Notice that they don't put species loss into any other context than that of global warming. A good idea but the political bias in this piece is undeniable. Another example of the media's current hue and cry of “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!” Apparently, Goebbels was a good teacher because the MSM has the art of the BIG LIE down to an absolute science now.
I just read this in the local paper as well. That has got to be a neat trick, stealing a lighthouse! 😀
You must be talking about a different statue. Here is a picture of the statue I am talking about. That is my kid on the right and his best friend on the left, this was taken over Memorial Day weekend. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Freemason_Statue.JPG[/img]
I would say that History and Archeology are complementary but separate disciplines. I agree with ski here. Ancient and medieval history would be impossible without archeology. Archaeology is also indispensable with more recent events too. It is one thing to read something in a book or an archive, it is another thing entirely to handle the things the actors used or to walk the ground they trod. My specialty is military history and I am convinced that it is impossible to understand any battle without fully understanding the effects of the weapons used and walking the ground where the battle was fought. I though I understood Waterloo and the implications of the defense of Hougemont until I went to the battlefield and saw how truly decisive the British retention of that Chateau was. Similarly, no serious student of the Civil War can fully understand the fog of war without first hand experience of how tremendously smoky 19th century and earlier battlefields were. A trip to any reenactment will give one a pretty good idea of the chaos that reigned on battlefields then, it is amazing commanders had as good a grasp of events as they did.So yes, I would say that archeology is necessary and should be distinct. I think Don is confusing the practitioners with the craft. The New Left is doing their best to hijack all academic disciplines, it is our duty as historians and academics to ensure that academic rigour is continued and to expose those with a political agenda in their scholarship. I for one, think scholars should be apolitical in their work.
I think that early archaeology was more concerned with glory and finds than anything else. I am forgetting the name, but there was a German archaeologist who searched for the city of Troy in the 19th century and I think basically ended up damaging the site. Of course, the 18th and 19th centuries were times when Europe was looking to the ancient past for inspiration and validation and so their archaeological excavations had underlying political and cultural aims as well.
That was Heinrich Schliemann, he found Troy and I also think he was one of the ones involved in the removal of the Ishtar Gate from Babylon and installing it at the Pergmamom in Berlin.
Some of the more vile instruments were included in there and it is hard to understand how or why people would decide to come up with some of those "tools".
The human imagination is a fertile thing, is it not?
But didn't Buddha started off as a Hindu?
You may be right, I am not a religious history expert. I thought the Buddha was an animist before he founded his religion. I may need to do some more research here. I do find it curious however, that such a small region of the world has produced so many of the great religions.
Check this book out....it has some information on the Prussian artillery, some of which may be of help to you. Berlin Under the New Empire
ROFL. Found this on page 164
We will get together here all the best Paris workmen, and as they are mostly German, that will not be very difficult. Bismarck won't tolerate the French language any longer in diplomacy, he will write in German, and if the French can't understand him so much the worst for them.
That is funny.
