Category Archives: Bible and Holy Land

Tabsir Redux: With Kitto Illustrating Bible History

Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Orientalism, Orientalist Images

As a child I spent many inquisitive hours leafing through the books in my grandmother’s parlor bookcase. One that especially attracted my attention was John Kitto’s An Illustrated History of the Holy Bible (Social Circle, Georgia: E. Nebhut, 1871). Rev. John Kitto, recognized on the title page as author of the London Pictorial Bible, the Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, ETC, ETC, retells the entire history of the Old and New Testament, from creation to the destruction of Jerusalem. Kitto was born into poverty in 1804 in Plymouth, England and due to an unfortunate accident ate age thirteen became entirely deaf and was forced into the poor house at the age of fifteen. This is quite an inauspicious beginning for a waif who went on to be a respected theological scholar. Through the local humanitarian efforts of several men in Plymouth, Kitto became a lay missionary to Malta and then for three and a half years in Baghdad. “While residing in that city,” writes Alvan Bond in the preface to Kitto’s book, Cairo “was visited by the plague, the terrific ravages of which swept off more than one-half the inhabitants in two months. Amidst this fearful desolation he remained calm and active at his post.” Once back in England he married and produced a travel account and several pictorial histories of the Holy Land. In 1844 the University of Giessen conferred upon him the degree of D.D. His ill health forced him to seek help in the spas of Germany, where he died after a mere half century in 1854. Continue reading Tabsir Redux: With Kitto Illustrating Bible History →

Babel: A New Post-Occupation Translation

Bible and Holy Land, Ethics, Iraq, Iraq War


Tower of Babel artwork in Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna, c. 1500

The beginning of a year that is yet again an apocalyptic venue is as good a time as any to quote from the biblical book of Genesis. Many of the events in Genesis took place in the legendary space that we now call Iraq, a space that the United States military is unoccupying after a prolonged mission that appears to have accomplished more mayhem than a lasting peace (at least in the recent holiday “peace on earth” spirit). Remember the story of the Tower of Babel; well here is my take of a new translation, being as faithful as I dare to the original King James English:

Genesis 11: The Tower of Babel
1 And the whole earth outside the Axis of Evil was of one mind, and of one resolve about the WMD of King Saddam.
2 And it came to pass, as the coalition troops journeyed to the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, but no WMD; and they dwelt there for almost a decade.
3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make bombs, and burn them thoroughly. And they had billions of dollars in weapons for battle, and slime had they in mind for talking about the party of the king.
4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a democracy, and a puppet regime, who will sell us oil that reaches unto the ports of Texas; and let us make us a name to be feared, lest we not have economic hegemony upon the face of the whole earth.
5 And the ones who lorded over came down to see the democracy and the puppet regime, which the children of the founding fathers builded.
6 And the ones who lorded over said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one dangerous religion; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined in their sharia to do.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there stoke their differences, that they may attack each other because of one another’s sectarian speech.
8 So the ones who lorded over scattered them with superior air power from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the democracy.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the ones who lorded over did there confound themselves, not knowing what they needed to know about Islam, Iraqi culture or the Arabic language.

A problem in the translation, you say? Continue reading Babel: A New Post-Occupation Translation →

Is There a Middle East?

Anthropology/Sociology, Bible and Holy Land, Books You Should Read, Conferences and Talks, Teaching Resources, Travel


Announcing a new book from Stanford University Press…

Is There a Middle East?: The Evolution of a Geopolitical Concept
Edited by Michael E. Bonine, Abbas Amanat, and Michael Ezekiel Gasper
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011.

Is the idea of the “Middle East” simply a geopolitical construct conceived by the West to serve particular strategic and economic interests—or can we identify geographical, historical, cultural, and political patterns to indicate some sort of internal coherence to this label? While the term has achieved common usage, no one studying the region has yet addressed whether this conceptualization has real meaning—and then articulated what and where the Middle East is, or is not.

This volume fills the void, offering a diverse set of voices—from political and cultural historians, to social scientists, geographers, and political economists—to debate the possible manifestations and meanings of the Middle East. At a time when geopolitical forces, social currents, and environmental concerns have brought attention to the region, this volume examines the very definition and geographic and cultural boundaries of the Middle East in an unprecedented way.



The Beast of the East

"Arab Spring", Apocalypse Watch, Islamophobia 101, Yemen, YouTube Watch


The rallying cry of those who admire the enlightened wit of David Hume might as well be “a pox on your apocalypse.” I suspect that there has hardly been any era since prophecies filled the imagination that prophetic fulfillment did not seem immanent. The biblical prophets clearly had real blood and flesh enemies in mind, and they are mentioned literally. Yet one can lionize a prophet like Daniel to such an extent that his multi-purpose end-time scenario is always in play. In the past year alone there have been the usual predictions of a fundamentalist “Rapture” when all the “true” believers get transported upwards in an eye-twinkling nanosecond and the rest of us are “left behind” for the worst hell-on-earth yet experienced. Those perpetual latter-day preachers who revel in the vials of Revelations are having a heyday with the current wave of political protests in the Middle East. New anti-christs can be christened; conniving Beasts are waiting in the wings for that one-world-government to finally take form. And, of course, the enemy these days is “radical izlam.”

As a Yemen watcher, a friend sent me a youtube video by Paul Begley, co-paster of the Community Gospel Baptist Church in Knox, Indiana. Begley has a string of youtube talks in which all the Satanic evil in the world is condensed into the religion of Islam. His latest video, produced on Friday, begins by reading the news about the reaction in Yemen to President Ali Abdullah Salih’s signing of the GCC agreement to step down. Begley’s disdain for Muslims and Arabs spills over into his linguistic mumblings, as he takes obvious delight in pronouncing Abdallah as abdalalalalalala. I beg your pardon, Pastor Begbegbegbegbegally, but r u serious? Continue reading The Beast of the East →

Tabsir Redux: Apocalypse Watch: The Man Who Knows Squat

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Bible and Holy Land, Contemporary Art, Islam and Christianity, Islamophobia, Pakistan

Most people find it hard to take cartoons seriously, apart from political satire and that can become a deadly issue, depending on the target. Given the recent Danish cartoon controversy it would seem that comics and religion do not mix well or at least settle well for the believers who see themselves as the target. But what about comic relief for the political struggle between Israel and the Palestinians? Fundamentalist tract artist Jack Chick, whose comic empire is dedicated to winning souls for Christ by drawing on God’s hate, has been using his pen to spread a rather sinister version of the fundamentally reduced Gospel for over 40 years. One of his more recent offerings is called “The Squatters” and it provides a virtual roadmap to apocalypse. Continue reading Tabsir Redux: Apocalypse Watch: The Man Who Knows Squat →

Camping Out for the Rapture

Apocalypse Watch, Islam and Christianity


You may remember that May 21, 2011 was supposed to be the day the music stopped, well at least Gospel songs, since all the “real” Christians were supposed to be raptured into the air so that all hell could finally break loose here on earth. This was one of several predictions of the apocalypse by Rev. Harold Camping, who runs a “Family Radio” Bible-debasing empire. When May 21 passed, Rev. Camping when back to the numbers and lo and behold there was a new date of October 21, 2011. As he put it on his website, which has not been changed in the past several days:

Thus we can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those who are presently saved (the elect), are under the judgment of God, and will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on October 21, 2011, on the last day of the present five months period. On that day the true believers (the elect) will be raptured. We must remember that only God knows who His elect are that He saved prior to May 21.

Mr. Camping and his followers are still here, so either the date is wrong again or perhaps the truth is that all the “real” Christians were indeed raptured out of this world but in fact there were none left, even Billy Graham, for the big event. There are a number of Christian groups who insist other Christian groups are not really Christian, such as the attack on Mitt Romney as a heretic Mormon or the man who on the day after the world was supposed to end disrupted a canonization ceremony in the Vatican and burned a Bible. Given that there are also Muslim groups which insist certain other Muslim groups are not really Muslim, perhaps there are no “real” believers at all, at least not in the narrow sense of the Campings and Ibn Taymiyas of this world.

This time around, without the “Family Radio” media campaign on billboards, there were other important news items; there were actually plenty of important news items back on May 21 as well, but this time there were no annoying reminders on Facebook that the secular jig was up. There will be more dates proposed and no doubt more gullible individuals will stand ready to be beamed up to Beulah Land. Camping might take some note of hope in the fact that Turkey has just experienced an earthquake, although it came a couple of days after the “for sure” Biblical date. And, after all, Turkey is mainly a Muslim country. But then we had a quake here on the east coast a month or so ago (perhaps Camping believes our President is secretly a Muslim, like some 20% of Americans and 30% of Republicans apparently think).

You might be wondering why yet another failed end-of-the-world prediction by a Bible-belabored Christian who thinks he is one of the few “real” Christians is worth a commentary on a blog devoted to thoughts on Islam and the Middle East. For most Americans, even the bulk of self-styled “evangelicals,” Camping represents a lunatic fringe. As the votes are being tallied in Tunisia, Egypt prepares for a vote, Libya begins the process of picking up the pieces after Qaddafi’s exit and Yemen is still waiting for Godot (I mean Ali Abdullah Salih) to go, there is a fear among many Americans that after the dictators another form of lunacy will take hold: Muslims who argue that only “their” way of being Muslim is valid. Actually, this problem is quite widespread and it is not as simple as Sunni vs. Shi’a, although that is an old and convenient fault line. Continue reading Camping Out for the Rapture →

Muslims of Color

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Bible and Holy Land, Ethics, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America, Islamophobia 101


press release says it all:

To the American people and all others who may read this child’s coloring book, We Shall Never Forget is designed to be a tool that parents can use to help teach children about the facts surrounding 9/11. This book also describes basic freedoms in America. We suggest parental guidance. As the 9/11 events are shown countless times on national media, this book will help children understand the meaning of these events. The book was created with honesty, integrity, reverence, respect and does not shy away from the truth. In this book you will see what happens to a terrorist who orders others to bomb our peace loving wonderful nation.

Here is propaganda so blatant and smiley gross that it deserves a place alongside the insidious emulation of Lenin by the Soviets and idolization of dictators the world over. The cover image is an interesting spin on the separation of church and state in our land of the free: here we see the tattered American flag flying above a cross illuminated by a beam of light from above, at the feet of which lie a firefighter’s helmet and police hat. To label the libel in this colorfully designed “Kid’s Book of Freedom” a “Graphic Coloring Novel” strikes me as a misspelling; is it not more aptly named a “Pornographic Coloring Novel,” to be rated so for the sensational violence mongering rather than any out-of-place showing of body parts?


Continue reading Muslims of Color →

And now, a special message from God (via Hume)

Bible and Holy Land


One of these individuals makes sense, but only one

The media savvy, tea-partying, supersized stars Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann have trumped government agencies like the National Weather Service and FEMA by declaring why Hurricane Irene took a course up the Atlantic, bringing several billions of dollars worth of damage and knocking out my electricity on Sunday morning. Here is Bachmann’s take:

“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?'” Bachmann, a third-term Minnesota representative, told a crowd in Sarasota that the St. Petersburg Times estimated contained around 1,000 people.

Unlike Glenn Beck, who said he had prior warning that God was sending this storm, Bachmann at least waited for a post hoc form of pseudo prophecy politicking. Beck, the stealth Mormon once in the Fox News orbit, suggested we count our blessings along with the days without electricity and number of feet of flood stage above record levels. Similar warnings of God’s use of the weather to judge us sinners here on earth were given by Pat Robertson, who had noted that God sent Hurricane Katrina to New Orleans to bash the gays living there. But then God appears to be indecisive, or at least highly selective, as reported on Robertson’s CBN:

The sun re-emerged Sunday, bringing with it relief from both the winds and the rain.

It was an answer to prayer for many people like Pastor Ken Gerry of the New Life Christian Center who had prepared for the worst while hoping for the best.

“God intervened with this. We were just praying that the storm would disorganize, dissipate, weaken,” he told CBN News.

So God answers some prayers, but then what about all those churches and God-fearing folk that got whacked in the storm. Couldn’t a God who could create the entire universe n a mere six days and give it the appearance of millions of years learn to use email or text messages? I think anyone who received such a message directly from God would change his or her ways in the twinkling of an eyelash.

But here is a thought for Michele and Glenn. If God has to get our attention by extreme weather conditions, then the prolonged drought in Texas, despite prayers by Gov. Perry, must mean something too. Continue reading And now, a special message from God (via Hume) →