The study of Archaic Greece has undergone a fundamental transformation in recent decades. Whereas studies up to the 1980s had favoured narratives that converged on the more tangible reality of the Classical period and emphasized radical change, the increase in archaeological data and the cultural turn have led to an emphasis on long-term…[Read more]

Biblical Aramaic accounts for a small fraction within the two-testament Christian Bible. Studying it would seem therefore to present a modest value for biblical studies, and Egyptian Aramaic, a nonbiblical counterpart from the same historical era, even more so. The present article argues, however, that comparing Egyptian Aramaic with biblical…[Read more]

What was the significance of ancestors in the Hebrew Bible? The question is spurred by Kerry Sonia’s Caring for the Dead, which argues that the cult of dead kin was an accepted practice in the culture of the biblical writers. In building this thesis, Sonia resists an idea popular in scholarship that the Hebrew Bible promotes a negative view of r…[Read more]

Feeding the dead was an accepted cultural practice in the world of biblical writers. It is circumscribed by cultic considerations in passages such as Deut 26:14, but there are no texts that prohibit the placing of food inside tombs. Thus, the biblical writers tacitly acknowledged the practice, though feeding the dead is never explicitly prescribed…[Read more]

Psalms write and express revelation, relationship, and response on and through the body; corporeal vocabulary, awareness of embodiment and somatic metaphors abound. This rhetoric draws people in through reference to common experience and uses somatic language to express thoughts and emotions which often escape conceptualisation, such as confusion,…[Read more]

Throughout Daniel 8–10, Daniel is touched five times by human-like figures. By these touch interventions, he receives both physical and emotional strength which allow him to continue participating in the revelatory experience. This essay argues that embodied participation marked by the sense of touch not only legitimates an authentic revelation b…[Read more]

Using cognitive metaphor theory to examine the four NT nursing metaphors (1 Thess 2:5–9; 1 Cor 3:1–3; Heb 5:11–14; 1 Pet 2:1–3), this article demonstrates that the same nursing frame can be used quite differently. The work of separating the contributions of each input space and then running the blend demonstrates how each metaphor functio…[Read more]

The verb ba’ash (lit. “to stink”) is used repeatedly in the Hebrew Bible to describe unwanted groups or individuals (Gen 34:30; Exod 5:21; 1 Sam 13:4; 1 Sam 27:12; 2 Sam 10:6; 1 Chr 19:6). However, there is an overwhelming tendency in English translations and commentaries to translate bet-aleph-shin in a figurative sense as “obnoxious” (NIV, NKJ…[Read more]

The discipline of embodied cognitive science and associated concept of intercorporeality provide the theoretical framework of our analysis of Proverbs 31:10–31. This essay fleshes out the underlying cognitive and meaning-making processes and entailments inherent in the valiant woman’s use of her hands and body as depicted in the poem. The val…[Read more]

When Jesus humbly washes his disciples’ feet (John 13), he engages his friends up close using the sense of touch. This article explores how his touch conveys a quality of love that no other physical sense can capture. Sensory Anthropology reveals how touch is often overlooked and undervalued but is quite potent. We confronted these dynamics most r…[Read more]

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs contain nuanced discussions of the nature of sin, which is invariably associated with both demonic forces and the human body. The senses are portrayed as human spirits. These senses, when used inappropriately, can allow the spirits of deceit to overcome a person and lead them to sin. Seeing, tasting and…[Read more]

This working paper presents in full translation four texts of the Uzbek early 20th-century jadid reformist Abdurrauf Fitrat. Identifying educational reform as the main key to progress, he advocated for the emancipation and nationalisation of the Chaghatay/Uzbek language as a tool to educate the masses rather than to serve the interests of a…[Read more]

This essay explores the meaning of the word glōssa, the tongue, in Acts. The focus of my study will be Acts 2:1-13, the Pentecost narrative, where the reader first interacts with tongues of fire and with the experience of glossolalia, speaking in tongues. I read this passage exegetically (but playfully) while I consider the meaning and usage of…[Read more]

The case in which Laloo has been convicted is popularly known as the Fodder Scam. A brief recapitulation of the scam would be in order. The scam first began unfolding in Bihar in 1975-76, when the state was under Congress rule and Jagannath Mishra was the chief minister. The scam continued to flourish for the entire decade. The scam continued even…[Read more]

जिस मामले में लालू प्रसाद को सजा हुई है, वह चारा घोटाले के नाम से जाना जाता है। इस घोटाले की संक्षिप्त कथा जानना आवश्यक है। सन् 1974-75 की शुरुआत में ही जब इस घोटाले की शुरुआत हुई, तब बिहार में कांग्रेस का शासन था और डॉ. जगन्नाथ मिश्र मुख्यमंत्री हुआ करते थे। अबाध गति से पूरे दो दशक यह घोटाला चलता रहा। 1990 में जब लालू प्रसाद मुख्यमंत्री बन…[Read more]

Scientific diagrams could and did appear in unexpected places. This essay discusses such an example: the diagrams that the thirteenth- to fourteenth-century scholar George-Gregory Chioniades added to a manuscript of John of Damascus’s Fountain of Knowledge as part of his commentary on the text. I argue that the diagrams were a very important, if…[Read more]

This article was written after Aam Aadmi Party formed the government for the first time in Delhi. The article discusses the concept of social justice of the Aam Aadmi Party. This article concludes that the party does not care about the interests of Dalits, Backwards.

यह आलेख आम आदमी पार्टी की दिल्ली में पहली बार सरकार बनने के बाद लिखा गया था।
आलेख में आम आदमी पार्टी की सामाजिक न्याय की अवधारणा पर विचार किया गया है। यह लेख बताता है कि पार्टी दलित, पिछड़ों के हितों की परवाह नहीं करती।

सरकार ने सामन्य तबके, जिन्हें सामान्य तौर पर हम सवर्ण कहते हैं, उन्हें भी आरक्षण देने की घोषणा की है।

लेकिन, आरक्षण नामक काठ की हांडी में येन केन प्रकारेण कई बार राजनीति का पानी गर्म किया जा चुका है। अब यह व्यापक सरोकार वाला मुद्दा नहीं रह गया है। कम-से-कम महानगरों में तो नहीं। यह बूढ़े होते अधेड़ों को युवाओं की अपेक्षा अधिक अपील करता है। जबकि…[Read more]