Things To Do in Denver When You're Dead

The AP report from the annual Christian booksellers confab (last week in Denver) includes:

On the darker side is Eric Wilson's "Jerusalem's Undead" trilogy from Thomas Nelson, which follows characters who have risen from the dead after being tainted by the blood of Judas, betrayer of Jesus.

"It is fantasy, but he weaves it from a biblical perspective and ties it back to the power of blood," said Allen Arnold of Nelson publishing.-- specifically, Christian belief in the atoning power of Christ's blood.

On Sept. 15, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group will release its take on vampires in "Thirsty," by Christian chick-lit author Tracey Bateman. Not surprisingly, the marketing material mentions "Twilight," the hit vampire book series and movie whose abstinence message resonated with many evangelicals.

Bateman's vampire, Markus, is a character but also a metaphor for demons anyone must overcome, said Shannon Marchese, an editor at WaterBrook Multnomah who sought out Bateman for the project. The object of his obsession, Nina, is a divorced alcoholic dealing with addiction.

"These are themes that work in the Christian life," Marchese said. '

Da Vinci's study of Judas

That's nothin' compared to a series (Left Behind) that made a fantasy of killing EVERYONE who didn't go along with a narrow evangelical mindset into a bestseller. Oh, and the destruction of the earth as well. I'd say Judas's blood vampires are a downright positive view of the world compared to longing for the apocalypse.

Turns out that the idea that Judas was the first vampire has been around for a while.

And for an interesting Christian-based discussion of Judas, here's Dr. James McGrath, Associate Professor of Religion at Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana, a prolific and intelligent blogger.

And today, Prof. McGrath wishes us a happy Mandaean New Years. Hmm. How's it he knows that??

Gnositicism at Daily Kos

There's a longish essay, Destroy This Temple, at Daily Kos on Gnosticism. The writer begins by arguing, "What we have been witnessing as "christianity" for 1684 years since the infamous edicts of the Council of Nicea of 325AD has all been an intentional falsehood: the Council basically flipped the true story and redid it as the opposite message, of hate and murder of other religious minorities, particularly the Gnostics who were the largest and most influential "original" christian sect, of centralized hierarchy which was the antithesis of Gnosticism which is based on knowledge, or gnosis, and the sharing of that knowledge, with the masters reaching "christhood" per se, or a pure state of gnosis. Yes it's quite influenced by eastern religions, particularly the Buddhist's 'nirvana.'"

The comments include one urging readers to take a look at a Bill Moyer's interview with Elaine Pagels - this one? It's from 1988 and is about St. Augustine's view on Eve and the Serpent (and sex) becoming the dominant view.

The commenter at Daily Kos wrote:

[S]he brought out the point that what Christianity did was say that a slave girl's soul was a valuable as the Emperor's. And that each individual had a obligation to something greater than the proximate social order.

This struck at the very root of Roman life. There, every eldest male in a household had life and death say over every other member, and this included every detail of their lives. Any member could be abused as he wished, and there was only the disapproval of the other eldest males that restrained them.

And eldest son had the same sway except counter the elder, on down the line to the elder's wife and daughters over the slaves. Everyone had their place. Outside the home, the same hierarchical order over eldest men prevailed, except with the Emperor as top dog.

With Christianity all of a sudden, slaves were to be seen with the same eyes as the Greats, woman were refusing their "duties" for religious reasons, ... everything of the established order was a risk.

The sum: the very notion of individuality springs from the teachings of Christ and the early church.

The transcript from a more recent Moyers' interview with Pagels includes her saying this:

You know, if you look at the image of a mother and child, for many people this will remind us of Mary and the child Jesus. Two thousand, 3000 years ago, it would have reminded people of the Goddess Isis and her son, Horus. But before it was Isis and Horace or Jesus and Mary, it was any mother, and any child. So anyone who had been a child, or anyone who had been a parent could identify with that very powerful and simple picture. What is more fundamental? So, that picture is one in which, anyone can see his or her life played out.

That, to me, is the feminine face of god.

St. Paul's Bones

Tradition holds that St. Paul is buried beneath the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, one of the four major (and ancient) basilicas of Rome. More news has come out on the excavations there - that "Vatican technicians entered the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in the dead of night, drilled a small hole in the tomb under the main altar and extracted fragments of what was inside."

Cardinal Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo said introducing a probe into the sarcophagus was an idea approved by Pope Benedict some four years ago.

The cardinal and Santamaria both explained that the slab of marble covering the sarcophagus is marked with circular carvings into which pilgrims once dipped pieces of cloth, which they believed would touch the body of the saint, making them what the cardinal described as "contact relics."

They both explained, however, that those carvings had not penetrated the tomb and that the tiny perforation drilled by Vatican technicians was the only opening.

Cardinal Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo said that the tomb had been "closed and sealed, and had never been opened."

The cardinal said that a complete opening of the tomb in the future had not been ruled out, although there was no concrete plan at the moment to do so. Such a project would be a major operation requiring the approval of the pope, he said. It would entail dismantling the papal altar, extracting the very large sarcophagus and transporting it to a laboratory to be opened and studied.

In a counterpoint, a commentator in the Baltimore Sun wants to know who needs it:

Why do we insist on this stuff? If it's "unanimous and uncontested," what's the point? Next thing you know, we're going to require video and sound recordings from 62 A.D. before we'll believe any of it.

What happened to faith? So much of religion is predicated in a certain amount of blind belief, it surprises me that the Catholic Church felt a need to verify the authenticity of Paul's bones. What does it matter? Thanks to a beheading, the poor man's skull and teeth are located elsewhere. Thank goodness, or Pope Benedict might be telling us that, based on a bit of scientific teeth scraping, we know what Paul last ate.

My first thought when reading the pope's words was that the Catholic Church has a high-tech lab hidden in some catacomb under one of Rome's hills in which scientists will reconstruct the DNA of the Apostle and clone the old saint. Once again Paul will don glorious robes, or perhaps Levi's, and walk the earth among us. Whew, hand that little idea to The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown and let him run with it. I'm already looking forward to seeing Tom Hanks in another sequel.

Spoilsport...

A Byway Ancient Rome 1884, also known as Winding the Distaff by John William Waterhouse (1830-1905)

Bulwer-Lytton Winners Announced

This is the annual bad writing contest from San Jose State, named for Edward George Earl Bulwer-Lytton. He began his 1830 novel "Paul Clifford" with the often quoted words: "It was a dark and stormy night ..." This year's winners include David McKenzie, 55, of Federal Way, Wash., who penned:

"Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the "Ellie May," a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests."

Record Crowds at Stonehenge for Solstice

This should be filed under "the past isn't dead; it isn't even past": The London Times reports that there were 36,500 this year for the Solstice celebration at Stonehenge - when the usual barriers come down and you can actually stand amidst the standing stones. "Druids began their incantations, Wiccan priestesses drew their cowls tight against the damp morning air... " and the car park was filled by 3 a.m.

What the people left behind, though, suggests they weren't pantheists. A Times reader writes, "WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE YOUR DAMN RUBBISH HOME WITH YOU? You left the place looking like a pigsty!"

Resources, beginning with Rome

Writing historical fiction means never having to apologize for reading.

Well. Almost never. You also have to write...

I'm listing some websites on the right-hand side of the page under "Roman Resources" for those interested in learning more. Don't miss Andre Caron's models of ancient Roma; they're gorgeous.