Author: william

  • The Guards at Jesus’ Tomb

    Prelude: A Day Dawns                  W. Zeitler Postlude: Order of Chivalry: Justice    W. Zeitler I‘m still working through the Gospel of Nicodemus, a 4th century account of Jesus’ death and resurrection that didn’t make the cut for the official New Testament. One characteristic of this account is…

  • Order of Chivalry: Obedience

    Prelude: Kaddish                 M. Ravel (1875-1937) Susan Addington, Flute Postlude: The Order of Chivalry: Obedience                  W. Zeitler Maurice Ravel composed “Deux Mélodies Hébraïques” (“Two Hebrew Melodies”) in 1914 for voice and piano. (Today we hear it on flute instead.) A few…

  • Did Jesus Speak Aramaic?

    I‘m still working through the Gospel of Nicodemus, a 4th century account of Jesus death and resurrection that didn’t make the cut for the official New Testament. One characteristic of this account is that it’s significantly more detailed than the official one. Even if the extra details aren’t ‘historical’ I still find them interesting. Like…

  • Vignette from the Gospel of Nicodemus

    As I’ve previously mentioned, which books are included in our official New Testament was largely established by informal consensus by the 2nd century or so. In the case of the four gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — this consensus was virtually unanimous very early. But there were a number of ‘alternative’ gospels that…

  • Piano Piece: Sanctuary of Hope

    Which books are included in the official New Testament was essentially established by informal consensus by the 2nd century or so. In the case of the four gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — this consensus was virtually unanimous very early. But there were a number of ‘alternative’ gospels that didn’t make the cut.…

  • Dreaming of Science

    In 1610 Galileo (1564-1642) peered through his small 20 power telescope, and saw moons around Jupiter, observed phases of Venus (like the phases of the moon) and observed craters on our moon. This played a major role in the intellectual crisis of his day: the collapse of Aristotelianism. Aristotle’s (384–322 BCE) M.O. (modus operandi) was…

  • “My Yoke is Easy”

    28 Come to me all [you who are] weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matt 11:28-30)…

  • Piling up Participles

    In English we have ‘independent clauses’ — sentences or sentence fragments that stand on their own: “William bought rhubarb.” We also have “dependent clauses” — sentence fragments that don’t stand on their own: “Having gone to the store”. But one or more dependent clauses can be combined with one independent clause to express a complete…

  • “Row, Row, Row your Boat”

    The well known song “Row, Row, Row your Boat” is a musical “round”: one melodic line, and one person/group starts singing it, and at least one other/group starts singing the same melody but starting at, say, bar two, and they fit together. Wikipedia has a good article on them. Normally a round like “Row Row…

  • Labyrinths

    There is love in the labyrinth There is darkness in the labyrinth The exit may not be where you think it is — Unknown Attentive readers will have noticed the mazes I’ve been using to decorate my blogs (such as the one above). Meanwhile, I’ve been doing further research on mazes and labyrinths… Of course…