Hebrew Bible and Christian Scriptures

I am hoping that the Add to Any button will promote great collaboration and interaction.

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The idea of collaboration as a part of a blog is a idea that takes more of my attention.Shareaholic is button that all students should use for their web browsing.

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Parallelism Poetry and the Jazz of Dizzy Gillespie
Robert Lowth set the stage for the continuing conversation on Hebrew poetry with his Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews published in 1753. By 1778 in his work of Isaiah Lowth further defined his understanding of the special structure of Hebrew poetry as parallelism. Three types dominate the discussion, synonymous, antithetical, and synthetic. Another way to think of this as two hard types and one type that is neither of the other two.
A spate of important linguistic studies of biblical poetry is out there. (See T. Collins, A. Cooper, J. deMoor, S. Geller, E. Greenstein, P. Miller, M. O’Connor, D. Pardee, S. Parker, S. Segert, and W.G.E. Watson. Kugel and Alter build on the work of Lowth and provide a non-linguistic but helpful entry to the subject of biblical poetry. Berlin considers Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism as the intersection of “the convergence of the linguistic study of poetic discourse and the non-linguistic study of parallelism.” (xvii)
David Noel freedman says in his foreword “Robert Alter and James Kugel, as well as Stephen Geller and Michael O’Connor, among others have treated the subject, but Berlin’s book distinguishes itself by integrating Russian linguist Roman Jakobson’s pioneering work as the theoretical foundation…” (x) Berlin perceives her work as a confirmation of the general direction of Kugel and Alter.
“Parallelism is linguistic phenomenon.” (2) The essence of parallelism is the correspondence of one this with another. These relationships may be characterized by equivalence, opposition and contrast. At base the study of parallelism biblical and other wise explores these relationships.
When one investigates the bebop jazz movement pioneered by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker one notes the role of equivalence, opposition, and contrast. This can be done through rhythm, harmonic and discordant play in the event of improvisation.

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For the India class, I was assigned to present on the history of India. I always appreciate being able to see the context of a country into which I am entering, so I was jazzed to do the research for myself personally but especially excited to share it with the team. I wanted to share the same research with you. Once again, I’m placing a break here for those who aren’t into nerd parties.

This is absolutely, 100% a blow-by-blow. There are clearly THOUSANDS of years of history that I am casually dismissing with a pithy comment – especially since things happening before 1600 ACE are generally not my favorite to discuss. For anyone who wants to explore these topics further, I recommend A Traveller’s History of India and In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India.

India has been around pretty much forever. The argument can be made that it is, if not the oldest, then one of the oldest continual cultures in the world. By the time of the 6th century BCE, Indian culture was beginning to form to the point it is now. Hinduism was fairly settled and created an appropriate cultural climate for both Buddhism and Jainism to flourish. The continent was rocking steady, minding its own business (aka: it was full of kingdoms constantly warring for control of land, resources and people) when Alexander the Great burst onto the scene in 330 BCE. From this point onwards, Indian history is largely shaped by its interactions with outside cultures, countries and rulers.

Asoka: In order to understand Indian history, you have to know Asoka. Until the time of the British Raj, Asoka ruled over the largest portion of India of any other ruler – including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. He is credited with two major things: 1) propagating Buddhism and is largely credited with it’s spread and dominance throughout Asia and 2) cementing the rule of Dharma into the Indian culture. The empire he ruled, the Mauryan, eventually collapsed in 184 B.C.E and plunged India into fragmented confusion which lasted almost 500 years.

The Guptas: The Rule of the Guptas lasted for about 150 years and is regarded as the “Golden Age of Indian Civilization.” It dominated the whole of Northern India and saw an outpouring of art, music, literature and other aspects of culture. While they may not be viewed by most Indians as key or important, they serve as the last dominating force in India prior to the arrival of Islam. Their influence upon Indian cultural unity laid foundations for its later interaction with Islam.

Rise of Islam: Between 647 CE and 1565, Indian history is dominated by the story of the arrival and growing power of Islam. For anyone unfamiliar with the ways which Islam rolled out across the world and its influence on the cultures it interacted with, I recommend grabbing any of the relevant works by Karen Armstrong. There are many details we can say here – including the power of the Delhi Sultanate, which is certainly worth mentioning – but those details can be found elsewhere. My editorial commentary is that Islam presented the first entity which India could not absorb into the mainstream of its culture. To chose to be Muslim meant rejecting aspects of indigenous culture. This battle continues to shape India and its relationships with other countries.

Moghal Empire: The Mughal (or Moghal or Mogul) Empire spans several hundred years and encompasses a “glorious time of Indian culture.” Instead of the divisive pattern that had been the rule of law prior to their assent, we see a growing political, administrative and cultural unity spreading throughout the subcontinent. It can be argued that their unifying tactics laid the foundation for the coming tide of foreign dominance, but that should never detract from the achievements made.

East India Company: There were many East India Companies – Portuguese, Dutch, French, British. By the early 1600s, the power of the Mogals was receeding and the power void allowed for Europe to begin it’s takeover. While all of the companies left their own distinct mark – mostly on the southwestern coast state of Kerala – I concentrate the most on the British, as they eventually became the colonial power. From 1600 – 1858, the British East India company systematically took over the country, incorporating colonialism and forever changing how the West would interact with the Rest. They mostly traded opium, spices and tea and I credit them largely for the British obsession with tea.

British Raj: After the First War of Independence (also called the Sapoy Rebellion or the Indian Mutiny) in 1858, the British government dissolved the East India Company but continued to control India through the indirect rule of the British Raj. From 1858-1947, India was controlled by a hybrid of indigenous leadership who were little more than puppets to direct imported rulers. Much like other countries who are former colonized nations, this period of history is one not easily escaped from. There is an interesting conversation to be had here about race relations and the interactions between Brits and Indians, but that’s for another time.

Partition: Due to increased tension between Hindu and Muslim leadership, the British felt strongly that a united India could not move forward into independence. Thus, they partitioned India into separate Hindu and Muslim areas, uprooting hundreds of thousands of people from their homes so they could move to “appropriate” areas. The Muslim section is modern day Pakistan. Clearly, tensions still run hot between these two nations.

Ghandi: So, I don’t know if you’ve heard of this guy, but he’s kind of a big deal. Not a figure without controversy, however, he was the figurehead of a massive independence movement. Achieved in incremental pieces, India was declared a sovereign state in 1947. The first leader was Jawaharal Nehru, who set the tone for Indian politics for years to come. Other leaders of note; Indira Ghandi, Nehru’s granddaughter and Manmohan Singh, the current Prime Minister.

Slumdog: The India of 2010 is diverse and massive. Everything about India is life to an exponent – the wealth of some is as staggering as the poverty of others. Slumdog Millionaire is certainly a movie with its faults, but it raises a valid discussion about the growth of India. India is remarkable in how it has risen from the ashes of colonialism and built itself into a global force. It will, however, be hindered by its greater demons of child poverty, slavery and economic discrepancy if those things are not addressed.

If any of these topics interested you at all, I would really encourage you to investigate further. Shashi Tharoor is a brilliant author who writes equisitely about the glory and stress of his country. I recommend his Midnight to Millenium highly.

Can you over use hashtags on twitter?

Is obsessive hashtagging a problem?

And what advice would you give in terms of appropriate use of hashtags?

Why do I ask?

Because Marian Schembari left the following comment on my A Twitteraholic’s Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter post:

“Certain tweeters need to cut it out with the obsessive hashtagging. It dilutes the message and looks spammy.”

Now I feel I haven’t provided enough advice on hashtags so want to rectify it.

And why did I miss it?

Easy

How you use Twitter and what annoys you depends how many you follow.

A person who follows 1,000’s of people sees things differently from someone who follows 100’s.

So what advice should I be providing on using hashtags on twitter?

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