Day 11: Week 2: Judo-Christian emphasis

1/26 The days are now beginning to fly, but we’re attempting to hold on fast to the little moments as they come. After two late nights Monday morning came far too quickly for my taste. However, we were off to the maze of early morning rush hour tube traffic. After waiting for a few trains and finally working up aggressiveness we pushed our way into a crowded car (although Daniel got left behind again), which got us to the proper station where we proceeded to weave quickly to the street and then towards the church. Plenary was decently interesting, although I was far too exhausted to appreciate it to the full extent. We basically just tied in Judaism and Christianity with Greco-Roman cultures and looked at their interactions.

After our plenary lecture we grabbed a lunch, which thankfully includes cheese this week!, and hit the buses towards the British Museum. This week’s assignments were much less intensive than the first, and so we more leisurely stared at the Mesopotamian culture (which was incredible compared to its Minoan/Mycenaean counterpart in early Greece) and marveled at the thesaurus and list of names and meanings inscribed into stone. Fascinating how human culture hasn’t actually changed that much in thousands of years. The means by which we do things yes, but the actual intent of our actions is largely driven by the same motivations.

On our way to a specific room we passed a random room that contained a fully preserved body from a couple thousand years ago. It was a staggering sight, one that was repulsive, but drew your eye. Katie said she could still see the hairs on his head, and all of his skin was intact as he lay curled in the fetal position amidst a hoard of grave-robbed treasures (it said that he was found in that state preserved by a sandstorm or something). So that was something very interesting/disturbing. After that room we stumbled across our professor Dr. Stewart staring fixedly at a case (he was checking out for future weeks). The four of us decided to sneak up behind him and we stared over his shoulders, attempting to contain our laughter, until he noticed our presence. He actually turned around, looked us full in the face, and began to walk away before our giggles gave our identities away. Lastly, we saw the Rosetta stone for real since it was assigned for this week’s viewing. It was pretty sweet to look at, although it didn’t do a whole lot since we couldn’t understand any of the words. However, it was another informative trip.

Tonight’s reading assignment was…pretty sweet: Genesis chapters 1-11, I Samuel 16-end, II Samuel, Job 1-2, 38-42, and Amos. They each took a while, but it was well worth it. Having studied some of the history found in Samuel last semester I found it very gratifying to look at the story of David in its entirety, giving it a new perspective and a holistic look. Amos is also a really interesting book, and I enjoyed the way in which he incorporates literary forms to make his oration vivid and persuasive.