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FEAR
In a Pandemic and in Thucydides "We must re-learn how to fear." Can two types of fear in Thucydides help us? A discussion with a dozen friends and scholars, plus some second thoughts of my own. INSPIRATION AND INTERPRETATION: A TEST CASE,ARISTONICE, A PYTHIA.
Inspiration and Interpretation are two sides of the same coin. They can'' be understood separately., as the story of the Pythia Aristonice shows. Click above to see. 
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POLITICALLY SPEAKINGDo we have the vocabulary we need to think through what is happening to us in a time of political crisis? My hunch is that we have it, but aren’t using it, at least as much as we should.
Case in point: demagogue and “demagogy. These ancient and uncompromising terms have to a large extent been displaced by the neologisms, “populist” and “populism.” They aren’t synonyms. In an essay called “A Vacuum at the Center” in a recent issue of American Scholar I explored a political dynamic that can best be understood by calling a demagogue a demagogue, Hyperbole is another case in point. It’s not the same as a harmless exaggeration or a deliberate lie, even though it overlaps with them. It too has a dynamic of its own – one that demagogues often understand better than the rest of us. I explored that dynamic in “When Hyperbole Enters Politics” in the Spring 2019 issue of Arion. And what about plutocracy? It’s not the same as the concentration of national wealth in the top few percentages of the population. Once again, it’s a Greek term that has fallen by the wayside in recent political discourse. Does it too have a dynamic that we need to understand in our present distress? I’m trying to write about plutocracy right now, and welcome instances, passages, examples and ideas from old friends and new readers. Let me hear from you. I appreciate your help. Bob Connor wrconnor1@gmail.com .
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Reading the Lord's Prayer as Greek Poetry
Most New Testament scholars and translators now recognize that the Lord’s Prayer as transmitted in Matthew ch. 6 is poetry – Greek poetry. This essay derives from an effort to read it as a challenging Greek poetic text. By looking closely at its sound, structure, grammar, tone and imagery one can see the poem in fresh light and understand it in a new way. |
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THE CLASSICS NOW
What is the evidence about the current situation of the Classics and what are the opportunities for the field right now? This is a revision of an article published in Classical World in Spring 2016. 
THE THINKING GREEK PROJECT:
I've been trying to think about thinking --specifically how ordinary Greeks, of the classical period thought. How they thought, not what they thought; not what the high powered philosophers and other intellectuals thought, but what patterns they shred with ordinary people. Below are some probes at these issues. Suggestions are much appreciated! We live in a time of dominant hyperbole, not least in American politics. How does this ancient and enduring speech pattern work and what can be done to counter it? Witchcraft in Fourth Century Athens?
The Case of Theoris Theoris, an immigrant from Lemnos into Attica, in the fourth century BCE, was indicted by Demosthenes, tried, convicted, and put to death, along with her whole family. Can this be best understood by comparing it to a witchcraft trial? THE WHEELER PRINCIPLE APPROPRIATED FOR THE CLASSICS
" ... a
guiding principle. It works ...because it keeps the focus on what
is distinctive in our fields, and hence on what Classics’ distinctive
contribution to can be. "
SKIN SLURS; BLACK AND WHITE
" Some friends who read my essay SKIN noted that
while it had a lot to say about body piercing and cutting, it said almost
nothing about skin color. Is it
possible, one of them wondered, that we picked up from the Greeks our practice of
using skin pigment as a sign of racial inferiority? Can we blame the Greeks for this?
SKIN -- A Probe into Greek Ways of Thinking
"... Among the ancient Greeks ... skin was used to mark important contrasts, Greek v. non-Greek, male vs female, animal vs. human, inner vs outer. ... the Greeks observed strict restraints on any form of bodily penetration or cutting. ..."
WHEN THE LOIN CLOTH DROPPED
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MYSTERIOUS VEILED WOMEN AND THE MEN WHO WROTE ABOUT THEM |
A recurring image in ancient Greek texts - a veiled woman, often likened to a bride,a nymphē - points to a mode of thought that persisted in various forms from Archaic Greece to the second century of our era. It is often associated with breath, pneuma, that is, with inspiration understood in a physical sense. The authors discussed include Hesiod (Theogony), Parmenides, The Shepherd of Hermas, and The Revelation to John in the New Testament. These texts, all by male writers, reflect a view of reality as something just barely glimpsed, but they also raise the question whether these men found in this image a way to move beyond modes of thinking deeply rooted in the male’s sphere of activity, and accessing another way of comprehending - associative, visual, and evocative. CLICK HERE TO READ THE TEXT |
THUCYDIDEAN NOTES
The Chronology of Athletic Nudity among the Greeks
Thucydides 1.6.5
and
WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE ECLIPSE IN SICILY, AUGUST 413 BCE?
Thucydides 7.50.4
Many scholars believe that the disaster suffered by the Athenian army in Sicily in 413 BCE was caused by the superstition of the Athenian troops and of one of their their commanders, Nicias, reinforced by their interpretation of an eclipse by Athenian seers (manteis). A clos reading of our primary source, Thucydides 7.50.4 yields quite a different picture of what happened, and brings to light a moment when th Athenian army functioned as if it were the city’s deliberative assembly. In this the manteis play a significant but limited role. The delay that resulted from the eclipse did not at the time seem a strategic blunder or acct of blind superstition.
The Chronology of Athletic Nudity among the Greeks
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YOU GENERATION AND MINE: A Letter to a Younger Classicist on Fifth Century Athens
You spoke of “virtuous Athens,” and I said, such phrasing “gives me the willies.” You asked why, and I found that I could only answer by looking in the rear view mirror at how my generation studied classical Athens. ... CLICK ABOVE TO READ ON
ON LIVING WITHOUT A "FACTUAL MIND-SET' -- The Perspective of Thucydides 1.20 -24.
" ... But what about the Greeks? Did they have a “factual mind-set”? I realized to my embarrassment that in thinking about how the Greeks had thought I had paid little attention to their views about "facts." There was a reason for that: ancient Greeks, at least for some centuries, seemed not to talk about facts. So when I tried my usual thought-experiment of translating contemporary terms into ancient Greek I bloodied my nose against a stone wall. .... READ MORE BY CLICKING AT THE TOP
Methodologically hazardous this THINKING GREEK stuff? Sure but worth the risk.!
Phrasikleia holding a pomganate. National Museum, Athens
DO WE REALLY UNDERSTAND GREEK RELIGION?
In fact, Is There Such a Thing as “Greek Religion”?
"Was there such a thing as ancient Geek religion? Surely there was; the great scholar Walter Burkert wrote a book with that title; ... but something is missing among the Greeks – a word for “religion.” How did they get along without this convenient bushel basket into which we dump so much? ..." CLICK ABOVE TO READ MORE
DO WE REALLY UNDERSTAND GREEK RELIGION?
In fact, Is There Such a Thing as “Greek Religion”?
"Was there such a thing as ancient Geek religion? Surely there was; the great scholar Walter Burkert wrote a book with that title; ... but something is missing among the Greeks – a word for “religion.” How did they get along without this convenient bushel basket into which we dump so much? ..." CLICK ABOVE TO READ MORE
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" Classics is well positioned to respond to this shift in discourse. It’s a field where many high-impact practices are standard operating practice, and where it is relatively easy to be more systematic about them. ..." |
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BIFURCATION --a nd more about liberal education...
New and Noteworthy Newsletter
April 2015
GETTING UP TO SPEED ON STUDENT LEARNING
A survey with links to recent work on student learning at the college and ubiversity level.
IS THE AMERICAN DREAM FADING? AND WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH HIGHER EDUCATION?
New and Noteworth Newsletter February 2015
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WHO ARE THESE STUDENTS? (AND MUCH MOE)
New and Noteworthy Newsletter October 2014
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LIBERAL EDUCATION, STUDENT DEBT AND MUCH, MUCH MORE
New and Noteworthy Newsletter June 2014
Getting student loans ij focus for their educational effects is a major topic in this new edition of the Newsletter.
HOMER GOES TO LAW SCHOOL!
A new blog posting shows Classics majors in a very strong position in applying to law school. What do the figures really mean?
LIBERAL EDUCATION HERE AND ABROAD
New and Noteworthy Newsletter January 2014
" ... swept away by the “middle class panic” about
American higher education - especially education in the
liberal arts and sciences. But overseas the distinctively
American liberal education seems widely respected
and worth replicating...."
SACRED IMPERATIVE: Third person imperatives in ritual or sacred settings from Aeschylus to the New Testament Greek, unlike English, has a third person imperative which is most often used in Greek laws and other authoritative statements. It also appears, however, in sacred setting in Aeschylus, Euripides, The Septuagint and the New Testament. This essay argues that speakers who enter into a sacred realm are not giving orders but reflect their sense of empowerment through acclamations or celebrations using this form.
THE HEALTH OF THE HUMANITIES, OBAMA’S BIG STICK AND OTHER HOT AND HEAVY ISSUES IN HIGHER EDUCATION
New and Noteworthy Newsletter Summer 2013
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/1109165/981055aae3/520044277/76b428fcde/
What's in a Name?
‘MARK’ AND ‘THE HERODIANS’
Names and Narration in the Gospel of Mark
www.GospelRenegades.com June 2013
The $820,000 tuition bill, the real story about MOOCs, and more
New ad Noteworthy Newsletter , May 2013
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/1109165/285f7bd1b5/520044277/d89d95e725/
What is a gospel?
Were did we get the word evangelion?
http://gospelrenegades.com/whats-a-gospel/
Mostly on Majors; More on MOOCs
Newsletter January 2013
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/1109165/c3328410a6/520044277/76b428fcde/
Are MOOCs the Answer?
Newsletter Mostly on MOOCS
Fall 2012
"Jobs vs. Knowledge"
November 2012
Getting up to speed on student learning: a brief web bibliography
September 2012,
Newsletter Summer 2012
Are mass on-line course compatible with liberal education? This and other issues (including Joe Paterno's damnatio memoriae) are explored in the second of these Newsletters. If you want to receive subsequent issues there is a link at the top of the Newsletter.
Why Literature?
April 2012
This draft essay explores the idea that reading "extreme literature" (classical and post-classical) can result in important benefits, cognitive and personal.
Newsletter One
April 2012
This Newsletter links to recent discussions of whether liberal education is only for the elite -- and other issues in higher education.
Vocation
December 2011
Maybe we need some new metaphors for understanding "vocation."
Greece in a Troubled Time Travel
October 2011
Revising the curriculum, again? Better luck this time.
September 2011
Five Greatest Hits (click here and scroll down)
What to do with Harvard's Missing $390 million
Being Systematic about Student Learning
Hibernating Occidental Obama
Kaizen Anyone?
In Praise of Literalism
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Greed Is Not Enough
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Susan Goes to College
Susan Smith is a modal student. Maybe she's a model student too. But for our purposes, she's a modal student, a statistical construction based on the most common patterns in American higher education. I met her while I was trying to figure out what was really happening in the immense, varied, sprawling world of higher education in this country.
Some statisticians told me that there is no Susan--no modal student--in a system as complex as American higher education. They are right about the complexity; Susan, I expect, finds it baffling too. But I believe that if we don't look for the typical, we might be in danger of overlooking the reality that surrounds many of today's college students.
So here is Susan's story, chapter by chapter.
Enjoy!
Bob Connor
March 2010
Chapter 1: Meeting Susan
In which I meet eighteen-year old college student Susan Smith for the first time and discover that she's from the population center of the country
THE NEW AND NOTEWORTHY NEWSLETTER
Phyllis riding Aristotle
The New and Noteworthy Newsletter appears three times a year or so to explore issues in classical, libersal, and higher education. Here;' most recent one
Fall 2015 The Destruction of the Past. == and other things quotable and ponderable
The New and Noteworthy Newsletter appears three times a year or so to explore issues in classical, libersal, and higher education. Here;' most recent one
Fall 2015 The Destruction of the Past. == and other things quotable and ponderable