by Tony W. Cartledge | Nov 28, 2012 | Opinion
King Croesus (pronounced “kree-sus”) and his riches are still making news. Oh, you didn’t know about Croesus? Join the crowd. AFP/Getty ImagesCroesus was the king of Lydia during its heyday in the sixth century, BCE, when it comprised much of the...
by Tony W. Cartledge | Nov 26, 2012 | Opinion
Over the Thanksgiving weekend I read Eben Alexander’s popular Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife (Simon & Schuster, 2012). The book, which once topped the New York Times best-seller list, adds to a growing corpus of volumes...
by Tony W. Cartledge | Nov 24, 2012 | Opinion
Most Anglicans found less than expected to be thankful for this week: after years of planning, promotion, and hot debate, a popular measure that would have allowed women to serve as bishops was stymied by a small-but-just-large-enough block of conservative laity....
by Tony W. Cartledge | Nov 21, 2012 | Opinion
The annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature is a delightful opportunity for biblical scholars to get together and talk to each other in a language only they understand, for the most part — and sometimes not. Sumerian votive worshipers, c. 2500-2700...
by Tony W. Cartledge | Nov 16, 2012 | Opinion
I was looking through some examination copies of potential textbooks the other day while planning a course on religion in the Bible and the ancient Near East — when I noticed that all of the books were some shade of brown. I looked over my bookshelf, and...
