History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

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Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

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Twice-removed tales: mandarin lit crit in the high style

A Temple of Texts
William H. Gass
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0307262863
Release Date: 2006-02-14

Book Description

From one of the most admired essayists and novelists at work today: a new collection of essays—his first since Tests of Time, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.

These twenty-five essays speak to the nature and value of writing and to the books that result from a deep commitment to the word. Here is Gass on Rilke and Gertrude Stein; on friends such as Stanley Elkin, Robert Coover, and William Gaddis; and on a company of “healthy dissidents,” among them Rabelais, Elias Canetti, John Hawkes, and Gabriel García Márquez.

In the title essay, Gass offers an annotated list of the fifty books that have most influenced his thinking and his work and writes about his first reaction to reading each. Among the books: Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (“A lightning bolt,” Gass writes. “Philosophy was not dead after all. Philosophical ambitions were not extinguished. Philosophical beauty had not fled prose.”) . . . Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist (“A man after my own heart. He is capable of the simplest lyrical stroke, as bold and direct as a line by Matisse, but he can be complex in a manner that could cast Nabokov in the shade . . . Shakespeare may have been smarter, but he did not know as much.”) . . . Gustave Flaubert’s letters (“Here I learned—and learned—and learned.”) And after reading Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, Gass writes “I began to eat books like an alien worm.”

In the concluding essay, “Evil,” Gass enlarges upon the themes of artistic quality and cultural values that are central to the books he has considered, many of which seek to reveal the worst in people while admiring what they do best.
As Gass writes, “The true alchemists do not change lead into gold, they change the world into words.”

A Temple of Texts is Gass at his most alchemical.

Customer Reviews:

Twice-removed tales: mandarin lit crit in the high style.......2006-12-28

This collects introductions to new editions of literary works, musings on books and ideas, and a variety of book reviews, some brief, some-- as with that of Susan Neiman's philosophical study of evil, extended. The high style Gass favors, and which the Washington Post's Michael Dirnda pours/pores over, does demand concentration. It will reward effort, but the amounts of inspiration that I gained proved inconsistent. It's like chewing through a slice of dense fruit cake. Most hate it, some tolerate it, and only a few long for it. But all can admire, if often from a safe distance, the craft with which the cherries are glazed and the citron positioned. Embedded in the middle, one may find a tasty bit suddenly within a lot of compacted mass. The opening essay, to move to Gass' own analogy, is addressed to a young person encountering the classic works, typifies Gass' approach: you will not become a better chess player unless you pit yourself against your betters, and unless you learn from your subsequent losses.

His essays tend to repeat key points in the actual novels he introduces, and this tendency can be either instructive in serving as a reminder of your own past readings of the work under scrutiny, or dull, if you have little interest in the work Gass is analyzing. Many of these entries are wrenched out of their original contexts, and the assortment of short pieces probably will reveal to you what I found: a lot of them you skim, fewer you pause over, and once in a while you stop and dive in deep, the prose washing over you. It's hard to stay afloat for long: you either rush out of this book and never look back, or you wear yourself out as you attempt to keep up with Gass' marathon mental stamina. I suppose it's a sign of my own limitations, compared to Gass' erudite appetite, that I was not moved sufficiently to read, or re-read, any of the works he studies or reviews. His own treatments exhaust the casually curious potential reader; Gass, consumed in his own process of analysis, shares so much with us that we feel satiated just by peering over his shoulder at what he directs our gaze to within the text once, now twice, removed.

Gass criticizes the Net ("interbunk" he sneers) for lacking what a library possesses: the construct of a collection of minds, vetted for print, and all at the tip of your hand for perusal, within a collated and orderly fashion. But, since I am reviewing this book on the Net where you are perusing my post, perhaps Gass' critique of the non-printed page dissemination of information that we gather so as to search within for wisdom itself lacks full insight. I suppose, professional or professorial media critics notwithstanding, that decades will pass before the ramifications of our shift show as a massive dumbing down of billions of us, a play for corporate and state demogoguery, a savvy manipulation of our desires for consumerism and celebrity, or an inspired new medium that liberates the minds throughout the world and beyond limits of geography, educational access, regime, or privilege.

Gass, well in his eighties now, does impressively draw upon a half-century of teaching and even longer reading done very very assiduously. He puts any of us in the younger generations, in lives tempted by flashier media, to shame. I suppose those of us decades behind Gass in vast amounts of rarified reading, breadth of knowledge, and hard-won philosophical rigor will never catch up, as we pass our time learning from sources likely as not beyond the page. Many of us admittedly do less learning and more wallowing in the information the media sloshes over our willing selves, submerged in a demotic tide that Gass measures as polluted and corrosive. This is why the library represents disciplined effort for Gass, as opposed to the way you and I are sharing my opinions about this book right now. Is the active-passive reader-writer dichotomy, however, merely by its precedence the better way? Gass evokes in an essay on secondhand books powerfully the seductive appeal of reading pages others have passed over before you. Yet, as with the libraries he praised, these essays often carry a bit of musty air about them. This may enrich their appeal, but it may also shorten their shelf life.

Gass, then, represents the Ivy League (Cornell, class of '50) aura of gentlemanly scholarship that transcends the grubbing for tenure or the backstabbing of colleagues. It is as welcome in this age of publish-or-perish as it is in that of point-and-click. Fewer younger literary critics follow this mandate to address not a few on a tenure committee or within a drastically minimal readership of similarly indoctrinated cohorts. From this book, if not by all of its contents, I do take heart at its goal of setting us in front of a chess master-- himself-- who's far better than we can ever be at the game of interpretation. Still, we must play on.

Nonetheless, the mandarin tendencies indulged in with full savor by Gass do make this book reminiscent of recondite authors he praises such as Thomas Browne, Robert Burton, or Ben Jonson. And, like Rabelais, Gass loves to list and to keep on describing, in the way that he approves in Alexander Theroux (who does deserve much more acclaim I admit), "more is more." If your tastes run towards the ornate, this book will rouse your instincts for the texts-- mostly from the past more than contemporaries, although of course his near namesake William Gaddis appears, as well as peers such as Robert Coover and Stanley Elkin.

Gass cites, in his essay about evil, Elkin's line from "The Living End," that God includes mess and madness in his universe since it "makes for a better story." This is the type of insight Gass favors: epigrammatic, wry, and existentially honest. He is not afraid to praise as well as chide. He does not pander, although he does for my tastes lavish pages of prose without respite upon books, in which he finds the true alchemy. Rather than lead into gold, writers seek transformation of the world into words. Now, a bookish sort myself, I too am entertained by this legerdemain, but I do pause given Gass' implications. Even most biblio-idolators recognize, if only in our saner moments, that the world is where words should point us, to expand the telescope into the stratosphere of ideas rather than peer through its diminished reversal at a shrunken rectangular shape that distorts the universe back into the page.

From Text to Tradition, a History of Judaism in Second Temple and Rabbinic Times: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism

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Good overview
Invaluable Study of the Development of Rabbinic Judiasm
Prof's shouldn't use their own books in their courses . . .

From Text to Tradition, a History of Judaism in Second Temple and Rabbinic Times: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism
Lawrence H. Schiffman
Manufacturer: Ktav Pub Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0881253723

Customer Reviews:

Good overview.......2007-08-23

I was not disappointed with this book and learned a lot I didn't know. I think for the money, it is an excellent value. If you look up some of the books Schiffman lists in his bibliography, you can't get them for under $50, so this one is a steal. Now that I have a basic understanding of the period, I can do some more in depth reading. Two things I learned, 1) that the Jews were self-governing in Israel (even though they might have been part of an Empire) for many more years than one would think given the way people today seem to portray the Jews as "stealing" the land for the State of Israel, and 2) things really didn't get bad bad bad for the Jews until Christianity became prominent, really until Rome became officially a Christian state. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars is because it is an overview.

Invaluable Study of the Development of Rabbinic Judiasm.......2002-06-22

For those who have wondered how the Jewish religion transformed the practice of animal sacrifice depicted in the Bible to the one we know today, this book is for you. Professor Schiffman writes a careful, thoughtful history of Jewish religious thought from the time of return from Babylon (about 560 B.C.E.) to the closing of the Talmud (about 200 C.E.). Focusing on the Greek and Roman periods, the reader is treated to the historical facts that account normative rabbinic Judaism. This is not a flashy read, but it is always engaging. Highly recommended.

Prof's shouldn't use their own books in their courses . . ........2001-05-06

I purchased this book for a course about Ancient Israel, and Schiffman was the professor. Taking this course and reading this textbook only confirmed my belief that professors should not use their own textbooks in their courses. It's not a terrible book, but he spends far too much time going into the derivations of words, etc. and not enough time discussing the history of Judaism after the destruction of the First Temple, which is what the book's supposed to be about. The chapters are divided in such a way that one chapter will deal with the history of a period, the next the literature, etc., which could work if the different topics were tied together better. In addition, often when he discusses the texts of a particular period, he does not take care to clearly define each text but jumps into a discussion of its development and impact on the culture. I found this particularly striking in the discussion of the rabbinic texts, whose divisions were so confusing I couldn't even follow it! Like I said before, it's not a terrible book, but it's not a particularly good one, either.

Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism

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The most comprehensive 2nd Temple Period anthology
Okay

Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism

Manufacturer: Ktav Publishing House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 088125455X

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The most comprehensive 2nd Temple Period anthology.......2003-08-18

I have been teaching Jewish Studies at the college and high school level for ten years, and this is the most helpful primary source anthology for the 2nd Temple Period. As a primary text anthology, there is little instruction as to what the texts mean, as that is intended to be covered in Schiffman's companion book. But as a teacher, there is no book I use more to prepare lessons, and this makes a perfect (and affordable) textbook for a college level 2nd Temple Period course. We have extended excerpts from all parts of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles alongside of contemporaneous materials from Josephus, Apocraphya, wisdom literature, and sects. In addition, the excerpts from the Talmud and Mishna are invaluable: included are all of the more famous passages, such as the Hillel-Shammai debates, Achnai's Oven, and the 13 Midrashic principles, as well as more obscure and fascinating material, for example debates over canonization of Song of Songs, or the imperative that it is forbidden to write down Oral Torah (which is nevertheless written down as Mishnah and Gemara). The only drawback of the anthology is that all of the texts are in English, with no bilingual passages. But the translations are very good.

This book makes an outstanding gift for Hebrew School teachers and Jewish education professionals. It is, as well, an excellent textbook for a Jewish Studies course, as long as the teacher supplements the texts with explanatory materials. I am amazed at how few rabbis and teachers are aware of this book, and treasure the copies I give them.

Okay.......2000-04-01

I had prof. Schiffman as my teacher for this text. While it is fairly comprehensive, it seems to have excess and be mostly useful if Schiffman is teaching you. I would not reccomend it unless it is being used in a college level course.

The Temple: The Poetry of George Herbert (Christian Classic)

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The Temple: The Poetry of George Herbert (Christian Classic)
George Herbert
Manufacturer: Paraclete Press (MA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1557252599

Book Description

In 1633, George Herbert published what has become the best-known religious poem in the English language, The Temple. Actually a sequence of poems, The Temple is shaped by the order of church ritual and liturgy. At the heart of The Temple stands "The Church," poems that are patterned on the Church's liturgical calendar and that discuss theological ideas such as death, judgment, and heaven. Herbert's poetry is at once personal and confessional. His poems about the Eucharist and holy baptism are not only general theological explorations of the sacraments but also the poet's expression of the struggles of his own flesh to be reconciled to God. This mildly modernized edition makes the spiritual insight and quiet passion of this great poet available to today's reader.

Bede: On the Temple (Liverpool University Press - Translated Texts for Historians)

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Bede: On the Temple (Liverpool University Press - Translated Texts for Historians)
Bede
Manufacturer: Liverpool University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0853230498

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Bede’s aim in De Templo is stated in Chapter I: "That the building of the tabernacle and the temple signifies one and the same Church of Christ". For anyone with an interest in mysticism or merely desiring spiritual nourishment, the reading of De Templo should prove a sublime experience and its own reward. This classic in Latin by an English saint is here made available in English for the first time since it was written nearly 1300 years ago.

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The Sacred Dancer's Bible
A MUST READ FOR TRUE WORSHIPPER; LEADERSHIP AND LAITY ALIKE

My Body Is The Temple
Stephanie Butler
Manufacturer: Xulon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1591601207

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The Sacred Dancer's Bible.......2006-05-26

This book by far is SUPERB! I consider it my dancer's bible because Rev. Stephanie provides the sacred artist with so much vital information for our body temples, spirit man and call to the ministry of the arts. Every dance leader should have a copy in their own personal library. Even if you are not a dance minister, worshippers alike will appreciate this book.

A MUST READ FOR TRUE WORSHIPPER; LEADERSHIP AND LAITY ALIKE.......2002-07-15

I am very excited about this text becuase it is not written just for the dancer or the sacred artist, but for anyone who desires an encounter with God in their temple. It contains the clearest, easiest-to-understand material regarding the purpose and power of movement ministry. Leadership and laity alike will experience and comprehend how the WORD can become flesh and delivered to the Body of Christ in a movement message. They will learn how, through the body (our temple), God allows the Word, to shatter the windows of darkness, pierce the principalites, and bring deliverance to souls in our nation and the world. I would highly reccommed this text to everyone because of it's sound biblical teaching on the call of dance as ministry , and the rightful place of the Arts in the Body of Christ. Enjoy!

What's going on in there? The Verbatim Text of the Mormon Temple Rituals Annotated and Explained by a Former Temple Worker

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What's going on in there? The Verbatim Text of the Mormon Temple Rituals Annotated and Explained by a Former Temple Worker
Chuck Sackett
Manufacturer: Ministry to Mormons in association with Ex-Mormons for Jesus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: B0006EBIVK

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The Trumpeter Swan
Temple Bailey
Manufacturer: 1st World Library - Literary Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

It had rained all night, one of the summer rains that, beginning in a thunder-storm in Washington, had continued in a steaming drizzle until morning. There were only four passengers in the sleeper, men all of them-two in adjoining sections in the middle of the car, a third in the drawing-room, a fourth an intermittent occupant of a berth at the end. They had gone to bed unaware of the estate or circumstance of their fellow-travellers, and had waked to find the train delayed by washouts, and side-tracked until more could be learned of the condition of the road. The man in the drawing-room shone, in the few glimpses that the others had of him, with an effulgence which was dazzling. His valet, the intermittent sleeper in the end berth, was a smug little soul, with a small nose which pointed to the stars. When the door of the compartment opened to admit breakfast there was the radiance of a brocade dressing-gown, the shine of a sleek head, the staccato of an imperious voice.

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