Mark Olson at PsuedoPolymath has an idea. I think I’ll try to participate in this blog-essay thingummy–even though I’m already juggling about nineteen (my all-purpose number) intellectual/study balls right now.
The idea is to compare and contrast two heroic stories from almost the same eras but from very different cultures. The two stories I had in mind were the Hebrew heroic story … that is the story of King David in Samuel I & II … and the Greek heroic poems from the same era by Homer … that is the Iliad (and perhaps the Odyssey). I had in mind perhaps posting once weekly (say Thursdays) on the similarities and differences – to contrast and compare the stories of David and Achilles. We could write on the same subtopic on this theme each week. For example, for next week I was thinking we could write on the openings. To compare and contrast the Iliad’s immortal opening cadences to the more subtle (tender?) vignette of Hannah giving up of Samuel, her firstborn, to the Temple.
What are my other “nineteen” studious undertakings? I’m glad you asked because some of these may spill over into the blog as I work out my thoughts on these various topics.
1. I’m teaching a British literature class at our homeschool co-op. This week we’re reading excerpts from Le Morte D’Arthur.
2. I’m also helping to teach a worldview class at the same co-op. We’re going to be watching some videos about relativism with the famous (blogger) Francis Beckwith for the next three Fridays.
3. I’m re-reading The Brothers Karamazov just because I wanted to.
4. I’m doing a Beth Moore Bible study called The Patriarchs about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
5. We’re also teaching from Genesis in the fifth and sixth grade Sunday School class that Engineer Husband and I agreed to teach.
6. I have one book to review (The Bible or the Ax?) and another to read and review (In the Beginning There Were No Diapers) for Mind and Media.
OK, not quite nineteen, but it’s definitely a full plate—in addition to teaching school and keeping house. Oh, well, the idle mind is the devil’s workshop, right?
This is interesting. I’d like to do things like this, but I don’t have much time to give to it. Still, every fall I think of Nathanel Hawthorne and I want to do some literary posts on Young Goodman Brown or other stories.