As a historian I am and have been deeply disturbed — and I’m not alone in this — by the reaction to such incidents. Indian identity at the popular level is increasingly being narrowed to the perceptions of what is called the majority community. This is ironic because among historians the perspective has widened out. This is in part due to the expansion of sources for constructing history. In archaeology for instance, various sciences are giving us dimensions of knowledge that are new, such as the data on environmental factors affecting history. Our attitudes to texts have changed. We now ask incisive questions about the author, and why the text is written the way it is and what is the intention of the patron? One looks beyond the statements for deeper historical understanding. This has led to new perspectives on the past in terms of both evidence and the manner in which it is analysed.
So while the historian is opening up the past, its popular representation is narrowing it down. The kinds of linkages that are made with the past in popular outlets tend to marginalise many communities and cultures that make up Indian society. These linkages frequently draw from political agendas. Inevitably one begins to ask whether or to what degree that which we’ve been writing, and speaking about in the past 30 to 40 years, have at all affected people’s perceptions — perceptions of our past, our identities, and the values that we hold as important in our lives? Possibly we have been too passive in our response to aggressive political actions. And we have failed to be sufficiently critical of the way the media plays with political agendas in representing what it calls “culture and history”. These are themes that need much more open discussion.
We have not internalised our history in the sense that for most people seeing the historical aspect of the world around us is still an experience of the extraneous. Historical analysis is really about an entire society with an accounting of different levels and the way in which they are inter-related, the way in which they disintegrate or integrate and how these relationships have changed over time. We assume a kind of static past, which is of course the behest of colonial scholarship. This is being questioned by historians who are trying to understand the dynamics of different periods and communities but somehow this questioning doesn’t seem to seep into popular agencies like the media. more
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
History of Bishop's College
The 150th anniversary of the foundation of Bishop's College evokes feelings of great gratitude to Almighty God for a wonderful record of theological teaching, corporate sacramental life and pastoral training which the College has enjoyed through the years. It is hard to exaggerate what the College has given to the Anglican Communion in India through the diffused influence of the men whom it has trained and sent out to serve Christianity in India in many ways. I remember with special happiness a visit which I was privileged to make to the College in 1961.
With the inauguration of Church union, the College has before it exciting prospects of change and new service. It will find itself increasingly serving the growing wider ecumenical scene. While it will be called upon to change, it will also be called upon to conserve, and what it conserves will be the strong emphasis on worship, prayer, sacramental life and personal discipline which belonged to it in its Anglican days. May God greatly bless the College in a deepening and widening service to Church and people both in India and beyond. Read it all here
With the inauguration of Church union, the College has before it exciting prospects of change and new service. It will find itself increasingly serving the growing wider ecumenical scene. While it will be called upon to change, it will also be called upon to conserve, and what it conserves will be the strong emphasis on worship, prayer, sacramental life and personal discipline which belonged to it in its Anglican days. May God greatly bless the College in a deepening and widening service to Church and people both in India and beyond. Read it all here
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Don't confuse faith for history: Romila Thapar
Don't confuse faith for history: Historian
Eminent historian Romila Thapar recently received the prestigious Kluge Prize 2008 of the United States Library of Congress, for lifetime achievement in the study of humanity. Well known for her contribution to creating a new pluralistic view of Indian civilization, she speaks to Shruba Mukherjee of Deccan Herald. Excerpts:
Does study of history have a future?
History as practised at the professional level has a good future. But what passes for history at the popular level often does not reflect the work of serious professional historians. This is partly because historians have distinctive methods of subjecting data to critical analyses. This helps explain what happened in the past and why in a more factual manner and the analyses can change with advances in knowledge. Popular notions of history seldom apply rigorous methods of examining data from the past.
Faith is based on belief which means anything can be believed without having to be proved correct. This is the opposite of history. So when people of faith want to impose their beliefs onto history, there is a conflict with historians. more
Eminent historian Romila Thapar recently received the prestigious Kluge Prize 2008 of the United States Library of Congress, for lifetime achievement in the study of humanity. Well known for her contribution to creating a new pluralistic view of Indian civilization, she speaks to Shruba Mukherjee of Deccan Herald. Excerpts:
Does study of history have a future?
History as practised at the professional level has a good future. But what passes for history at the popular level often does not reflect the work of serious professional historians. This is partly because historians have distinctive methods of subjecting data to critical analyses. This helps explain what happened in the past and why in a more factual manner and the analyses can change with advances in knowledge. Popular notions of history seldom apply rigorous methods of examining data from the past.
Faith is based on belief which means anything can be believed without having to be proved correct. This is the opposite of history. So when people of faith want to impose their beliefs onto history, there is a conflict with historians. more
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Pope Innocent III and His World by Cushing, Kathleen G.
Pope Innocent III and His World. Edited by John C. Moore. Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate, 1999. xx + 389 pp. $86.95 cloth.
More than any Roman pontiff apart perhaps from Gregory VII, Innocent III had an immediate, profound, and lasting impact on the church and society of his time. Often seen as a great innovator, theologian, and canon lawyer, Innocent, however, was a contentious figure in his own time and remains so today. The tremendous pastoral leader who convened one of the church's most important councils (the Fourth Lateran in 1215), the sponsor of the Franciscan Order, the pontiff who sought to find a place within the church for marginally deviant religious groups lest they fall into irrevocable heresy, Innocent was also the pope who claimed temporal leadership over Christendom with Per venerabilem and who effectively institutionalized the persecution of heretics with the Albigensian Crusade. In recent times, his theology has been deemed derivative and his ability as a canonist severely called into question. The occasion of the 800th anniversary of his elevation as pope in 1198 provides an opportunity to reassess this complex individual and the state of current scholarship. more
More than any Roman pontiff apart perhaps from Gregory VII, Innocent III had an immediate, profound, and lasting impact on the church and society of his time. Often seen as a great innovator, theologian, and canon lawyer, Innocent, however, was a contentious figure in his own time and remains so today. The tremendous pastoral leader who convened one of the church's most important councils (the Fourth Lateran in 1215), the sponsor of the Franciscan Order, the pontiff who sought to find a place within the church for marginally deviant religious groups lest they fall into irrevocable heresy, Innocent was also the pope who claimed temporal leadership over Christendom with Per venerabilem and who effectively institutionalized the persecution of heretics with the Albigensian Crusade. In recent times, his theology has been deemed derivative and his ability as a canonist severely called into question. The occasion of the 800th anniversary of his elevation as pope in 1198 provides an opportunity to reassess this complex individual and the state of current scholarship. more
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
4,600-year-old burials in Germany
Oldest nuclear family 'murdered' | ||
The oldest genetically identifiable nuclear family met a violent death, according to analysis of remains from 4,600-year-old burials in Germany. Writing in the journal PNAS, researchers say the broken bones of these stone age people show they were killed in a struggle. Comparisons of DNA from one grave confirm it contained a mother, father, and their two children. The son and daughter were buried in the arms of their parents. | ||
Friday, November 14, 2008
Discovery of the historic site of battle between David and Goliath 1000 BC
https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#all/11d9acbc36cde039
An important Hebrew inscription from ca. 1,000 BC (reign of King David) was found at a military outpost called Khirbet Qeiyafa in Judah where the hills meet the Shephelah. The archaeological team included David Adams from Concordia Seminary, who said he was only the third person to hold the ostracon since it was buried 3,000 years ago. It is the oldest Hebrew inscription ever found by at least 500 years.
It, and the archaeological site, confirm aspects of the biblical record about David and the kingdom of Israel. This is a hot topic because the biblical "minimalists" think King David was only a tribal chieftan and the nation of Israel did not exist until centuries later. The inscription is scheduled to be published in the January 2009 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, although David Adams said it might be delayed to the next issue after that.
The official web site for the excavation is maintained by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem:
http://qeiyafa.huji.ac.il
An important Hebrew inscription from ca. 1,000 BC (reign of King David) was found at a military outpost called Khirbet Qeiyafa in Judah where the hills meet the Shephelah. The archaeological team included David Adams from Concordia Seminary, who said he was only the third person to hold the ostracon since it was buried 3,000 years ago. It is the oldest Hebrew inscription ever found by at least 500 years.
It, and the archaeological site, confirm aspects of the biblical record about David and the kingdom of Israel. This is a hot topic because the biblical "minimalists" think King David was only a tribal chieftan and the nation of Israel did not exist until centuries later. The inscription is scheduled to be published in the January 2009 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, although David Adams said it might be delayed to the next issue after that.
The official web site for the excavation is maintained by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem:
http://qeiyafa.huji.ac.il
Khirbet Qeiyafa
| Excavation directors: | Prof. Yosef Garfinkel (Hebrew University) Mr. Saar Ganor (Israel Antiquities Authority) | |
| Institution | The Hebrew University of Jerusalem | |
| Dates of excavation season: | June 28th till August 7th 2009 (6 weeks) | |
| Location: | Israel, 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem | |
| Periods: | Iron Age, early 10th century BC; Hellenistic | |
| Nearest village: | Kibbutz Netiv Ha-Lamed Hei |
The archaeological site of Khirbet Qeiyafa is located on the hills that border the Elah Valley on the north. This is a key strategic location in the biblical kingdom of Judah, in the main road from Philistia and the Coastal Plain to Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron in the hill country. In this area one of the world's most famous battles took place, the battle between David and Goliath.
Khirbet Qeiyafa is a forgotten Biblical site. This is most surprising in view of its massive fortifications of megalithic stones which still stand to a height of 2-3 m, and its strategic geopolitical location. source
for Photos of the site click here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
