Member: paolasp

That's OK by me - I think we will have some books in common.

Nice to hear from you!

Edie

posted by harrietbrown at 9:06 pm (EST) on Jan 21, 2008

Hi, Paola, it's Edie from NaNoWriMo SI contingent. Did you finish? I bombed out at 8,000 words! I found you here through the LJer's community. I leave it up to you whether you want to add me or not, I realize we don't know each other that well. But we both love books!

posted by harrietbrown at 6:42 am (EST) on Jan 21, 2008

here's a picture i took in the courtyard of the tibetian museum down there.

http://home.mhonline.net/elt/near/staten...

each time i went, the few times i did, back 4 years ago now,

the gardens on the hill were closed off, which made the visit rather short, but just seeing the main chapel room was well worth the trip. and in the spring when the trees are in bloom ...

it's just a beautiful site. hope you get a chance to wander by.

posted by Tim_Watkinson at 8:10 am (EST) on Oct 16, 2007

nods a nod from up albany way

tumbled on to your page

and smiled.

cool beans.

have you been to the tibetian museum on your island?

posted by Tim_Watkinson at 2:22 pm (EST) on Oct 15, 2007

Hi,

Thanks for the comment. I see that you are on Livejournal too, I friended you there. We are both in the LJ Chalice Circle community as well.

You joined LT on my birthday, what a coincidence.

I look forward to seeing your collection grow.

posted by sheherazahde at 11:40 pm (EST) on Jun 1, 2007

Hi Paola-

I thought this was a terrible book. As a feminist Mariologist I am open to many interpretations and ideas of who Mary was and what her symbol can mean today. I thought Jordan's scholarship was terrible and his writing sensationalist in tone. I cribbed the following from my thesis:

Jordan believes that the true historical Mary was more pagan than Jew and was participating in the ritualized sex act ascribed (although uncertainly by most scholars) to paganism in this time and place. Jordan's tone is belligerent and reminiscent of conspiracy theories, even going so far as to romanticize the pagan past. In his discussion of sex practices, it almost sounds as if Jordan wants to find proof of orgies and licentiousness. The biblical scriptures reveal the ongoing struggle with syncretism and there is no reason to believe that syncretism ended once Christ appeared. This is not a fault, but a strength of Christianity.
Jordan wants to link Mary directly to a pagan past. While most dissenting voices over the centuries have been censured, censored, or dismissed for challenging the Church, these voices were often weeded out in a natural process of development. The Church and Christian theology are organic entities that evolve over the course of lives and institutions, for better or for worse. He fails to acknowledge that there is bound to be vestiges of paganism in Christianity, since Christianity developed in a multi-cultural environment and over time. Converts brought their understandings of the world into their new faith, inter-marriages created a kind of syncretism in the home, and the Eastern Mediterranean was a crossroads of empires and trading routes; it is inevitable that ideas would mix and mingle. It is also no secret that monotheism and tight control of religion were expedient national policies and means of self-preservation.

A MUCH better book on the pagan origins of Mary and her symbols (because she has them) is Stephen Benko's The Virgin Goddess. This is a hard book to track down for a decent price. I keep meaning to get a copy of my own....

posted by ewigweibliche at 11:54 am (EST) on May 17, 2007

Hey Lady!

Don't mention it, I think LibraryThing is the cat's pajamas and I'm glad other people do too. I love the fact that I have bibliographic control over my collection, like at a glance I can see how many fiction books I have, or put evertying into alphanumeric or Dewey Decimal Classification order with just a mouse click!

Take care, *Bug Hugs!*
-the clever one(2).

posted by cleverusername2 at 11:40 am (EST) on Apr 16, 2007