Tag Archives: object

(Trump) How Not To Hold A Bible (Habitus & Hexis)

Posted on June 2, 2020 by

(h/t Jim Watts and Iconic Books and to @drnelk at Twitter) Arguably, in these United States, a good president needs to know how to handle a Bible. President Trump is not a good president. With him, the Bible has no … Continue reading →

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(Striking Gods & Other Objects) Canaanite Temple Remains (Lachish)

Posted on February 18, 2020 by

Sharing and saving for students these images from this article in Ha’aretz of diminutive temple remains, including two tough little striking gods. They were dug up in central Israel at Lachish, an important Canaanite town-city circa 1800 B.C.E.. From the … Continue reading →

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(Posthuman Catalogue) Jewish Art & Aesthetics of Judaism

Posted on December 6, 2019 by

Stepping back at the long arc of Jewish art in tandem with the history of Jewish thought gives to view a kind of cataloge. Included are black inky letters their script and configuration, rosettes and arabesques and other ornamental figures, … Continue reading →

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Holocaust Objects Are Small (Auschwitz at the Museum of Jewish Heritage)

Posted on August 13, 2019 by

Probably because it was close by and in New York City, I went to see “Auschwitz: Not Long Ago, Not Far Away,” the big exhibition now on view at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and then I went again. There … Continue reading →

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The Priestly Blessing is Weird and Most Impressive (Hertz Pentateuch)

Posted on August 2, 2019 by

As I continue to scroll through the Hertz Pentateuch in search of wayward things and other points of interest that tell us something about the HP and its time and place, I found this odd and unexpected thing. It’s his … Continue reading →

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Votive Objects & Material Religion

Posted on January 16, 2019 by

Went to see “Agents of Faith: Votive Objects in Time and Place” at Bard Graduate Center Gallery. I understood that I was off to look at objects, but what are votive objects? Something loosely to do with “religion.” What I … Continue reading →

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(A Modest Proposal) Subjects-Of or Objects-For (Jewish Philosophy & Thought)

Posted on January 4, 2019 by

[Richard Serra, One Ton Prop (House of Cards), 1969] Here’s a thought. As a historical thing, Jewish Philosophy and Thought has been the practice in which Jews and a putative Judaism are the subjects of thought and the objects of … Continue reading →

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Vibrant Matter of Painted Objects (Yoshiaki Mochizuki)

Posted on November 24, 2018 by

Wandering around Chelsea last summer, we stumbled into Marlborough Contemporary and got to see Palenville, a solo show by Yoshiaki Mochizuki. It was not immediately clear what these things are. Jewel-like things, they turned out to be paintings. They are … Continue reading →

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(Interview with Batsheva Goldman-Ida) Hasidic Art & the Kabbalah

Posted on July 1, 2018 by

Originally posted on The Book of Doctrines and Opinions::
The presentation of history using objects is currently the trend in many books and exhibits. There are books on the history of a given topic in 8, 10, or 50 objects.…

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Religion, Things, Idea, Sensation (Reading Max Müller)

Posted on October 26, 2017 by

In putting together the syllabus for my graduate seminar, I decided to add the almost but never quite long forgotten Max Müller to his rightful place in the canon of classical theories and methods in the study of Religion. I … Continue reading →

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