Portrait de Charles Baudelaire, de profil en Chapeau no 2

Marduk's Terror is pleased to announce the recent acquisition of this etching by Edouard Manet to the private collection of Charles and Lori Halton. Details coming soon. Who says that evangelicals are cultural Philistines?

Bias in Archaeology and Biblical Studies

When most people think of the bias of theologians, archaeologists, or people who engage in biblical studies, conservatives normally come to mind. But, as Colby Willen skillfully illustrates, bias resides not only with conservatives, but liberals as well. In the course of my PhD work (which I am truly earning--see discussion for details) I constantly am confronted with bias toward the Bible, events reported in ancient Near East documents, etc. Many people seem to have an allergic reaction with ancient documents and dismiss them with haste. But, on the other hand, many people accept every new finding or new hypothesis that seems to support the validity of the Bible before these novelties have been thought through and investigated. As for me, I'm with Colby--I'm a conservative skeptic.

Manditory Retirement Age

According to cnn.com Chief Justice William Rehnquist was hospitalized over a fever. This brings up an interesting issue: Should we have a manditory age limit for retirement? This might eliminate individuals from the workforce that have become a drag to operations because they increasingly miss work because of illness or are not able to perform up to standards. But, a manditory retirement age would also elminate many individuals who are exceptionally qualified for their positions and are still able to operate at a high level. Examples of exceptional geriatric leaders might be: Sumner Redstone-CEO of Viacom, 82; Rupert Murdoch-CEO of News Corp, 74; Donald Rumsfeld-SecDef, 73. These individuals have clearly distinguished themselves from much younger candidates and still add tremendous value to their organizations and society at large. Given this, there is a point at which a person's mental or physical abilities begin to dimish. This in no way dimishes their worth as human beings, but each individual should be attune to their own condition and voluntarily remove themselves from full-time work when they are no longer able to perform at the expected levels. Thankfully, we do not have a manditory age of retirement and our society greatly benefits because of it.

Free Tip

For all the two people who will ever view this site, here's a free tip for you--(for purposes of full disclosure, I NEVER trade off tips, please you don't either--make a trade because its a good trade, not because someone told you it would be a good trade). Think four little letters: BIDU. You're welcome.

Plates for Adad-Guppi Inscription

I am working on an essay concerning an inscription about Nabonidus' mother Adad-Guppi. The inscription is on basalt found at Harran--the city that housed the moon-god Sin (of which Adad-Guppi was the priestess). Anyway, if anyone out there knows where I can find some readable plates of the cunieform I would appreciate it. I found an article in Anatolian Studies, but the plates were really sub-par and I will most probably go blind trying to read them. I have a transliteration, but I desire the cunieform. Thanks.