Here’s a bit of information you may not have known, about tables of content:

Pliny the Elder credits Quintus Valerius Soranus [ – who died in 82 B.C. and who is shown at lower left – ] as the first author to provide a table of contents to help readers navigate a lengthy work.  Pliny’s own table of contents for his encyclopedic Historia naturalis (“Natural History”) may be viewed online in Latin and in English (following dedication).

On the other hand, such a list of contents could be seen as a kind of “peep show,” as illustrated in the top image.  (That is, it offers you a glimpse of “what’s inside…”)  In other words, such a table -applied to this blog – can let you know what to expect to see.

In another sense this page – and the blog itself – is all about color commentary.  That is, one object of this blog is to provide color commentary on the Bible.  (With an eye to going “beyond the fundamentals…”)  And generally that means commentary on the readings for the upcoming Sunday.

(According to the Revised Common Lectionary.)

It also spends time on the psalms. (Which are almost as key to spiritual growth as the Gospels. For more on that see On the Psalms.)  Another aside:  If you’d like a book collection of these blog-posts – in either an e-book or old-fashioned paperback – check out the post, For a book.

For starters, you can get a a flavor of the blog by checking the category Not your daddy’s Bible.

Or see the post from October 2014, “Gone Girl” and Lazy Cusses – Part II, with Sting – at right – commenting on “religion and religious people:”

I don’t have a problem with God.  I have a problem with religion.  I’ve chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith.

I commented:  “If your religion makes you ‘certain, ’you’re missing the point!”  See also On “holier than thou”  and On three suitors (a parable).  (The latter cited a lady Muslim mystic, Rabia Basri).

For another vie, see “Holier than thou,” quoting H. L. Mencken, on “quacks:”

The only way that democracy can be made bearable is by developing and cherishing a class of men sufficiently honest and disinterested to challenge the prevailing quacks.

Which is pretty much what this blog is about.  That’s why I say, “There are way too many so-called Christians who use the Bible and their faith as an excuse to close their minds.  That’s why the sub-title to this blog is ‘Reading the Bible to expand your mind.’”

Or see On “expressio unius,” which said those fundamental readers who focus exclusively on the “letter of the law” pretty much rob the Bible of its intended effect.

Citing 2d Corinthians 3:6 and John 4:24, that post-column said such passages show “God doesnot want Good Christians to limit their reading, interpreting and living according to the Bible to a spirit-killing literalism…”

Or see On Moses getting stoned, on why Moses may have had to “dumb things down” when writing the Torah…

The blog also reviews the Daily Office Readings from time to time.  See Daily Office readings.  And by the way, the Daily Office Readings is where the “DOR” in “Dorscribe” comes from.  (For more on the Daily Office Readings, see DOR?)

There’s also a category, Reviews.  Like the two-part “Gone Girl” movie review and Media Frenzy:

Shortly after Joe [Namath] signed with the Jets (for a record salary), a wise-guy New York reporter asked what he had majored in, down south at the University of Alabama; “Basket-weaving?”   Joe answered, “No man, I majored in journalism.  It was easier.”

In case I’m being too subtle, the point is that there’s a lot of wisdom in the Bible about not judging too quickly, and not getting caught up in today’s “media frenzies.”

Which is another way of saying there are more than enough quacks to challenge these days…

H. L. Mencken, the original “quack-challenger…”

 

The upper image is courtesy of Peep show – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The caption:  “A boy looks into a peep show device (illustration byTheodor Hosemann, 1835).”  The article noted that while the term now generally applies to pornographic showings, “historically a peep show was a form of entertainment provided by wandering showmen.”

For a more traditional table of contents, consider the one at left.  (Christmas Carols, New and Old, published in 1867, and courtesy of hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com.)  The book was published by the Reverend Henry Ramsden Bramley (1833-1917) and Sir John Stainer (1840-1901).   For more on the pair see Henry Ramsden Bramley – Wikipedia, and John Stainer – Wikipedia.  The updated version of the first eight hymns/carols are included below (after the rest of the notes).

Re:  The RCL.  “A lectionary is a collection of readings or selections from the Scriptures, arranged and intended for proclamation during the worship of the people of God…”  For more see About the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) – Consultation on Common Texts, and Revised Common Lectionary – Wikipedia.

Re: “muling it over.”  The actual expression would be “mulling it over,” meaning tothinkabout, ponder or worry about something.  (In the alternative, to “think about (a fact, proposal, orrequest) deeply and at length: [as in:]  “she began to mull over the various possibilities.”  The variation-on-a-theme came from John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley.  

The quote is from the 1980 Penguin Books edition, at page 11.  Steinbeck wrote of packing“Rocinante” for a trip around America, and his capacity for self-delusion.  He packed ample – and heavy – writing supplies, including reams of paper, a typewriter, and “enough writing material to write ten volumes.”  This despite 30 years experience:  “I cannot write hot on an event.  It has to ferment.  I must do what a friend calls ‘mule it over’ for a time before it goes down.”

An additional FYI:  “TWC” was based on Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879), by Robert Louis Stevenson (Wikipedia), of which more in posts including Donkey travel – and sluts.

Re: quote from Sting.  See 10 Questions for Sting – TIME.

The lower image is courtesy of greatmindsonrace.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/h-l-mencken, which spoke of Mencken’s “sometimes cynical and acerbic writings attack[ing] the holy ideals of his age, including religion, business, government and the press.”   He knew he couldn’t change society; his goal was “to make life ‘measurably more bearable for the civilized minority in America.’”

The “quacks” quote is from Mencken’s 1956 book Minority Report.  See also Minority Report Quotes by H.L. Mencken – Goodreads.

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