tdaxp

For literally buffs, fl of Primrose Road has finished the series "Doubts" on the real identity of William Shakespeare

1. Doubt about reasoning?


2. Shakespeare Goes To College?


3. Whitman's 'Feudalist' Shakespeare


4. Summing up

Check it out!

Graves's The Emperor's New Clothes has so many things wrong with it, so many untruths, half-truths, and examples of naivety, that it is difficult to know how to begin critiquing it. Nonetheless, such must be done, so I will begin at the beginning (page 1) and continue until the end of the first section (page 52).

First, Graves dances around with the definition of race. His first approximation seems reasonable, “The term 'race' implies the existence of some nontrivial underlying hereditary features shared by a group of people and not present in other groups” (5) but his thoughts go down-hill from there. Latter in the page he notes that “None of the physical features by which we have historically defined human races... unambiguously corresponds to the racial groups we have constructed.” First, Graves' look for unambiguous markers is misguided. Not all human beings are born with a brain, but possession of the brain is nonetheless typical for the human race. Secondly, Graves attempts to jump between a physical definition of race and a socially constructed definition. Our concepts of race imprecisely but accurately describe real genetic populations (Parra, et al., 2003; Pimenta, et al., 2006) in spite of what graves later claims (36).. Ultimately, the definition Graves takes from the dictionary may be best: “A population of organisms differing from others of the same species in the frequency of hereditary traits; a subspecies” (6). Graves' question, “How much genetic difference must there be before a subspecies can be said to exist?” is best answered with “a statistically significant amount.” If this implies races and sub-races, and sub races within those, so be it. In some cases, it may be that it is easiest to speak about those who left Africa and those who stayed (Underhill, P.A., et al., 2000), as Africans, Asians, and Europeans (Bamshad, et al., 2003), or even smaller groups. (Lindh, Andersson, & Gusdal, 1997).

Something is strange in the heart of Christianity

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

Paul (Galatians 3:28)

"I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."

Paul (1 Timothy 2:12)

If we wanted an easy answer, we would say Paul (or "The Bible") is contracting himself. Or that two different people wrote it. Or that it was just meaningless rhetoric. But Paul is followi Jesus's pattern. In spite of reaching out to women far more than others around him, Jesus notably did not choose a single woman as a disciple. His inner-circle was a diverse lot -- a tax collector, a Zealot, various fishermen, even a non-Galilean (Judas Iscariot) -- but not one woman. What is going on?