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Faith Before the Ten Commandments

What was Judaism before Judaism? Okay, so imagine you’re about to play a board game, say Sorry, or Clue, or something. Something you know – not Monopoly because no one actually knows how to play that. Something with nice, organized rules. Except then someone comes along and rips those rules out of your hand andContinue reading “Faith Before the Ten Commandments”

The Writing System That Drove 19th Century Europe Up the Wall

Hieroglyphs Someone at some point probably told you that hieroglyphs are “picture writing”. As in, one image means one word and another means a different word, and so on and so forth. Here’s the problem. That’s true. It’s also not true. The hieroglyphic writing system was such a crazily complex system that it’s a wonderContinue reading “The Writing System That Drove 19th Century Europe Up the Wall”

Your Guide to Ancient Egypt (Part 3)

What changed and what didn’t over the centuries Well, today we are back to finish off our Timeline of Ancient Egypt! Let’s crank this out. For reference, last time we made it up to the Middle Kingdom. So that means we now have to talk about: The Second Intermediate Period (1650-1550 BC) The Second IntermediateContinue reading “Your Guide to Ancient Egypt (Part 3)”

Your Guide to Ancient Egypt (Part 2)

What changed and what didn’t over the centuries Okay folks, it’s go time. Let’s dive into this oft-referenced and oft-misrepresented ancient society. So one of the first things you need to know is that Ancient Egyptians divided their country into two areas. Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. Now, this is not a reference to northContinue reading “Your Guide to Ancient Egypt (Part 2)”

Your Guide to Ancient Egypt (Part 1)

Why does Egypt sit so clearly in our cultural consciousness? Okay. So after winning the poll (by a nose), you’re getting a multi-part ”Brief Overview of Ancient Egypt”. I include the word brief despite also saying “multi-part” because we’re talking about 4,000 years of history here and despite whatever I can say about it, IContinue reading “Your Guide to Ancient Egypt (Part 1)”

That Time I Stretched the Research

Now about those horses Okay, so after my #bronzeageproblems post you can probably see pretty easily all the unexpected difficulty that comes with setting a story in a time period that is in many ways very alien to our own. And unfortunately the Bronze Age had one more curveball to throw at me. The horses.Continue reading “That Time I Stretched the Research”

#bronzeageproblems

The Middle East 4,000 years ago I’ll probably do a #supernerd post at some point about why I chose to date my Joseph retelling during the Egyptian Middle Kingdom (12th Dynasty), but for now I don’t think anyone actually interested in dating the Bible would have any argument over the story taking place during theContinue reading “#bronzeageproblems”

Real Humanity.

Uncovering the story inside the Biblical narrative The Bible is not written as a novel. Most narratives in the Bible go over the events needed to comprehend the message or information in bare-bones, rapid-fire succession. No fluff involved, no discussion of motives, internal conflict, or thought processes. The Joseph account in Genesis is unique inContinue reading “Real Humanity.”

Real Faith.

Why I chose to retell one of the most retold stories in the Bible Imagine you’re back in Sunday School, sitting down with all your friends and watching the volunteer parent who teaches the class smile over the flannelgraph. (Or, if you never went to Sunday School, just imagine yourself in a smallish room withContinue reading “Real Faith.”