tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post8792040078212801867..comments2024-03-28T09:26:25.931+11:00Comments on Thinking Out Aloud: The House of Wisdom (1)Lorenzohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00305933404442191098noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post-90804202668321055022010-11-15T20:05:12.639+11:002010-11-15T20:05:12.639+11:00The thing is that it seems nowadays you can find t...The thing is that it seems nowadays you can find the experts you need for whatever politics you might hold to -- the right news channel, the right paper, the right historians, sociologists, climatologists, economists, strategists, feminists, columnists etc. (I'm starting to sound like a Bob Dylan song).Michanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post-22196540041605984782010-11-15T19:00:35.219+11:002010-11-15T19:00:35.219+11:00History is full of patterns and nuance, you have t...History is full of patterns and nuance, you have to have a sense of both to "get it". <br /><br />Medieval history has its own persistent bugbears, but usually about wider views than narrow political point scoring. (One of my frustrations is with academic medievalists who just don't get the centrality of the problem of public order to medieval life and concerns.)Lorenzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00305933404442191098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post-77946819065512583592010-11-15T18:38:02.058+11:002010-11-15T18:38:02.058+11:00The marriage of politics, sentiment and academics ...The marriage of politics, sentiment and academics is frustrating. History is used to create an image that serves political ends or at best a kind of image that has more to do more with creative writing. Somebody has to be the villains and somebody else the heroes.<br /><br />The people who sell of a rosy picture of Islam (or of other things) or the people who sell a dark picture of Islam (or of other things) sell of an untrustworthy picture, which then creates a backlash, sending people to the equally untrustworthy opposite picture. <br /><br />Well, at least the European Middle Ages is a neutral time period for the most part.Michanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post-61101131219396885602010-11-15T08:24:46.742+11:002010-11-15T08:24:46.742+11:00More precisely, it was the Jews refusing to acknow...More precisely, it was the Jews refusing to acknowledge him as a prophet, but indeed. His Medinan revelations are notably convenient.Lorenzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00305933404442191098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2197051945822486684.post-27436581840819179892010-11-15T03:21:34.766+11:002010-11-15T03:21:34.766+11:00The bit on emphasising the direction of prayer whi...The bit on emphasising the direction of prayer while brushing over other facts reminds me of one of the more amusing absurdities in any religion. How coincidental that just as he was falling out with authorities in Medina, Mohammed would suddenly get a revelation that Mecca was the new holy place to pray toMoviusnoreply@blogger.com