Tag Archives: philosophy/religion

Fisher King

Posted on October 6, 2023 | Leave a comment

“Fisher King: One of the chief characters in medieval legends dealing with the quest for the Holy Grail. The Fisher King was the keeper of the Grail relics, including the spear of Longinus used to wound Jesus as he hung on the cross. The Fisher King suffered from a wound made by the same spear. The wound destroyed the Fisher King’s virility and, by a sympathetic transference, turned his realm into a wasteland. A new and purer guardian of the relics, in the form of the Grail hero, must intervene (see GALAHAD). The task of the hero is not simply to find the relics themselves, which had been stolen, but also to free the king so he may die a peaceful death and bring life and fertility back to the king’s realm. See WASTE LAND, THE.”

Excerpted from: Murphy, Bruce, ed. Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia, Fourth Edition. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.

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12 Olympian Gods

Posted on October 6, 2023 | Leave a comment

Zeus (Jupiter) * Hera (Juno) * Poseidon (Neptune) * Aphrodite (Venus) * Athena (Minerva) * Apollo (Apollo) * Artemis (Diana) * Hermes (Mercury) * Dionysus (Bacchus) * Hades (Pluto) * Aries (Mars) *Hephaestus (Vulcan) * Hestia (Vesta)

The cult of six female goddesses paired with six male gods came to Greece from western Anatolia during the Iron Age, though the doubling up of a trinity of female goddesses, and then giving the appropriate male counterparts, was a familiar aspect of many ancient cultures. Hercules is first credited with organizing sacrifices to all twelve of the great gods who dwelt on Mount Olympus and the oldest such altar was associated with Athens. The precise names of the Olympian pantheon would shift during 1,000 years of worship, which is why thirteen deities have been listed. Hades, as Lord of the Underworld, was vulnerable to downgrading, especially in favor of Hestia/Vesta, while at other times Hephaestus could be exchanged for Hercules, and in the early period Dionysus held an equivocal position.

Excerpted from: Rogerson, Barnaby. Rogerson’s Book of Numbers: The Culture of Numbers–from 1,001 Nights to the Seven Wonders of the World. New York: Picador, 2013.

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Cultural Literacy: Janus

Posted on October 6, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Janus, the “Roman god of doors and gateways and hence of beginnings,” as the four-sentence reading on this document explains. There are three comprehension questions accompanying the reading. I remember puzzling over Janus, the two-faced god, mostly because of the multiplicity and complexity of his myth and interpretation. As you probably know, Janus is represented with two faces, one young and one old, looking in opposite directions.

But did you know that the month of January is named for him? Or that to be Janus-faced is to be duplicitous, or two-faced? While I understand the image of Janus (if nothing else from watching films from the production company bearing his name), I have struggled for some reason with some of the abstractions that appear with his name on them.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Doubter’s Companion: Propaganda

Posted on August 29, 2023 | Leave a comment

“Propaganda: The means by which the thousands of organizations in a corporatist society communicate with each other and with the general public.

From its origins in the Vatican Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Congregati de propaganda fide), a body devoted to spreading the Christian doctrine in foreign lands, the idea of substituting propagation for explanation was seized upon by the heroic national leaders of the late eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Propaganda married romanticism with facts, which seemed to replace any need for understanding. With the invention of marketing tools such as the press release, advertisements, sound bites, PR firms and press officers, this rather exclusive way of influencing people was quickly available to anyone with a budget.

Where once a government minister had a press officer, now every section in a ministry has one. Private corporations have whole communications departments. The American army alone has a corps of some 5,000 press officers.

The purpose of these several hundred thousand communications experts is to prevent communication or any generalized grasp of reality. Their job is to propagate the faith.”

Excerpted from: Saul, John Ralston. The Doubter’s Companion. New York: The Free Press, 1994.

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Jeanne Chall on Key Differences Between Teacher-Centered and Student-Centered Instruction 15: What Is the Teacher’s Educational Background?

Posted on August 24, 2023 | Leave a comment

“Teacher-Centered: Education in the subject matter being taught is preferred, especially for high school teachers. There is less concern with the teacher’s knowledge of methods of teaching than with knowledge and expertise in the specific subject matter.

Student-Centered: The teacher’s master of subject matter is considered less important than an understanding of child and adolescent development, and how to stimulate and encourage student’s creativity and self-expression.”

Excerpted from: Chall, Jeanne S. The Academic Achievement Challenge: What Really Works in the Classroom? New York: The Guilford Press, 2002.

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Cultural Literacy: Zodiac

Posted on August 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the zodiac. This is a half-page document with a reading of two sentences and two comprehension questions. In other words, another succinct, but relatively thorough, introduction to this conception of the heavens.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Cultural Literacy: Zeus

Posted on July 31, 2023 | Leave a comment

Moving right along this morning, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Zeus. This is a full-page document with a reading of three sentences and a parenthetical element, and four comprehension questions. This is one of a series of new Cultural Literacy materials I developed this summer, and I’m trying out some new strategies in composing the questions. As almost always on this blog (but for a few PDFs floating around), this document is formatted in Microsoft Word, so you can manipulate it to suit the needs of your classroom.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Concepts in Sociology: Altruism

Posted on July 30, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a worksheet on the concept of altruism that I developed on the fly last spring. This is a full-page worksheet with a three-sentence reading and three comprehension questions. I ended up not using this, because if I had I probably would have adapted it some: the reading contains some terms of art from sociology that require amplification and explanation. Also, I think there are some critical questions to ask about altruism–how does it benefit society? for starters–that I didn’t get around to writing.

This is more of a skeleton than a fully fleshed-out worksheet. Like almost everything on this website, however, it is formatted in Microsoft Word. You can, therefore, adapt it to your classroom’s needs.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Immanuel Kant

Posted on July 30, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a reading on Immanuel Kant along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Over the years, I’ve published a number of documents posts on various figures in western philosophy; at my first posting in New York City, at a school in the South Bronx, I found myself in the company of a student who had improbably–but certainly not implausibly, as he demonstrated with the skill and enthusiasm with which he dealt with these materials–conceived an interest in the major figures in continental philosophy.

In other words, I used these documents once, with one student. It was worth it. But I am under no illusions about the level of demand for this material, which will be low if it exists at all.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Cultural Literacy: Yoga

Posted on July 30, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on yoga. This is a half-page worksheet with a one-sentence reading and one comprehension question. The sparest, which is not to say ineffective, introduction to this regimen of physical culture.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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