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Alice C. Linsley
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Alice C. Linsley's Groups
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Anthropology of kinship
14 members
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Anthropology of/in Africa
83 members
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Physical and Forensic ...
52 members
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Anthropology of the Li...
19 members
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Teaching Anthropology
75 members
Alice C. Linsley's Discussions
What is Biblical Anthropology?
Replied 9 hours ago
What is Biblical Anthropology?
2 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Alice C. Linsley 9 hours ago.
Alice C. Linsley's Page
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I agree, Elsbeth. There is some common ground between what I do and what a theologian does. I suspect there is common ground with preachers too. The problem arises when theologicans and preachers ignore the cultural context of the biblical materia...
An anthropologist is always seeking data.
Perhaps this is the key to finding a common ground between the theologians and the anthropologist. Both are looking for evidence (data) to confirm truths (conclusions). I think that using a scientific met...
Explore and share information of an anthropological nature pertaining to the Bible and/or biblical themes.
Formal kinship analysis does indeed have an important place in cultural anthropology. It certainly is NOT dead, although it can be used to do gender and identity studies, as Keith says. However, the real payoff comes when we can connect people gro...
I'm interesting in identifying kinship patterns among the rulers listed in Genesis. Here we find a unqiue pattern, rather like a social signature. Once the pattern is identified, I look for where in the world today this pattern might still be obse...
Miruna, Thanks for starting this group. Kinship is an exciting field of anthropology and I'm looking forward to some interesting discussions here. Best wishes to you.
Kinship refers to relations between individuals who are in relationships either by descent or marriage (and in some occasions fictive kinship).A field that is now ignored by researchers and scholars, despite it's use for areas like gender studies.
The perception that a female is "dirty" after childbirth reflects poor catechesis on the part of Anglicanism. You will need to study the Orthodox Church to get a clearer picture of the etiologgy of this practice. The Orthodox teach that righteousn...
Alice C. Linsley
Biblical anthropology, like biblical archaeology, uses the Bible as a resource in advancing knowledge of the Ancient Near Eastern and Ancient African peoples and cultures. There is nothing extraordinary about this venture, except...
Keith,
I wonder if it might be helpful for me to post a short piece on what Biblical Anthropology is and how it serves science? I had no idea this piece would receive so many comments and I hesitate to post another while this is still on the main...
I love it! Twain had such dry wit and is so quotable. : )
I couldn't resist posting this. Please don't read anyhting serious into it.
"It ain't the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand."
Mark Twain.
Valerie, the book of Genesis is the context for the claim that the ancestors of Abraham believed that a Son of God would be born from their bloodline. The idea of a son of God was not unusual among some ancient Afro-Asiatic groups. We are able to ...
Responding to your question: What would be the subject of study of a political anthropology of the Africa of today?
As kinship is the perhaps the most fundamental basis of politics in Africa, I would think that kinship analysis along with linguis...
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- Midway College
Alice C. Linsley's Blog
Number Symbolism to Track Biblical Sources
Numbers are an interesting and useful device in tracking the tribal and ethnic origins of a document. For example, the Chinese avoid using the number four, which they regard as a bad omen, yet four is a sacred number to the Plains Indians of North America and is used in ceremonies and rites, such as the Vision Quest.
In the Bible we are able to track the origin of some narratives using number symbolism. The Hebrew Bible comes to us from the Afro-Asiatics whose number symbolism can be classified… Continue
In the Bible we are able to track the origin of some narratives using number symbolism. The Hebrew Bible comes to us from the Afro-Asiatics whose number symbolism can be classified… Continue
Posted on August 16, 2009 at 9:15pm — 6 Comments
The Bible and Anthropological Research
Of what value is the Bible for anthropological research?
Recognizing that the Bible is really 66 distinct books, which books might be most profitable to begin research on the ancient people from whom we receive these texts?
My research has focused primarily on the kinship of Abraham's people, therefore, I've been most interested in the genealogies and information about the relationship of tribes and clans.
I've also explored comparative mythology and have found that the Genesis creation stori… Continue
Recognizing that the Bible is really 66 distinct books, which books might be most profitable to begin research on the ancient people from whom we receive these texts?
My research has focused primarily on the kinship of Abraham's people, therefore, I've been most interested in the genealogies and information about the relationship of tribes and clans.
I've also explored comparative mythology and have found that the Genesis creation stori… Continue
Posted on July 16, 2009 at 1:00am — 6 Comments
Comment Wall (12 comments)
- At 5:56pm on November 26, 2009,
Josué Villegas said…
- Muchas gracias por la bienvenida Alice. Espero aprender mucho de tu grupo y contruibuir con algunas aportaciones.
Saludos desde Yucatán. México.
Josué
- At 1:12pm on August 24, 2009,
Christian Park said… - Thank you for the warm welcome. I will try my best to participate in the discussion.
- At 1:11am on July 16, 2009,
Hope Ellen Linsley Rapson said…
- Yes, I read it. It was fascinating, but so much to think about...I am learning so much from this and your other blogs. I feel amateurish amongst the many heavy weights in this discussion, even though I love anthropology and the Bible. Keep it up...I just pray that I will have a teacheable spirit as my little sister intellectually and learnedly blows my mind! See you Saturday...
- At 12:22am on July 14, 2009,
Richard Irvine said… - Hello! Thank you for starting the group. My ethnographic work is on monasticism in contemporary Christianity, and I have interests in contemporary Christianity more generally. As a result, the Bible is a central concern to me, both as something which is used and fought over today (I've just contributed to the discussion on the wall, which I have found interesting in thinking about the Bible as an ethnographic object), and also as a essential source of knowledge for the major questions and concerns that shaped early Christianity and gave rise to its shape as a world religion. I am particularly interested in millennialism, and in the new testament focus on the end-times, and the idea, expressed well by Albert Schweitzer, that the new testament expresses an "interim ethic". The question then becomes, how do we live out this interim ethic in a world that has not yet ended?
But in general, I am just interested in learning more, which is why I am here!
- At 8:41am on July 13, 2009,
froilan somes said…
- hi alice!about the name peleg in gen.10:25 according to alfred wagner the word peleg earth here speaks plainly of the geophysical earth rather than any metaphorical expression he proposed the idea of continental drift. he said most interesting is the hidden meaning of the word "divided" in this passage.it literally means to seperate or "canal" by water!if this is all significant it is easy to understand why this father was so motivated to name one of his sons for this spectacular event.what is your comment?are radiomentric methods reliable?how do they work?are test results consistent?what is the acid test for these radiometric dating systems?is carbon 14 reliable?what is it?what are its limits?is there room for error?how old is man?is adam a caveman?what is the different between cromagnon and neanderthal?is adam a cromagnon or neanderthal?how long has man been truly human?where is the oldest true man?is there any evidence to link man to apelike creatures?did man and dinosaur live togethere?what does all verified history tell us about early man?can you give me the time sequence of earth(the time chart) for my bible study?Godbless!
- At 9:10am on July 11, 2009,
froilan somes said…
- dear alice im interested to know about the origin of adam.is there a connection between adam and the h.habilis and erectus?what is your comment with this article?thanks
Habilis and Erectus...Again
Non-Technical - Mar 10, 2009 - by Stephen Caesar MA
Tags: habilis, erectus, evolution
When many people hear about the controversy over human origins, they usually think of creation versus evolution. However, some of the most heated debates occur within the theory of evolution itself. According to the November 3, 2007, issue of the journal Science News, “Given limited evidence about long-gone populations of our predecessors, researchers devise competing evolutionary scenarios that are often difficult to disprove and that can easily accommodate whatever ancient bones turn up next” (Bower 2007: 280).
An example of this takes the form of an ancient braincase and partial upper jaw unearthed in Kenya in 2000. The discoverers claim that these two fossils prove that there were two species of Homo (the genus that includes modern humans) that lived at the same time in East Africa between 1.9 million and 1.4 million year ago. However, as Science News reports, “one prominent anthropologist rejects that conclusion, placing both new fossils in a single species that preceded Homo sapiens”—that is, modern humans (Ibid.).
Standard evolutionary theory maintains that Homo habilis, a small-brained primate that is believed to have evolved about 2 million years ago from earlier primates in East Africa, evolved into the larger-brained Homo erectus about 1.6 million years ago, and that Homo erectus evolved into us. After teaching this as dogma for decades, some scientists are beginning to doubt this scenario. Anatomist Fred Spoor of University College London and his colleagues maintain that H. habilis and H. erectus evolved separately, and lived side by side in East Africa for half a million years (Ibid. 282).
They base their conclusion on the two fossil finds mentioned above. The first is a piece of upper jaw, which was found in a layer of volcanic ash dated under current assumptions to 1.44 million years ago. The jaw, which still contains six teeth, belongs to H. habilis, according to Spoor. The second find is a small braincase whose age is estimated at 1.55 million years, and “bears several traits unique to H. erectus,” according to Science News (Ibid.).
The journal further points out: “Since the two species coexisted in the same region for such a long time, each must have had separate origins between 3 million and 2 million years ago, [Spoor and his colleagues] contend. Few hominid fossils have turned up from that period” (Ibid.). Spoor concludes that modern humans evolved from H. erectus, possibly via an intermediate species as yet unknown, while H. habilis was a “sister species” of H. erectus that eventually reached an evolutionary dead end (Ibid.).
Not all scientists agree. Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley, one of the leading anthropologists of all time, has classified both fossils as H. erectus and as important contributions to the study or origins, “but hardly the stuff of major evolutionary revisions,” in the words of Science News (Ibid.). He rejects Spoor’s image of the human evolutionary line branching out into multiple species, maintaining instead the standard, familiar model of early hominids evolving in a straight line (Ibid.).
This controversy demonstrates the high degree of uncertainty that surrounds the search for human origins. Despite the fact that the popular image of ape-to-hominid-to-man is presented as all-but-irrefutable fact, the truth is not so well known, and everything we know about the origin of the human race could change at any moment with any new discovery.
Reference:s?i sent you a topic about h.habilis and erectus i want to know your opinion.thanks! i wait for your reply!
- At 9:03am on July 11, 2009,
froilan somes said…
- dear alice
- At 7:48pm on July 9, 2009,
Aref Abu-Rabia said… - Dear Alice,
Thanks very much for your message. It would be my honor to participate in that event of Abraham. This is my father name and my son name.
Salamat and shalom on you.
Aref
- At 11:57am on July 9, 2009,
Victoria Reed said… - Thank you for the link to your thesis on Afro-Asiatic linguistic similarities. I skimmed it this morning, noting the commonalities I have seen myself. I look forward to giving it more thorough consideration. Off to write a paper or two for class.
Giypsy
- At 11:31pm on July 6, 2009,
Olupero R. Aiyenimelo said…
- Thank you, Alice:
I happened to come across your thread on Afro-Asiatic linguistic link to India, or something of that nature. That inspired me to join and want to know more. I'm Nigerian American and there are certain words/names like Orisa and Lahor that are of Yoruba and Indian descent. I'd like to study this more. Thanks.
ORA
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