Archive for January, 2009

Karl Marx today

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Is the study of Karl Marx still relevant today? After all, all the communists regimes have fallen and failed, except for a few that persist amidst difficulties, and reading Marx today therefore seems irrelevant to us. Yet, there is much in Marx that can be drawn out if we know what his goals ... More


Roman figurine found in Jerusalem

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

An 1,800-year-old figurine believed to have originated from the eastern stretches of the Roman Empire has been discovered by archaeologists outside the walls of the old city, the Israeli Antiquities Authority said. The 2-inch marble bust depicts the head of a man with a short curly beard and ... More


The Passion According to Matthew

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

It is almost by chance that I came across this composition for orchestra and choir of which I had quite astonishingly never heard before. It is a work that is worth listening to, and which, in my opinion, surpasses even Bach’s work of the same title. It is surprising in its Baroque tones, ... More


The mosque of Notre-Dame

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Notre-Dame in Paris has been the background of Victor Hugo’s famous novel Le Bossu de Notre-Dame. Throughout the Middle Ages, the cathedral served as the artistic and architectural model for the Gothic style which would spread all over Western Christendom. Perhaps it is not so surprising ... More


The second trial of Socrates

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

In the Apology, Socrates presents, in defense against his indictors, the reasons why he was considered by the Delphian Apollo to be the wisest man. While it may be logical to think that he was deemed so because he knew more than others, the reson of his wisdom lay precisely in the contrary ... More