Professor Wendy Doniger of the University of Chicago will give presentations at the University of Pennsylvania on Wednesday (11/8, 5:15, Logan 17) and Thursday (11/9, 3:00pm, Penn Humanities Forum, 3619 Locust Walk). “Mythology of Gender in Kama-Sutra” (Wednesday) // “Bisexuality in Classical India: A Workshop” (Thursday) These events are co-sponsored by Fund to Encourage Women (FEW) of the Trustees’ Council of Penn Women, Department of South Asia Studies, Department of Religious Studies, and Women’s Studies and the Alice Paul Center. Here’s a description of Doniger from the University of Chicago Divinity School web site. Here are some works by Doniger (books) (articles1) (articles2).

There’s a Darwin Exhibit running at the Franklin Institute from October 6 to December 31 that I will try to get to. Darwin is arguably the most influential thinker of the past two centuries and his theories continue to be a rich source of inspiration and controversy. I’m not sure the exhibit will be as “astonishing” as the Franklin Institute self-reports but certainly worth seeing. Museums have become a bit like theme parks so get ready for plenty of rides, games, and make-believe as you enter Chuckie D’s world. Getting back to the real world, the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities is hosting The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online, described as the “largest collection of Darwin’s writings ever published”. Thanks to science librarian Kathy Szigeti for pointing this site out for me. Check it out, it looks very impressive. You might also take a look at some of the books the library has from Richard Dawkins and the late Stephen Jay Gould, two scientists who have done much to make Darwin accessbile to popular audiences. William A. Dembski has written a lot in support of Intelligent Design. Here’s a review in the Skeptic magazine of five different books (including one edited by Dembski) that challenge evolutionary theory. As the name suggests, the Skeptic is all about debunking, in this case Creationism/Intelligent Design. Here John C. Polkinghorne, physicist and theologian, critiques “Darwinian thinking” run amok. Mary Midgley is a philosopher who has written some interesting stuff on the religion in science. Finally, we are often romantically inclined to see Big Ideas as the result of some lone genius working his magic, the paradigmatic cases in science being Newton and Einstein. It’s important to remember in this case that Darwin was not the only one who was thinking about the principles and lines of evidence that would lead to the theory of evolution. Alfred Russell Wallace came up with the mechanism of natural selection about the same time that Darwin did, which just goes to show that Big Ideas are often “in the air”. Also, take a look at my Science and Religion subject guide for more resources on the intersection of science and religion. —Fred Rowland

James Young, professor and chair of the Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst speaks tonight in Annenberg Hall, Room 3, 5:40-8:30. Young was on the German commission for the “Monument for Europe’s Murdered Jews” and also on the jury for the World Trade Center Memorial competition. Below are a book and two articles by Young. Germany’s Holocaust Memorial problem–and Mine The Holocaust as Vicarious Past The Texture of Memory –Fred Rowland

There are strong apocalyptic elements to each of the major Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Among the events prophesied are things like the appearance of a messiah, huge cataclysms, a last judgment, and the end of the world. Given the current awful conflicts in the Middle East–home to these religions–and the religious passions involved, the following articles and books might provide some food for thought. Apocalypse: An Overview // Eschatology: An Overview // Armageddon, battle of // Millennialism // Mahdi // Messiah // Antichrist // Judgment of the Dead // Revelation, book of // Shia: Imami (Twelver) // Jerusalem in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam // Prophecy // Isaiah Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism // Left Behind Series // Rapture, Revelation, and the end times // Contemporary Muslim apocalyptic literature // The resurrection and the afterlife // Eschatological themes in medieval Jewish philosophy // The fate of the dead : studies on the Jewish and Christian apocalypses // On the road to Armageddon // The battles of Armageddon Evangelical Solidarity with the Jews // Ideological Roots of Christian Zionism // The Legend of al-Dajjal (Antichrist) // Eschatology: Some Muslim and Christian Data // Time, Culture and Christian Eschatology // Bin Ladin: The Man Who Would Be Mahdi // Waiting for the Messiah // Romance Between Christian Right, Jewish Establishment Seems to Be Cooling Off // Farrakhan: This is time of doom // Jerusalem in Islamic fundamentalism –Fred Rowland

Here are some interesting books/articles/databases/web sites on the history and evolution of the book, in no particular order. Thanks to librarian Anne Harlow for pointing me to Book 2.0, the source for the first four entries below. GAM3R 7H3ORY, by McKenzie Wark Books In Time, Carla Hesse On the Future of Academic Publishing, Peer Review, and Tenure Requirements Institute for the Future of the Book Book 2.0 (Temple user name and password for the Chronicle is in Journal Finder) The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, Elizabeth Eisenstein The Nature of the Book, Adrian Johns Book History Online (BHO) Self, Culture, and Self-Culture in Modern America: The Early History of the Book-of-the-Month Club, Joan Shelley Rubin John Playford and the Stationers’ Company, Nicholas Temperley Learned Publishing (Temple does not subscribe to this journal, but much of the content is free.) The European physics publications scene: avant-garde and traditionalism, Claus Montonen Alternative Futures for Library History, Jonathan Rose The Great Library of Alexandria Burnt: Towards the History of a Symbol, Jon Thiem —Fred Rowland