In this week's BBC podcast,
Tim Blanning discusses how music has shaped history, while Michael Haag explores the history of the Knights Templar in the context of the Crusades.
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This week the American Historical Association is reading about
links related to two hot topics in the blogosphere: open access and MOOCs (massive open online courses), along with much more like historians in the news.
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Two Faith-Related links both from HistoryToday.com
The first article, Beyond Belief, looks at the teaching of Christianity in public schools (in the UK). The argument is that it is necessary for understanding the history of Europe and perhaps it is.
Teaching the religion and its history is much different than teaching its theology. What are your thoughts?''This is not a scheme to evangelise the Christian faith and nor should it be. Yet one would not deny students a classical education for fear that they might become followers of Bacchus, though in 21st-century Britain that may be the more likely option. This is a question of having the tools to do the job. And what students discover may well shed surprising light on the concerns of their own times. For example, the very idea of secularism, now widely accepted, even desired, in the West, is first outlined in Christ’s command from Matthew 20:21: ‘Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.’''
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The second article, Europe and the Islamic World, looks at this book which
''aims to highlight neglected aspects of the relations between Europe and Islam across the centuries which suggest that, however bitter the conflict might have been at times, culturally the two spheres have always had a great deal in common. After all, Britain and France were at war for most of the 18th century but no one would claim that they were divided by a clash of civilisations. The authors divide their work into three, along chronological lines.''
I think it will be added to my must read list!
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Check out this video published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art this week, from one of their programs in October.
Ottoman silk flags as Objects of Propaganda
