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Ancient Jew Review @ancientjewreview.bsky.social · 9h

The Aramaic Dead Sea Scrolls display a keen interest in the Israelite priesthood. Robert E. Jones' look at the Aramaic Levi Document reveals that this may have to do with the shifting fortunes of the priesthood in the 3rd cent BCE!
www.ancientjewreview.com/2025/10/17/hellenistic-context-aramaic-dss

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Curtis Dozier @curtisdozier.bsky.social · 9h

My book "The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate" is now available for pre-order. Use promo code WIN26 to get 30% off. Coming January 6th 2026! yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300...

Book cover showing classical column with title and author's name above it

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Michael DeVries @michaeldevries.bsky.social · 5h

Truth.

Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 6h

How many classes today were canceled because a whole suite of EdTech services are built atop AWS?

You know what platform never crashes?

Michael DeVries @michaeldevries.bsky.social · 5h

@meyerhoff-umd.bsky.social is hosting a lecture by Charlotte Hempel (my Doktormütter) tomorrow from 2-3:30 pm EST on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the rural economy. She has been doing some exciting work in this area. Follow the link to register.
jewishstudies.umd.edu/events/dead-...

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Rural Economy | Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies

jewishstudies.umd.edu

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Meyerhoff-UMD @meyerhoff-umd.bsky.social · 8h

Join us tomorrow at 2PM for an interesting discussion on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Rural Economy.

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Michael Johnson @scrollsgeek.bsky.social · 2d

Looking forward Charlotte Hempel's lecture, The DSS and the Rural Economy on Oct 21. Follow the link for details and to register. jewishstudies.umd.edu/events/dead-... #dss #qumran

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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 3d

People think there are no Roman history emergencies, right up to the day a sitting president proposes a triumphal arch. Now suddenly everyone needs a good handle on Titus and Constantine.

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 3d

heartbroken to learn the pope sympathizes with the poor. how can i continue to believe in god

The Pope tweets: "The poor are not there by chance or by blind and cruel fate. Nor, for most of them, is poverty a choice. Yet, there are those who still presume to make this claim, thus revealing their own blindness and cruelty. #DilexiTe"

Someone replies: "I was so hopeful I could be a Catholic again after the disaster that Francis was, guess we just get Francis 2.0 now and I am heartbroken. How do I stay a Catholic now...I don't want to lose faith but I am. You belong to someone else, not God."

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Sara Custer @saracuster.insidehighered.com · 3d

BREAKING: The White House has confirmed it's called the 5 institutions who haven't signed its compact to a meeting this afternoon. Insiders tell us it's "an effort to regain momentum by threatening institutions to sign" @knottkatherine.bsky.social has the scoop www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

White House to Meet with Universities Regarding Compact

The scheduled meeting follows increasingly forceful pushback to the wide-ranging proposal.

www.insidehighered.com

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Michael DeVries @michaeldevries.bsky.social · 4d

Yes! I tell my students that my job is not to tell them what to think but teach them how to think.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 4d

If you think that professors exist as repositories of knowledge that students ask for answers, you’re missing the entire point of a college education.

We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.

Department of 🐸™ @porcupunk.bsky.social · 4d

Wow. Just wow.

"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."

Michael DeVries @michaeldevries.bsky.social · 6d

Malinowski’s classic example is that of fishing. With lagoon fishing, Trobrianders do not employ magic as there is little danger and man can rely on his knowledge and skill for success. With open-sea fishing, where there is danger and uncertainty, extensive magical rituals abound (p. 13-14).

Michael DeVries @michaeldevries.bsky.social · 6d

OR “We find magic wherever the elements of chance and accident, and the emotional play between hope and fear have a wide and extensive range. We do not find magic wherever the pursuit is certain, reliable, and well under the control of rational methods and technological processes” (p. 116).

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Michael DeVries @michaeldevries.bsky.social · 6d

One of Malinowski’s insights: when people find themselves in a situation in which they lack control over the outcome, they will engage in ritualized behavior to influence the outcome.

Quote from Malinowski’s book, Magic, Science and Religion

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Francie Diep @franciediep.bsky.social · 6d

Breaking: Trump's higher-ed compact is open to all, I confirmed for @chronicle.com: www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-tr...

“We welcome any institution that wants to adopt these principles to sign the compact,” a source told me.

Trump Welcomes ‘Any Institution’ to Sign Onto Compact Outlining His Priorities

An administration source told The Chronicle that “any institution that wants to adopt these principles” could sign onto the document, which offers a purported edge in grant funding.

www.chronicle.com

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Shaily Patel @vox-magica.bsky.social · 6d

hope we’re all paying attention to the conflation of christianity and neosegregation. hope other christians start pushing back. and i’m biased, but man, i hope schools stop shuttering their religion departments when we need them most.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Eric Trump: "We're saving Christianity. We've saving God. We've saving the family unit. We're saving this nation. I mean, DEI is out of the window, Benny. You no longer have Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem. You no longer have Budweiser going woke as hell. All of this is dead."

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Tad DeLay @taddelay.bsky.social · 6d

Bloomberg reports this compact is being extended now to all colleges, and the first threat is withholding student loans. Multiple points clearly result in desegregating higher ed. I’ll underscore again that it bans professors from talking about “societal or political events”

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Shaily Patel @vox-magica.bsky.social · 10d

*sigh*

and here goes my alma mater making terrible decisions. again.

UNC schools of data science and information science to merge, forming unnamed ‘School of AI’

SDSS Dean Stanley Ahalt will be made dean of the new school while SILS Dean Jeffrey Bardzell will stand as the University’s Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer and Vice Provost for AI.

dailytarheel.com

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Chronicle of Higher Education @chronicle.com · 10d

MIT President Kornbluth announced on Friday the university “cannot support” Trump’s compact, saying the university disagreed with a number of the principles laid out in the document, including policies that would limit freedom of expression and institutional independence.

MIT President Says ‘We Cannot Support’ Trump’s Compact

The institution’s president, Sally Kornbluth, wrote: The proposal “is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.”

chroni.cl

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Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 10d

🚨 Breaking News | MIT has rejected the Trump admin’s proposal to sign on to the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which would mandate sweeping changes across campus in exchange for preferential treatment on federal funding.

Read the full story ➡️ https://bit.ly/4h5dQgM

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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 10d

Breaking news: MIT’s president turned down the Trump administration’s offer of priority access for federal funding, publicly releasing a letter that emphasized the elite university’s values.

MIT rejects Trump administration deal for priority federal funding

MIT is one of the nine schools that were asked to agree to adopt conservative priorities and policies in exchange for funding perks.

wapo.st

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Sharon Machlis @smachlis.bsky.social · 13d

This is a professor at Rutgers who teaches a class on the history of anti-fascism. He also teaches about human rights. He has received multiple death threats and been doxed. He is relocating to Europe for his safety. This is where we are in the US now. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

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Michael DeVries @michaeldevries.bsky.social · 12d

Yet another example of why I cancelled my NYT subscription.

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Michael DeVries @michaeldevries.bsky.social · 12d

Revisiting ritual and anxiety reduction and decided to go WAY back in the literature. 1948 to be exact.

Cover of Bronislaw Malinowski's Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays.

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Michael DeVries @michaeldevries.bsky.social · 13d

Joshua Schwartz's review of *The Textual History of the Bible from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Biblical Manuscripts of the Vienna Papyrus Collection* (STDJ 137) edited by Ruth Clements et al.
www.sblcentral.org/home/bookDet...

SBLCentral

www.sblcentral.org

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Alejandra González-Jiménez 🫒🌿 @heliconide.bsky.social · 13d

The humanities went from being seen as irrelevant to facing a crisis of literacy and critical thinking. This is why the humanities are so crucial. They provide the foundational tools and perspectives that shield us from such challenges.

Armand D’Angour @armanddangour.bsky.social · 14d

Wow.

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