British Library to pay millions for well-preserved Anglo-Saxon book

Religions still sells &151; big time.

The British Library is having to come up with 9 million pounds (that's $14.5 million) to buy the rights to display the St. Cuthbert Gospel, a 7th Century book revered by its contemporaries and their many descendants.

Cuthbert lived in the 7th Century, dying in 687. He was buried at Lindisfarne, the famed target of Viking raiders a few hundred years later. To protect the bones and other treasures left behind by Cuthbert, monks moved the coffin to Durham. When the coffin was opened in 1104, those responsible found the small book inside.

The book contains a complete Latin text of the Gospel of John. The book is remarkably well preserved, given its age. The cover is leather, and cover and contents are in such good shape that you have to wonder whether the airtight nature of the coffin helped in keeping the book from falling apart down through the centuries.

Lindisfarne, of course, was plundered and burned, but Cuthbert's remains were long gone by then, which is one reason that they have survived to the present day. Another reason, of course, is that the Church needs money.

The Church in this case is the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, and they will profit quite handsomely from merely hanging on to the book all these years. The British Library, meanwhile, will get to show off yet another artifact from the island's past. The library reports having raised more than half the money already. (That's half of 9 million pounds — not bad for a fundraising effort.)

Strength of Purpose: Filling in the Gaps in the Story of the Philistines

It's tough sometimes to shake preconceptions. Those of us brought up in the Christian tradition know well the story of the Philistines, for they were one of the chief antagonists to the rise of ancient Israel. In particular, they had a champion named Goliath who was bested by Israel's young David, in an encounter that still lends itself to comparisons today. Another story that survives to this day was of the Philistine champion Samson, whose legendary strength was undone by the fleecing of the hair off his head.

Goliath and Samson — two pillars of strength, as it were — and yet both were undone by guile — in Goliath's case by a well slung stone from tiny David and in Solomon's case a well thought out plan from the crafty Delilah.

But who were those ancient people? The Jewish and Christian traditions don't give much more detail than that on the Philistines, but they were certainly successful in surviving in the rough-and-tumble world of the ancient Mediterranean.

Gath, the city that archaeologists have unearthed recently, was one of several Philistine settlements that dotted the area after the people arrived from Greece about 1200 B.C. They built towns that turned into some major ports of the area, including one called Gaza.

Results of the dig include shards of jugs, ancient bones, and a large number of stones assembled as buildings and embankments — the latter a big clue that the city was fortified against an invading army. Indeed, the neighboring Arameans succeeded in razing the city in 830 B.C.

The Philistines lasted for a few centuries, until the Babylonian army under King Nebuchadnezzar wiped them off the map. However, as with the Babylonian Captivity, the famed king might have won a temporary victory, but today's diggers are unearthing evidence that paints an ever diverse picture of the Philistines, a picture that has much more than the one dimension mentioned in David's triumph and Samson's defeat.

Shuttle Is History; Exploration Should Not Be

The last of the space shuttle missions began today, and so an era ends.

The shuttle was a reusable space transport vehicle that captured the imagination of many, many people, chief among them proponents of space exploration and of scientific research.

Yes, the shuttle cost money — tons of it. Yes, people died, and that is always a tragedy. I can't imagine the terrible toll that has taken on the lives of the families left behind, especially when we appear to celebrate success but don't remember their sacrifices.

But also yes, shuttle astronauts ran thousands of experiments that gave us greater insight into how things work in our bodies, in our environment, in our atmosphere, and in our universe. And yes, shuttle astronauts launched (and, in one famous case, fixed) a parade of outer space exploration machines that are to this day rewriting our books of knowledge on what is in the sky we look at every night.

This kind of technology and discovery did not come cheap, but cost isn't always the most important factor. The more we seek to understand what is around us and in us, the more we will spend — be that time or money or both. Progress can be slow, and it can bound ahead in great leaps. Progress is always worth the time, effort, and money we spend.

The shuttle program has ended. The exploration of space should not.