Ha! I can beat your pigeon and Book of Revelation story, hands down.
Several years ago, when I was teaching western civ at a community college, I
started out the class on the Hebrew people with a discussion of the assigned
reading selection from Genesis 1-3. At one point I asked something along the
lines of "how does evil come into the picture?" Several students answered "the
Devil," but I was trying to get them to pay attention to what the text says, so
I kept asking the question in different ways. Eventually, someone did say "the
serpent," but throughout the discussion a group of students over on one side of
the classroom kept tittering and then burst out laughing when someone said
"snake."
Having had enough, I strolled down the aisle to the zone of laughter, and
glanced down at a student seated in front of the laughing group--she had a small
snake curled in her hair, like a hair ribbon, except its head and upper body
where sitting upright waving at the students behind. The student seated next
to her hadn't noticed the snake until I arrived on the scene, but when he
glanced over to see what was up, he nearly tipped over in his haste to move his
chair away.
The student who owned the snake was very apologetic after class and
explained that her pet had a doctor's appointment that afternoon and she did
have time to go home and get him between class and the appointment. Apparently,
the snake normally slept in her hair, but when it heard its ancient ancestor
maligned it decided to put on a show.
So, there is my snake and Genesis story!
Karen Jolly
Hilary Carey wrote:
> This is not a student howler, as such. But yesterday I ran a class on the
> Book of Revelation as the first tutorial of a course on millennialism; next
> week we do Radolfus Glaber and the year 1000. A student entered the class
> wearing a pigeon (alive) on her head. This was a first. She said that she
> lived in the country and that the bird was only ten weeks old and got upset
> when she left it alone.
>
> Could not help noticing after this the distinct lack of birds (including
> pigeons) in the Book of Revelation. Only the eagle (three times: Revelation
> 4:7, 8:13, 12:14). There are many wings, of course, on the various
> creatures which adore God. The (wingless?) dragon is thrown out of heaven by
> Michael and his (winged?) angels. The woman clothed with the sun is given
> the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared
> for her in the desert (Rev. 12:14).
>
> The pigeon behaved beautifully - just as the citations might lead you to
> expect.
>
> Hilary
> _________________________________________
> Dr Hilary M. Carey
> Department of History ph: +61 2 49 215209
> University of Newcastle fax:+61 2 49 216940
> NSW 2308 AUSTRALIA email: [log in to unmask]
> ____________________________________________
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