University and Church

[V.V. Raman]

1. As often happens in cross-talk, I am a little lost about the thrust of this
thread.

2. Yes, St. Augustine thought that Hebrew was the fist language, even as
ancient Egyptians thought that Thoth created speech and writing, Icelandic
people that Odin did it, ancient Hindus thought that Brahma gave speech and
writing to human beings, Muslims think that Arabic is the language of the Gods,
, etc.

3. In a poetic sense all were/are probably right. In a (modern) literal sense
it is difficult to understand what these statements mean.

4. So where do we go from here, beyond the recognition that in pre-modern times
most origin questions were generally settled by invoking a divine
(supernatural) principle?

V. V. Raman
March 17, 2001