I.T. Soon

I.T. Soon

@isaactsoon.bsky.social

Writer of music, fiction, and scholarship. Recovering nihilist.

2.1K followers795 following618 posts

I.T. Soon reposted

Dr Kate Cook
@katexe.bsky.social

In other news, the ebook is now available for pre-order - and happily significantly more affordable than the hardback! Get your Companions to Video Games and History here: www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

routledge.comThe Routledge Companion to Video Games and HistoryThe Routledge Companion to Video Games and History explores the dynamic intersection between video games and historical scholarship. This comprehensive handbook delves into the ways video games presen...

I.T. Soon reposted

Lisa Fagin Davis
@lisafdavis.bsky.social

Over on VoynichNinja (an excellent discussion board with lots of solid linguistic & cryptological work), someone posted this new resource based on my (credited!) work that lets you visualize structure & rearrange quires, bifolia, and pages! It's incredibly cool and really valuable. voynichviewer.com

I.T. Soon reposted

Sarah E. Bond
@sarahebond.bsky.social

My latest for National Geographic is on a stunning new ‘Fulgur Conditum’ inscription from Hadrian’s Villa that tells us a lot about how Romans reacted to lightning ⚡️ striking objects & the creation of sacred space. Thx 🙏 to Elizabeth Meyer & Alberto Samonà. www.nationalgeographic.com/history/arti...

nationalgeographic.comThe Ancient Romans Had a Strange Ritual After ThunderstormsArchaeologists excavating at Hadrian’s Villa outside of Rome have unearthed a marble slab dedicated to Summanus, the god of nocturnal lightning.

I.T. Soon reposted

Alexiana Fry
@alexianafry.bsky.social

Calling all scholars of religion who are attending the upcoming #aarsbl26 meeting in Denver! I need your help, as I am using the current fun trend exemplified by "Subway Takes" to introduce the public to the world of (and the necessity of) religious studies - broadly speaking.

I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

My new article on Hebrews and Concurrent Blood Sacrifice is now out with JSNT. This one took a long time to write (three years!), and I'm please to see it out in the wild. Enjoy. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

journals.sagepub.comOne Priesthood After Another: Hebrews, Concurrent Blood Sacrifice, and the Destruction of the Temple - Isaac T. Soon, 2026This article argues that it is unlikely that the author of Hebrews, like many other Jewish texts from the second temple period, understood the sacrificial activ...

I.T. Soon reposted

maimonides nutz
@maimonidesnutz.bsky.social

I wanted to show y’all what I’m working on here first! It’s a Lilith amulet in the shape of a C1 (atlas) vertebra. My thought is that if you have something trapped in the bone where your head meets the rest of your body, it will be both the upper and lower limit of who you could be in the world

I.T. Soon reposted

Mateusz Kusio
@mateuszkusio.bsky.social

Feel invited to attend all or any of the sessions in this new online public lecture series, entitled "Prophecy, Divination, Verification, and Failure in Antiquity and Beyond", which I am organising within the framework of my FWO project "New Perspectives on the Delay of Parousia" +

I.T. Soon reposted

Julia Hillner
@writinghelena.bsky.social

Had a fabulous time at the first day of our workshop on The Nameless in History. Lots of fantastic inspiration from many disciplines on how to deal with this particular gap in our knowledge. Among others my terrific colleague Pia Wiegmink spoke about US memorials for the nameless enslaved

I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

Look for this work! I'm a big fan of the Cambridge elements series which has allowed up and coming scholars to engage with the incredible scholarship out there while widening the field in innovative ways.

Alexi Chantziantoniou@alexichantz.bsky.social

looks like i’m joining the cambridge elements crowd at CUP. 𝘗𝘢𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 will be coming your way in the new cambridge elements in pauline studies!

I.T. Soon reposted

Asheesh Kapur Siddique
@asheeshks.org

Academic humanities are constantly being forced into a defensive public stance. We ARE trying to fix this-see the World Humanities Report, which proactively shows the powerful contributions academic humanities makes to the world - but it doesn't break through worldhumanitiesreport.org

worldhumanitiesreport.orgHome - The World Humanities ReportThe World Humanities Report Demonstrating the vitality of the humanities throughout the world
Asheesh Kapur Siddique@asheeshks.org

I don't know if I have the energy for this right now, folks . . . . . . www.vanderbilt.edu/principles/s...

vanderbilt.eduA Report on Historical StudiesScholarship in all fields of historical study remains strong. The range of those fields displays a rooted cosmopolitanism, covering once understudied non-Western portions of the globe and based on dee...

I.T. Soon reposted

Nathan Kalman-Lamb
@nkalamb.bsky.social

Whether we want to admit it or not, every NFL game is a snuff film. It's long past time fans of the sport faced up to a reality that becomes clearer every day: American football is simply too dangerous. This year, turn off the NFL. Our latest in @theguardian.com @us.theguardian.com.

theguardian.comCTE in football players is a health crisis. It’s time for us to stop watchingA new study offers more evidence that America’s biggest sport produces life-altering head trauma. The NFL will never turn itself off, so it’s on fans to do so

I.T. Soon reposted

Matt Gabriele
@profgabriele.com

sharing again for the weekend crowd. the humanities aren't in crisis, they're under attack -- because they're dangerous to people in power, because they ask their students to imagine possible worlds.

Liberal Currents@liberalcurrents.com

"The administrators deciding on these closures and cuts often say that they rely upon 'data points' and metrics, although they choose which metrics… Such supposedly data-driven decisionmaking often leaves aside the fact that Humanities departments tend to be revenue positive."

liberalcurrents.comReligion, Humanities, and the Public GoodThe right wing's assault on Religion and Humanities programs is an assault on our ability to understand the world, from Hindutva abroad to Christian Nationalism at home.

I.T. Soon reposted

Tony Burke
@tonyburke.bsky.social

Seven (?) years in the making, submitted to my editors yesterday. 624 pages, covering almost 400 texts but 100 or so pages over my page limit. Happy to leave this in the hands of the editors for a while and move on to something else (or just get more sleep). My thanks to all who helped along the way

I.T. Soon reposted

Nina Willburger
@drnwillburger.bsky.social

Another museum heist has occurred, with the Bronze Age hoard of Villena being stolen. This collection comprises artifacts crafted from gold, silver, and amber. de.euronews.com/kultur/2026/...

share.googleDiebe stehlen Bronzezeit-Schatz von Villena in unter vier MinutenDie Diebe lösten am Stadtrand von Villena einen falschen Alarm aus, lenkten so die Sicherheitskräfte ab und stahlen im Museum 59 prähistorische Exponate in weniger als vier Minuten.
I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

Can attest these are often the highlights of my week. So much to learn!

Candida Moss@candidamoss.bsky.social

If you are a scholar, grad student, or post doc at an institution where there you do not have seminars in Biblical Studies and you'd like to attend/participate in the Birmingham Biblical Studies Seminar let me know! (Those who do have seminars are welcome to come too)

I.T. Soon reposted

Ana Marie Cox
@anamariecox.com

TW: Suicide If you tell people you have SI, many are likely to suggest you call 988 or text the suicide lifeline. These are good resources *if you need to be kept physically safe;* they are not as helpful if your ideations are passive. Allow me to share some things that have helped me. /1

I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

Having spent last week in an archive at a residential school in Northern Ontario I can say unequivocally that the use of a genAi like Claude to do family history for truth and reconciliation is fundamentally misguided. 🧵

This post is unavailable.
View full thread
I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

What’s more, the use of a tool that relies on data centres that guzzle water, disable the inhabitants around them, and punishes the land and people on which it occupies is tantamount to using further colonizing power and mechanisms to right the wrongs of colonization in the first place.

I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

Having spent last week in an archive at a residential school in Northern Ontario I can say unequivocally that the use of a genAi like Claude to do family history for truth and reconciliation is fundamentally misguided. 🧵

This post is unavailable.
View full thread
I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

Because it cannot ground itself in the kind of knowledge that Indigenous peoples in Canada emphasize, in community, memory, connection, and land, a machine like Claude cannot access the kind of truth needed for reconciliation and certainly not resurgence.

I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

Having spent last week in an archive at a residential school in Northern Ontario I can say unequivocally that the use of a genAi like Claude to do family history for truth and reconciliation is fundamentally misguided. 🧵

This post is unavailable.
I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

I watched the staff there not just dole out facts to people. They sat with them and listened to their stories, they did truth walks around the halls and fields and spaces of horror where children lived and where they now lay, they sat in council offering tobacco to foster good medicine,

I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

they dreamed together of a future for themselves, for their children, and for their ancestors. What machine can do this work? What dataset can we feed it to replace this soullabour necessary for Indigenous Truth and Reconciliation?

I.T. Soon reposted

Sarah E. Bond
@sarahebond.bsky.social

Pasts Imperfect is back! This week, @jbrya.bsky.social discusses Zora Neale Hurston's 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩. Then, the mass grave at Phaleron (Attica) confirms a local population; UNESCO protects Sebastia; geoglyphs in the Amazon; ancient world journals by @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & more!

pasts-imperfect.ghost.ioPasts Imperfect (8.13.26)This week, classicist Jermaine Bryant discusses Zora Neale Hurston's posthumously published The Life of Herod the Great. Then, a new study of the mass grave at Phaleron (Attica) confirms a local popul...

I.T. Soon reposted

Sabrina Inowlocki
@sabrinainowlocki.bsky.social

Turns out the Martyrs of Palestine and Pamphilus of Caesarea are chick-magnets. I just found out that Liz Penland, Erica Carotenuto and myself have a predecessor. The Pamphilos entry in Pauly-Wissowa by "E. Hoffmann" is not by an Ernst but an Eva.

I.T. Soon reposted

Sarah E. Bond
@sarahebond.bsky.social

Perusing @lrb.co.uk, but rather than reading about the Odyssey (which I am seeing again tonight), I'm exploring "Polar Bears in Rome," Michael Kulikowski's review of _The Northern Routes to Kingship: A History of Scandinavia AD 180–550_by Dagfinn Skre. Were there ever polar bears in the Colosseum? 🐻‍❄️

lrb.co.ukMichael Kulikowski · Polar Bears in Rome: Roman ScandinaviaOver the past two generations, the boundaries of the classical world have been stretched to the steppe frontier of China...

I.T. Soon reposted

British New Testament Society
@bntsoc.bsky.social

Plenary spotlight: Louise Lawrence, University of Exeter, and An-Ting Yi, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, “Challenging Contexts in Conversation”. Their session considers contextual scholarship, disciplinary identity and the future of New Testament Studies. #BNTS2026

I.T. Soon
@isaactsoon.bsky.social

The charity Barnardo's (run by Thomas Barnardo) was famous for kidnapping children off the streets and shipping them to Canada, US, and Australia (a form of child trafficking, really). +