Word: sinned
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...ruins of Harran in southern Turkey. Harran was a thriving Moslem city until it was destroyed by the Mongols in the 13th century A.D., but Dr. Rice's interest goes back to 2000 B.C., when Harran was a famous center of worship of the long-bearded moon-god, Sin, giver of light and wisdom. Harran was also visited by Abraham on his way from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan...
Harran's fortunes rose and fell with shifts of local politics, but its religious importance persisted. The last king of Babylonia, Nabonidus, was so devoted to Moon-God Sin that he tried to make him supreme above all the other gods of the densely populated Mesopotamian pantheon. This religious move was a tactical mistake; the local priests had a vested interest in other gods, and their machinations drove Nabonidus into the wilderness. He came back after a while, but was overwhelmed by Cyrus of Persia...
That was the end of Babylonia as an independent country, but Harran. the moon-god's city, clung tenaciously to Sin. Dr. Rice has found references in many ancient languages to the city's extreme conservatism. The rise and fall of the Roman Empire meant little to it. Christianity stopped at its walls; Harran held fast to the ancient faith. Even Islam came to terms with the conservatives of Harran...
Many contemporary composers, says peppery Composer David Diamond, 41, are engaged in "filling up the garbage cans of 20th century music" in "bad imitations of Igor Stravinsky." Their worst sin is writing purely "from their brains" instead of their souls. Last week Rochester-born Composer Diamond sat in Manhattan's Carnegie Hall while the result of his most recent soul-searching, his Sixth Symphony, was performed by Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It seemed at times as if Diamond was unhappily living up to his own thesis...
...this strange new sect to determine its place in his own life. His initial reaction is, "If that's your religion, I say to hell with it." He thinks Christianity has a "fascinated obsession with wickedness" and, with a truly moral concern, thinks Christianity an excuse for letting people sin all their lives but still enter Heaven by last-minute repentance...