Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Phil Dorroll

@phildorroll.bsky.social

980 followers 530 following 870 posts

Assoc. Prof. of Religion at Wofford College in South Carolina; research on Islamic and Orthodox Christian theology in Turkish and Arabic; supports 🇺🇦

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · Dec 16

I made a starter pack for specialists in Eastern Christian Studies- check it out, share with others, and let me know who else to add!

go.bsky.app/8a9jSuF

7 19 39

Reposted by Phil Dorroll

The Byzantine Legacy @thebyzantinelegacy.bsky.social · 1d

Fresco of a saint, probably St. Anthony in chapel of Kalenderhane Mosque, once dedicated to the Virgin Kyriotissa

3 45

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 7h

Exceptions can always be made

Reposted by Phil Dorroll

Martin Kusch @martinkusch.bsky.social · 13h

Classical Vienna. -- Window at 22 Schoenbrunner Schlossallee. #Vienna #photography #photographyOnBlueSky #Austria

1 2 19

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 19h

Me (‘85) using the internet

1 1 11

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 19h

“There’s a town called ‘ver-sai’ in Indiana??”

“No there’s a town called ‘ver-sales’ in Indiana”

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 20h

Versailles (Indiana)

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 2d

What’s the word where you’re from that, when pronounced exactly as it looks, identifies a tourist immediately?

1 3

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 20h

Couldn’t be me; I love my local roaster so much I thanked them in my book acknowledgements

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 1d

According to the WSJ, I teach at the best college in the state- I certainly wouldn't rather be anywhere else, in SC or otherwise.

Recognized for excellence

Wofford College has been listed among the best liberal arts colleges in America by the Wall Street Journal, U.S News & World Report, the Princeton Review and Forbes.

www.wofford.edu

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 1d

Good question! they also did the Yarvin interview too iirc

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 1d

Yeah, Doug Wilson

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 1d

..eventual rejection by the public always results, ironically, in further secularization, bc authoritarian interpretations of religion only discredit religion itself.

The lesson of modern politics is that freedom is non-negotiable, but for some reason this lesson has to be relearned again and again

1 1 1

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 1d

This is exactly how Islamism treats scripture: liberal readings are decisively rejected, authoritarian readings are never off the table.

But modern theocratic movements like this always fail, bc they mistake opposition to secularization for opposition to liberal freedoms. And their...

Gillian Branstetter @gbbranstetter.bsky.social · 1d

Listening and learning

1 1

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 2d

Exactly, great point

Reposted by Phil Dorroll

Jonathan Parkes Allen @jparkesallen.bsky.social · 2d

Fantastic depiction of the Tophane Fountain- and activities around it- in Beyoğlu, built under Sultan Mahmud I in 1732, seen here as it appeared in the 1820s. Etching and aquatint with hand coloring by R.G. Reeve after a drawing (watercolor possibly) by the British artist William Page (V&A SP.443):

3 2

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 2d

Everything I've written, presented, participated in, contributed to on the topic of Orthodox Christian-Muslim relations is a result of the fact that someone came across me on Twitter and invited me to present at a global conference. That conference also led to me practicing my faith again.

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 2d

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 2d

This is by far my favorite contemporary Islamic text for intro students. It’s accessible, beautifully written, and spiritually profound; and also just a great example of contemporary devotional Islamic discourse (that is also clearly rooted in classical texts)

a.co/d/67IrqI8

Reposted by Phil Dorroll

Thomas A. Carlson @medievalmiddleeast.bsky.social · 2d

Okay: a question at the edge of my teaching:
For a world religions survey, I'm assigning a bunch of Islamic sources spanning the 1447 (lunar) years since the Hijra, but I don't know recent stuff as well as I know medieval stuff. Any good recommendations for Islam today that are 1st-year accessible?

1 4 3

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 2d

…fear of the tashabbuh of religious others had a lot to do with anxiety of crossing class/legal boundaries istm

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 2d

That’s a great way to put it; one of my basic heuristics (which is just paraphrasing Anderson) is that premodern/prenation state societies were hierarchical but also more pluralistic than modern ones; and modern ones more egalitarian but more homogeneous than premodern ones; and the…

1 1

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 2d

That’s really interesting

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 2d

💯

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 2d

Great example; and come to think of it, at least in the premodern histories/texts I'm familiar with, I can't think of a premodern word for assimilation at all. Can't think of a medieval Arabic for it, and at least acc to Redhouse maybe not in Ottoman either (tho def in modern Turkish of course)

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 2d

Data above is from 1906 Ottoman census, via www.balkanethnicmaps.hu/newmaps.html

Balkan ethnic maps - New Maps

www.balkanethnicmaps.hu

Phil Dorroll @phildorroll.bsky.social · 2d

I was just thinking yesterday about how anxiety re: assimilation is weirdly modern; in most large cities (and often in the countryside) for century after century it was considered completely unremarkable to interact with people who would never be expected to know your language or share your religion

2 7 18

Reposted by Phil Dorroll

jack 🌹 @kyriakos.bsky.social · 2d

Considering the possibility of offering subscription based online courses independently in the near future. Would anyone be interested in this? And if so, what kind of course would you be interested in taking?

7 4 24