Simone Venturini's Blog - Bible and beyond

Bullying

Bullying is a known phenomenon. It is known because the news emphasize this kind of news. Very sad news, as those concerning young people who suicide to escape the slander to the insults of their comrades. Prevention is essential in this area. Often a non-intervention, perhaps justified by the fact…

The Bethesda Pool

“The pool known as the Bethesda Pool (piscina probatica), is situated to the north of the Temple Mount in the grounds of the Church of St. Anne, which is now under the custodianship of the Catholic White Fathers. The pool was situated outside the Sheep Gate, which was presumably at…

The Mesopotamian Religions – The Sumerians (Third part)

The first mythical tale of the flood The deluge represents a real “end of the world”. Only one human being was saved, Ziusudra in the Sumerian version and Utnapishtim in the Akkadian version. In deference to the biblical flood, where Noah dwells on the renewed earth, the only surviving being…

The Prodigal Son (First part)

And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey…

The psychological damage

(By Letizia Cingolani) Many years have passed since psychological damage was considered a strange compensation’s request for moral, psychological or existential damages incurred in relation to a particular event. The concept of non-pecuniary damage provides the possibility of a “damage caused by the infringement of interests inherent in the person not…

The book of Tobit. A journey to discover oneself

“Tobias” is an Hebrew name that means “God is my good”. It is the title of one of the three booklets that are the pride of the biblical narrative. The other two are Judith and Esther. In our Bibles they are included in the historical books, because they contain few…

Satan and Man (Matthew chap. 4, vers. 10)

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Jesus calls Satan the being with which he is confronted. Matthew calls him in different ways: devil, tempter and satan. The word Satan is a…

Was the Pentateuch written by Moses?

Some Bible verses say that the Pentateuch was entirely written by Moses (cf. e.g. Ex 24:37; Deut 31:24). In these verses it is said that Moses wrote the “Law” or the “Words of this Law”. So for centuries the Catholic Church affirmed that the Pentateuch was written by Moses. But is…