Biography

Curiosity killed the cat but I never took this expression to heart. My curiosity always had the better of me. Curiosity led me to travel to many far places in dangerous times. Once, my friends and I witnessed the smoke from missile strikes while standing on the border between Iran and Iraq during the second Gulf War. We travelled on a dirt road in northern Iran on the border with Russia, climbed walls in Turkey and swam in the waters of the Persian Gulf. All of this was done to satisfy my insatiable curiosity. 

I still remember seeing my dad as a child lying on his tummy on the bed reading a book about the Second World War. He read himself into an expert on that world spanning conflict.  It ignited my own curiosity. My curiosity led me to want to know how things began. I needed to know how things started, how today came to be. This meant a study of history and thus my love for the ancient world began.  

At first I would read anything I could get my hands on. In time I realized that I needed to formalize my curiosity. Thus, at the ripe old age of about thirty, I entered tertiary education with the University of South Africa. Archaeology, being a passion of mine, was one main subject for the BA study. The other main subject, Ancient History, would net me my BA degree with a distinction. Curiosity drove me to explore other subjects as well. I studied Ancient Greek, Biblical Archaeology and something that would quickly prove to be a favourite – Ancient Near Eastern studies. 

Prof Fanie Vermaak provided another golden opportunity. Under his tutelage I attended Sumerian cuneiform reading classes for a number of years. While I did not become an expert on that ancient dead language I learned how to help myself with it. At first we read simple texts such as Ur-Nammu’s (c. 2100 BC) brick inscription. Then we graduated to more complex texts such as the inscriptions on the statues of king Gudea (c. 2160 BC). In time I come to understand how complex the Sumerian language is and to enjoy working with it. 

Inspired by my reading classes I chose Ancient Near Eastern Studies as my major for my Honours degree. Despite suffering from a debilitating illness I managed to pass my exams to obtain my honours degree. That did not end my journey. I decided to attempt my master’s degree with the most ancient literature of all, the Kesh Temple Hymn, as my subject. After a long journey in the ancient world I finally handed in my Master’s Thesis for marking.  As yet I do not know how I scored on this work, but I am hopeful that I will pass. 

Christianity formed my worldview as a child, but I abandoned the faith when I grew up. In time my curiosity would get the better of me and lead the lost son back to Jesus Christ. Christianity forced me to consider the true nature of reality which my curiosity needed to discover. The need to inform others about the truth that I found led to my involvement with Core and especially with CoreIdeas!