Opening for a Classical Hebrew Professor at UW-Madison

Below is the official job posting for the open position in Classical Hebrew and NW Semitic languages at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

CLASSICAL HEBREW LANGUAGE AND BIBLICAL LITERATURE     (PVL #64493)

The Department of Hebrew and Semitic Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison invites applications for a tenure-track position at the assistant professor level, starting August, 2011. Ph.D. required.

Area of specialization:  classical Hebrew in its Northwest Semitic context. Teaching duties include advanced and graduate level courses in Hebrew and Semitic languages, epigraphy, and texts (including biblical literature), undergrad courses in Hebrew Bible (in translation), and supervision of the undergrad Biblical Hebrew program. Evidence of teaching excellence and scholarly production are crucial.  Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, information regarding the applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. UW-Madison is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. A background check may be required prior to employment.

Send two hard copies of a cover letter, a CV, three letters of recommendation, official undergraduate and graduate school transcripts to: Search Committee Chair/1346 Van Hise Hall/ 1220 Linden Dr./Madison, WI  53706-1558.  Candidates may also submit a writing sample of up to 30 pages. Deadline for applications is August 15, 2010.

For inquiries, please contact brenner@wisc.edu

New Blog on Greek NT Exegesis

One of my former NT professors has started blogging on issues of exegesis in the Greek New Testament. The blog is aptly titled ἐξήγησις. If I continue listening to the NT Pod and follow this blog, perhaps I'll slowly morph into a NT scholar. At any rate, I started reading Matthew in my UBS Reader's Greek New Testament to refresh my Greek, so I'll add this to my refresher course.

The Journal of Dead-End Research in Biblical Studies

Have you ever spent hours researching an idea only to discover it’s going nowhere? Sometimes you end up with a mountain of data that only demonstrates that such and such an idea is not a profitable avenue for research. As a graduate student, almost every good idea you might have has been examined by someone else. If you think your idea is “original”, odds are that someone else has thought of it, too, done the hours of research, and abandoned it as a dead-end. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some way to alert others that the idea is a dead-end? To that end, I’ve often mused about creating a periodical called “The Journal of Dead-End Research in Biblical Studies.” Since no one would ever pay for it, I suppose it would work best as a blog or website like this one. Alas, I have no time to create or administer such a website right now, but it would be a useful service for graduate students in biblical studies IMO.

TanakhML: Read the Hebrew Bible Online

TanakhML is an online tool for reading the Hebrew Bible. I didn’t know it existed until Tim mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. Since then I’ve used it a few times and found it very useful. I don’t know how long it’s been around, but I wish I’d known about it years ago. It would have saved me some time and helped me have a chance to read more unpointed Hebrew since you can turn the pointing and accents on and off. Here are some screen shots of what I’ve been reading.



As long as you have a unicode font that will display Hebrew, you should be able to view the text just fine. If you need a unicode font, I recommend SBL Hebrew or the Tyndale Unicode Font Kit.



The feature I like the best is the ability to turn the accents and pointing on and off. One is also able to view the text in transliteration.

 


Another useful feature is the parallel text. While the KJV is probably not the best text to read side by side with BHS, it’s better than nothing (and it’s public domain). It can be useful when one is trying to read a lot of text quickly to have a translation in parallel.



Finally, unless you’re reading Psalms, Job, or Proverbs, the web site has a verse analyzer that charts the structure of the verse based on the Masoretic accents. This would be very useful if one were attempting to learn how to subdivide verses according to the accents.



I’ll definitely be making regular use of this site as I read through several hundred chapters this summer and practice reading unpointed text. It has one great advantage over using Bibleworks – no lexical and morphological pop-ups = less of a crutch. Happy reading!