tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post6442337787001438133..comments2023-10-12T14:09:33.965-07:00Comments on The Biblia Hebraica Blog: Really, Wipf & Stock?Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-67837075261110953722021-04-26T05:55:23.803-07:002021-04-26T05:55:23.803-07:00Im not a biblical scholar, it's not even my ma...Im not a biblical scholar, it's not even my main interests, but I do rate quite highly Simo Parpola. Yet, I have obviously just been suckered by this Preston Kavanagh fellow who's managed to draft Prof Parpola's name onto his insane babble book. I tried to look up scholarly reviews to Kavanagh, but could find nothing. Im glad I'm not alone anyway! RossCohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08437190068275488541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-39832284362880449262013-11-01T06:59:23.093-07:002013-11-01T06:59:23.093-07:00Regrettably, I've observed that while Wipf &am...Regrettably, I've observed that while Wipf & Stock does publish some fine new volumes, a number of their other new releases are little more than vanity publications. It really does seem as though they'll publish anything.Esteban Vázquezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09738869673774603152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-12002654678383847642012-11-22T12:01:24.041-08:002012-11-22T12:01:24.041-08:00I normally don't publish anonymous comments, b...I normally don't publish anonymous comments, but in this case, I thought I'd make an exception. Thanks for reinforcing what I already thought about Kavanagh and his insights.Douglas Mangumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-60152467341975152652012-11-22T11:37:11.957-08:002012-11-22T11:37:11.957-08:00I received this book as a gag gift from a colleagu...I received this book as a gag gift from a colleague. We all consider Kavanagh a lunatic. Somehow, he got a ridiculous article published in a reputable journal (Biblica) and that article has been completely panned and rejected as useless by every biblical scholar I know. This seems to have empowered him, though...because he shows up at regional SBL meetings, standing up in the audience while papers are being delivered and interrupting them to announce that he has managed to solve all the problems that the rest of us, collectively, have been unable to solve.<br /><br />In this book, Kavanagh argues that the name "Huldah the Prophetess" or a variant thereof is encoded thousands of times in various biblical compositions. As such, these texts are not really about what they say, but rather, are coded statements about her life and times. For example, he argues that Jeremiah's call narrative in Jeremiah 1 is REALLY all about Huldah, because he detects her name encoded several times in that chapter. He also identifies many psalms as written by Huldah because there, too, he has "discovered" her name encoded multiple times in each psalm.<br /><br />Kavanagh seems completely unaware that the methods he uses are massively flawed, and have been discredited by reputable statisticians for nearly 20 years. He also assumes that the Hebrew Bible literally has "millions" of coded lines -- but this means, effectively, that the contents of the Hebrew Bible are really about nothing OTHER than what it encodes. And he never reckons what he has "discovered" with comparative extra-biblical material, such as Neo-Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions or archaeological evidence. <br /><br />If we were to take Kavanagh's argument to its extreme, it would lead us to the following question: if virtually everything is a code for Huldah, then when we ACTUALLY encounter the name "Huldah", is THAT a code for something else too?? If it is, then there is no real Huldah. If it is not, then why should any given word be read as a coded reference to something else? <br /><br />Certainly, some biblical texts utilize ancient scribal methods to encode certain terms. But that doesn't mean that ALL biblical texts do this, or that they emerge from scribal groups who would have utilized these methods. Kavanagh appears unaware of the realia of ancient Israelite scribal practice and its relationship to other ancient scribal methods in surrounding cultures.<br /><br />In sum, this book is the result of total incompetence. Not only on Kavanagh's part -- he has no training; only the most rudimentary undergraduate-level understanding of Hebrew, and no apparent awareness of any other ancient languages or cultures -- but on the part of the publisher. After reading Kavanagh's book, I have concluded that if you sneeze onto a page, Wipf and Stock will publish it.<br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-81976934803249400692012-11-04T09:40:55.501-08:002012-11-04T09:40:55.501-08:00Yes, I had the same reaction. W&S has been mak...Yes, I had the same reaction. W&S has been making some advancements in publishing solid material in biblical studies, but this looks like two steps forward, three steps back. For shame...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-71184382322951033422012-11-04T06:14:14.822-08:002012-11-04T06:14:14.822-08:00I just finished reading that review when I saw you...I just finished reading that review when I saw your blog post. I wasn't reading it carefully, and I got confused when I saw that Huldah had "penned the Shema." I also wondered what "extreme verbal abuse" she went through. It just seemed confusing to me. I'm also curious about this guy's story--and how it fits into his cracking these codes. Maybe he's completely fictional? Maybe Wipf & Stock is up to something? We need a crackpot to investigate . . .Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com