tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36135250306836711272024-03-05T23:09:11.772-08:00The Biblia Hebraica BlogA BLOG ABOUT THE BIBLE, THE ANCIENT WORLD, AND RELIGIONDouglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.comBlogger389125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-65661164963515064502018-05-13T19:08:00.000-07:002018-05-13T19:08:19.070-07:00The PhD: It is Finished ... Well, Mine is<h2>
Hello World!</h2>
After the many years this blog has lain dormant, I don't expect anyone to actually still be paying attention to whether I've put up a new post. But just in case, I have an announcement. The blog has been on hiatus indefinitely because I've been trying to finish my PhD thesis while still working full-time as an academic editor. At long last, the PhD thesis has been completed, submitted, examined, and accepted. <br /><h2>
My Thesis Title</h2>
My thesis is titled "To Conceal or Reveal? Self-censorship and Explicitation in the Ancient Bible Versions." (Yes, "explicitation" is a word, despite spellcheckers everywhere failing to recognize it.) The nature of the PhD proposal process was such that this title was "locked in" with my accepted proposal way back in 2010. A bit of advice. If you ever have to title a piece of technical research <i>before</i> you've completed it, avoid cutesy rhetoric and buzz words. Use a bland, descriptive title that does most of the work for you to explain what your research is about. I still have to tell you what my thesis is about because the title only hints at the subject.<div>
<h2>
My Subject</h2>
It took a lot of reading and thinking for me to narrow in on my subject. My proposal was quite broad as accepted, so I had a massive subject area to survey before I could hone in on what would work as a manageable thesis topic. The subject was broadly and vaguely defined as how the ancient Bible versions would handle "troublesome" texts like Genesis 22 or Ezekiel 16 and 23. In the end, I came to see a more general analysis of how those versions dealt with Biblical Hebrew idioms and euphemisms as a necessary precursor to a detailed analysis of specific texts. My subject and primary conclusions are spelled out below in the abstract from my thesis.<br /><h2>
My Thesis Abstract</h2>
<blockquote>
This study explores Biblical Hebrew figures of speech and their translations in the ancient Bible versions in Greek (the Septuagint), Syriac (the Peshitta), and Aramaic (the Targums). The research is grounded in the methodologies of Translation Studies and linguistics — with Translation Studies providing the theoretical basis for describing translation and linguistics providing the theoretical basis for analysing figures of speech and their construal by ancient translators. The research question is: how did ancient Bible translators respond to Biblical Hebrew figures of speech, especially when those figures of speech were used for mitigating taboo topics like blasphemy or bodily functions?<br /> <br />Since figurative language requires the translator to make a decision about what the figure of speech was meant to communicate, it was hypothesised that the translators’ strategies related to figures of speech might provide insights into their decision-making process. Figures of speech that are used to conceal taboo topics are euphemisms, so the primary focus of analysis was on Biblical Hebrew euphemisms and their translation. While the sociocultural importance of taboo subjects increases the likelihood of the translator’s intervention in suppressing content (self-censorship), this study also addressed figures of speech from neutral, or non-taboo, subject areas in order to establish a standard of comparison for how the versions handled the implicit meaning of figurative language when the stakes were not as high as with a sensitive topic. The opaque meaning of figurative expressions also provides an opportunity for a translator to intervene to make the meaning explicit to the audience (explicitation).<br /> <br />The major finding of the study is that while literal translation is the predominant approach to translating figures of speech in all the ancient versions, the versions also used figurative language to translate figures of speech from their source text far more than was expected based on the hypothesis that the ancient versions are highly literal and rarely engage in substitution of one figure of speech for another. This assumption that the versions did not make significant use of idiomatic or figurative substitution was not supported by the evidence analysed in this study. The significant number of blended (literal and figurative) renderings and figurative renderings indicates at least some translators of the ancient versions possessed a more sophisticated understanding of translation and were capable of varying their strategies to bring the text closer to the natural language of their audiences, even if their default mode was to translate literally. Further, it was found that figurative language in the area of euphemism carried over between languages at a greater degree than anticipated. A translation that appeared to be strictly literal because it used a word from the same semantic, conceptual domain as the source could in fact be figurative because the target language had developed the same figure of speech through the same processes of semantic extension (i.e., metaphor or metonymy). Overall, it was shown that the ancient translators were capable of more interpretive renderings that reoriented Biblical Hebrew idiomatic phrases toward the expectations of the audience of the translation. With taboo topics, there can be a wide range of acceptability norms. The varying strategies used in the ancient versions with euphemistic figures of speech likely reflect an awareness of what was acceptable to the target audience.</blockquote>
<h2>
A Return?</h2>
Does the completion of my thesis signal a return to regular blogging? Maybe. Maybe not. I have a lot of stuff to catch up on. Netflix. World news. My kids' names and ages. We'll see.</div>
Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-44318679262886048062013-11-27T13:02:00.001-08:002013-11-27T13:02:11.198-08:003 Things I (Re)learned from SBL BaltimoreI just returned from the combined annual meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and the American Academy of Religion. Here are the three most important things I (re)learned.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR1xlhO7Up5196efSu7QqSonZZc30WhMfYZyo8-9oOPuLJVhqLy2JuqCvUR-T9aaT_X4vrE9cbTQWUqAGhR5g9sGLkCFdWczhCHtn0cW89b9kAPGsTd9tTIYubZTFXrwtDJ8RAXBGoQ1Gx/s1600/2013-11-26+19.36.56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR1xlhO7Up5196efSu7QqSonZZc30WhMfYZyo8-9oOPuLJVhqLy2JuqCvUR-T9aaT_X4vrE9cbTQWUqAGhR5g9sGLkCFdWczhCHtn0cW89b9kAPGsTd9tTIYubZTFXrwtDJ8RAXBGoQ1Gx/s200/2013-11-26+19.36.56.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<b>1. Bring comfortable shoes.</b><br />
<br />
Last year, I made a wise decision in my choice of footwear and had no discomfort despite the massive amount of walking that was required due to the sheer size of the convention center in Chicago. This year, even though everything was relatively nearby, I had to buy a different pair of shoes after day 1 because I made a bad choice of footwear this year.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLZU8jge65uYqsKaKKD6PoF9TYe0hX59RBJp1748jO9CFEvwPskcrqjZ09bUNsTfOoeK7P4Pwf9XduaHAkeYFdUx2hje5XSjUr3nFOlcBftJewL7Fo39y0mKHwcHlnq3puRSCrcS0J7udH/s1600/2013-11-27+10.18.04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLZU8jge65uYqsKaKKD6PoF9TYe0hX59RBJp1748jO9CFEvwPskcrqjZ09bUNsTfOoeK7P4Pwf9XduaHAkeYFdUx2hje5XSjUr3nFOlcBftJewL7Fo39y0mKHwcHlnq3puRSCrcS0J7udH/s200/2013-11-27+10.18.04.jpg" width="176" /></a><b>2. Lose the laptop.</b><br />
<br />
If you're not giving a paper or having to write or revise your paper at the last minute, do not bring your ancient, massive, heavy laptop. You will not use it at all and you will not want to carry it around everywhere. Your smartphone is now more than adequate for 99% of what you used to bring your laptop for. If you have a light, small, awesome newer laptop, this may not be a problem for you.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qg-zw876wS0/UpZZWoylPiI/AAAAAAAABh8/PQY7xYp1Q_8/s1600/2013-11-25+09.12.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qg-zw876wS0/UpZZWoylPiI/AAAAAAAABh8/PQY7xYp1Q_8/s200/2013-11-25+09.12.23.jpg" width="155" /></a><b>3. Bring a coat to the East Coast. </b><br />
<br />
Even if the 10 day weather forecast for an East Coast city says the weather should be cool but not wintry during SBL, bring a hat, coat, and gloves anyway, not just a blazer and a scarf. Weather forecasters can't always see the Arctic cold snap coming that far in advance. Remember this when SBL is in Boston again in a few years.<br />
<br />
<b>Bonus Tip: Practice people skills.</b><br />
<br />
Social interaction among academic types can be awkward at times. Navigating new relationships and just-made acquaintances can be complicated for those of us who tend more on the <a href="http://themetapicture.com/how-to-interact-with-the-introverted/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">introverted side </a><a href="http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Success-as-an-Introvert-For-Dummies.productCd-1118738373.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">of things</a>. Before next year, I plan to prep a little better and practice<a href="http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Communication-Skills-For-Dummies-UK-Edition.productCd-1118401247.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> interpersonal communication skills</a>, <a href="http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Building-Rapport-with-NLP-In-A-Day-For-Dummies.productCd-1118380320.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">building rapport</a>, and reading between the lines.Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-29652979599053055672013-11-15T22:02:00.000-08:002013-11-15T22:02:24.446-08:00See You in Baltimore, Greenhorns?A week from tomorrow you will be able to find me in the exhibitor's hall at the SBL/AAR annual meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. According to <a href="http://historicaljesusresearch.blogspot.com/2013/11/le-donnes-taxonomy-of-aarsbl.html">Le Donne's taxonomy of participants</a>, I am primarily an "Observer." (I've also moved from regular participant to occasional observer in the biblioblogosphere, too, but you already knew that.)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRihfllm8TmE2uOLhveTR8YQMcQwFKog4Won8z8w_oW7E4h4cz0Zx-aDRWeECulfW2GYd4RlSICU3nLAbbbts0-C7O9YlREErYRYd_Py6sCcgstBBEohIbNtnv4NRiaLRrGVjA6jX4oCh6/s1600/6a-conventioncenter3es_web1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRihfllm8TmE2uOLhveTR8YQMcQwFKog4Won8z8w_oW7E4h4cz0Zx-aDRWeECulfW2GYd4RlSICU3nLAbbbts0-C7O9YlREErYRYd_Py6sCcgstBBEohIbNtnv4NRiaLRrGVjA6jX4oCh6/s1600/6a-conventioncenter3es_web1.jpg" /></a></div>
I especially enjoy observing "Greenhorns" (like <a href="http://unsettledchristianity.com/">Joel</a> and <a href="http://www.jeremythompson.ws/">Jeremy</a>, but especially <a href="http://theologicalmusings.wordpress.com/">Cliff</a>) in all their wide-eyed idealism, basking in their fledgling exposure to academia, dreaming that one day they, too, will be respected scholars and tenured professors. I imagine they are the ones keeping the booksellers in business, too.<br />
<br />
Perhaps I should have a booth in the exhibit hall where I could dispense free career advice to the master's students daydreaming over their future careers where "work" involves reading by the fireplace in an overstuffed leather chair. Ah, greenhorns, publishers need your purchases and schools need your enrollment and tuition, but they've run out of places for you to teach and make a living once you finish.<br />
<br />
Most of my advice would be variations on what they can read for themselves at the following links:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://chronicle.com/article/PhD-Attrition-How-Much-Is/140045/">Ph.D. Attrition</a></li>
<li><a href="http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/tenuredradical/2013/08/the-ten-commandments-of-graduate-school/">The Ten Commandments of Graduate School</a></li>
<li><a href="http://chronicle.com/article/The-Long-Odds-of-the/139361/">The Long Odds of the Tenure-Track Job Search</a> (subscribers-only)</li>
<li><a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Need-Advice-on-a-Nonacademic/138415/">Need Advice on a Non-Academic Career? Don't Ask Me.</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
If they think things might be different in Bible or Theology, I would point them to these 2012 posts from Peter Enns' blog:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2012/06/some-unasked-for-advice-on-whether-an-evangelical-should-get-a-phd-in-biblical-studies/">Some Unasked for Advice on Whether an Evangelical Should Get a PhD in Biblical Studies</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2012/06/documented-evidence-from-sbl-the-job-market-for-professors-is-how-we-say-in-academia-majorly-horribly-bad/">Documented Evidence from SBL: The Job Market for Professors is, How We Say in Academia, Majorly Horribly Bad</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2012/06/god-and-your-phd-more-unasked-for-advice-about-your-future-plans/">God and Your PhD (More Unasked for Advice about Your Future Plans)</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
If they insist on going forward with their plans (and the ones I talk to are unswayed by my cynicism), I'll recommend they head over to Wipf & Stock and buy <a href="http://nijaygupta.wordpress.com/">Nijay's</a> book: <i><a href="https://wipfandstock.com/store/Prepare_Succeed_Advance_A_Guidebook_for_Getting_a_PhD_in_Biblical_Studies_and_Beyond">Prepare, Succeed, Advance: A Guidebook for Getting a PhD in Biblical Studies and Beyond</a></i>.</div>
Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-64423377870014381332012-11-03T19:00:00.000-07:002012-11-03T19:00:03.892-07:00Really, Wipf & Stock?I'd never heard of Preston Kavanagh until today, but apparently, he's solved all the authorship and dating questions related to the composition of the Hebrew Bible. Wipf & Stock has been publishing his 'brilliant" discoveries since 2009 with <i><a href="https://wipfandstock.com/store/The_Exilic_Code_Ciphers_Word_Links_and_Dating_in_Exilic_and_PostExilic_Biblical_Literature">The Exilic Code: Ciphers, Word Links, and Dating in Exilic and Post-Exilic Biblical Literature</a></i>, followed by the <a href="https://wipfandstock.com/store/The_Shaphan_Group_The_Fifteen_Authors_Who_Shaped_the_Hebrew_Bible"><i>The Shaphan Group: Fifteen Authors Who Shaped the Hebrew Bible</i></a> in 2011, and now <i>Huldah: The Prophet Who Wrote Hebrew Scripture</i> (apparently forthcoming per a publicity email I received through the Agade mailing list).<br />
<br />
I can't find out anything more about this guy with Google. His <a href="https://wipfandstock.com/author/22948">author blurb on Wipf & Stock</a> doesn't give me much confidence in his biblical studies training.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Twenty-four years ago, Preston Kavanagh retired from an executive position in a large company in order to seek the identities of those who wrote the Hebrew Bible. <i>The Shaphan Group</i> discusses what he found, as do his two prior books—<i>Secrets of the Jewish Exile</i> (2005) and <i>The Exilic Code</i> (Pickwick Publications, 2009). He and his wife, Lois, live quietly in Maryland.</blockquote>
<div>
The email announcement has an updated version of this bio. Apparently he has Ivy League degrees, but it's telling that the level of degree and the subjects studied are left unmentioned.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Preston Kavanagh holds degrees from Princeton and Harvard. He retired twenty-five years ago from an executive position in a large company to seek the identities of those who wrote the Hebrew Bible. Huldah discusses what he has found, as do several prior books, including <i>The Exilic Code </i>(Pickwick Publications, 2009) and <i>The Shaphan Group</i> (Pickwick, 2011). He and his wife, Lois, live quietly in Maryland.</blockquote>
<div>
So, let me get this straight, Wipf & Stock, you published these books by a retired businessman who devoted the last 24 years to cracking the Bible's coded data about who wrote it and when? Apparently, whoever acquired this guy's work forgot one of the prime rules of identifying crackpots: they are often untrained individuals who are somehow able to solve major perennial problems of the discipline. Also, hasn't "decoding" the hidden messages in the Hebrew Bible been <a href="http://cs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/dilugim/StatSci/">widely</a> <a href="http://cs.anu.edu.au/people/bdm/dilugim/torah.html">debunked</a>? (And yet, <a href="http://forward.com/articles/157033/bible-codes-a-lie-that-won-t-die/?p=all">it won't go away</a>.) So either this guy has new revolutionary ideas that deserve our attention or this is a shameless attempt to sell books to an undiscerning, popular audience that loves this stuff even though it's been disproven over and over (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Drosnin">a la Michael Drosnin's bestsellers</a>). I've looked at enough of Kavanagh's books on preview at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Preston-Kavanagh/e/B001K88N5U/">Amazon.com</a> to suspect the latter, but maybe, just maybe somebody can offer a good explanation or more info about Kavanagh to justify his claim to expertise. For now, he look to me to be just another crackpot.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It's a shame because Wipf & Stock otherwise publishes many quality studies by well-known Bible scholars such as Andre LaCocque, Stanley Porter, Richard Horsley, Marvin Meyer, and H.G.M. Williamson. I better not see this guy's stuff on the book tables at SBL. Anybody else have a similar reaction to this publicity email that came over Agade this morning? Here's the full description of the book.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Huldah: The Prophet Who Wrote Hebrew Scripture</i> reveals—for the first time ever—the extraordinary impact of Huldah the prophet on our Bible.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Huldah was both a leader of exilic Jews and a principal author of Hebrew Scripture. She penned the Shema—the ardent, prayerful praise that millions of worshipers repeat twice daily. Moreover, Jesus quoted as his own last words the ones that Huldah had written centuries before—“Into your hand I commit my spirit.” Huldah was an extraordinary writer—arguably she ranks among the best in Hebrew Scripture. As such, she added to God’s Word a feminine aspect that has inspired numberless believers—men and women alike. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This book’s new techniques reveal that though subjected to extreme verbal abuse, Huldah surmounted her era’s high barriers to women. As elder, queen mother, and war leader during the sixth century BCE, she helped to shape Israel’s history. And what, then, can this book mean to scholars—both women and men? Feminists need a rallying point and a heroine, and Huldah makes a superb one. In years ahead, experts might well place Huldah alongside the very greatest women of antiquity; indeed, they may even conclude that she is among the most influential people in human history.</blockquote>
<div>
Reading it again, I want to deconstruct every exaggerated and impossible statement, but I don't think his work is worth any more time or attention. </div>
Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-13889659659340455002012-10-13T12:31:00.002-07:002013-11-15T22:02:55.935-08:00Forthcoming: Huehnergard's Introduction to Ugaritic<div class="separator tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Since my graduate class on Ugaritic, I've felt the need for an accessible introductory Ugaritic grammar. The only true introductory text to date that I know of is <a href="http://www.eisenbrauns.com/item/SCHPRIMER">Schniedewind's</a>, but it appeared too late for my introduction the the language. Previous publications were too massive (<a href="http://www.ugarit-verlag.de/aoat-273-2.htm">Tropper</a>) or written in languages I understood only slightly better than Ugaritic itself (<a href="http://www.eisenbrauns.com/item/BORMANUAL">Bordreuil and Pardee</a>; only in French at the time I took Ugaritic) or ridiculously expensive (<a href="http://www.brill.com/grammar-ugaritic-language">Sivan</a>) or dated (<a href="http://www.eisenbrauns.com/item/SEGBASIC">Segert</a>, <a href="http://www.eisenbrauns.com/item/GORUGARIT">Gordon</a>). For those reasons, I'm excited to learn that <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/mes/faculty/jh43939">John Huehnergard</a> has finally published his <a href="http://www.hendrickson.com/html/product/568202.trade.html?&category=all">own introduction</a><span id="goog_96429015"></span><span id="goog_96429016"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a>. I've used many of his articles and other publications in the past on everything from Ugaritic to Aramaic and always appreciated his lucid explanations of complex issues. Here's the product description from Hendrickson's website:<br />
<blockquote>
Highly respected linguist John Huehnergard brings his command of and vast knowledge in the field of comparative Semitic linguistics to this introductory grammar. Every aspect of the grammar is enriched by his broad understanding, while maintaining an unexcelled directness and order to the learning of the fundamental grammar of Ugaritic.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Designed for students already familiar with Biblical Hebrew, this grammar contains the information necessary to help them become proficient in Ugaritic, and includes exercises to assist in learning basic grammar before commencing work with the actual Ugaritic texts. It is set apart from other gram¬mar books by its immense understanding of comparative Semitic grammar, and the concise and accurate manner in which Huehnergard presents the information.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<b>Special Features:</b><br />
• A glossary of all Ugaritic words used in the grammar<br />
• An appendix by Ugaritologist John Ellison on the scribal formation of the Ugaritic abecedaries <br />
• A number of full-color photographs of Ugaritic tablets<br />
• Keys to the exercises<br />
• Bibliographic information and indexes</blockquote>
I will definitely be spending a few minutes checking this volume out at Hendrickson's booth next month at SBL. If you teach Ugaritic, you should, too.<br />
<br />
HT: <a href="http://zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com/2012/10/10/an-introduction-to-ugaritic-by-john-huehnergard/">Jim West </a>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-55446314836019106272012-08-03T12:49:00.000-07:002012-08-03T12:49:10.246-07:00The Bible and Cultural ControversyMy greatest wish for all people who engage with the Bible at various levels for their religious, cultural, moral, ethical, theological, and spiritual identities is that they would approach the text with open-minded honesty. Unfortunately, serious and honest discussion of the Bible's complexities is often abandoned as people attempt to read the text on <i>their</i> terms and interpret it as unequivocally reflecting <i>their own</i> point of view. Scholars and students, clergy and laity--all are guilty at some point of reading their preferences back into the text. On certain hot button issues, people can't even have a civil discussion anymore because the various sides are entrenched and intractable, convinced that their view is the absolute "truth."<br />
<br />
Recently, Hebrew Bible scholar <a href="http://www.utsnyc.edu/Page.aspx?pid=361">Esther Hamori</a> has written two insightful pieces engaging this problem directly. The first dealt with the highly controversial issue of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esther-j-hamori/biblical-standards-for-marriage_b_1540159.html">marriage</a> specifically, and the second highlights the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esther-j-hamori/religious-diversity-in-the-bible_b_1684798.html">diversity of voices</a> within the Bible itself, an important reality often overlooked or minimized in conservative Christian circles. I highly recommend reading both of her articles with an open mind. Here's the closing thought from the second piece:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Religious diversity is an inherent part of the biblical tradition. The Bible has significant internal variation, and there are different thoughtful ways to deal with that, but ignoring it is not one of them. My own take on this is that the rich complexity of the spectrum of voices is the very thing that gives the Bible its remarkable texture and depth, and that if the Bible is used as a "model" for anything, perhaps it could be used as a model for honest engagement with such a variety of viewpoints. But that's just me, and I'd expect another voice to say something different.</blockquote>
Her final words illustrate her expectation of push-back, disagreement, and discord inspired by her view. I know many people who would likely object strenuously to her perspective, but I find her call for "honest engagement" to be welcome and refreshing. I agree wholeheartedly.<br />
<br />
Regarding her first article on marriage, I have to say (at the risk of offending or surprising more conservative readers including friends and family) that I agree with Hamori that the Bible reflects a variety of culturally-bound acceptable standards for marriage. In fact, evangelical Old Testament scholar John Walton uses the analogy of marriage in <i><a href="http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=3704">The Lost World of Genesis One</a></i> to illustrate how we might use the same word to describe marriage today and marriage in the ancient Near East, but the word points to two very different cultural concepts. The cultural context is essential to properly defining what is actually meant by the term. Studying the biblical text in its ancient Near Eastern context and attempting to see the text through the worldview of the ancient world is an indispensable part of interpretation.<br />
<br />
That said, I don't personally find this multiplicity of voices about marriage to necessarily serve as biblical support for gay marriage. Hamori doesn't explicitly offer it as such, but the implication is there. Her conclusion to the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esther-j-hamori/biblical-standards-for-marriage_b_1540159.html">marriage article</a> states:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Marriage in the Bible is not restricted to one man and one woman. The biblical models for marriage include a range of relationships and combinations, and these evolve with the culture.</blockquote>
The point is that marriage norms change with the culture. I won't argue that, just point out this is a cultural, not a biblical, argument in favor of gay marriage.<br />
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I will point out, however, that conservative claims of support for the "biblical definition of marriage" as one-man and one-woman are simplistic and narrow in their interpretation. Yes, Genesis 2:24 supports the "one flesh" sexual union of a man and a woman but calling that "marriage" in the sense of 21st century United States legal status is overreaching. Yes, Paul offers support for marital monogamy (1 Cor 7:2; 1 Tim 3:2), but that was the norm in the Greco-Roman world and in first century Judaism. Paul's support simply mirrors marriage norms of his day. Marriage as a legal and socio-cultural institution is one of the most culturally-bound categories in the world. Rather than appeal to the "biblical definition of marriage," supporters of traditional marriage should simply acknowledge it as such--they support traditional marriage according to centuries-old mores of Western civilization.<br />
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One final thought for those engaged in a defense of traditional marriage as "biblical": what's the biblical or theological rationale for Christians to mobilize politically in an attempt to force Judeo-Christian morality on an unbelieving culture that doesn't want it? (<a href="http://www.jrdkirk.com/2012/05/07/regarding-amendment-1in-north-carolina/">J. R. Daniel Kirk</a> had a good post a few months back on this issue if you're interested.)<br />
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The bottom line here is that we would all benefit from more open dialogue and less partisan bickering over whether the Bible supports our cause or not.Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-17130720569862714762012-06-26T06:00:00.000-07:002012-09-09T09:42:31.744-07:00Get the Faithlife Study Bible for FREE!For months in 2011 and early 2012, my blogging, PhD research, and pretty much everything else took a back seat to my work on the <a href="http://faithlifebible.com/">Faithlife Study Bible</a> (FSB). Now I'm finally free to share our work with the world. Basically, we created a digital study Bible from the ground up--totally designed for digital and designed with tablet devices in mind. It works on your Android device, Kindle Fire, iPhone, iPad, Mac, or PC, as well as on <a href="http://logos.com/">Logos</a>, <a href="http://vyrso.com/">Vyrso</a> and the <a href="http://biblia.com/">web</a>. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot from Genesis 1 on an Android Tablet<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></td></tr>
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<span style="text-indent: -24px;">I was part of the team that wrote or edited the study notes and articles. We produced over 1.4 </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">million words of notes and articles (my contribution was over 225,000 words) and provided in-depth content. One of my long-standing pet peeves with the study Bibles I own is that they always stopped short of answering my question. Invariably, I would have a question on a particular verse, but the notes would often skip that verse or offer a very superficial comment. One of the ways we dealt with that problem was by building the Faithlife Study Bible with three layers of notes. Since it's digital, additional content in the second layer of notes can be uncovered with a tap or mouse-click. Print study Bibles are limited by how much can fit on the page. If there's still more to say after that additional paragraph or two, we have links for further reading. Those links include FSB articles, Lexham Bible Dictionary articles (the Bible dictionary that comes free with our study Bible), and links to additional Logos resources on the topic. Our three layers of content offer detailed notes on a wide range of issues, but the other way we'll avoid the dead-end, skipped verse problem of traditional study Bibles is by continually adding to our study Bible. The Faithlife Study Bible is still growing. We're still adding notes and articles and responding to user feedback to make sure we've adequately addressed the important issues.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoalmRcZt_9BxeBWief30_tnqMoZ4ryjkvZhgG4eDUEHhRaJMFZnl2CBlIPvjy3X-PiIqtVF7AKjQMsojBA1DqDw0cP7rLnaW36wopieCQbI2U5hsp4YmtmGTsL3BZFH67OBbKwKbFRLHD/s1600/Faithlife+Study+Bible+Logo.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoalmRcZt_9BxeBWief30_tnqMoZ4ryjkvZhgG4eDUEHhRaJMFZnl2CBlIPvjy3X-PiIqtVF7AKjQMsojBA1DqDw0cP7rLnaW36wopieCQbI2U5hsp4YmtmGTsL3BZFH67OBbKwKbFRLHD/s1600/Faithlife+Study+Bible+Logo.jpeg" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; text-indent: -0.25in;">Another limitation of print study Bibles is that they're stuck with the translation they were based on. (That also used to be one of the ways you could justify the need for producing yet another study Bible.) The Faithlife Study Bible works with seven translations (I think that was coincidental but it is perfect). It comes free with the Lexham English Bible, a literal translation designed for maximum transparency to the underlying Greek and Hebrew. If you prefer a different translation, the FSB works with ESV, KJV, NKJV, NRSV, NASB95, and NIV2011, but you'd have to buy the one you want separately (unless you're already a Logos user...if you access Faithlife with your same account, it will sync with all the Bible and Logos resources you already own).</span><br />
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<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Faithlife Study Bible comes bundled with almost 400 photos, videos, and infographics AND the <a href="http://lexhambibledictionary.com/">Lexham Bible Dictionary</a> with 2,700 articles and 1.5 million words. (And guess what...the Bible dictionary isn't done yet either. We're still adding articles from top scholars in biblical studies.) </span><br />
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The study Bible is also integrated with <a href="https://faithlife.com/about">Faithlife.com</a>, a new social network designed for Christian fellowship centered around studying the Bible and growing in faith.<br />
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Here’s how to download and use it.<br />
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Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-42344901698084194772012-05-10T22:15:00.001-07:002012-05-10T22:15:20.116-07:00Don't Think Just Believe<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMlq6EzUmEW5zqmaeiHZeMdhgXU5o_hQqQ4SKZRC6g-6yi3_rWNzvVqXnleTfowiCNsLy0wUpgr2SwMd-AtTxcY6YRPif-TRIJs_veMne7KLDpUPyAa4pXWwErr5FAddGmN3P2cso0TBwb/s1600/thinkingperson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMlq6EzUmEW5zqmaeiHZeMdhgXU5o_hQqQ4SKZRC6g-6yi3_rWNzvVqXnleTfowiCNsLy0wUpgr2SwMd-AtTxcY6YRPif-TRIJs_veMne7KLDpUPyAa4pXWwErr5FAddGmN3P2cso0TBwb/s1600/thinkingperson.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Credit: <a href="http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/1081/">ASBO Jesus</a></td></tr>
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Has faith replaced thinking today? And I'm not just talking about faith in religious circles. As I watch people continue to subdivide into <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2012/05/speaking-of-culture-wars-evangelicals-and-the-bible-again/">ideologically-defined camps</a>, I can't help but wonder how many of them have truly critically examined their beliefs. In my experience, most people leave the thinking to others. They decide that "so and so" is credible and trustworthy so they eagerly soak in everything he or she says. But how did they decide they could trust that person? They can't explain it and it usually boils down to agreement on presuppositions. <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2012/05/outgrowing-and-out-learning-young-earth-creationism.html">But you can't learn anything NEW if you only listen to people with whom you already agree.</a><br />
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I don't understand blindly trusting someone else. (I understand faith in God is blind trust. This post isn't about that.) What you learned about investing from some guy on the bus is not fact until it's been independently verified. I don't trust. I research. I try to strip away the rhetorical baggage (or "spin") and figure out where someone's coming from. My hermeneutic of suspicion is always operating, not just in biblical studies.<br />
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But let's use my discipline of biblical studies as an example. How good of a Bible scholar would I be if I only read conservative evangelical Christian scholars? Or feminist scholars? Or Catholic scholars? What if I completely ignored Jewish scholarship simply because it wasn't "Christian"? The point isn't that I need to be well-read on every possible perspective. The point is that I need input from people who think differently than I do in order to grow in my thinking. I'm not challenged to think when I only listen to the people I agree with.<br />
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I admit that having to think for yourself can be difficult. It really is easier to let someone else do the thinking for you. The funny thing is that most people who aren't thinking for themselves actually think they are. The pinnacle of success for anyone looking to persuade you to vote for them, support their cause, etc. is for their ideas to take hold of you so strongly that you've convinced yourself you thought of them on your own.<br />
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So, how can you start thinking for yourself?<br />
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First, watch where you get your information from. Are you into politics? Do you only watch CNN or do you also check Fox News? Fired up about gay marriage? Get info directly from both sides in the debate. Are you interested in the creation/evolution debate? Did you learn everything from <a href="http://www.answersingenesis.org/">Answers In Genesis</a> or do you also <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2012/05/08/answers-in-genesis-teaches-how-not-to-read-a-story/">glean information</a> from <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/">pro-evolution</a> Christians? Input from both sides is essential. No matter what the issue is, you can't trust someone who is opposed to a position to give you an accurate account of the opposition. It's only natural to frame the debate in a way that makes your preference look stronger than the opposition.<br />
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Second, once you've started watching where you get your information from, add the layer of evaluating every source. Figure out the writer's agenda. The late Bible scholar Robert Carroll analyzed the biblical text by asking himself, "Why is this guy lying to me?" (anecdotal hearsay uttered by Michael V. Fox in class once). Or ask yourself, "who benefits?" If I buy in to this person's agenda, who benefits from it? Political ads want to sway your vote. Religious rhetoric wants to sway your beliefs. Marketers want to sway your buying decisions. Trust no one. Think.<br />
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HT: <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/2012/05/dont-let-thinking-people-stand-in-your-way.html">James McGrath</a><br />
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<br />Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-11928477823559089022012-05-09T21:04:00.001-07:002012-05-09T21:10:21.114-07:00Inaugurating Mobile BloggingHaving discovered Blogger now has an iOS app, I may find time to post more regularly. My steep decline in posting roughly correlates with my switch to iPhone (which also roughly correlates to the death of my laptop). Apart from work, my online presence has been primarily mobile for over a year.<br />
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This short post is my initial test of the app. The only down side I can see so far is not being able to add links.<br />
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Regular blogging may commence soon.Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-43834087445257035222012-05-08T11:37:00.000-07:002012-05-08T11:37:28.435-07:00The Latest from Khirbet Qeiyafa<br />
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Something really really big that has finally and totally proven the historical reliability of the Bible <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2008/08/archaeology-proves-bible-again.html">has once more</a> been found. But first, some perspective:<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fffefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"><i>The idea that a
single, spectacular finding can reverse the course of modern research and save
the literal reading of the biblical text regarding the history of ancient
Israel from critical scholarship is an old one. Khirbet Qeiyafa is the latest
case in this genre of craving a cataclysmic defeat of critical modern
scholarship by a miraculous archaeological discovery.</i></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3613525030683671127#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fffefa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a></span></blockquote>
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<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">Khirbet Qeiyafa has proven to be a very newsworthy archaeological dig. First, there was the <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2010/01/ancient-hebrew-inscription-from-khirbet.html">pretty cool ostracon</a> <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html">announced in 2008</a>. Then there was the sensational, unofficial, <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2010/01/roundup-of-qeiyafa-ostracon-buzz.html">buzz-generating</a> interpretation of that ostracon announced by <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-01/uoh-mah010710.php">Prof Gershon Galil</a>. Professional epigraphers and archaeologists are still debating the reading and significance of the inscription (see the May/Jun 2012 issue of <a href="http://www.bib-arch.org/bar/">Biblical Archaeology Review</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I admit that I haven't really been following the excavation since early 2010 (<a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2010/01/quick-primer-on-khirbet-qeiyafa.html">background from early 2010 here</a>), but this morning Yosef Garfinkel, the lead archaeologist from Hebrew University excavating at Khirbet Qeiyafa, <a href="http://www.demotix.com/news/1201316/archaeologists-claim-proof-hebrew-bible-not-be-dismissed-legend">has announced the discovery of artifacts</a> interpreted as proof of King David's ancient Israelite kingdom in the 10th century BCE. The announcement was <a href="http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/news/khirbet-qeiyafa-excavator-to-announce-%E2%80%9Cnew-finds-on-the-time-of-kings-david-and-solomon%E2%80%9D/">highly</a> <a href="http://gath.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/waiting-for-the-big-news-from-qeiyafa/">anticipated</a> but the news conference (as with many such announcements) has the ring of an attempt to head off the battle over interpretation of the finds before it's even begun. <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2008/10/if-you-not-maximalist.html">Once again</a>, I find myself stuck between wanting to cheer on the <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2010/08/hobbins-finkelstein-and-khirbet-qeiyafa.html">maximalist interpretation</a> and recognizing <a href="http://withmeagrepowers.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/ark-of-god-found-at-khirbet-qeiyafa/">the valid questions raised</a> by those of a more minimalist leaning. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.afhu.org/files/PHOTOS/Press_Releases_2012/ProfGarfinkelArchaeologicalFindsMay2012/Prof.%20Yosef%20Garfinkel%20with%20ancient%20shrine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.afhu.org/files/PHOTOS/Press_Releases_2012/ProfGarfinkelArchaeologicalFindsMay2012/Prof.%20Yosef%20Garfinkel%20with%20ancient%20shrine.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In short, clay and stone boxes were discovered in connection with three large rooms interpreted as having cultic (religious) significance. The site is interpreted as Israelite based on the absence of pig bones and the absence of graven images. The boxes and related artifacts are being interpreted as scale model versions of the "Ark of God." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">However the artifacts are interpreted, it is a significant find which highlights the continuing importance of this site for reconstructing the history of the region in the 10th century BCE. In addition to reading the <a href="http://www.afhu.org/cult-king-davids-era-major-archaeological-finds-provide-first-physical-evidence">major press release</a> version of the story, I recommend balancing your understanding with <a href="http://withmeagrepowers.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/ark-of-god-found-at-khirbet-qeiyafa/">George Athas' observations</a> on the discovery. I imagine the rest of the biblioblogosphere is exploding with the story even as we speak...let's take a look...here's a post on the subject by </span><a href="http://blog.bibleplaces.com/2012/05/cultic-objects-discovered-at-khirbet.html" style="font-family: inherit;">Todd Bolen</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">; </span><a href="http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2012_05_06_archive.html#487376416551696896" style="font-family: inherit;">Jim Davila</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">; <a href="http://nearemmaus.com/2012/05/08/archaeological-evidence-for-the-cult-of-king-davids-era/">Brian LePort</a>; <a href="http://zwingliusredivivus.wordpress.com/2012/05/08/news-from-qeiyafa/">Jim West</a>; <a href="http://www.telecomtally.com/blog/2012/05/cult_objects_from_khirbet_qeiy.html">Duane Smith</a>. Of course, I'm really waiting for a response from biblioblogger archaeologist-in-chief, <a href="http://robertcargill.com/">Bob Cargill</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3613525030683671127#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Israel
Finkelstein and Alexander Fantalkin, “Khirbet Qeiyafa: An Unsensational
Archaeological and Historical Interpretation” <i>Tel Aviv</i> 39.1 (2012), 58. From <a href="http://gath.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/waiting-for-the-big-news-from-qeiyafa/#comment-41747">G.M. Grena’s quote in a comment onAren Maier’s blog</a>. </span></div>
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<br />Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-60995030134291809392012-01-08T10:06:00.001-08:002012-01-08T10:06:20.288-08:00Biblia Hebraica Moves to Washington<p>Or "why I only posted 20 times in 2011."</p><p>2011 was a year of transitions for me and my family. First, I switched PhD programs at the beginning of the year. My thesis proposal was submitted to the University of the Free State, South Africa last March. After struggling to decide on a topic at UW-Madison, I jumped at the opportunity to combine research on ancient Bible versions with Translation Studies methodology with Jacobus Naudé and Cynthia Miller-Naudé. I hope to make significant progress on that research this year, since other transitions consumed the rest of 2011.</p><p>In June, I began working for Logos Bible Software as a contributing editor for Bible reference in their publications department. I began telecommuting from Wisconsin and started planning our cross-country move. We intended to move mid-summer, but the reality of packing up after 6.5 years in one place with a growing family slowly corrected that plan to a late summer move. We finally arrived in Bellingham, Washington in late September.</p><p>I spent six months this year writing over 200,000 words. That kept me a little too busy for recreational writing like blogging and even research writing like my thesis work. In the meantime, we were all adjusting to a new timezone, new climate, new city, new church, new friends, and the new slightly strange Pacific Northwest culture.</p><p>My goal for 2012 is to <a href="http://mylittleculdesac.wordpress.com/2012/01/06/finding-my-balance/">find balance</a>. Keep up with family, friends, research, and hobbies like blogging. I even plan to add exercise to the mix (the quintessential cliche New Year's resolution).</p><p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></p><p class="MsoNormal"> </p>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-10106693582241311402011-10-21T10:51:00.000-07:002011-10-21T10:51:42.251-07:00A World Without GodThe latest issue of <a href="http://www.biblestudymagazine.com/">Bible Study Magazine</a> has my Hebrew word study dealing with the word pair <i>tohu</i> and <i>bohu</i> (as in "formless and void" from Gen 1:2). An edited version of the article is available on the <a href="http://blog.logos.com/">LogosTalk</a> blog, too.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">What does it mean that the earth was formless and void? Did it already exist and God just shaped it? And did God create the matter and then shape it for a purpose?</span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Check out the <a href="http://blog.logos.com/2011/10/3-steps-for-interpreting-old-testament-pairings/">blog post</a> to find the answer or pick up a copy of the Nov/Dec issue of BSM to get the full discussion.</span></span>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-80559696420896964442011-10-20T19:53:00.001-07:002011-10-20T19:56:42.122-07:00The Historical Jeremiah<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Many readers of the Bible come to the text with the unexamined (and usually unqualified) assumption that the literature is unequivocally historical. In other words, the people existed and the events happened more or less as described by the text. But was the version of the character presented in the text an accurate portrayal of the real, historical figure? We can't know. I've realized that history-writing is much more about creating a plausible narrative about the past than about precisely recording the details. So, the historical person and the biblical/literary character are not one and the same. In the case of Jeremiah, no scholar highlighted the difficulty of reconstructing historical and biographical information from the biblical account as thoroughly as the late Robert P. Carroll. Despite his reputation as the quintessential skeptic and practitioner of a hermeneutic of suspicion in biblical exegesis, I found his honesty about the limits of our knowledge refreshing and his conclusions quite in line with what I've proposed <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/search/label/Bible%20As%20History">before</a>.<br />
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The ‘I’ and ‘me’ of various prose pieces are assumed by most exegetes to represent Jeremiah as speaker, and the editorial framework frequently attributes prose actions and statements to him. Reading the book at face value and following the dictates of traditional and conventional readings of the text, the bulk of modem scholars have understood Jeremiah to be the book of the life and times of Jeremiah the prophet, with direct access to his words, deeds, innermost thoughts and reflections. Such an approach presupposes so much historical information to which nobody has access and a one-to-one correspondence between text and social reality that it is an extremely problematical reading of the book. The precise relation between the character constructed by the writers of the tradition and a hypothesized ‘historical’ Jeremiah behind the book is a very difficult question to answer, though not acknowledging its existence in the first place does not make it any the less real a problem for interpreting the book. For the purpose of this chapter the character of Jeremiah presented in the book will be treated as the creative fiction of the editors and writers who produced it and the relation between the ‘historical’ Jeremiah and the ‘fictional’ Jeremiah will be left to the speculative sophistications of the reader....<br />
<br />
Although the majority of scholars continue to read Jeremiah as a biographical or autobiographical set of documents, and this ‘compact majority’ must be recognized for whatever value may be attached to such statistical reports, we cannot prejudge the issue as if there were no alternative or more feasible accounts of how the book was put together. Such accounts undergird the logic of the claim that perhaps <i>the figure of Jeremiah is more the creation of the tradition than the creator of it.**</i></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 21px;">The bottom line is that reading any biblical book as if it provides direct historical/biographical information is problematic, especially in light of the clear theological program that motivated the anonymous writers behind the bulk of the historical narrative (the so-called Deuteronomists and the Deuteronomic school). What was their theological program and how did it affect the "spin" they put on the biblical history? Tune in next week...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', times, serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 21px;">**Quoted from R.P. Carroll, <i>Jeremiah</i> (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2004), 75, 77.</span>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-87280236591417427832011-09-16T10:54:00.000-07:002011-09-16T10:54:50.935-07:00Thou Shalt Not Study EzekielIt's just too dangerous to study Ezekiel, especially chapter 1. The Talmud records that:<br />
<blockquote>
The rabbis taught: It happened once that a certain child, who was reading in his
teacher's house in the Book of Ezekiel, was pondering over 'Hashmal, and there
came out fire from 'Hashmal and burnt him, and they sought in consequence to
conceal the Book of Ezekiel. (b. <a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/t03/hgg03.htm">Hagigah 13a</a>)</blockquote>
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The word "hashmal" only occurs 3 times in the Hebrew Bible, all 3 in Ezekiel's attempts to describe the appearance of God Himself. Since we don't really know what the Hebrew word was trying to describe, Jewish exegesis imbued the word itself with the dangerous power of God's presence as if the ark of the covenant itself was in the room (see 2 Sam 6:6-7 for an example). Rashi, the great medieval Jewish commentator, moves on from Ezek 1:4 with the comment that attempting to understand this verse was not allowed. <br />
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The rabbis prohibited anyone under age 30 from studying Ezekiel because of this incident. One needed to be sufficiently mature in the study of Torah before they would expound the secrets of Ezekiel 1, especially the divine chariot. So if your Bible reading plan takes you through Ezekiel, be careful and you may want to implement the buddy system. Never read alone. Just in case.Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-35906504614504530512011-08-14T20:59:00.003-07:002011-08-14T21:04:36.010-07:00Online Bible Study Tools<div class="MsoNormal">
<img alt="" height="180" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-fyT4u6V30XM/TkiYlo9sMmI/AAAAAAAABAs/XzU2cEs21JM/%25255BUNSET%25255D.jpg" style="float: right;" width="320" />Over the past few years, I've found myself increasingly reading my Bible and working on Bible studies without a physical Bible in hand. Websites, smartphone apps, and Bible software programs have made it less and less necessary for me to open a book. There are pros and cons to this, but there is no denying that our relationship with the written word is changing rapidly.<br />
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I was asked recently how I do Bible study and what digital tools were out there, so in this post, I want to list some of the online Bibles and Bible study tools that I've come across. I also use a number of Bible study apps for iPhone and have tried every single one I could find, so I may discuss those in the future. I've also used a number of good Bible software programs. (Go <a href="http://biblestudymadeeasy.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/my-bible-software/" target="_blank">here</a> for a good post comparing available Bible software programs. He's tried out more than I have.)<br />
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For plain, old access to the Bible text, I most often go to the<a href="http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/"> online ESV</a>. If I want access to a number of versions to compare or a different version than ESV, I use <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/">BibleGateway.com</a>. It has many versions to choose from and is easy to use. They've started adding additonal resources like commentaries and dictionaries. Since I have print versions of both the <a href="http://esvbible.org/">ESV Study Bible</a> and the <a href="http://www.nltstudybible.com/">NLT Study Bible</a>, I also get online access to their content. This is nice because study Bibles are big and heavy. I also use <a href="http://biblia.com/">Biblia.com</a> because it will sync with the resources in my <a href="http://www.logos.com/">Logos 4</a> library, but even without that feature, it provides access to many study tools and Bible versions. If you register for an account with the site, you get access to an additional 31 resources. I'm not sure if Biblia.com is meant to replace it eventually, but for now, Bible versions are also accessible at <a href="http://bible.logos.com/">http://bible.logos.com/</a>.<br />
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There are many websites now that provide access to Bible versions and classic Bible reference works that are in public domain. I've known about <a href="http://studylight.org/">StudyLight.org</a> for a while, but not used it much. I recently discovered<a href="http://www.biblestudytools.com/"> BibleStudyTools.com</a> that claims to have the Web's largest library of online Bible study resources. I haven't tested the claim, but there was a lot of available content. I will probably use it more in the future. I used to use the <a href="http://net.bible.org/">NET Bible</a> but hadn't visited their site for a while. It has a clean fresh look and easy to use interface, so I recommend it if you want to use that version for reading or study. They also have a lot of free articles available at <a href="http://bible.org/">Bible.org</a>. Some are by known Bible scholars, teachers, and pastors.<br />
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I like <a href="http://biblos.com/">Biblos.com</a> and <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/">Blue Letter Bible</a> because they have Bible versions in Hebrew and Greek. They also have Bible dictionaries, maps, and encyclopedia articles. The <a href="http://unbound.biola.edu/">Unbound Bible</a> also has many versions including Hebrew and Greek and some public domain study tools, but their web interface is very basic. I also discovered that Lifeway has an <a href="http://bible.lifeway.com/crossmain.asp">online Bible library</a> which also looks like mainly public domain Bible reference works and translations, but I haven't spent much time using it.<br />
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The bottom line is that all the Bible study resources offered for free are essentially the same set of public domain works. Bible.org is the exception and the text notes alone for the NET Bible are very helpful. I spend most of my time at the online ESV Study Bible but I just might start using Bible.org as a close second. My goal is to direct you to some websites that might help you with your Bible study, but remember there are limits to what you'll be able to get for free and sometimes the old classics from 100 years ago aren't exactly up to date on their interpretations. If you're serious about having access to some of the best digital tools available for Bible study and research, you might just want to check out a Bible software program like <a href="http://www.logos.com/basepackages">Logos 4</a>.</div>
Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-53443518742115920042011-07-01T19:30:00.000-07:002011-07-01T19:30:59.556-07:00Computer Cracks Code of Source CriticismIf you haven't already heard, a fascinating study by an Israeli research team (comprised of 2 computer scientists and a Bible scholar) suggests that the fine bits of circumstantial data used by Bible scholars to tease out the varying voices of biblical sources and authors can be run through a computer model as a way of separating the different strands of composition. The Pentateuch and the book of Isaiah are the most debated (probably) so the results on those sections will give us the most to talk about. Here are some quotes from the <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/israeli-software-aims-to-shed-light-on-the-bible-1.370343">article at Ha'aretz</a>.<br />
<blockquote>
The new software analyzes style and word choices to distinguish parts of a single text written by different authors, and when applied to the Bible its algorithm teased out distinct writerly voices in the holy book.<br />...<br />When the new software was run on the Pentateuch, it found the same division, separating the "priestly" and "non-priestly." It matched up with the traditional academic division at a rate of 90 percent - effectively recreating years of work by multiple scholars in minutes, said Moshe Koppel of Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, the computer science professor who headed the research team.<br />...<br />Similarly, the book of Isaiah is largely thought to have been written by two distinct authors, with the second author taking over after Chapter 39. The software's results agreed that the book might have two authors, but suggested the second author's section actually began six chapters earlier, in Chapter 33.</blockquote>
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This is very interesting for my continued musings on the composition of the book of Isaiah. I'd always felt the "voice" in Isaiah had started to switch to "Deutero-Isaiah" (traditionally the writer of 40-55) a bit before the historical interlude in chapters 36-39 was (more or less) cut-and-pasted from 2 Kings 18-20, probably in chapters 34-35. I hadn't thought of chapter 33 as Deutero-Isaiah, though. Food for thought.</div>
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A copy of the paper from the conference where this research was presented can be accessed <a href="http://www.dershowitz.net/files/unsupervised-decomposition-of-a-document-into-authorial-components.pdf">here</a>.</div>
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HT: Agade</div>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-21827644091595211922011-06-17T11:24:00.000-07:002011-06-17T11:24:43.105-07:00New Book on Jewish Babylonian AramaicJust in time for Father's Day (hint), Eisenbrauns has released a <a href="https://www.eisenbrauns.com/ECOM/_38T0UM9RM.HTM">new book on the grammar of Babylonian Aramaic</a>. I really should be reading more Aramaic (as should all of you), so don't miss this one!<br />
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<blockquote>
This book is the first wide-ranging study of the grammar of the Babylonian Aramaic used in the Talmud and post-Talmudic Babylonian literature (henceforth: Rabbinic Babylonian Aramaic) to be published in English in a century. The book takes as its starting point the long-recognized problem of the corrupt nature of the later textual witnesses of Babylonian Rabbinic literature and seeks both to establish criteria for the identification of accurate textual witnesses and describe the grammar of Rabbinic Babylonian Aramaic. The book is both programmatic and descriptive: it lays the foundations for future research into the dialect while clarifying numerous points of grammar, many of which have not been discussed systematically in the available scholarly literature.</blockquote>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-89531790306851228822011-05-22T06:34:00.000-07:002011-05-22T06:34:10.652-07:00Missed the Rapture . . . AgainThe passing of May 21, 2011 without a world cataclysm brings to light the number one reason you should avoid prophesying at all costs.<br />
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There's no margin for error and the biblical consequences are severe. Just read Deuteronomy 18.<br />
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<blockquote>
<span lang="en-US">Deuteronomy 18:20–22</span> (ESV)<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;"><sup>20</sup></span> But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, <i><b>that same prophet shall die</b></i>.’ <span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;"><sup>21</sup></span> And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> has not spoken?’— <span style="font-family: Arial; font-weight: bold;"><sup>22</sup></span> when a prophet speaks in the name of the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. (emphasis added)</blockquote>
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How do you know if a prophet is really from God?<br />
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Well, he's always right.<br />
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But what if he prophesies and it doesn't come to pass?<br />
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You have two options:<br />
1) Kill the false prophet or 2) Subtly rework the prophecy so that it is now looking ahead to another time in the future. The problem with option 2 in this case is that there was a specific date set which was missed and then another date set which again passed without incident.<br />
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Will this be the next Great Disappointment?<br />
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Stop setting dates for the rapture!Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-28038784162496563782011-05-20T20:08:00.001-07:002011-05-20T20:12:28.604-07:00The End is NearIn case of rapture, this blog will be unmanned.<br />
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It never ceases to amaze me that despite all the failed predictions of the past, people somehow still think their calculation will be the right one. I would think the warning of Matthew 24:36 would be enough to convince them that WE <i>CAN'T</i> KNOW.<br />
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Fortunately, <a href="http://www.patheos.com/community/exploringourmatrix/2011/05/20/rapture-round-the-blogosphere/">James McGrath</a> saved me the time of rounding up all the buzz on this craziness. I especially recommend <a href="http://rachelheldevans.com/great-disappointment">this post by Rachel Held Evans</a> who points out the connections with the most famous failed forerunner of Harold Camping and manages to give some spiritual food for thought along the way.Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-76074158070923675672011-05-14T06:00:00.000-07:002011-05-14T06:00:03.792-07:00NIV Ads: Just Marketing or Plain Misleading?<p>I have not been a fan of the NIV ever since I was able to understand the complexities of translation philosophy. In my opinion, it was more popular due to its marketing strategy than for its merit as a translation. (My opinions on the NIV can be found mixed among my posts on <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/search/label/bible%20translation">bible translation</a>.) I'm sure Zondervan has high hopes that <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-and-improved-niv-is.html">NIV 2011 will help them retain market share</a> and win over the crowd that largely panned TNIV due to the gender translation issue. While<a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-leaven-on-new-niv.html"> initial reports</a> suggested NIV 2011 was more restrained on that issue, I don't think they went far enough to fix the problems with TNIV (as noted <a href="http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=34135">here</a>). My litmus test remains their translation of Isaiah 19:16. TNIV and NIV 2011 gut the original of its intentionally insulting rhetoric. I won't translate the verse here lest I offend you.</p><p>I have ignored most of the recent advertising push to promote the NIV 2011, but a full back cover ad on a Christian magazine caught my eye. Here's the text from the ad. Is it just marketing spin or a misleading misrepresentation of the facts?</p><blockquote><p>It's amazing how going back to the beginning moves us so far forward. Translated from the most reliable ancient biblical manuscripts. Tirelessly researched by the world's preeminent biblical scholars and linguists. And made crystal clear for English-speaking audiences worldwide. The New International Version is the translation that's easy to understand, yet rich with the detail found in the original Scripture.</p></blockquote><p>Let's look at these claims and their implications.</p><p>1. "Translated from the most reliable ancient biblical manuscripts." Oh no! I need to get an NIV. My other Bibles didn't use the most reliable ancient manuscripts. Actually, most translations use the same critical texts in Hebrew and Greek created by scholars from what seem to be the most reliable ancient manuscripts. NIV has a slightly different Greek text than the standard NT critical text, but we are all essentially working with the same manuscript data. The difference is in which variations get preference in translation.</p><p>2. "Tirelessly researched by the world's preeminent biblical scholars and linguists." Other Bible translation committees don't have the "preeminent" scholars (only the eminent ones), so NIV must be better. And they worked "tirelessly" this time. Actually, in these past two decades of expanding English Bible versions, many scholars have been involved in the production of multiple versions. Some of the same people working with a different translation philosophy. But at least when working on the NIV, they didn't get tired.</p><p>3. "And made crystal clear for English-speaking audiences worldwide." This is a value judgment. Crystal clear relative to what? Young's Literal Translation? The New American Standard? The King James? What is made clear? The meaning of the "original"? The English style? </p><p>4. "easy to understand, yet rich with the detail found in the original Scripture." It's as easy to understand as most moderately idiomatic English translations. But I don't understand how they can claim, in all seriousness, to be "rich with the detail found in the original Scripture." The gender-sensitive issue forces a translation that completely <em>suppresses</em> the rich metaphorical detail of the Hebrew in Isaiah 19:16.</p><p>I realize that some people will honestly agree with the opinions about the NIV found in this ad. Only the last claim is, in my opinion, stretching the truth. Our Bible translation preferences have been conditioned from years of using a particular favorite. For a long time, the NIV has been that favorite for a lot of people. An ad like this is designed to get people to stick with the NIV, hopefully without thinking too much about it.</p>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-21894226592970332702011-05-13T15:42:00.003-07:002011-05-13T15:45:18.830-07:00Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism<span style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" height="270" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_Hb-l2ceq7N4/TcyjH3AfllI/AAAAAAAABAE/9RSAcyG3ois/%5BUNSET%5D.jpg" style="vertical-align: baseline;" width="180" /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was waiting with bated breath for my friend Jordan Rosenblum's book to be published by Cambridge, but then it was, and I forgot til now to mention it. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now a very <a href="http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=31066">informative review of the book</a> <em>Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism</em> has been posted on H-Judaic, so you can learn more about the book before deciding if you want to spend 50 pounds on it (that's UK currency - I don't think the book will help you lose weight). From the review:</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Following decades of excitement over new social scientific methodologies in the study of religion, more recent scholars have asked why the new insights offered by these models so often appear inadequate. Jordan Rosenblum provides one answer by actively embracing anthropological innovations in the study of early rabbinic food practices, while simultaneously insisting on a different data set. He observes that previous treatments have elided biblical law and Jewish identity, overlooking the great changes that rabbinic texts made to the food (and other) practices that have shaped later Judaisms. Asserting the necessity of his own investigation of food and identity in early Judaism, he demonstrates that crucial, anthropological approaches have not been adequate for the consideration of rabbinic sources because the questions most frequently posed have not engaged available evidence. In reply to famous early explorations of Roland Barthes, Mary Douglas, and more recently Marvin Harris, Rosenblum argues that “the absolute origins of the prohibitions against pork, for example, are irrelevant. What matters for the Tannaim is that God instituted the ban in the Hebrew Bible. How they interpret, understand, and enact this regulation is verifiable” (p. 9). He promises a book that presents the appropriate data set, as well as the best tools and models for considering how the preparation and ingestion of food constructs identity.</span></blockquote>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you read the rest of Susan Marks' review, you will indeed want to read the book. And I'm not just saying that because Rosenblum taught me to read rabbinic Hebrew.</span>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-66543710630013663702011-03-08T09:55:00.001-08:002011-03-08T09:56:12.494-08:00Not the MessiahOnly the true Messiah would deny his divinity . . . famous scene from Monty Python's <i>The Life of Brian</i>, poking fun at Mark's "Messianic secret" motif. (Content warning: the hermit is naked and there's a swear word near the end.)<br />
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For more on the Messianic Secret in Mark's Gospel, listen to <a href="http://podacre.blogspot.com/2010/03/nt-pod-27-messianic-secret-in-marks.html">episode 27 of the NT Pod</a>.Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-60031479600724443902011-03-05T13:44:00.001-08:002011-03-05T13:46:00.435-08:00Scripting Jesus<img alt="" height="400" src="http://www.harpercollins.com/harperimages/isbn/large/9/9780061985379.jpg" style="float: right;" width="265" />I had a irresistible bookstore coupon good only this weekend, so I trekked to the nearest Borders to see what they had that might be of interest to me. My interests range far and wide in religious studies and theology, but aside from Hebrew Bible and translation studies, my main trajectory of research interest is Judaism and Christianity in Late Antiquity. That covers Second Temple Judaism, New Testament, and rabbinics (for starters). To expand my horizons in Gospels and Jesus research, I decided to get L. Michael White's book <em>Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite.</em> The differences between the Gospels have always fascinated me, and this book looks like a great treatment of the issue. If you've read it, let me know what you thought.<br />
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From the<a href="http://www.harpercollins.com/books/Scripting-Jesus-L-Michael-White/?isbn=9780061985379"> publisher</a>:<br />
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In <em>Scripting Jesus</em>, famed scholar of early Christianity L. Michael White challenges us to read the gospels as they were originally intended—as performed stories of faith rather than factual histories. White <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>demonstrates that each of the four gospel writers had a specific audience in mind and a specific theological agenda to push, and consequently wrote and rewrote their lives of Jesus accordingly—in <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>effect,scripting Jesus to get a particular point across and to achieve the desired audience reaction. </blockquote>
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The gospel stories have shaped the beliefs of almost two and a half billion Christians. But the gospel writers were not reporters—rather, they were dramatists, and the stories they told publicly about Jesus were edited <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>and reedited for the greatest effect. Understanding how these first-century Christians wanted to present Jesus offers us a way to make sense of the sometimes conflicting stories in the gospels. </blockquote>
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One gospel's version of events will be at odds with another. For instance, in Jesus's birth narrative, there is no mention of a stable in Matthew or Luke, but then there are no wise men in Luke and no shepherds in <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Matthew. Jesus has brothers in some gospel accounts, and sisters in others, and their naming is inconsistent. Depending on which gospel you are reading, the disciples shift from bumbling morons to heroes of faith. <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Miracles alter or disappear altogether, and whole scenes get moved around. Such changes from one gospel to the next reveal the shaping and reshaping of the basic story in the living world of the first followers of <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Jesus. </blockquote>
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With his usual engaging style, White helps us read the gospels with fresh eyes, giving us a clearer idea of what the gospel stories meant to people in ancient times, and offering insight for how we can understand <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Jesus's story today.</blockquote>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-81991518624040887422011-02-17T09:50:00.001-08:002011-02-17T09:50:42.205-08:00Continuity Errors in the Hebrew Bible?<p>One of the features of narrative in the Hebrew Bible that as long caught my notice is the common use of place names prior to the aetiological story that explains the source and significance of the name. Logically this inconsistency can only mean that either a later editor went back through and updated names without regard for continuity OR a later writer was using names he was familiar with before getting to the story that explained where the name came from. Either way, the biblical writers were less concerned with what today might be called continuity errors. The most concise example of the phenomenon is Genesis 33:17.</p><p><p><span lang="en-US">Genesis 33:17</span> (ESV):</p><p lang="en-US"><sup>17</sup> But Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. [Succoth = booths]</p><p lang="en-US">A more chronologically problematic example is the use of the name "Bethel" in reference to Abram's travels in Genesis 12:8 and 13:3. The name "Bethel" is given by Jacob, Abram's grandson, in Genesis 28:19!</p><p lang="en-US">Sometimes it's unclear whether the issue is continuity or chronological disorder. For example, Judges 13:25 described Samson growing up "in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol." Samson is the last great judge portrayed in the book of Judges: the long narrative of his exploits extends from Jdgs 13 to 16. The rest of the book contains a series of <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2009/03/bizarre-bible-stories-judges-17-18.html">bizarre</a> <a href="http://bibliahebraica.blogspot.com/2009/04/bizarre-bible-stories-2-jdgs-19-21.html">yet related</a> tales in Jdgs 17-21. Those stories contain this relevant bit of information for the name "Mahaneh-dan" (literally "camp of Dan").</p><p lang="en-US"><p><span lang="en-US">Judges 18:11–12</span> (ESV)</p><p lang="en-US"><sup>11</sup> So 600 men of the tribe of Dan, armed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol, <sup>12</sup> and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called Mahaneh-dan to this day; behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim.</p><p lang="en-US">Do the events of Judges 17-21 chronologically precede the story of Samson? It makes sense to group the narratives of major judges together and leave off a story that fits this time period yet focuses on no particular judge or leader.</p><p lang="en-US">I don't have the answers and these little details are of no great doctrinal import, but I hope this at least provides a sampling of "Things that make Bible scholars go, Hmmm...."</p></p></p>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3613525030683671127.post-44215100910632568082011-02-15T07:20:00.002-08:002011-02-15T07:20:59.062-08:00Eisenbrauns Valentine's Poetry Contest<br />
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Eisenbrauns has once again held a <a _mce_href="http://www.eisenbrauns.com/pages/VDAY2011" href="http://www.eisenbrauns.com/pages/VDAY2011">contest for Valentine's Day love poetry</a> written in an ancient Near Eastern Language. The results are entertaining as always.</div>
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Congratulations to fellow biblio-blogger <a _mce_href="http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/" href="http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/">James McGrath</a> who has carried off first place with his <a _mce_href="http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-mandaic-valentines-in-first-place.html" href="http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-mandaic-valentines-in-first-place.html">Mandaean poem</a>!</div>Douglas Mangumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15267532075493569019noreply@blogger.com0