Part iv of the Hebrew series is coming. In the meantime, here’s a picture with commentary of my little desk where I try to do a good bit of my reading. Continue reading “Scripture Reading, Goals, and Motivation: a photo”
How to Teach Yourself Hebrew from Scratch: Part III
Vocabulary and Reference materials
Learning vocabulary- On the plus side, there’s only 8,446 distinct vocabulary words in the Hebrew Bible, and many of those come from shared roots, such as MeLeK “king,” MaLKah, “queen,” maMLeKah “kingdom,” MaLaK “to reign as royalty,” etc. (Roots are much more important and prominent in Semitic languages than in English.) By comparison, there are estimated to be “a quarter of a million distinct English words, excluding inflections, and words from technical and regional vocabulary not covered by the OED” according to this webpage. Continue reading “How to Teach Yourself Hebrew from Scratch: Part III”
How to Teach Yourself Hebrew from Scratch: Part II
Let’s assume at this point that you’re someone who took a year of Hebrew in school, but it was a long time ago. Or, you have worked through a grammar on your own. You’ve learned some basics, but you’re not quite ready to dive into Isaiah. What to do? Continue reading “How to Teach Yourself Hebrew from Scratch: Part II”
How to Teach Yourself Hebrew from Scratch: Part I
Inspired by a post at BCC and in lieu of a lengthy comment, here are my suggestions for teaching yourself Hebrew. Continue reading “How to Teach Yourself Hebrew from Scratch: Part I”
Santa and His Asherah
This is a hilarious spoof, care of Bible Review and William Propp of UCSD. Kevin Barney’s recent Dialogue article reminded me of it, and since it’s the season… enjoy, but do not take seriously!
By William H.C. Propp Bible Review, 14:6 (December 1998)
The ancient Near Eastern roots of American Yuletide customs are manifold and fascinating. I will concentrate here on just two major points: that the Christmas tree was originally a symbol of the Canaanite goddess Asherah and that Santa Claus is an avatar of Asherah’s consort, the high god ‘El, who is equivalent to the Israelite Yahweh. I will conclude by showing that the customs of Christmas were brought to America by the Canaanites themselves.
The coniferous Christmas tree, whether real or stylized (made of metal or plastic), is customarily hung with bright votive offerings: tinsel, metallic globes, colored lights, etc. Small figurines of humans and animals may also adorn the shrub. The custom of decorating a Christmas tree is very old, as shown by a second-century C.E. description of Syrian practice:
Applying to Graduate Programs, (part iv): Language Study
Language study is unavoidable in these fields. I once heard Jerome Murphy O’Connor state that every Biblical scholar needed to know at least what he called the “seven basic languages- English, French, German, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic.” How should an undergrad choose his/her courses to prepare for graduate study in Religious/Biblical/ANE programs? Continue reading “Applying to Graduate Programs, (part iv): Language Study”
Software Smackdown for the Bible Geek and Interested Layperson
I’ve had some questions lately about what kind of software I use in my studies. There are really only three contenders: Bibleworks, Accordance, and Logos. Continue reading “Software Smackdown for the Bible Geek and Interested Layperson”
The Best Course of Action at This Point
For the last 6 hours, I’ve been hopping amongst websites and blogs, tracking, reading, thinking, questioning, arguing, posting.
It’s divisive.
I’d say this election season is potentially the most divisive among LDS I’ve ever seen, and I see that as a wholly negative thing. Emotions are charged, deep-seated opinions and positions are expressed against those whom we once considered allies and fellow-citizens in the Gospel.
And so, as the discussions rage, I will step away. Log off. Take some time to do something else. Go for a walk. Pray. Make some pancakes. Get some exercise. count my blessings. Anything other than what I’ve been doing.
And I hope that when I return, “normalcy” will be slightly better then it has been.
Academics aren’t entertaining enough
Though I understand about market forces and entertainment, the realities of the academic marketplace never fail to induce a groan and eye-roll.
And if you’ve never seen it before, PhD Comics is great, even though it’s science-oriented and I’m in humanities.
Guest post- Ugaritic and the LDS temple
This is a guest post from The Monk, of Mormon Monastery, a repository of sorts for temple-related bibliography and a LDS Temple FAQ/essays.
I have a favorite passage from Ugaritic literature. (Nitsav has written briefly on Ugaritic before. See that post if you need a primer.) I’m just geeky enough that I’d like a nice alphabetic cuneiform scroll* of it framed on my wall. Though everyone has heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, few know the Ugaritic texts which are ironically far more important for understanding the Old Testament.
Below is my translation and brief commentary regarding this passage, which comes from the Ba’lu** epic, one of the lengthier texts from Ugarit. It consists of a message from Ba’lu, in highly repetitive poetic parallelism. I tried to arrange it to bring this out, but the formatting keeps disappearing.