A biblioblogger and she is grand

Her name is Margaret Hebron. Like many who blog about the Bible, she doesn’t blog only or even primarily about the Bible. That makes her an unlikely candidate to appear on a list of bibliobloggers. Blogging since 2008, she has not caught the eye, so far as I know, of anyone among that perfectly heterogeneous and insignificant list of bloggers known as the “top 50” (I’m still glad that Jeremy keeps the list). Her blogging deserves note. I am impressed for the following reasons:

(1)   She has great quotes on her front page:

May I dedicate to your service my power to speak and write and read. - Augustine

Men like women who write. Even though they don't say so. A writer is a foreign country. - Marguerite Duras

That covers both the vertical and horizontal axes on which she situates her craft.

(2)   She is reading Marcel Proust’s In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower  - that would be À l’ombre des jeunes filles en fleurs; the English title is a perfect example of a literal translation that communicates poorly or not at all, unless one has already read the book and is in a position to read the title on that basis! Anyone who reads Proust wins my respect. But is it possible to read Proust in anything other than French?¹

(3)   She wrote a post entitled Of Hebrew Poetry and Antarctica. The post begins like this: In life, everything relates to the Bible. At least in my life it does, and that’s not because I’m super holy. It’s simply because that’s what I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about, so that’s the lens my brain is constantly and subconsciously using to interpret the world.

       And now I will tell you about the chiastic structure of my recent trip to Antarctica.

(4)   She wrote a post entitled “Taking ‘He’ out of God.” In the comments, she makes a key distinction: I am not interested in changing the Bible; it is an ancient document written in patriarchal cultures—and I don’t say that in a derogatory way at all.  Notice the pomo touch, which allows her to be gracious to the “other” where mos get bent all out of shape. Anyone and everyone who thinks theologically will ask the question, “Does it make sense to take the “he” out of God?” More than one answer is defensible. But it is not defensible to fail to pose the question.

¹ A few quotes from this volume, for those who know nothing of Proust, an author gifted at putting into words sublime and average truths alike: (1) On devient moral dès qu'on est malheureux. (2) Votre rêve le plus ardent est d'humilier qui vous a offensé. Mais si vous n'entendez plus jamais parler de lui, ayant changé de pays, votre ennemi finira par ne plus avoir pour vous aucune importance. (3) On ne reçoit pas la sagesse, il faut la découvrir soi-même, après un trajet que personne ne peut faire pour nous, ne peut nous épargner.

Comments

[Scott Bailey]

Margaret is also a fellow employee of the Canada Research Chair in Dead Sea Scrolls studies, and TWU student. Pretty awesome combination!

[JohnFH]

And the both of you are fortunate to work with Peter Flint, one of the finest scholars around.

[Margaret]

Wow, thanks for the props, John. I'm flattered!

[JohnFH]

My pleasure. I see Phil Sumpter has linked to you from his blog, "Narrative and Ontology."

Here's hoping that we can all participate in some "blog storms" once in a while. I very much like your one- word meme.

[john]

Shelby Foot often read Proust and thought highly of him.

[JohnFH]

Shelby Foote, you have in mind, who wrote the famous "Stars in Their Courses: The Gettysburg Campaign." How come I'm not surprised.