Ancient Hebrew Poetry

Blackwell Bible Commentaries: Joys and Frustrations

The Blackwell Bible Commentaries series is one of many attempts to introduce a field of study that has captured the attention of many: the reception history of the Bible, not only in exegetical commentary, but in art, music, and literature. Below the fold, I briefly introduce the series, and its online dimension.

Gentlemen prefer Hebrew and Greek

According to the Economist:

Though some fundamentalists appear to believe that the Bible was written in English, for the more thoughtful (or pious) Christian, serious study of the New Testament or the early Christian church is impossible without first knowing alpha from omega. In America, Greek and Hebrew are standard parts of a Master of Divinity degree — necessary to become a minister in most respectable Protestant denominations.

I envy reporters. They get to make stuff up. I want a list of those respectable denominations.

HT: James Davila

A Bedtime Prayer from the Talmud

T. Carmi’s Penguin Book of Hebrew Verse includes many interesting examples of poetry. The volume is frustrating to use, however, since it does not source its selections. The poem presented in this post is probably treated in יוסף היינימן's book: התפילה בתקופת התנאים והאמוראים. I know it comes from תלמוד בבלי ברכות ס' עמ' ב, but the version in the Talmud is much expanded. The version in Carmi’s volume intrigues me because it neatly divides into 4 strophes and 22 versets on my analysis:

Rationalism vs. Fideism in the Debate between Theists and Atheists

I wish the people at Books & Culture would get in the habit of putting a selection of articles online from the current issue. That would help bloggers like me highlight BC content when I read it, which is when it hits my mailbox. The July/August issue is full of excellent stuff. I will comment on two contributions: “Evolution vs. Naturalism” by Alvin Plantinga, and “The Great Debate,” by Douglas Groothuis Both of these guys are theists on testosterone. I don’t agree with either of them, but then, when all is said and done, I am a fideist, not a rationalist.

The Serenity Prayer in Hebrew Patiently Explained

Lindsay asks how the serenity prayer goes in Hebrew. I found a version here. There are some minor details in that version that strike me as a bit odd, but in general I adhere to its diction, and I do not depart from its wording:

Beware of those who speak in God’s name

This hurts, but it’s true:

But it's not just the bigots who confidently announce what's on the deity's mind. Often on Thought For The Day on Radio 4 (the equivalent on Radio 2, at around 9.20 on the Terry Wogan show, is usually less embarrassing) someone declares solemnly that God believes this, or God wants that. Usually God turns out to have the same views as a north London bien pensant, who wishes the best for everyone, within certain limits.

Simon Hoggart, quoted here. That’s what’s good about atheists. Their atheism gives them a nose for BS from the mouths of theists, though they aren’t very good at sniffing out their own.

UPDATE: Thanks, Jared Callaway, for feeding my site. That’s quite a blog you have.

A prayer for relief from gathering wretches: Psalm 35

“When I stumble, they gleefully gather” – to express their sympathy, of course. “They gathered beside me; wretches I don’t even know gaped without ceasing” (Psalm 35:15). Psalm 35, poetically, is a well-wrought urn. It is a prayer that strikes a nerve, more than one nerve, among moderns who think there is a contradiction between a raw desire for justice and a faith pleasing to God.

Schadenfreude as a corollary of justice: in response to the latter, the former should follow

Schadenfreude is, in some instances, a really good thing. That is the thesis of John Portmann (see bibliography below). For a short introduction to Portmann’s thought, go here. In this post, I discuss the thesis in connection with the Bible.

A majority of American Jews have abandoned the religion of their ancestors

Iyov lampoons a recent Pew analysis of the US religious landscape. That is easy to do. As I stated in a comment, “Actual familiarity with the sampled groups is worth a thousand surveys.”

Now for harder questions. For example, is there far more truth than one might wish to the survey’s characterization of the self-understanding of American Jews? That’s hard to deny, and Michael Pitkowsky, who goes over some details, does not see fit to challenge the survey’s basic conclusions. Neither does Shmuel Rosner.

Obama’s views on James Dobson and Al Sharpton

In a 2006 speech in which Obama called on his party to elevate its discourse and respect the right of evangelicals and others to express their faith in public settings (readable here on his senate website), he said the following:

[I]f we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools? Would we go with James Dobson's or Al Sharpton's?