My semester has officially begun. I’m very excited about the classes I’m taking this semester. I’m constantly reminded that GCTS truly affords students some wonderful opportunities when it comes to studying the Hebrew Bible and Hebrew language. Mandy has already posted her classes and so, without further ado, my classes:

Middle Egyptian I – I’m taking this class at Boston University. So far it has been absolutely wonderful. The professor is very concerned with moving at a pace the entire class can handle, and because of this he’d rather move too slowly rather than too quickly. Either way I’m finding the material fascinating. I think I’m doing well, other than the fact that I can not draw to save my life. Luckily the professor is gracious in this regard, and so I won’t have to worry too much about my grade being negatively effected by a falcon that looks a bit…odd.

History and Archaeology of the Ancient Near East – Mandy actually took this class two years ago, and I am not playing a bit of catch up. This class is extremely interesting. It makes me wonder if maybe, just maybe I might like digging in the Levant at some point in the not too distant future. Eric keeps encouraging me to join him at Tell es-Safi, and this class might help him in that goal. I’m also finding the textbooks (Mazar’s Archaeology of the Land of the Bible and Kuhrt’s The Ancient Near East) engrossing. Because of this I think Mandy is finding me odd.

Advanced Hebrew Grammar – This is the single class that I have been looking forward to the most. Dr. T. Petter is doing a directed study with Mandy and I. Throughout the summer the syllabus has morphed and changed as the three of us (Dr. Petter, Mandy and I) have all given input. Now that the syllabus has been finalized I can say with confidence that I’m excited. We’ll be focusing on the Biblical Hebrew verbal system in prose. I will probably solicit your suggestions on additional readings that might be helpful to us in the coming weeks. The final evaluation for the course will be a paper dealing with the verbal system in prose via an analysis of a pericope in Judges, with special attention to the verbal system throughout the book. The specifics, of course, are subject to some small amount of change over the next couple weeks, but that’s the basic outline.

OT Prophetical Books – This will be my first class with Dr. D. Petter, and it seems like it’s going to be great. It has been a while since I’ve done any type of sustained study in the prophets, and so that alone makes this interesting. Dr. Petter is also extremely personable, and I’m sure that the class itself will be fascinating. It’s also another opportunity to work with the Hebrew text and that is always a worthwhile endeavor.

Akkadian – Finally, I will be taking Akkadian this semester. It might more properly be called “An introduction to Akkadian grammar,” since we won’t be learning any vocabulary, nor will we be learning the signs. Nevertheless I think this will be an interesting class as it will allow me yet more exposure to semitic languages. I fear my excite for this class is somewhat dimmed in light of the flaring beacon that is Middle Egyptian, but I still expect the class to be interesting.