It is my custom to bore you by briefly highlighting the classes I take each semester. Because of my now broken blogging silence I have not done so this semester. So, without further ado…

Middle Egyptian II – This is, as the title should make obvious, the second semester of a year long course in Middle Egyptian at Boston University. Let’s be honest, which one of us hasn’t wanted to learn Hieroglyphs as a kid? If you’re a sci-fi geek, you know that there is a far more important reason for learning ancient Egyptian: you might be asked to join the Stargate Program. All joking aside, another ANE language under my belt is a very good thing. What I’m about to say will probably reveal just how much of a geek I truly am (as if the Stargate comment above didn’t already do that), but I can think of very few things I would rather do than learn an ancient language. Besides, Dr. Botta is simply excellent. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this class.

Exegesis of Revelation – Dr. McDonough teaches this class and I’ve found it truly fascinating. Not only is the professor engaging, but the regular references to the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are icing on the cake. I’ve not been a big fan of this, the final book of the Bible, but this class is changing that. It’s also helping to hone my Greek skills since we’re required to read the entire book in Greek.

Exegesis in the Minor Prophets – Another class with Dr. Stuart is always a good thing. Although I’ve covered the minor prophets in both undergrad, and in a more broadly focused class here at GCTS, I’m still finding this class informative. It is especially helpful because the majority of our class time is spent simply analyzing the Hebrew text, primarily from a grammatical perspective but also with attention to text criticism, structure, etc. In addition I’m writing a paper on Habakkuk 3 for the course, which is proving to be fascinating.

Applied Anthropology for Missions – As esoteric as the title sounds, this class is actually fun. I’m not an anthropologist, though I do find the subject interesting. Personally I think that there is a lot of payoff for Biblical interpretation in understanding one’s own culture as well as the culture of the text. I’m writing a paper on how epistemology influences the debate surrounding inerrancy. Although I’m fairly sure that this is going to be an eternal debate, at least it ties what I’m learning here back into Biblical studies.

Martin Luther – Really, what more can one say? Sometimes I think this guy really helped the church, and other times I’m convinced he’s the worst thing to happen to it since Constantine. Either way, the class is fun if for no other reason than we get into some heated discussions. This, of course, is one of the best ways to learn. If only I could figure out a way to manage a heated discussion in a Hebrew grammar class, I could feel I’ve accomplished something.

So, there you have it. Yes, I’m taking five classes my final semester. Yes, it’s possible I’m crazy. But what more can one do? There is so much to learn, and only a very short amount of time in which to learn it.

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.

With the Fall semester just around the corner, it’s time for my beginning of semester run-down of classes. This semester is going to be a doozy – I have 5 resident classes and 1 SemLink (GCTS’s distance ed), not to mention doctoral apps and ministry at church (including the Hebrew class that I am now teaching).

Advanced Hebrew Grammar with Tom Petter
Calvin and I are really looking forward to this. It’s an independent study, but since we’re both taking it we’ll essentially be doing all the work together – which will include translating and syntactically tagging the entire book of Judges. I’m excited to see how this goes.

Intermediate Greek with Dave Mathewson
I’m kinda neutral towards this class – it’s required for my MABL and I really need it anyways to help further cement my Greek. But, as I’ve mentioned before on multiple occasions, Greek isn’t really my first love. However, I’ve heard that Dr. Mathewson has a different take on the Greek verbal system than we learned in Greek I & II so that should be at least mildly interesting to learn about.

Prophetical Books with Donna Petter
This is the first class I will have taken with the other Petter at GCTS, so I’m curious to see what her teaching style is like. You may remember that I took Poetical Books with Doug Stuart last semester and had fun typing my Lamentations exegesis paper, which has shown up in various parts over the summer on this blog. This time, I’m hoping to be able to do something in Jeremiah. I may also find out if I can sub in a research paper instead of the exegesis paper – since I’ve already done one at the 700 level.

Exegesis of James with Sean McDonough
I took Exegesis of John, my required Gospel exegesis course this past summer, and now I’m getting the epistle requirement out of the way this fall. I am, of course, neatly avoiding Paul. James is one of my favorite NT books, so I’m sure this class will present some fun tidbits for thought (even if it is more GREEK).

Middle Egyptian I with Alejandro Botta
We are taking advantage of the BTI again this year, and will be taking this class at Boston University. From what I understand, it’s a joint offering from the School of Theology and the Archaeology Department. We already have our textbooks for this one (just came in today!) and I’m pretty psyched. It’s going to be a lot of work, but worth it, I think.

Contemporary Theology and Theologians
This is the SemLink that I have had all summer to work on but have barely touched. Unfortunately, between two summer classes and visiting family for the past 3 weeks, I haven’t had a whole lot of spare time. That means this is essentially a sixth class I have to do this semester, which will make my life very hectic, to say the least. Nevertheless, I am and have been looking forward to some of the reading.

As promised, I am going to begin pulling sections out of the exegesis paper that I wrote for Dr. Stuart (Old Testament Poets) this past Spring semester, and posting them here. Since this was a Hebrew exegesis paper, the Hebrew text remains important throughout. What follows is my re-constructed text and my own translation of this passage. I will post text-critical and translation notes in further posts (otherwise this could get quite long).

18
צעק לבם אל אדני חומת בת ציון
הורידי כנחל דמעה יומם ולילה
אל תתני פוגת לך אל תדם בת עינך
19
קומי רני בלילה לראש אשמרות
שפכי כמים לבך נכח פני אדני
שאי אליו כפיך על נפש עולליך
20
ראה יהוה והביטה למי עללת כה
אם תאכלנה נשים פרים עללי טפחים
אם יהרג במקדש אדני כהן ונביא
21
שכבו לארץ חוצות נער וזקן
בתולתי ובחורי נפלו בחרב
הרגת ביום אפך טבחת לא חמלת
22
תקרא כיום מועד מגורי מסביב
ולא היה ביום אף יהוה פליט ושריד
אשר טפחתי ורביתי איבי כלם

18
Their heart cries out to Adonai.
O wall of Daughter Zion!
Bring down tears like a torrent
day and night
Do not allow yourself rest
Let not the pupil of your eye be still
19
Arise, cry aloud in the night
at the beginning of every watch
Pour out your heart like water
before the face of Adonai
Lift to him your palms
for the sake of the life of your children
20
“Look, O Yahweh, and see!
To whom have you inflicted in this way?
Should women eat their fruit
the children for whom they cared?
Should they be slain in the sanctuary of Adonai
the priest and the prophet?
21
On the ground, in the streets, they lay down
the youth and the elder
My young women and my young men
fell by the sword
You slew in the day of your anger
You slaughtered mercilessly
22
You summoned like a feast day
my terrors from all around
And there was not, in the day of the anger of Yahweh,
an escapee or a survivor
Those whom I cared for and reared
my enemy destroyed them”

Jay, over at mu-pàd-da, has some interesting thoughts on language work within academic sub-disciplines. I found his thoughts worthwhile, and I’d encourage others to visit his blog and comment.

I have noticed something related to Jay’s thoughts in regards to studying the Hebrew Bible. Most students who set out to study the Hebrew Bible will also study another major area in their PhD work. Most of those students will opt for Akkadian, whereas a relatively small number will opt for either Egyptian or intensive work in Northwest Semitic dialects. I’ve also found this fascinating for several reasons. First, when I was an undergrad student, I naively believed that becoming an Old Testament scholar required a sound knowledge of Hebrew and Biblical Aramaic. Greek–I believed–was for those who studied the Jesus Festschrift (HT: Jim Getz). Now, of course, I know better. In fact, by the time I graduate from GCTS I’ll have at least some proficiency in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Ugaritic, Moabite (if you consider this to be separate from Hebrew), Middle Egyptian and Akkadian (if knowing some basic grammar and vocabulary counts as “proficiency”).

This actually brings me to the second reason that I find Jay’s thoughts so fascinating: those of us who work with ancient documents, specifically those from the ancient near east, learn a very large number of languages. I find this to be a helpful and fun pursuit, though I doubt everyone feels that way. I’m not sure what a PhD program in Classics looks like, but I would assume that it does not expect the same number of ancient languages to be mastered.¹ I’m not making a judgment on whether this is good or bad, simply observing that I find it interesting.

Calvin already posted his end of semester summary, so I figured I’d copy him and give some thoughts on my classes.

Epigraphic Hebrew – This independent study with Tom Petter was great fun (especially since Calvin and I were able to work on it together). It also connected to History of Israelite Religions a little bit, since I did my paper for that class on the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscriptions, which we translated for this class. I always enjoy it when my classes seem to fit together well, as it cements what I’m learning.

History of Israelite Religions – Calvin has sort of already beat me to the punch since we took three classes together this semester. However, I too enjoyed this class at Boston University. My paper on Asherah in the Kuntillet ‘Ajrud inscriptions was nothing new, but I learned a ton and enjoyed researching it. I think I have now read or skimmed almost all of the major scholars (with works in English) who discuss this issue, which makes me feel good.

Greek II – What else is there to say, other than this was the second half of Greek? As I’ve mentioned before, Greekand I are not good friends, but we force ourselves to get along out of necessity. And it’s a good thing, because between Interpreting the New Testament, two NT exegesis courses, and Intermediate Greek, all classes I need to take within the next year, Greek and I are going to be seeing a lot of each other.

Old Testament Poetical Books – Calvin gave a good summary of the class itself, but I, of course, had a different paper topic. I chose Lamentations 2:18-22, and only wish I could have had more time to go even deeper than I did. My paper was just a little under 50 pages, and that was only scratching the surface. Lamentations is my new favorite book of the Bible, and I’m looking forward to doing more work with it in the future. Don’t be surprised if you see posts on Lam. 2:18-22, or Lamentations in general, showing up frequently this summer.

Thus ends two years here at GCTS. I have one more to go, and can’t believe how fast it’s gone!

Last Monday I turned in my final essay for this semester. For the past week I have relaxed by playing video games (a pastime that is notably, and sadly, absent from my life during the semester), reading fiction (David Coe is my newest find), and otherwise taking things easy. Normally at the beginning, middle and end of a semester I talk about what classes I am taking/took and share some of my thoughts on them. Here is my mid-semester summary for Spring 2009. Generally my thoughts at the semester mid-point have carried through to the end of the semester. My specific thoughts follow.

Epigraphic Hebrew – Wow. That’s all I can say about this course (an apparent lie, since I go on to type a paragraph about the course). Tom Petter was great to work with. Having an introduction to inscriptional Hebrew under my belt is great. To top it off, the class was fun as well. The class mostly consisted of translating various inscriptions (including the Mesha Stele). Dr. Petter also expected that Mandy and I would spend some time doing additional research on the various inscriptions. This added to the workload, but payed off by giving a much fuller picture of the current scholarship on various inscriptions (e.g. Kuntillet Ajrud). This was my favorite class over the past semester.

History of Israelite Religions – Much of what I said at the mid-point still holds true for this course. I learned quite a bit, it was fun, and taking a class at Boston University was a different experience. To some extent all this class did was show me how broad, diverse, and multifaceted the study of Israelite Religions really is. This is a good thing, though I might have preferred a more chronologically oriented introduction to Israelite Religions, I also realize that such an approach has its own difficulties. We basically worked our way through Ziony Zevit’s The Religions of Ancient Israel, and then spent some time with Jon Berquist’s Judaism in Persia’s Shadow. The course was a seminar, so each class session included a presentation or two by students. Normally I’m a huge fan of this type of learning. In this case I might have preferred a little more lecture from the professor. Either way, this class was fun, I learned a great deal, and I started to develop a relationship with Dr. Botta which has opened the possibility of taking Middle Egyptian next year (more on that in a subsequent post).

Old Testament Poetical Books – This is the standard GCTS intro to the poetic corpus (for those not in the know: Psalms, Proverbs, Qohelet, Job, Lamentations and Song of Songs). Since Job is one of my research interests, and a book that I find absolutely fascinating, the course was fun. My final paper, an exegetical study of Job 5.2-7, ended up just shy of 50 pages–so I certainly had the chance to engage with the material. To some extent I feel bad for Dr. Stuart, who has a whole class’ worth of papers to grade. As I said at the mid-semester mark, I would have preferred the class to be a little more demanding, but even so the translation we did was helpful when combined with the classroom discussions of Hebrew grammar. I would have preferred more of such discussions, but I’ll take what I can get.

Targumic Aramaic – This class was my least favorite of the semester. This isn’t to say the course was horrible, but one of my classes has to be my “least favorite.” The class is exactly what the title suggests: Targumic Aramaic. After working my way through a grammar, I translated around 15 chapters of Aramaic. I think I have a fairly decent handle on Targumic Aramaic after this course, though my vocab needs expansion.

In the process of writing an exegesis paper on Lamentations 2:18-22 this past semester, I came across an intriguing book: Daughter Zion Talks Back the Prophets: A Dialogic Theology of the Book of Lamentations, by Carleen R. Mandolfo.

I did not have the chance to read the book thoroughly in the course of writing my paper, but what I did read interested me enough that after turning in my paper, I returned the library’s copy and ordered my own, which just arrived. I hope to be able to read completely and review the book sometime this summer.

I also hope to be able to devote a little more time to blogging in general, now that summer is here. I will be taking 3 classes throughout the course of the summer: Interpreting the New Testament, Gospel of John, and Contemporary Theology and Theologians. None of these are my area of study (darn degree requirements), but I expect I’ll find them at least mildly entertaining. Maybe I’ll at least get some blogging fodder out of them!

As many already know, I am in my second semester of Biblical Greek here at GCTS. Calvin has a jump start on me in this language, having already taken Greek I and II (twice, in fact!), Intermediate Greek, and the required “Interpreting the NT” class.

So far, I have been doing very well in the class. On good days I like Greek; on bad I despise it. Most of the time, I’m ambivalent. Ultimately, Hebrew is my first love, and Greek is a rather poor substitute. Nevertheless, though I balked at having to take Greek initially, I’ve found it’s not as bad as I had believed, and Greek and I have developed a uneasy camaraderie of necessity, if not love.

That being said, I’m about to actually take the Greek I’ve learned and for the first time use it in my study of the Hebrew Bible. That’s right, I’m going to attempt to translate the passage I’ve chosen for my exegesis paper this semester (Lam. 2:18-22) from the LXX, and then retrovert it (this should be…interesting) back into Hebrew.

I just thought this momentous occasion of actually using what I’ve been learning for the first time required special note.

It is the time of the semester when I normally give an update about how classes are going. So, here goes:

Epigraphic Hebrew – I’m still a little amazed that I even have the opportunity to take such a class at a seminary. I’m really enjoying it. So far we’ve translated the Mesha Inscription (technically Moabite, I suppose, but hardly that different from Hebrew), several of the Arad letters, the Gezer Calendar, and a couple of the inscriptions from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud! It has been an absolute blast. My only compliant is that we’re reading the inscriptions in transliteration. My preference would be to have a decent paleo-Hebrew font that was used, and I can’t really see an excuse for not having such a thing given the prevalence of Unicode today, but I digress.

Targumic Aramaic – This is going well. I’m far slower in translating than I would like, but I’m improving with time. Partially the issue at this point is forcing myself to knuckle down and do the work. I’m not enjoying this class nearly as much as Epigraphic Hebrew, but its still good, and I’m learning quite a bit.

Old Testament Poetical Books – This is the standard exegesis course in the poetry of the Hebrew Bible here at GCTS. On the one hand it’s always good to translate some more and talk about various issues of Hebrew Grammar. I’m enjoying that aspect of the class, even though I might prefer to translate more Hebrew each week.

History of Israelite Religion – This is a Boston University class, and I’ve learned quite a bit so far. We actually listened to a visiting lecturer present some fascinating research on “Divinized Demons and Demonized Devinities” in Ancient Egypt. My paper for the course is on the place of Job in Israelite Religion. It’s coming along nicely, after a bit of a bumpy start. So, overall this has been enlightening.