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Calvin’s Reading List

Friday, September 17th, 2010

I mentioned yesterday that I intended to read a good amount while I’m out of classes. I won’t mention the books I’ve read over the summer, but here are the books I plan to read over the coming month or two. Some may find their way onto the Floppy Hat as reviews or reflections. Others may not.

Poetics and Interpretation of Biblical Narrative by Adele Berlin – I’ve been doing a series of chapter reviews on this book. This is here primarily to show that I haven’t forgotten about those reflections. We will finish the book. It really has been quite informative.

At the Scent of Water: The Ground of Hope in the Book of Job by Gerald Janzen – I’ve wanted to read this book since it was published last year. As anyone who knows me or frequents this blog will know, the Book of Job is absolutely fascinating to me. I look forward to reading Janzen’s thoughts. According to the introduction, this book is laid out in a more thematic way than a commentary. Essentially, I think Janzen is striving to answer the “why” of the book, without directly addressing all the other questions. Of course, he’s already written a commentary on Job so he’s already wrestled with many of the questions.

Word-Order Variation in Biblical Hebrew Poetry: Differentiating Pragmatics and Poetics by Nicholas P. Lunn – Perhaps as part of my fascination with Job, I’m also fascinated with Biblical Hebrew Poetry. I especially find the relationship between grammar and structure in poetry an interesting area. I was first made aware of this book by a professor several years ago, and was reminded of it last year by Robert Holmstedt’s mixed review [link goes to PDF] in JSS. I think this book will be extremely interesting to read. I’d also be very interested in suggestions for other books dealing with Biblical Hebrew poetry, word order, structure, poetics, etc.

Dust, Wind and Agony: Character, Speech and Genre in Job by Michael Cheney – Returning to my interest in the Book of Job, I picked up this study when it was an Eisenbrauns Deal of the Day. The problem, of course, is that Eisenbrauns often has so many amazing deals that I get a backlog of books. Either way, I’m planning on finally sitting down to read this book sometime relatively soon.

Posted in Hebrew Bible, Posts by Calvin, Wisdom Literature | 7 Responses »

A Strange Time of Year

Thursday, September 16th, 2010

It is odd to be past the Labor Day weekend and not have just started classes. Yet here I am, with no classes on the horizon. Normally I would subject all of you to a post about which particular classes I was taking this semester and what I expected from them. I obviously cannot do so.

However, there are plenty of other things that I can do which both help me learn as well as help me to prepare for the day when I do find myself in a program on my way to a Floppy Hat(tm)! So, since I can’t share reflections on upcoming classes, I will resort to regaling you with ramblings regarding my relatively short-term plans.

Write – I hope to submit an article for publication before the year is out. I also plan to submit a paper to the Mid Atlantic Regional Meeting. I have a couple ideas regarding paper topics, and I might flesh some of those out here at the Floppy Hat and get some feedback as to which topic you all think would be the most worthy to pursue for next March. As for publishing an article; I already have a rough draft of the piece together. In fact, after I hunt down some additional sources and polish it, I would feel comfortable enough to submit it to a journal. Whether or not it gets published is another issue in entirely.

Learn German – I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to make this a reality, but it is basically a requirement. Had I had the opportunity, I would have corrected this gaping hole in my application during my MA program, but no one–and no program–is perfect. So, I plan to learn German this year.

Avoid forgetting Hebrew, Greek, et al. – I spent years learning Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Ugaritic, Middle Egyptian, etc. Now that I’m not actively in classes I’ve begun to worry about how I can keep each of these ancient languages in my head. Hebrew isn’t too hard, as I know it very well and commonly read the Hebrew Bible. Greek is similar, though I’ll need to force myself to read portions of the Jesus Festschrift. Aramaic will require more work, but perhaps I can read some of the targums? Ugaritic is basically the same, though I guess I could try my hand at the KRT epic. However, you now begin to see my dilemma. With X number of languages and X number of hours each evening (I work a day job) how in the world am I supposed to keep each of the languages I’ve learned from succumbing to atrophy? I begin to despair.

Read – How else does one learn? Really, is there anything more to say? I’ll give an update at some point as to my reading list for the upcoming months.

Blog – One way that I have been able to process information in the past is by blogging about it. This gives me an outlet for what I’m learning that I would normally achieve via writing papers, asking questions in class, giving presentations, etc, etc, etc. I think you can safely expect more activity here at the Floppy Hat in the coming months.

That about covers it. For those of you beginning classes, good luck! For those teaching classes, good luck! For those engaging in other pursuits, good luck!

Posted in Greek, Hebrew, Hebrew Bible, Posts by Calvin, The Floppy Hat | 4 Responses »

Back

Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

The past week and a half has been slim on updates. We’ve had company and been busy with other things. Expect things to pick up once again over the coming days.

Posted in Posts by Calvin | No Responses »

Happy Labor Day

Monday, September 6th, 2010

For those of you in the U.S.A., Happy Labor Day!

Updates will be somewhat slower this week, at least in comparison to the past several. We are enjoying spending time with some friends who are in town. Add to that the busy Labor Day weekend, and time for blogging is a little slim. Fear not, however, as there will still be some posts this week. By next week, expect things to pick up again.

Posted in Posts by Calvin | No Responses »

Genesis 1 and Proverbs 8 – Part 2

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

In a previous post I attempted to briefly contrast Genesis 1 and Proverbs 8 as a way of illustrating the importance of of genre in Biblical interpretation. In this post I continue those thoughts with specific attention to how evangelical Christians–my own particular segment of Christianity, you might say–interpret Proverbs 8 vis-à-vis Genesis 1.

Why do most conservative evangelical Christians not even discuss Proverbs 8 in regards to the “creation wars?” The answer is simple. They instinctively understand that Proverbs 8 is not meant to be taken literally. Proverbs 8 is poetry, and like the rest of the Book of Proverbs it is filled with metaphor, simile, hyperbole and a plethora of other literary devices. We read Proverbs 8 and easily discern that its genre is not historical narrative. Because of this we understand that we cannot expect it to behave as a piece of historical narrative might behave. Yet, when we read Genesis 1 we often jump to the conclusion that it ought to be understood literally. Conservative evangelical Christians often jump to the further conclusion that this literal understanding is a kind of polemic against evolution. Yet neither conclusions are necessarily correct. Why should Genesis 1 be understood as historical narrative? I am, personally, unaware of any convincing argument for why its genre must be historical narrative, and not a whole host of other possibilities.

Where does this leave us? Certainly not hopelessly adrift, as some might suggest. It does reveal that understanding the Bible is not an easy thing all the time. It often takes hard work and study to understand the Bible, as it takes hard work and study to understand any piece of ancient near eastern literature. That shouldn’t dissuade anyone from studying the Bible, it ought to encourage everyone that it is a book worth studying.

It also ought to make it clear that genre is a key link in determining the purpose of a text. As I already mentioned, we instinctively understand that Proverbs 8 is poetry, specifically poetry meant to teach. It falls in the broader section of Proverbs 1-9 which is clearly addressed to young men as a means of starting them on the wise path in life. Proverbs 8 is part of this. In my opinion, Genesis 1 is a (possibly liturgical) polemic that shows how God is fundamentally different from the other gods (there are other ways to understand the genre and purpose of Genesis 1 that do not see it as historical narrative). The use of metaphorical and other non-literal language in either passage in no way takes away from what they are trying to do. Quite the opposite, the metaphorical and non-literal language in both passages adds to what they are trying to accomplish.

In the end, genre is vitally important to determining the meaning of a text. How one understands the genre of a text irrevocably impacts how how understands that text–whether as polemic, temple cosmology, ancient near eastern creation motif, chiastic hymn, or historical narrative. My own hope is that one day evangelical Christians may begin to understand that studying genre–and by extension other ancient near eastern literature which helps to flesh out a genre–is an important part of studying the Bible. In addition, I hope that one day we as Christians will understand that a disagreement over the genre and purpose of a text is normally not cause for throwing someone out of a church.

Posted in Ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Posts by Calvin, Wisdom Literature | 2 Responses »
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Interpreting Scripture from the Center

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

The extremes are something that ought to be avoided, according to Larry Hurtado, (HT: Mike Heiser) and I couldn’t agree more. What Hurtado is essentially saying, I believe, is that one needs to wrestle with the fact that the Bible reflects the culture and times in which it was written vis-a-vis one’s own faith that the Bible is Scripture. The two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I would argue that a robust doctrine of Scripture must expect that those Scriptures are the product of certain cultures and times.

As a brief aside, the fact that Scripture is written in a language means that it is culturally conditioned since all languages are–by nature–culturally conditioned.

Hurtado’s brief post is well worth the few moments it will take to read.

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Genesis 1 and Proverbs 8 – Part 1

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

When an average layperson thinks about creation stories and the Bible, he normally only thinks of a single story–Genesis 1. This is perfectly understandable since anyone who has ever attempted to read the Bible has likely begun with this chapter. It is also, obviously, about creation. When scholars talk about creation and the Bible, however, they often discuss passages beyond Genesis 1. Some may mention certain Psalms, or passages in the prophets. Others might comment on various sections of the Book of Job. Still others talk about Proverbs 8.

Proverbs 8 is a poem in which the speaker, Lady Wisdom, discusses how she was with God when he created the world. Indeed, one even gets the impression that Lady Wisdom assisted God in his creative activity. Below, I include the relevant verses from Proverbs 8. I assume that everyone already knows Genesis 1.

22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
23 Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,
26 before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28 when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
31 rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man. (ESV)

Recently, I’ve discussed genre and it’s importance in understanding the Bible. To illustrate this importance, I thought we might look at Genesis 1 and Proverbs 8. Both of these passages discuss what we might call the creation of the world, but they do so in widely disparate terms.

Genesis 1 is, of course, familiar to us. Proverbs 8, however, may be less so. Here Lady Wisdom explains how she was at the creation of the world. Before the world began God created Lady Wisdom. But she also gives us some hints about how God created the world. In this passage there is no hint of creation via divine fiat (i.e., God does not command things to be, and they are). Rather, God shapes the mountains. When God makes the sky firm (!) Wisdom is with him. Lady Wisdom explains that God set a limit on the sea, and made foundations for the earth.

There are quite obviously difficulties in reconciling a literal reading of this passage with a literal reading of Genesis 1. For instance, why is Lady Wisdom not mentioned in Genesis 1? Why does God shape the mountains here, but in Genesis he simply commands them to be? What is all of this about firm skies? In some ways, if one understands the background that both of these passages are set against (an ancient near eastern understanding of the universe, e.g., a solid/firm sky, the earth sitting on pillars, etc), they actually make some sense side by side. Nevertheless, if we were to accept the plain, literal reading of Proverbs 8 we come away with a rather different view of the creation than we do if we accept a plain, literal reading of Genesis 1.

Posted in Hebrew Bible, Posts by Calvin, Wisdom Literature | 4 Responses »
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The Hebrew Yiqtol

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

The Hebrew Yiqtol is often the topic of scholarly discussion. The past week has seen a couple posts on the topic in the biblioblogosphere, and I wanted to take this opportunity to point any one who is interested and may have missed the discussion so far to the relevant articles. To begin Alexander Andrason had an article published in the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures. You can find it here [PDF warning]. As an aside, I’d like to point out that the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures is one of my favorite journals. It consistently delivers top quality scholarship while maintaining a free and open electronic distribution model. Getting back to recent discussions of the yiqtol verbal form, Randall Buth interacts with Andrason’s article here.

As some readers may know, I am interested in the Hebrew verbal system. That being the case it should come as no surprise that I find Andrason’s article extremely interesting. However, I would like to withhold any substantive comments until I’ve had a chance to process through his points in a more thorough manner.

Posted in Hebrew, Posts by Calvin, Responses, Semitics | 1 Response »

Biologos, Al Mohler and Genre

Monday, August 30th, 2010

You are no doubt aware of the debate that has been going back and forth between Al Mohler and the Biologos foundation. Al Mohler’s latest can be found here. The most recent response from Karl Giberson of the Biologos Foundation can be found here. My purpose here is not to solve the debate because there is no resolution. Both parties are talking past each other. Giberson is a scientist, not a theologian or biblical scholar (though, in fairness, Biologos has several well known biblical scholars who contribute to the conversation there). Mohler is a theologian with a particular understanding of how to read the Bible. I’m not even sure that the debate makes sense. Dr. Mohler is obviously not going to change Giberson’s mind and Biologos is never going to convince Mohler that one ought to consult the ancient near eastern evidence when one reads the Bible.

Ultimately, I think Joseph Kelly is right when he says that this debate is really about worldview. But, I think that we can narrow things down a bit more. Certainly worldview plays a huge part in this debate, but I think that a more specific issue is also at play. I’ve mentioned genre and its importance in biblical interpretation several times recently. This, I’m afraid, is another example. Mohler understands Genesis 1 as an historical narrative. I’m not certain why he sees it as such. I had a discussion with someone who agrees with Mohler recently, and his reasoning for Genesis 1 being understood as historical narrative is that such an understanding was “the plain meaning” of the text. This kind of thinking has obvious problems (e.g., “the plain meaning of the text” presupposes an understanding of genre, thereby determining how the plain meaning is arrived at. Plain meaning in poetry is quite different from plain meaning in a royal annul, which is quite different from plain meaning in a law code, etc, etc). I would assume that Mohler has more robust reasons, but I am not aware of them.

So, Mohler understands Genesis 1 as some kind of historical narrative, because of this he believes that Genesis 1 is supposed to convey a more or less literal “this is the way it happened,” view of creation. But Bible scholars, some of them quite conservative, have proposed a wide variety of ways to understand Genesis 1. For instance, some think it is a liturgical hymn. Others think that it is a functional chiasm, the first several days creating abstract things and the later days creating the concrete containers (cf., Kline, Kingdom Prologue). Still others see Genesis 1 as speaking of the world not in literal terms, but in temple imagery (e.g., John Walton). I say all of this to say that I believe that Mohler, in making his understanding of Genesis 1 a requirement for being a Christian, has in fact made his understanding of the genre of Genesis 1 a requirement for being a Christian. As far as I am aware, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy is entirely compatible with any of the views I mention above. That makes Mohler a conservative among conservatives.

It is probably obvious that I find some very large flaws in Mohler’s interpretation of the Bible. I think he has failed to take into account a plethora of cognate literature. Most disappointingly, I have not–as of yet–seen him discuss the ancient near eastern literature that has a bearing on Genesis 1. Even more disappointingly, I have not seen him discuss his own understanding of why Genesis 1′s genre ought to be understood as a literal narrative explaining creation in detail as opposed to a polemic against other nations’ understanding of creation, or as opposed to temple imagery, or as opposed to any other number of options.

I’ll be dealing with Genesis 1 and genre again in the next few days, this time with reference to Proverbs 8. Stay tuned.

Posted in Hebrew Bible, Posts by Calvin, Theology | 6 Responses »
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On Maps and Genre

Saturday, August 28th, 2010

Charles Halton has a nice little post up about Mappae Mundi and biblical genres. I’ve been doing a little bit of thinking about genre recently, and Charles’ post really resonated with some of my own thoughts. Somewhat ironically, when I looked at his first map image my initial thought was, “Well, that’s not very accurate.” This caused me to reflect a bit on what I see as one of the major problems when it comes to genre and the Bible; namely that readers of the Bible–especially conservative evangelicals with whom I have the most experience–are taught to expect certain things from the Bible.

Let me give an example. A conservative evangelical Christian might read any number of prophecies in the Hebrew Bible and automatically apply that prophecy to Jesus Christ, because she has been predisposed to do so. Whether formally or not, she has been taught to read biblical prophecy in a certain way. Similar things take place when a reader fails to understand when metaphor is being used and when it is not. Conservative evangelicals are regularly taught that the Bible is a history book. As a result, they expect it to conform to the norms of modern history books–much like I automatically expected Charles’ map image to conform to my modern idea of what a map is for.

One could look at this from another direction. I have often heard pastors declare that the Bible is God’s love letter to each individual in a congregation. Pastors often mean well when they say this, but I think that it again leads to a misunderstanding of exactly what the Bible is. This in turn leads to a misreading of the text because the reader expects one thing but encounters something that is, in actuality, something quite different. This is, of course, at the heart of the evangelical debates about inerrancy, creationism, etc. Charles points out that looking at cognate texts can help us understand the Bible. He’s absolutely right. Looking at other ancient near eastern texts helps the modern reader to approach the Bible in the proper light so that when it does not conform to a modern ideal of a love letter, or history book, or whatever else, we are able to understand why and interpret it properly.

As it turns out, the map that Charles displayed wasn’t inaccurate at all. My expectations of it were what was inaccurate.

Posted in Hebrew Bible, Posts by Calvin, Responses | 1 Response »
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