Graduate School

After considering an offer to go straight into a PhD program at Claremont Graduate University, my wife and I have decided to accept an invitation to read for the Master of Studies in Jewish Studies at the University of Oxford. We're excited to spend some time in the UK. I'm presenting a paper in the Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible session at SBL this November, so I'll have to turn around and fly back for a week within two months of arriving. Despite all the flying, I think it will be a great experience for my family and me.

No Jobs?

Throughout my undergraduate years the professors in and around my emphasis made sure to warn everyone that in our field, there were no jobs. If we weren't willing to go teach high school somewhere because we couldn't get hired we shouldn't be in the major. I was always a little skeptical, mainly because everyone who was telling me this had a job. In the last three days two job postings have been made public for Hebrew Bible positions on PaleoJudaica.com, here and here. One of them has a pretty small salary, but it's a foot in the door. It seems to me there are still jobs out there.

biblecriticism.com

The youngest ever PhD from Hebrew University has launched a new website that seeks to trace, among other things, the sources of the Hebrew Bible. The author provides Word documents that color code the texts of the Bible, up to 2 Sam 5, according to the Deuteronomistic sources. I'm a little wary of that degree of specificity, but judge for yourself. The website is here.

Studia Antiqua - Call for Papers

Studia Antiqua, BYU's student journal for the study of the ancient world, is happy to announce an extended deadline for the spring 2009 call for papers. The extension will move the deadline to Monday, February 2.

Studia Antiqua invites submissions from students and professionals in and outside of Brigham Young University that treat a topic related to any pre-Islamic culture. While the majority of our papers are related to the ancient Near East, we encourage submissions discussing any of the world's ancient cultures. Book reviews are also welcome. Submissions should be sent to studia_antiqua@yahoo.com.

For more information about the journal, and for access to back issues and submission guidelines, please visit studiaantiqua.byu.edu or the Students of the Ancient Near East website.

What's in Your Canon?

Bible Study Magazine has an interesting chart showing the canons of the different biblical traditions:

Binyan Trouble in Psalms 2:6

The Hebrew of Psalms 2:6 is as follows:

וַאֲנִי נָסַ֣כְתִּי מַלְכִּ֑י עַל־צִיֹּון הַר־קָדְשִׁי

‎The verb נָסַכְתִּי appears to be the root נסך in the Qal binyan, which leaves rather slim pickings regarding translation. According to HALOT, the Qal means "to pour out." Pouring out to cast a statue is connoted in Isaiah 40:19. Is the psalmist here referencing the production of a statue of God? The KJV translates the verb "set."

Other possibilities have been suggested, though. If the verb is a Niphal, and the vocalization and assimilation of the nun has just been neglected, the verb can be translated "to consecrate," or "anoint." Another meaning in the Niphal is applicable, which would render the translation "woven," or "shaped."

We're thus left with the following possibilities for translation. Let me know which you prefer:

But I have consecrated/anointed/cast/formed my King upon Zion, his holy mountain.

‎

Gary Rendsburg's The Redaction of Genesis

An out of print book written in 1986 by a scholar of the Hebrew Bible whom I hold in high regard, Gary Rendsburg, is available online in PDF format here. It provides a form critical look at the presentation of Genesis, particularly focusing on chiastic arrangements of the material and what is revealed, as a result, about the composition and redaction of the book. Certainly worth a read.