Biblical Hebrew Forum

[a.c.smith AT juno.com (Andrew C Smith)]

Loren -

I grant at least most of what you say, but I ask, why does a scholar
study what he studies? Why do so many choose to make careers of the
Hebrew Tanakh? For the Jew or Christian, the answer is clear. But for
someone who is neither Jewish nor Christian, I'm not sure why they study.

I understand what you mean about not necessarily agreeing: I love to read
Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, and have done so for years, and I disagree
with both of them on most topics. But does this principle transfer to the
study of the Tanakh?

Perhaps if one reads for "aesthetic pleasure" of which I find little in
the Tanakh ... O.K., I guess I find some, but enough to motivate a life's
work?

When I "love to read" but "disagree with" Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, I
do so for intellectual stimulation, because they present argumentation
with which I disagree, and against which I form counter-arguments. But
the Tanakh is a dogmatic document, making blunt assertions about history
and other types of reality; there's little opportunity to present
counter-arguments, because no arguments are presented, merely assertions.

>To me, the point of being a scholar is not necessarily to agree with 
>your subject.  What is important is entertaining the possibility that
your
>subject could be right and have something to teach you.  That's what I 
>mean by "reading sympathetically": reading with the aim of discovering
some
>truth.  I don't have to be Hindu to come to the Upanishads with this
>expectation, nor do I have to be Jewish (let alone Christian!) to read 
>the OT with this expectation.  I, a white man, can read _The Color
Purple_ 
>with great benefit.  And I can't read Thoreau or Emerson without some
new
>revelation dawning on me.  As a Christian I believe that truth 
>everywhere is God's truth, and that God's truth may be found in some
very 
>surprising places.  Thank God!

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