Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <cctr114 AT its.canterbury.ac.nz>]

Professor Lemche asks:-

>Just one question for a strater. Why are we the persons you address and not
>the person who have been so outspoken in favour of a rearrangement of
>chronology--biblical and ANE--with such important consequences, yet almost
>without the slightest hint of evidence in support? And what about Hebrew?
>Several of the contributors have mentioned that they do not read Hebrew. And
>if it is a Biblical Hebrew list exclusively, why an open list and not a list
>limited to the professionals in this business, i.e. the Hebrew Bible? 

As one of the foundational members of this list and one who's opinion
was canvased to see whether such a list was worthwhile I will venture to
answer some of your questions.

The list was founded by Christian believers who wanted a forum to
discuss the Bible in the original languages. The sister list, b-greek,
was founded at the same time by the same people for the same reasons.
It was considered by us that the Aramaic portions were sufficiently
small that they would be discussed on the b-hebrew list, a seperate
list for aramaic was not considered a necessity. We chartered the list
in such a way as to encourage all who were interested in biblical
hebrew to join. In particular this meant we wanted the list to be
open to members of the Jewish faith. It was never our intention to
have a closed list. It was not, and still is not, and I hope never will
be, a list exclusively for professionals such as yourself. I welcome
your presence and contributions, but please don't try to make the list a
home for professionals only.


>I have nothing against discussing Hebrew as a language in a professional
>way. I do it every day at the university. But if you overlook the postings
>from the last few months, you will see that it is really the historical
>questions that interest people. And I think that I am excused for not
>leaving the battle ground to evangelical people who know the truth--or so it
>seems. So maybe you should back to your mail and readdress it to the right
>people.

I have written privately to the b-hebrew staff about the historical
discussions and particularly the tone of some of the participants.
In our original discussions we thought historical discussions would 
be relevant (and I beleive are still relevant) where they speak to 
our understanding of the hebrew scriptures. However, it is clear to me
that the discussions of the last few months have little to teach us
about biblical hebrew. 

I share Paul Zellmer's frustration with the volumious historical postings,
a significant portion of which seem to be peripheral to the purposes of
this list. I have no objection to you doing battle with evangelical 
people, but I suggest to you that this list is not the place to wage your
war.

I see no need for Paul to readdress his questions, except that he could
expand it to explicitly include others. "Ian (and NPL, et al.)," is a
little vague, but it is aimed at the right people.

Bill Rea, Information Technology Services, University of Canterbury  \_ 
E-Mail b dot rea at its dot canterbury dot ac dot nz                 </   New 
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