Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Brak,

> The reason I joined this list was to engage in scholarly conversations 
> about textual analysis, not get into theological discussions.
>  
>
> But I return to my initial line of thought. Is this area of discussion 
> proper for this forum?
> I was under the impression that the forum was to discuss variants 
> between manuscripts, q/k issues, parsing of words and translation.
> This thread to me has been basically about doctrine, dogma, creed, and 
> faith.
>
> So am I incorrect and this forum is open to theological debating, or is 
> it as I originally thought - an area for textual analysis and research.
>
>  
HH: Here is some relevant material from the web site:
http://www.ibiblio.org/bhebrew/

B-Hebrew is an e-mail conference of academic professionals, teachers, 
students, clergy and laity, people of any faith, devoted to a better 
understanding of the Hebrew Bible. As such we often discuss a variety of 
topics related to the Biblical languages, the history of the text and 
its study, the culture of the Ancient Near East, the literary analysis 
of the Hebrew Bible, and more.

B-Hebrew seeks to foster valuable, interesting exchange among people 
whose views, backgrounds, and cultures vary widely. We encourage 
participants to be at least as willing to listen as they are to speak. 
In our experience, certain rules have been valuable for promoting the 
kind of exchange we desire.

Although the B-Hebrew forum is willing to entertain a wide range of 
discussion topics related to Hebrew and the Hebrew Bible, the staff will 
not tolerate personal attack or disrespect.

Please honor the following guidelines in all your contributions:
• Debate that forces particular faith or doctrinal perspectives onto a 
reading of the text is not appropriate subject matter for this forum.
• Proselytizing ("seeking to convert someone to a certain religious 
faith") is also not appropriate. Naturally, each of us will share our 
own understanding from our own perspective, but this should not be done 
with the goal of changing other participants.
• Knowledge of Hebrew is assumed, but belittling someone for their lack 
of skill or ridiculing someone for making a mistake--even a basic 
one--is unacceptable.
• All list members should be allowed the dignity of being different.
• Discuss passionately, but keep control of your own emotions. Support 
your counterpoints with evidence, and remember to focus on people's 
ideas and not the people themselves.
• Consider the possibility of responding directly to a person, rather 
than to the entire list, if the content might not be of interest to 
everyone.
• Each of your posts should be signed by name, so members know from whom 
they are hearing and to whom they might respond

HH: I see nothing here that would prevent any of us from saying any of 
the things we have said. Rather, I think this material encourages us to 
say the kinds of things we have said.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard