Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bryant J. Williams III" <bjwvmw AT com-pair.net>]

Dear Yitzhak,

Thank you for your response. All I was intending to do was to give an alert
that list regulations were being seriously violated and that if it
continued, then maybe it was time to step back, relax and then, and only
then, should attempts be made to continue (I am NOT a moderator).

Is there truly a doctoral dissertation that is "new" and "original" and
advances the field of understanding in Hebrew? Greek? Archaeology?
Linguistics? Furthermore, what about the assumptions?

I know that when one is preparing to present a doctoral dissertation, one
must do so that presents "original" and "new" in that particular field. Now,
since there is "nothing new under the sun," it would appear to me that what
is happening is that more and more doctoral dissertations are going off the
"deep end" to "earn" the doctorate. I am also becoming increasingly alarmed
at the number of doctoral students who so specialize that they "forget the
forest through the trees." I do understand that specialization is necessary
to help proceed when things get rough, but I think that when it becomes the
center of discussion and leaves the hoi polloi in the dark, or confused,
then I really wonder whether or not the "scholar" is really doing his job.
Specialization is great, but the person in the church, synagogue, et cetera,
needs to be taken into account so that confusion does not reign.

When it comes to the date of the Exodus, United Monarchal period, or any
other historical event/name, it should be remembered that we do not have the
whole picture. If I remember correctly, there are some 2100 archaeological
sites in the ANE, but only about 500 have been excavated. Of those that have
been excavated, only a small number have had final field reports published
for all to read and digest (this is especially true of the Dead Sea
Scrolls!!!).

What are your thoughts?

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 31, 2007 3:06 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] how scholars debate controversial issues


> On 3/31/07, Bryant J. Williams III wrote:
>
> > Gentleman,
> >
> > I think this topic has digressed beyond the list parameters. The
moderators
> > will correct me if I am wrong. At this point, PLEASE just agree to
disagree.
>
> Dear Bryant,
>
> I would not like this discussion to end simply because Karl has apparently
> chosen to blatantly violate the few list regulations that are enforced by
the
> moderators.  I don't even have time at the moment to respond because I'm
> busy, but I really don't want the entire thread closed.  I did want to
respond
> to substantive matters on this issue and I do wish that this would be a
> place where scholars and laymen can discuss theories of the history of the
> text and literary analysis free of constant "proclamations of faith" in
the
> inerrancy of the Bible, to which some list members may subscribe but which
> are always side points to the main discussion that comes up.
>
> Yitzhak Sapir
> _______________________________________________
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> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>
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