Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Kevin Riley" <klriley AT alphalink.com.au>]

That most cultures have had an earlier end to childhood than we have in the
West today is a simple fact.  That the age at which childhood ends decreases
as one moves back in time is a fantasy.  How early do we go as we move back
in time?  If it was 13 for Jewish boys in second temple times was it 10 in
first temple times, 8 for the patriarchs, etc?.  Until recently (more
recently than most imagine) adolescence was seen as the end of childhood and
that was taken to be somewhere in the 10-14 age range.  My great-grandfather
legally married a 13 year old girl, who was considered by her peers as well
as the law to be a woman.  If you check on the age of consent in European
countries (which in the past meant 'consent to marriage'), for most of the
past 2000 years it has been set at 10-12 for girls and 12-14 for boys. 
While marriage is a common marker of the move from childhood to adulthood,
the fact that most European languages (and many outside Europe) have words
like 'youth', 'lad', 'lass', etc also indicates that one did not move
straight from childhood to full adulthood.  Jim is confusing ending
childhood with becoming a full adult.  N(R seems an appropriate word for one
in that state of not being a child but not being a full adult either.

Kevin Riley
 
-------Original Message------- 
 
From: James Read 
Date: 17/07/2009 12:17:34 AM 
To: JimStinehart AT aol.com 

Hi, 
 
Quoting JimStinehart AT aol.com: 
 
> 
> James Christian: 
> 
> The farther one goes back in history, the earlier the age at which a boy 
> became a man. 
 
 
Really? I'm not going to bother asking you to substantiate this 
Statement. I know you will only ignore my request and just keep 
Repeating the same stuff over and over again. 
 
FYI, Jim I think that the list members are intelligent enough to read 
Your posts once and understand your theory. I make one final request. 
Either substantiate your bold statements which you present as fact or 
Acknowledge that they are just a part of your theory. 
 
James Christian