Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Kenneth:

On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 10:21 AM, kenneth greifer <greifer AT hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> Karl,
>
> Although I don't agree with any of Jim Stinehart's ideas, I also disagree
> with what you said. He doesn't have to know Hebrew to study Biblical Hebrew.


Every student of Hebrew has to start somewhere, and that start is not
knowing Biblical Hebrew at all.


> Even the most educated scholars look up words in Hebrew dictionaries.


I wrote a dictionary, yet I regularly use it. So I know what you mean here.


> He is probably wrong about many of his wild ideas, but at least he has
> ideas. Some people have lots of knowledge and no ideas.
>
> Here I come to the defense of those who know a lot. Not everyone is an
original thinker. Then there are other people like me who are constantly
asking questions, like “Why?”

Those who know a lot without being original thinkers often excel in other
aspects of studies, so still can make a positive contribution. There are
some of those on this list. Don’t knock them.

>
>
> Kenneth Greifer
>
> What I have against people like Jim Stinehart is that he is not a student
of the language. He has an ax to grind. Don’t confuse him with the facts,
his mind is already made up. He is not here to learn, but to troll (pun
intended) in this pond for converts to his theories.

I, on the other hand, have found this list to be a mind expander. This was
even after becoming somewhat of an expert. It has forced me to face concepts
that I hadn’t considered since college, and some of them that I thought were
correct have turned out to be wrong. Word definitions I put in my dictionary
have at times had to be expanded, clarified, revised or sometimes completely
changed. It has also caused me to expand the questions I ask, to the chagrin
of some of the traditionalists on this list. I learn even from those with
whom I disagree, even if only clarifying why I disagree.

It’s the attitude—are you here to share and learn? Or to preach?

Karl W. Randolph.