Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Fred,

Your example involves a single text: Homer’s Odyssey. The exercise you 
described would simply be a study of characterisation. If we are talking 
about how the book of Isaiah characterises Yahweh, then fine, no problem. But 
the examples you gave range across a number of biblical texts. Yes, these 
texts are all part of an accepted canon, and I can see why you would choose 
to work within the entire canon as a parameter. However, you seemed to be 
using this as a platform to make a theological statement—again, 
understandably so, but still different to a literary study of a character 
within a biblical text (which is how you portrayed the study of Odysseus in 
The Odyssey). I hope you can see the difference between your example and what 
your early post said.

I’m all for using the Bible to make absolute statements on theology. Just not 
on B-Hebrew.

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au