Abnormal Interests

February 8, 2010

Bloody Interesting

I’m putting the finishing touches on the methodological note / discussion starter I’ll be presenting at the upcoming Neo-Assyrian Insights on Ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible section of Western Regional Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Tempe. It’s a lot harder to give a 10 minute talk than a 20 minute talk. My remarks will be based, in part, on a wild, crazy, idea I had a few months ago. At that time, I speculated that Akkadian medical-divination rituals like the one recorded in BAM 323:1-38 might inform our understanding of Leviticus 17:13, the requirement to drain and cover with dust the blood of hunted animals. BAM 323:2-3 reads in translation,

Dust of an abandoned city (epir âli nadî), dust of an abandoned house, dust of an abandoned temple, dust of an abandoned tomb, dust of foundations(?), dust of an abandoned canal, dust of a road; you gather (them) together; mix (them) with bull's blood (dām alpi) (and) make a figure of the evil thing.

In the ritual, after making the figure, the practitioner first transfers a ghost from the patient to the figure and then gives the figure, along with the ghost, a decent burial or at least an out of the way one.

The methodological issue involves how to evaluate or even define markers that would support a suggested relationship between the Biblical law and the tradition of divination (if not between the two texts themselves). The fact is, I’m not sure that one can. And I will tell my audience in Tempe that even if this relationship has an intuitive appeal, this, and many other seeming parallels, is methodologically unsupportable. I will say this despite also showing that many such parallels very likely exist.

Part of my final preparation includes looking at commentaries on Leviticus. For unimportant reasons, I have an abnormally large collection of mostly older Leviticus commentaries in my personal library. One I don’t have is Jacob Milgrom’s Anchor Bible commentary. Figuring that I might well embarrass myself if I didn’t review Milgrom’s work, I spend this morning looking at it and a few other commentaries and papers at a library that has even more Leviticus commentaries than I do. And am I ever glad that I did.

Milgrom lists seven possible motivations for Leviticus 17:13. His seventh is, “So that the blood will not be used in chthonic rites - that is, for divination.” And this is his preferred motivation.

Whereas earlier I opted for explanation no. 5 [so the blood does not cry out for vengeance - des], I now prefer no. 7. It complements the band on animal slaughter outside the sanctuary, which, in my view, is also directed against chthonic worship. I also like no. 4, blood as life, the very one offered by the text. These two (nos. 4 and 7) are not mutually exclusive: the ban on using blood in chthonic worship (no. 7) implies that, instead, the blood should be returned to God. [1483, references omits]

Hmmm. While I like Milgrom’s thought process, I’m not changing my conclusion. But I am sure glad that I read what he had to say.

Reference:

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Posted by Duane on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 12:58 PM (UTC-08:00)
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February 7, 2010

Exploring Boundaries

Last night Shirley and I attended the 18th annual Ussachevsky Festival Concert at Pomona College. For us it was only our 2nd annual Ussachevsky Festival Concert. Dedicated to electronic music, this event has a decidedly experimental character. “Electronic music” covers a multitude of sins from completely electronically generated music to live performance with some form of electronic accompaniment or effect.

Last night three pieces featured live performances accompanied by prerecorded material from the same instrument: cello with cello accompaniment, toy piano with toy piano accompaniment, shakuhachi with shakuhachi accompaniment. For those who might not know, I didn’t, a shakuhachi is a Japanese bamboo flute. There were two video presentations. For me, the most satisfying of the two was Maurice Wright’s, "GENUS" (2003). Here’s part of the description from the program, “The opening sounds are difference tones produced from several hundred sine waves in the 4000-Hertz range. Similar sounds are introduced at 2 Hz, 4 Hz, etc., and octave doubling repeats until a cluster of partials randomly detuned once again is concentrated near 4 KHz.” And they called that music. It truly was.

Before I proceed with further comments, let me confess something. Until a very few years ago both Shirley and I were rather firmly of the opinion that to qualify as a concert one of the evening's works needed to be in four movements with the third movement a minuet and at least one of the other movements, preferably the first, in sonata-allegro form. Now that may slightly overstate the reality but not by much. We tended to judge all music by that standard and by that standard last night's event was far from a concert. But over the last few years Tom Flaherty and Genevieve Feiwen Lee of Pomona College have convinced us by their own dedication to alternative music that we needed to broaden our horizons. Both Flaherty and Lee come to this new music with the skills of seasoned performers of classical music. We are not yet fully initiated but the more we hear (and understand) the more we enjoy an evening or afternoon of the more avant-garde. Of course, even using the expression avant-garde in the context of music may show how out of it we really are. When John Cage’s music is on the program, and it was, avant-garde seems a rather antique word.

Now back to last night’s concert, Professor Flaherty, who acted as master of ceremonies, played the cello in the opening piece, and composed one of the numbers, told us somewhat apologetically that the program was more “meditative” than usual. With two exceptions, it was. And of course, I enjoyed those two exceptions the most.

While having its own meditative moments, Professor Lee’s performance of Flaherty’s "Shepard’s Pi" (2010) for toy piano (and computer) was quite amazing as well as amusing. Even the title amused us. Lee seems to love the toy piano and plays it with the same precision, control, and flair that she brings to the concert grand. And given its limited range, she gets almost as much out of it. The interaction between the live performance and the pre-recorded toy piano accompaniment produced some wonderful effects and the whole thing tied together in a very satisfying way.

But the highlight of the evening was Theresa Diamond’s performance of Javier Alvarez’ "Temazcal." Have you ever heard of a maracas solo performance? Well, we heard one last night. Rather wide ranging recorded music with a decidedly Latin American accent accompanied Diamond’s spirited maracas solo. Wonderful!

Returning to Flaherty’s comment about the program being unusually meditative: There were several times when I worried that some of the music actually explored the boundaries between meditative, ponderous, and tedious. That said, both Shirley and I were surprised how quickly the hour and forty-five minute program passed and how much we enjoyed it. I’m already looking forward to the 19th annual Ussachevsky Festival Concert. But before that there will be classical symphonies.

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Posted by Duane on Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 10:18 AM (UTC-08:00)
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February 6, 2010

Crazy Thoughts On Blindness And Reading Clay Tablets

Caution: this is another of my wildly speculative posts. Don’t take it too seriously. I’m constructing thoughts not conclusions. Some of these thoughts are unsupportable; some are little more than free associations; some, like the last one, are surely wrong.

[If you see squares, rectangles or something else that doesn't look right, please install the Charis SIL font.]

I’m now on my third pass through several Akkadian prayers. Each time I go through them I see something (or think I see something) that I didn’t notice the previous time. Take a look at these two consecutive lines from a prayer to Shamash.

ana lā nāṭili tašakkan nūra
ṭuppa arma la pêtâ tašassi

For the blind, you provide light.
An encased tablet, (still) unopened, you read aloud.

(For those of you keeping score at home, the text is from BMS 6:109-110 and duplicates; Mayer, 505)

Are these two lines related? If so, how? On first reading, aside from attributing extraordinary abilities to Shamash, I didn’t see much of a relationship between them. I certainly didn't see any more relationship between these two lines and several other similar lines including the one reading “To the impotent, you give an heir.” But the more I look, the more I think these two lines might be related. Each might provide an interpretive context for the other. But I’m not sure.

Notice that Shamash provides light to the blind. There can be little doubt that this means that he brings them sight. But, to what extent can we understand Shamash’s light in this line as informing his ability to read encased tablets in the next line? Everyone, but Shamash, is blind to the contents of an encased tablet. (Actually, this is not always true. Often the envelope had the same text on it as the encased tablet. The whole idea was to prevent forgery.) Alternatively, does Shamash’s ability to read encased tablets inform our understanding of the first line? Do the two lines interact in some way?

Shamash’s light not only brings visible light it also brings life, joy and freedom. The expression nūra sakānu often means “to bring joy” as well as “to bring light.” But “joy” isn’t the only figurative meaning of nūru (light). Expressions like nūra amāru mean “to become free,” “to see the light.” And the phrase ša libbi išqillatu likallim nūrum means “let him bring to light the one who is in the heart of the shell.” According to CAD N2, 349, the “one in the shell” is a child in the womb. Again, we have a meaning in the neighborhood of “to free” in this expression. I think, we can safely understand our first expression as freeing the blind from their blindness. While it is possible to make too much of it, the parallel with the Old Greek version of Isaiah 61:1c, “recovery of sight to the blind,” taken up in Luke 4:18 and Barnabas 14:9, cannot be completely ignored. Compare also 4Q521 2, ii:6. Note that the immediately preceding context of the Isaiah passage includes bringing good news to the poor, binding up the brokenhearted and freeing the captives. In his ability to read encased tablets, Shamash can free their contents from the darkness of their enclosure. But would any ancient have understood this particular metaphorical relationship?

There are several risks in this line of thought. First is the risk of associating “light” with understanding. This is not a normal metaphor in Akkadian. In fact, I don’t know of a single example. If you do, please give me a reference. The more usual metaphor involves an association between hearing and understanding. Second, the motivation for placing these lines in physical proximity may not be recoverable and I may be imposing associations that would not have occurred to ancient readers or hearers of this text.

Now for the truly crazy stuff: Does providing light to the blind, in close association with Shamash’s ability to read enclosed tablets, mean that he enables the blind to read tablets? That thought alone, while crazy enough, may not be too crazy but my next one sure is. I just ran my fingers across the surface of a plaster cast of an Akkadian tablet from Ugarit. Could I learn to read it in the same way modern blind read Braille? I’m not sure. I tried the same experiment with a plaster cast of an Ugaritic tablet. The signs on the Ugaritic tablet are larger and I do think I could learn to read this kind of tablet by touch alone. That gives me hope that I could learn to read the Akkadian tablet by touch also. Is it possible that an experienced scribe who became blind could learn to read tablets by touch? All this seems more than a little like those modern attempts to provide “scientific” explanations for miracles. The thought is fun, the association unlikely.

Reference:

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Posted by Duane on Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 2:55 PM (UTC-08:00)
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February 5, 2010

Wandering Interests

More than a little belatedly, I’ve ordered Mark Wilson’s Wandering Significance: An Essay on Conceptual Behavior. I may have some more to say about it in a week or so. If you haven't already, I encourage you to get your own copy. I know enough about Mark Wilson to know that this is not your father’s or your teacher's philosophy. To whet your appetite, read Chris Pincock of Honest Toil’s review of Wilson’s book. Here’s a sample from Pincock’s review.

Wilson presents, then, not only a new way to think about concepts but a new model for how philosophy should be done and how it should situate itself with respect to the sciences. For once we accept that all these concepts at least have the potential to hide a ramified network of patches there is no longer much point in considering a priori intuitions of correct usage or other sorts of “armchair” tools of conceptual analysis. Instead, we must go out and digest a whole host of mathematics, science, engineering and even, it seems, manufacturing techniques. It is only by being continually immersed in the particulars of the strange behavior of this or that predicate that we can hope to appreciate our best representations of the world and what they teach us about it.

Wilson often comes across as a philosopher of science, but we serve both him and ourselves much better if we read him as a metaphysician and particularly an epistemologist or, as he might prefer, a philosopher of language. The lines blur in the hands of the very best philosophers.

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Posted by Duane on Friday, February 5, 2010 at 1:59 PM (UTC-08:00)
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February 3, 2010

A Little Egyptian Graffiti

Quinn Dombrowski at Crescat Graffiti, Vita Excolatur discovered an Egyptian text at the University of Chicago. You might fine it abnormal if not abnormally interesting. Students at the U of C seem to be skilled at multiplexing.

Via משלי אדם

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Posted by Duane on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 7:50 PM (UTC-08:00)
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February 2, 2010

The Latest ZA

The December 2009 edition of the Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie is now available. There are a couple of papers that I think will prove to be of abnormally interesting.

and

both struck me but other’s may find other papers abnormal enough for their interests. It’s too bad that this and many other journals are not open access. Will it ever happen?

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Posted by Duane on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 at 11:14 AM (UTC-08:00)
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February 1, 2010

Tales From Ancient Egypt: The Birth of Stories

 

Loren Fisher’s Tales From Ancient Egypt: The Birth of Stories is now available. In this latest book, Loren provides fresh translations, notes, and introduces to

• The Story of Sinuhe: A Wander on the Earth
• The Enchanted Prince
• The Story of the Shipwrecked Sailor
• The Journey of Wen-Amon
• A Dialogue between a Man and His Ba

All five of these tales are wonderful and enlightening. Loren brings the skills of the scholar and the poet to his translations.

While these stories are extremely important in their own right, they are also relevant to the cultural context of the whole of the Ancient Near East including ancient Israel.

As Loren says in his introduction,

Unlike some other ancient states, both Israel and Egypt wrote epic tales in Prose. This prose, with a scattering poetry, is not only important for our understanding of Israel and Egypt, but it is also important for a clear understanding of the history of world literature.

I think it unfortunate that while many current biblical scholars know at least a smattering of Akkadian and Ugaritic, it’s relatively uncommon these days to find those that know much ancient Egyptian. And yet, the Hebrew Bible displays obvious indebtedness to ancient Egyptian culture in much the same way it displays indebtedness to ancient Mesopotamian culture. One needs look no further than Proverbs 22:17-24:22’s relationship to the Instruction of Amenemope or the collection of Egyptian loanwords in Hebrew for verification. Contributing to the mix of rather obvious cultural influences is the use of hieratic numerals in epigraphic Hebrew. And yet, scholars often pass over or depreciate the role of the Egyptian story when discussing stories from ancient Israel. Loren’s book, if it receives the reading it deserves, will go a long ways to correct this deficiency.

Go to Loren’s website to learn what Baruch Levine and John Cobb have to say about Tales From Ancient Egypt: The Birth of Stories. If you’ve’ heard enough already and just want to purchase it, head over to Cascade Books to place an order.

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Posted by Duane on Monday, February 1, 2010 at 3:50 PM (UTC-08:00)
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Biblical Studies Carnival XLX - 1

Abnormally, I’ve divided this Biblical Studies carnival into two parts. No, not those two parts. The first part primarily draws on reader input. Every topic and most of the links came as suggestions through the regular nominating process. There were many more nominations for this carnival than I have seen in the past. Thanks! Keep them coming for next month. The hope is that over time or even next month, readers will drive the whole carnival. I did exclude several nominations on the basis that I found them too devotional, promotional, proselytizing, or untimely for this carnival. I did let one slip through because I thought it instructive when compared with a more academically oriented discussion on the same general topic.

The second part of this carnival features a group of posts that I found abnormally interesting but for some reason didn’t attract the amount of interest I think they deserve. No, they’re not all mine. They will be fewer in number than in many recent Biblical Studies Carnivals. Rather than trying and failing to be exhaustive, I focused on those posts that caused an abnormal number of neurons to fire in my brain - not that I agreed with all of them. Others would, no doubt, make other choices.

You’re Carnival

The View from on High: Not Exactly Tanakh and Not Exactly Christian New Testament

Michael Heiser posted the last of his four-part series of lectures on Jesus and the Old Testament. I must admit I didn’t watch the whole thing. I was a little concerned about what someone who runs a blog called the Naked Bible might do as a closing act. Michael also posted an abnormal series on Biblical Anthropology and the Mind-Body Debate. This is a continuation of Michael’s posts on the more general topic of Biblical Anthropology. Truly abnormal readers might want to compare Michael’s nuanced work with this nominated Bible SEO post. Perhaps I shouldn’t say, but while I had my problems with both discussions, I found one far more interesting and helpful than the other. Can you guess which one? After some trepidation, I decided to include the Bible SEO post because its contrast with Michael’s reflective posts illustrates the difference between academic study and dogmatic presentation.

Thanks to Art Boulet, we were able to read Peter Enns’ review of Greg Beale’s book on inerrancy online. And a rather thorough trashing it is.

Tanakh

Adam Couturier dedicated several kilobytes to Isaiah 5:1-7. He explored the text, genre identification, lexicography (three posts) as well as viticultural practices in the Levant and the use of the passage in the Christian New Testament.

Claude Mariottini wrote a post on God’s Covenant with David and another on The Messianic Expectation of the Old Testament. Both these post are interesting reads and should have stimulated more conversation than they did. And in two other posts, he took up the question of Moses’ speech impediment and his possible left-handedness.

Joel Hoffman favored us with a discussion of the challenge of translating Isaiah. Take a look and see how he met that challenge and then see if you can meet the challenge he gave us.

Archeology and the Ancient Near East

Somewhere upwards of 10,000 bloggers responded to a University of Haifa news release announcing Gershon Galil’s interpretation of the Khirbet Qeiyafa ostracon. Not having my notes handy, I’m unsure of the exact number. Here is a not so random sample of those responders: Chip Hardy, James Tabor, Bob Cargill, Michael Helfield, Polycarp, James McGrath, Doug Mangum, John Hobbins, Chris Rollston, Seth Sanders, Daniel McMlellan, Jim Getz, and Neil Silverman. I even had an evil thought on this. Opinions ranged from those who thought these 50 to 70 glyphs on a broken potsherd proved that Samson slew Goliath (or something very near this) to those who thought it interesting but not such a big deal. My own view is closer to the not such a big deal crowd although I do find it abnormally interesting. That said, every epigraphic discovery is important.

C. Jay Crisostomo wrote "composites" and "keywords". The first is about composite editions of ancient texts, particularly the Epic of Anzu. Jay reminded us of the importance of understanding the differences between witnesses to the same story. Jay’s observations and similar observations about a large number of ancient texts are important in themselves. They are also important when our concerns turn to the composition and transmission of the various texts of Tanakh. In "keywords", using Anzu as an illustration, Jay explores the repetition of word in Akkadian poetry.

Charles Halton returned to A Primer on Ugaritic in a post that reviewed M.E.J. Richardson’s review of Schniedewind and Hunt’s teaching grammar. In the course of his comments, Charles touches on both pedagogical methodology and the nature of scholarly reviews.

The Christian New Testament

Glenn Peoples explored text critical and interpretive issues involving John 7:53-8:11 and the woman taken in adultery in the larger context of abrogation of the Law.

James Gregory reviewed Sampley’s monograph, ‘And The Two Shall Become One Flesh’: A Study of Traditions in Ephesians 5: 21-33.

Ekaterini Tsalampouni announced The Proceedings of the International Conference "Paul and Corinth". Here’s what Ekaterini wrote me about the conference,

In 2007 an international scholarly conference took place in Corinth. Its focus was on the New Testament narratives regarding Paul's visit to Corinth and his two epistles to the Corinthian congregation. Experts in biblical studies and patristics from Europe and USA participated. Their papers are now published in two volumes. In my blog post one can get some information regarding the contents of the two volumes.

If you’re not familiar with her Ιστολόγιο βιβλικών σπουδών / Biblical Studies Blog, take a look. It’s all Greek to me.

Rick Brannan (Rico) told us about the difference between πλην and αλλα and, while he was at it, posted a translation with notes of Polycarp’s Letter to the Philippians, wrote about translating Jesus’ words and engaged in sin. Busy man.

Michael Kok reflected on the Gospel of Mark the book and the Gospel of Mark the movie or at least the trailer. He also shared his thoughts on the development of Christology providing a taxonomy of different scholarly views. Not being satisfied with a Gospel as screen play and the most central theological claim of Christianity, Michael took up the debate on whether to describe Paul's encounter with the risen Christ as a "conversion" or a "prophetic call" and followed that up with a post on Paul the persecutor.

Richard Fellows outlined the case for the Luke of Philemon 24, Lucius of Romans 16:21 and the author of Acts being the same person.

My Carnival

Tanakh

James McGrath reflected on the Documentary Hypothesis and memory. His thought process is abnormally interesting but I’m not sure I completely buy it all. If you haven’t already, see what you think.

Daniel McClellan took to task a 2004 Azzan Yadin paper on Goliath’s armor. John Hobbins elaborated on Daniel’s post. Daniel also provided an interesting and critical footnote on a footnote concerning Exodus 21:6.

John Hobbins suggested that scholars try “A Canonical Approach to Isaiah 5:1-7” but he doesn’t seem completely sure it is doable in the context of Biblical scholarship. I always enjoy pondering methodological conundrums.

Jim Getz pointed out another Dani’il error. In this case, it involved the wrong Ugaritic story rather than confusion between Dani’il and Daniel. But, it’s hard to believe these kind of things happen at such high levels.

Brooke Lester asked where the first main clause in the Bible begins, an abnormal question indeed.

Charles Halton thinks we should read the The Context of Scripture on a regular basis and posted a one-year reading plan to get everyone going. While readingThe Context of Scripture, as Charles also noted, one must recognize, what’s missing, the most important part of Enuma Elish.

While generally not a full contact sport these days, one of the great pastimes is discussing the nature of myth and the extent the word applies to the Bible or some part there of. John Hobbins open this seasons game with “There are (no) myths in the Bible.” Of course, the game has changed from infidels vs. faithful to one definition of myth vs. another. With a little effort one can concoct a definition that renders this blog post a myth and Hesiod’s accounts not. Ooops, for a moment I stopped reporting and started editorializing (again). A number of commenters to Johns post plus Robert Minto, Darrell Pursiful, and Chris Brady gently returned serve. Being primarily a spectator in these matters, I cheered from the sidelines.

Deane Galbraith looked at parallel terms for “parallelomania” and found one but asked for help in finding more.

While perhaps on the fringes of the scope of this carnival, I found Steve Wiggins’ reflections on Janus both a blessing and a curse.

I welcome Paavo Tucker and his מה־יתרון blog to the Biblical Studies Carnival for the first time. Paavo has already provided a number of stimulating posts and reviews. Drop by and say “hi.” Because of my own interests, I found his post “Ancient Mesopotamia in Classical Greek and Hellenistic Thought” through Amelie Kuhrt’s eyes abnormal enough for special reference.

Christian New Testament

John Anderson favored us with an interview with Richard B Hays of Duke University.

April DeConick told us of the Ohio fragments of the Gospel of Judas and linked to Marvin Meyer’s SBL talk on them.

So it ends for this month. You may have noticed by the way I titled this carnival I kicked the problem of carnival numbers down the road. Brooke Lester of Anumma has volunteered to host next month’s carnival. And while I’m not sure this is official I hope all of you will begin submitting your post nominations. If you read a great biblical studies post or write one nominate it right then. That way Brooke or whoever gets the job can build the carnival over the whole month rather than having to do a herculean effort to get it done at the last minute.

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Posted by Duane on Monday, February 1, 2010 at 10:42 AM (UTC-08:00)
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January 31, 2010

For The Obsessive - Compulsive

I plan to post the next Biblical Studies Carnival mid afternoon tomorrow, west coast time. So you need not stay up past your bedtime tonight or get up before dawn tomorrow to read it.

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Posted by Duane on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 9:06 AM (UTC-08:00)
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Four Stone Hearth #85: Cold Wind Edition Is Up!

And I almost missed it. Check out the latest edition of the periodic anthropology blog carnival. Working from a cold shelter in Denver, Julien Riel-Salvatore at A Very Remote Period Indeed has produced a rather hot carnival for those of us with abnormal interests in anthropology.

via Afarensis

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Posted by Duane on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 9:01 AM (UTC-08:00)
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