September 2011 Archives
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September 29, 2011
Iran, The Death Penalty, And Belief
The conviction and possible execution of a Christian pastor in Iran is but the latest example of faith feeding on faith. Such barbaric actions should not only be roundly condemned they should be stopped. The best idea, if universally adopted,...Read all of "Iran, The Death Penalty, And Belief"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:34 PM
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A Practicum In Historiography
Shirley and I are listening to the lecture portion of a course on History of the World to 1500 CE. Richard Bulliet of Columbia University taught the course a couple of years ago. While there are exceptions, Bulliet’s lectures are...Read all of "A Practicum In Historiography"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:09 PM
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September 27, 2011
Another New Old City In Turkey
“Lost city found in Dardanelles, Turkey: Older than Troy,” so says the National Turk. I assume the headline and the article means older than Troy I which it at ~7000 years old it certainly is. At first I thought this...Read all of "Another New Old City In Turkey"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:45 PM
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September 26, 2011
The Seymour Gitin Distinguished Professorship
Sy Gitin was my boss at Gezer. He went on to great things and I when on to other things. But we have remained in (very) occasional contact and I consider him a friend. Well, the W. F. Albright Institute...Read all of "The Seymour Gitin Distinguished Professorship"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:23 AM
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September 25, 2011
Banned Books Week
According to the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association and about a dozen other trade and educational associations this is Banned Books Week. Who am I to say otherwise? So let’s all read a banned book. Heck, most of...Read all of "Banned Books Week"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:19 PM
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September 23, 2011
The Melammu Project
Another abnormally interesting time sink. The Melammu Project, “The Intellectual Heritage of Assyria and Babylonia in East and West,” provides an online resource in the form of a searchable database repository for the investigation of the diffusion of Mesopotamian culture...Read all of "The Melammu Project"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:42 PM
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September 22, 2011
Cognitive Bias in Sports?
Can you imagine such a thing? University of Chicago finance professor Tobias Moskowitz and Sport Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim can and have written a book in support of this radical idea. Samuel McNerney of Scientific American thinks we should read...Read all of "Cognitive Bias in Sports?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:29 PM
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The Divine Mind Is Remote
It is common to read the biblical book of Job in the context of the so called Babylonian Theodicy and this is an abnormally interesting connection. But here I’d like to think about three lines in the Babylonian Theodicy in...Read all of "The Divine Mind Is Remote"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:34 PM
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September 21, 2011
Homer, The Ancient Near East And The Hebrew Bible
I just got the latest Journal of Biblical Literature (this may be behind a pay wall) and was pleased to read “Homeric and Ancient Near Eastern Intertextually in 1 Samuel 17” by Serge Frolov and Allen Wright. Using criteria to...Read all of "Homer, The Ancient Near East And The Hebrew Bible "
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:19 PM
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September 20, 2011
Quotation Of The Day
“Any conclusion one likes follow by strict logic from premises that shield mild contradictions.” - Mark Wilson, Wandering Significance, 169...Read all of "Quotation Of The Day"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:08 PM
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September 19, 2011
My Problem Of The Day
The following are too false statements. James Buchanan, Jr. was the 14th President of the United States. James Buchanan. Jr. gave the Gettysburg Address. In what sense can either of these statements be about James Buchanan, Jr.? Is it possible...Read all of "My Problem Of The Day"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:25 PM
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September 17, 2011
British Museum Online Database
Be sure to check out the British Museum’s searchable online database but be sure to schedule a lot of time for this abnormally interesting site. It will be hard to stop searching once you start. I’ve only looked a small...Read all of "British Museum Online Database"
Posted by Duane Smith at 6:42 PM
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September 16, 2011
On The Gezer Water System
There are two new and interesting news items on the Gezer Water system (one link serves both). Here’s a sample, Gezer Water System Expedition, a joint project of NOBTS [New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary] and the Israel Nature and Parks...Read all of "On The Gezer Water System"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:54 PM
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September 15, 2011
Beyond A Merely Antiquarian Interest
Wolfram von Soden wrote in The Ancient Orient: An Introduction to the study of the Ancient Near East, The high cultures of the ancient Orient do not merely provide developmental phases from the preliterate cultures to the Hellenistic world, nor...Read all of "Beyond A Merely Antiquarian Interest"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:39 PM
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September 14, 2011
Mari In Trouble
To look upon its remains [Mari, Tell Hariri] today, however, one would see a slow tragedy in the making. Its exposed walls are gradually eroding away, melting back into the natural landscape. Some of its excavated remains are now unrecognizable....
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:57 PM
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September 12, 2011
Phrasal Stress Or Modal Ambiguity
Mark Liberman has an abnormally interesting post at Language Log. He shows us these two signs. The first sign unpacks as, “If you happen to have a dog with you, you must carry that dog when riding this escalator....Read all of "Phrasal Stress Or Modal Ambiguity"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:09 AM
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September 11, 2011
Nearing The End (I hope)
One way I know that I am nearing the end of the process of getting a paper published is that I begin to lose interest in whether or not it gets published. Yesterday I sent off a revised version of...Read all of "Nearing The End (I hope)"
Posted by Duane Smith at 6:47 PM
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September 10, 2011
On Mercurial Words
When reflecting on what ancient languages a serious student of the Hebrew Bible needs to know I quoted a sentence from Mark Wilson’s masterful Wandering Significance: An Essay on Conceptual Behavior. Here’s another quotation from Wilson, 567, on the nature...Read all of "On Mercurial Words"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:03 PM
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September 8, 2011
The Backyard Of Biblical Studies
I’ve been thinking a little more about my rather maximalist comments the other day concerning the languages a serious student of the Hebrew Bible or the Christian New Testament needed to know. I have two worries. First I worry that...Read all of "The Backyard Of Biblical Studies"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:45 PM
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Mark Twain Archaeology
Yep, there is such a thing! A dig is starting at the John Adams Quarles farmstead where Twain spent some time as a child. Quarles was Twain’s uncle. I do wonder if there is some motive other than just recovering...Read all of "Mark Twain Archaeology"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:17 AM
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September 7, 2011
Homer Multitext
Yesterday, Chuck Jones told us of The Homer Multitext. The Homer Multitext seeks to present the textual transmission of the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey in a historical framework. Such a framework is needed to account for the full reality of...
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:11 PM
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September 6, 2011
A Problem
While I’m not above using this blog to communicate my abnormal concerns, I try not to use it for personal communications. That’s why we have email. But for some reason and with a particular individual who is a frequent reader...
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:40 PM
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This Isn’t Kindergarten
Following up on a discussion from elsewhere, James McGrath inquires into “Essential Languages for New Testament Study” In terms of ancient languages he thinks every serious student should know “Koine Greek” and that depending on special focus “Aramaic, Hebrew, and...Read all of "This Isn’t Kindergarten"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:44 PM
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The Latest ZAW
The September edition of the Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft is out. It looks like an abnormally rich issue. Here’s the table on contents (full length papers only). Shimon Gesundheit, „Das Land Israels als Mitte einer jüdischen Theologie der Tora....
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:23 PM
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September 5, 2011
Happy Labor Day
It is not needed nor fitting here that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions, but there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief...
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:37 AM
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September 4, 2011
The Lead Codices And The Bibliobloggers
Robert Cargill makes several important points about the so-called “Jordon Lead Codices” and about Tom Verenna's video on them and their debugging. None of Bob’s observations is more interesting than this. If you have not been following this case, Bibliobloggers...Read all of "The Lead Codices And The Bibliobloggers"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:47 PM
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September 2, 2011
The Meyers On Archaeology
At internet speeds this is rather late but yesterday archaeologists Eric and Carol Meyers of Duke gave an abnormally interesting interview about things Biblical and things archaeological. If you haven’t watched it, your 49 minutes, 20 seconds will be well...Read all of "The Meyers On Archaeology"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:37 PM
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September 1, 2011
September 2001 Biblical Studies Carnival Is Up
Or at least the last third of it is. James McGrath not only believes in science fiction he also seems to believe in serial processing. The third installment of this month's Biblical Studies Carnival, “The Final Frontier as the Carnival...Read all of "September 2001 Biblical Studies Carnival Is Up"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:54 AM
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He That Pisseth Against He That Pisseth
Claude Mariottini has posted the first of a multi-part series on my paper “‘Pisser against a Wall’: An Echo of Divination in Biblical Hebrew” (The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 72 (2010): 699-717) and more generally on the Hebrew trope that is...Read all of "He That Pisseth Against He That Pisseth"
Posted by Duane Smith at 6:59 AM
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