"Things are Looking Up"

As I reflect on my last week or so, I am reminded of a wonderful song by Gershwin, "Things are Looking Up." It goes a little like this:

Things are looking up!
It's a great little world we live in!
And I'm happy as a pup since [life] looked up at me.
(I changed the word in brackets to life instead of love because that is what the way it should go...)

Life has looked up at me. I got a work study job (finally!) in the library working on the "Friends of the Library" program that is non-existent at this point and also putting together shelving in the remodeling process. I also just got a job at Buffalo Wild Wings (again) working as a server when the new store down the street opens up! I am also finally starting to settle into a groove of when and how to study. I got into all of my classes for the spring (which did not happen for this semester, lucky it turned out okay though). Plus I am going to be able to afford to go to Rome and Israel in the next year. I am very excited! Hopefully things remain on the upside!

The use of O.T. vs. H.B.

Okay... I need to do a little bit of complaining about something that has been bothering me for quite some time. In my Masters of Theological Studies program the title of my specialization is "Old Testament" (it is labeled on my grid for graduation). The first time I saw that I just said "Hmm... that is interesting" because it had been quite some time since I had seen the terminology "Old Testament" used in an academic setting. Then I saw it again as the title for a class. I thought "Okay, this is getting ridiculous!"

I prefer to use the title "Hebrew Bible" to avoid offense and because that was what I was taught in undergrad (BTW Thanks Jessica!). I understand that in churches the congregations will probably never call that section of the Bible the "Hebrew Bible" (because of tradition and lack of offending) but in the world of academics it is a different world.

In Academia, the use of "Old Testament" is like a taboo. It shows a lack of respect for the Judaism due to the negative connotations associated with the word "old." In a book I am reading for my New Testament class called The Misunderstood Jew, the author Amy-Jill Levine (a New Testament scholar who is Jewish herself) emphasizes the same points as I have noted above.

I am tempted to bring forth a few complaints to the administration about this! "Old Testament" is offensive and it also could look bad on my transcript when I submit it to certain PhD. Programs. (Not to mention the grid itself really isn't set up well).

I will mention that when referencing the Septuagint (Greek Translation of Hebrew Bible) the term should be Septuagint or Septuagints... But that is just a random note...

Okay... Rant Over.

Baseball and Hebrew

So for those of you who have access to and can read my Facebook page, you may have noticed that I like baseball.... a lot. (Twins fan for life!) I tend to make analogies that relate back to baseball. (P.S. if you don't know a lot about baseball I am sorry... google the terms? Some examples: I am up to bat, he is on deck, it threw a change-up, etc.)

The one most recently used on my Facebook wall was: "Every time I start to get the pattern it throws a curveball." This was in reply to working on my Hebrew homework and wanting to throw something against a wall (which is not a good recommendation if you have neighbors).

Let me set the situation for you.... We are in Chapter 5 of Seow's A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew, learning about Geminates and Segolates (I do not expect you to know what that means). But, what bothered me was when I previewed the vocabulary for that chapter and we came to the word for father: 'ab (the b is pronounced with a v sound).

When I looked at the definition it named the plural as 'abot (same v pronunciation). The ending -ot is typically a feminine ending... but it was on a masculine word!! WHAT!? Confused to the extreme. I had to bring it up in class and the reason for this is because "That is what the language does!"

I do not blame the professor for that answer... I blame the person who originally made this the rule! I hope it was a woman and that she was thinking "I am going to give it a feminine plural ending because when you get too many men in a group they act girl-y." (No offense to any of the men who are reading this).

But if that wasn't the case I am not happy... Why? Because there are straight explanations (fastballs, makes sense) and there are messed up explanations (curveballs, don't make sense) and that was definitely a curveball!!!

Language as a Tool for the Ancient World View

I was listening to my iVocab Hebrew last night to help myself practice the new vocabulary. I had not looked at the chapter (I have a whole system of listening to the vocab, then listening to the narrated Powerpoint presentation, then actually reading the book). Therefore, I had never seen the words except on the flashcard on my iPod.

I had the flashcards on shuffle so that I could not memorize them in order. But somehow two words were put next to each other that made me laugh quite a bit. The words were (in the closest English transliteration I can type) mayim and shamayim. Mayim means water. Shamayim means heaven.

I was brought back to my Introduction to Bible class from undergraduate where we discussed the first creation story in Genesis. God creates light and darkness. Then he separates the waters above from the waters below (with a dome). The ancient world view coming through was that there is water in the sky because it rains.

Therefore, I found it hilarious that the word for heaven has the root of water. The ancient world view have been embedded in the original language. This can also be seen when looking at the creation story. God creates man, (Hebrew: adam) from the soil of the earth (Hebrew for soil: adamah).

Now it all makes sense!

It's Greek to Me!

I am sorry I have not blogged recently. Homework has kept me quite busy (and a sick cat). Recently, I have been spending a lot of time looking at Seow's A Grammar for Biblical Hebrew.

I love my Hebrew class! The first 5 lessons we spent immersing ourselves in the Hebrew language (similar to a Spanish class where the teacher says something, you repeat and then learn the meaning). But those five classes are over... and now we are looking at the written language.

Ever heard the saying "It's Greek to me!" Seriously, I wish I could say it was that simple! The language may look different but it definitely is not Greek! (although the Hebrew "gimmel" does look a lot like a Greek "lambda").

I am not struggling... yet. But there has been lots of iPod flashcard studying recently and there is plenty more of that to come. I wish learning biblical languages were a little easier! Too bad they are mostly dead languages!