Celebrating the King James Bible

CELEBRATING THE KING JAMES BIBLE (1611-2011) at the OUP blog:

Why all the fuss about an old translation of an ancient book? There are two reasons: first, it is the founding text of the British Empire (including breakaway colonies such as the United States), and was carried to every corner of the English-speaking world by migrants and missionaries; second, it matters now, both as a religious text and as the finest embodiment of English prose. Its history in the intervening centuries has been complex. The text has evolved over the centuries, and there are thousands of small changes in spelling, punctuation and grammar. The commissioning of a revised translation was suggested by a puritan to King James, but the KJV was subsequently repudiated by some puritans, because of its inclusion of the Apocrypha and its use of ecclesiastical terms (e.g. ‘baptize’ instead of ‘wash’, ‘church’ instead of ‘congregation’, ‘bishop’ instead of ‘elder’). In the twenty-first century its most loyal advocates are those at opposite ends of the Protestant continuum: Anglo-Catholic ritualists who revere it alongside the 1662 Book of Common Prayer and evangelicals who think that God answered the prayers of the translators by helping them to produce the most authoritative of all translations.

Is it a good translation? The answer is yes and no. On the affirmative side, it is certainly the most scrupulous of all translations, in part because the scholarly fire-power of the original translators could not be matched in our less educated age. Where could one now find fifty translators with competence in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Samaritan, Ethiopic and Arabic (the languages of the English polyglot Bible of the period) and a command of patristic, rabbinical and Reformation commentaries? Another reason for its scholarly probity is the scrupulous process through which the KJV was produced. The time lavished on the translation by the learned translators was secured by relieving them of other duties; no modern publisher would buy out fifty scholars for several years in order that they might devote their full attention to a translation of the Bible.

That's a bit unfair. I doubt that all of the fifty translators controlled all of those languages and commentary traditions, and there are many biblical scholars today who control many of them. I myself am competent in all of them except Ethiopic and the Reformation commentaries, although I'm not equally strong in every area. I bet we could assemble a group of scholars to match the competencies of the original team without too much trouble. And, as the blog post goes on to admit, we have many more ancient manuscripts at our disposal than they did. Whether a publisher would want to pay for a new project on the same scale may well be another matter, though.

All that said, the King James translation of the Bible was a stunning work of scholarly erudition and literary sophistication and beauty for its time and on many counts it has stood the test of time until today. Its fourth centenary deserves to be thoroughly celebrated.

UPDATE (17 October): More here.

Livius.org hacked

LIVIUS.ORG was reported hacked yesterday. I noticed it was down, and then Judith Weingarten linked to Roger Pearse's notice of the attack on FB. Everything seems to be back up today and I can find nothing about the attack on the Livius website itself.

Regarding Roger's post, I really don't think this episode justifies banning all Muslims, or even all of Turkey, from the Internet, and if we were to take that rather unfocused collective approach the Chinese and the Russians would be well ahead in the queue. A more productive course would be to track down and punish the actual perpetrators, whoever they are. I trust that this is the approach that the authorities are taking.

UPDATE: Jona Lendering has an account of what happened here. I have to say I'm a little jealous. But maybe Blogger just has better hacking countermeasures.

Did the ancient Israelites drink beer?

RESEARCHING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:

Did the Ancient Israelites Drink Beer?

By Michael M. Homan (BAR)

Ancient Israelites, with the possible exception of a few teetotaling Nazirites and their moms, proudly drank beer—and lots of it. Men, women and even children of all social classes drank it. Its consumption in ancient Israel was encouraged, sanctioned and intimately linked with their religion. Even Yahweh, according to the Hebrew Bible, consumed at least half a hin of beer (approximately 2 liters, or a six-pack) per day through the cultic ritual of libation, and he drank even more on the Sabbath (Numbers 28:7–10). People who were sad were advised to drink beer to temporarily erase their troubles (Proverbs 31:6). Yet the Biblical authors also called for moderation. Several passages condemn those who consumed too much beer (Isaiah 5:11, 28:7; Proverbs 20:1, 31:4). The absence of beer defines a melancholy situation, according to Isaiah 24:9.

[...]

So what's with the translation "strong drink," which goes back at least to Tyndale? Why make beer into something stronger?

A "hastily documented" 1st century CE tomb in Jerusalem

A "HASTILY DOCUMENTED" FIRST-CENTURY CE TOMB in Jerusalem is reported by Hadashot Archeologiot. Excerpts:

The hurried process and poor lighting conditions in the cave precluded a proper examination and description of the cave’s contents. Artifacts were not removed from the cave and once its documentation was done, it was sealed and covered with soil. ...

The cave was carefully hewn with a serrated mallet that left diagonal stone dressing marks on its sides, which are mostly upright and slightly curved toward the top. ...

Seven complete ossuaries, at least eight lids and numerous ossuary fragments were discovered in the cave; no other artifacts were found. The ossuaries were concentrated on the western and eastern stone benches (Fig. 3). All the ossuaries were made of soft limestone, except for a single ossuary of hard limestone. Two of the ossuaries were closed with a lid; one of the lids was attached to the ossuary with a bronze nail. Due to the haste, only two complete ossuaries and several decorated fragments were documented (Figs. 4, 5). A two-line Hebrew inscription (length of inscription 0.37 m; Figs. 6, 7) was incised on the hard-limestone ossuary. The letters were clearly engraved, separated from each other and painted blue. The inscription reads: “Alexa bar Shalom barat Alexa/Cursed is the one who casts me from my place”. Careless engravings or traces of faded paint were noted on other ossuaries; these may also be inscriptions that require further research for decipherment. Some of the ossuary fragments were consolidated together with bone fragments in the corners of the chamber and it seems that these ossuaries had been shattered by grave robbers who damaged the cave; the robbers had apparently penetrated into the cave via the entrance, which was later blocked.

[...]

Via Todd Bolen at the Bible Places blog, who is not impressed with the haste of the documentation.

"Royal" theater box excavated at Herodium

A "ROYAL" THEATER BOX has been excavated at Herodium:

King Herod's royal theater box uncovered at Herodium

By RONEN SHNIDMAN
09/15/2010 00:05

Theater box reveals Jewish monarch's luxurious lifestyle, displays rare example of elaborate style of Roman wall painting found outside Italy.

A royal box built at the upper level of King Herod's private theater at Herodium has been fully unveiled in recent excavations at the archaeological site, providing a further indication of the luxurious lifestyle favored by the well-known Jewish monarch, the Hebrew University announced in a statement released Tuesday.

The excavations at Herodium National Park at the eastern edge of Gush Etzion region, were conducted by Prof. Ehud Netzer under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Archaeology.

[...]

The royal box (measuring eight by seven meters and about six meters high) is the central space among a group of rooms attached to the upper part of the theater's structure. This impressive room likely hosted the king, his close friends and family members during performances in the theater and was fully open facing the stage.

[...]

More on the excavations of Herodium (Herod's apparent tomb) here. Todd Bolen has a page on the site of Herodium at his Bible Places website.

Adolfo Roitman speaking at TWU

ADOLFO ROITMAN is speaking at Trinity Western University:

Dead Sea Scrolls guardian speaking in Langley

Published: September 14, 2010 1:00 PM
Updated: September 14, 2010 1:48 PM

The guardian of the Dead Sea Scrolls is delivering a public lecture later this month.

Dr. Adolfo Roitman will deliver his lecture, ‘From Serpent to Satan: The Story of Paradise in Scripture, Literature and Art’, at Trinity Western University’s Northwest Auditorium.

The lecture takes place on Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m.

Roitman is curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the director of the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, one of the world’s leading archaelogical museums.

[...]

Golb identity-theft trial begins

THE GOLB IDENTITY-THEFT TRIAL began in New York yesterday:

Dead Sea Scrolls 'cyber bully' claims he had right to fight dirty

By DAVID K. LI (New York Post)

Last Updated: 5:35 PM, September 14, 2010

Posted: 5:34 PM, September 14, 2010

Defenders of an alleged cyber bully went on the attack today, accusing a noted Hebrew historian of plagiarism and claiming their client had every right to fight dirty in this no-holds-barred academic brawl.

Raphael Golb, 49, went on trial for allegedly engineering a wacky 2008 identity theft and "sock-puppeting" campaign against his dad’s intellectual rivals over ancient origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

During opening statements to jurors, defense lawyers didn’t back away from acts Golb is accused of committing by prosecutors -- and even glorified his actions.

"Raphael Golb is a whistle blower," defense lawyer David Breitbart told jurors in opening statements.

[...]

The story is also covered by the AP and noted by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Background here.

Syriac symposium at Duke, June 2011

CONFERENCE:

Sixth North American Syriac Symposium
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
June 26-29, 2011

The Sixth North American Syriac Symposium will be organized at Duke University on June 26-29, 2011. Held every four years since 1991, the North American Syriac Symposium brings together university professors, graduate students, and scholars from the United States and Canada (more than half of the participants) as well as from Europe, the Middle East, and India, in particular from the State of Kerala. The Symposium offers a unique opportunity for exchange and discussion on a wide variety of topics related to the language, literature, and cultural history of Syriac Christianity, from the first centuries ce to the present day.

While adopting the general template of previous symposia, the Duke Symposium will at the same time be organized in such a way that it aptly reflects current trends in Syriac studies. Additionally, it will allow Duke scholars and students to communicate to a wider audience some highlights of their research, teaching, and resources.

To serve as a general framework and organizational principle, the following theme has been chosen:


Syriac Encounters

Encounters and interactions between individuals, generations, communities,traditions, ideas, languages, and religions.

This general theme allows us to highlight various kinds of diachronic and synchronic interaction and dialogue, formation of communal identity, construction of tradition, language contact, and religious conversation both within Syriac Christianity and between Syriac Christianity and other traditions, in particular Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Islam, and various forms of Western Christianity. The overall theme is not meant, however, to exclude topics that are not directly related to it.

[...]

For more information, follow the link.

Via Stephen C. Carlson on FB.

More on the Petra cave art

MORE ON THE PETRA CAVE ART – new images from National Geographic: Before & After: Wine-Cult Cave Art Restored in Petra?

Via Archaeology News. Background here.

The futility of book-burning

SEEMS TIMELY:

The futility of book-burning

(The Republican-American)

When Florida pastor Terry Jones talked about burning copies of the Quran on Saturday to mark the Sept. 11 attacks, an aspect of the worldwide overreaction seemed based on the mistaken belief that fricasseeing copies of another faith's holy writings was something novel. It isn't. There's a venerable tradition of torching someone else's holy books.

There are also copious examples of how futile an exercise that is.

The most combusted book in history is probably the Talmud, a compilation of Jewish commentaries on and interpretations of the first five books of the Bible. Anti-Semites burned copies of the Talmud from the early Middle Ages through the massive Nazi bonfires of the 1930s, yet there are likely more copies of the Talmud extant today than at any point since the earliest rabbis began compiling it nearly 2,000 years ago.

And then there's the even more instructive case of the best-read author in English history, a man who every bit as much as William Shakespeare could be considered the grandfather of the language. Most people don't know his name, but nearly everyone who reads English knows his words.

I refer to William Tyndale, whose story exemplifies the futility of burning books. Tyndale was executed in 1536 for what at the time was considered the most heinous of crimes: daring to translate the Bible into English. The official charges, pushed by King Henry VIII, were heresy and treason.

[...]

All of which leads to an incident from Tyndale's career that illustrates the pointlessness of book-burning. At one point, the Bishop of London offered to buy up an entire printing of Tyndale's Bibles so he could burn them. Tyndale gleefully sold them to the bishop, who dutifully consigned the books to the fire. Tyndale, meanwhile, used the profits to publish an even larger run of his Bibles than the bishop had bought and burned.

Were I a publisher of Qurans, I would emulate Tyndale and offer to print copies on spectacularly pyrotechnic stock. For when the flames had died down, there would be exactly as many copies of the Quran in the possession of those who revere and cherish the book as there had been before the fire, and I'd have turned a tidy profit.

[...]

I think Mr. Goodman fails to grasp the investment that Muslims have in the sanctity of individual copies of the Qur'an. But the point remains: burning scriptures is a pathetic exercise in futility. If you strike them down, they shall only become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.

Cyrus Cylinder loaned to Iran

THE CYRUS CYLINDER has gone to Iran to go on display:

Museum loan to soothe tension with Iran

By Peter Aspden (Financial Times)

Published: September 10 2010 23:07 | Last updated: September 10 2010 23:07

In a rare act of diplomatic accord between the UK and Iran, the British Museum has sent the Cyrus Cylinder – one of its most culturally significant possessions – to Tehran where it will remain on loan and be displayed for the next four months.

The prized clay artefact, a document written by the Persian king Cyrus the Great, was flown to the Iranian capital on Thursday night and will go on display at the National Museum of Iran on Sunday.

The cylinder, written in Babylonian cuneiform after Cyrus’s conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, has been described as the first declaration of human rights. It records Cyrus’s restoration, after his conquest, of shrines dedicated to different gods, and his repatriation of deported peoples.

Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, said the loan was especially important at a time of diplomatic tension between Iran and the west.

[...]

The full statement from the British Museum is given here.

Personally, I don't think that loaning out precious pieces of humanity's heritage to totalitarian theocrats is a particularly good idea, but no one asked me. That said, the move may well backfire on the Mullahs, since it may be politically useful to the opposition in their calls for freedom.

For background on the Cyrus Cylinder go here and follow the links.

UPDATE (12 September): Todd Bolen comments on the loan at the Bible Places blog and Dorothy Lobel King comments at PhDiva. I share Dorothy's concerns about the cylinder coming back. She also reminds us that "Cyrus may have ruled over what is now Iran, but the cylinder was found in Iraq."

September 11

Phoenicia sets sail for Carthage

THE GOOD SHIP PHOENICIA has set sail from Gibraltar for Carthage:

Last stage for Phoenicia

Posted: Sep 09, 2010 02:48 pm EDT (ExplorersWeb)

The Phoenicia is surfing eastward in the Mediterranean and are close to finishing the full circle of Africa. The 21 meter replica of a 600BC Phoenician cargo ship has battled heavy shipping in the Gibraltar Strait and gale force wind in the Med the last couple of days.

Phoenicia used 27 days from the Azores to Gibraltar. After a week with some well-earned rest they started on their last leg in to the Mediterranean. The 21 meter vessel, a traditionally built replica of a 600BC Phoenician cargo ship, is on the last stage of recreating the epic first circumnavigation of Africa some 2,600 years ago.

[...]

Their next port of call is Carthage in Tunisia, and before autumn set in they are to dock in their final destination; Tartous, Syria.

Captain Philip Beale and his crew started their circumnavigation of Africa from Syria in August 2008. Next year they plan to sail to the UK.

[...]

Background here.

Michael F. Bird on ancient Jewish proselytizing

MICHAEL F. BIRD summarizes his new book on proselytizing in ancient Judaism for Bible and Intepretation:

“Gentiles for Moses”: The Debate about the Nature and Intensity of Jewish Proselytizing Efforts in Ancient Judaism

Second Temple Judaism did attract proselytes and facilitate the conversion of Gentiles that wanted to convert to Judaism, much to the ire and contempt of some Greek and Latin authors, but it was not self-conscious missionary since the role of Israel, the Torah, and the synagogue was never directed unequivocally towards Gentile recruitment.

See also: Crossing over Sea and Land: Jewish Missionary Activity in the Second Temple Period (Hendrickson Publishers, 2010).

Dr. Michael F. Bird
Crossway College, Brisbane, Australia
August2010

Tacky Temple Mount repairs

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: Hershel Shanks complains in BAR of tacky repairs to the wall of the Temple Mount platform:

First Person: Temple Mount Repairs Leave Eyesores

By Hershel Shanks

Two unsightly scaffolds hang from the walls of the Temple Mount, one on the southern wall and a second on the eastern wall. The question is whether they will be there forever.

[...]

The Jordanians have now completed their work and have long gone home. But they have left a scaffold hanging at the top of the southern wall and another at the eastern wall. No one knows when they will be taken down—if ever.
Picture
Both archaeologists and tourists say that the Jordanians have done a terrible job. The Jordanians may have reinforced the walls, but the unsightly appearance of the new sections of wall, where the bulges had been, is entirely out of keeping with the ancient ashlars. No effort was made to blend in the new wall sections with the old walls. The new sections bear all the marks—color, smooth surface and size—of new work. Perhaps the hanging scaffolds are justified as conforming to the ugliness of the new sections of wall. They’ve been there now for several years. How much longer

There's a picture of the repaired area and it does look ugly. I have noted the story of the bulge in the Temple Mount wall and its repair from time to time, including here, here, and here.

DSS tidbits

DEAD SEA SCROLLS TIDBITS:

Dead Sea Scrolls scholar to speak at Brodsky Library

Posted: Wednesday, September 8, 2010 11:28 am

BY SUSAN FADEM, SPECIAL TO THE [ST.LOUIS JEWISH] LIGHT | 0 comments

Of all the archaeological discoveries ever made, none surpasses in ongoing international importance the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. So says Rabbi Shalom Paul, of Jerusalem, one of the world's leading authorities on the Bible and also chairperson of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation.

[...]

What: To speak on "The Ever-Alive Dead Sea Scrolls and Their Significance for Understanding the Bible, Early Judaism and the Birth of Christianity," this year's annual Lazaroff Lecture, funded by the Morris and Ann Lazaroff Endowment.

When: 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 14

Where: Saul Brodsky Jewish Community Library at the Jewish Federation Kopolow Building, 12 Millstone Campus Drive [St. Louis].

How much: Free to Friends of the library, otherwise $7 per person. Reception afterward.

More info: Reservations are required and can be made at 314-432-0020. Rabbi Paul will sign his "The Jewish Bible: A Jewish Publication Society Guide," which will be for sale Sept. 14 at the Brodsky Library.

And from Biola University News:

The Great Isaiah Scroll

Penned more than 2,100 years ago, the Great Isaiah Scroll is one of only three complete scrolls from 900 documents that comprise the Dead Sea Scrolls. An exact replica of the Great Isaiah Scroll will be housed at Biola University this fall. The survival of this scroll is a celebrated story throughout the world — and now students and the Biola community will be able to celebrate it firsthand.

Owned by Legacy Church, Orange County, and on loan from the Museum of Biblical and Sacred Writings in Irvine, Calif., the facsimile sits 7,000 miles away from its original in the Shrine of the Book Museum in Jerusalem, Israel. Bedouin shepherds discovered the scrolls in caves along rocky cliffs west of the Dead Sea in 1947 near what had been the ancient community of Qumran. The original scrolls have deteriorated significantly since their removal from the dry climate of the Dead Sea region. This facsimile, however, is recreated from prized photographs taken in 1948 to preserve these ancient works.

[...]

Happy New Year 5771!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 5771! Rosh HaShanah begins this evening at sundown.

Happy Seventh Blogiversary to Rogue Classicism

HAPPY SEVENTH BLOGIVERSARY to David Meadows's Rogue Classicism blog. Again, slightly belated: its launch date was 2 September 2003.

Paul Foster on the Gospel of Peter

DR. PAUL FOSTER of Edinburgh University is interviewed on the Gospel of Peter here and here by Michael Bird at the Euangelion blog.

The Talmud Blog

THE TALMUD BLOG has lots of good stuff up. I was trying to decide on specific links, but it's better if you just go to the site and keep scrolling down and reading.