Antiquitopia

In the wake of "what language did Jesus speak?" (Aramaic, Hebrew, with a dash of Greek?) debate, Seth Sanders offers a more complex picture of the linguistic landscape of first-century Palestine (and how searches of monolinguistic purity is a red herring and largely ideologically charged religiously and politically).  Check out his Religion Dispatches here .

I have a quick question on formatting. When I write in Hebrew online, everything turns out fine. But when I go into my microsoft word program, it scrambles everything up. It is like it can't handle the right-to-left. For example, when I copy and paste something from my blog to a word document, it reverses everything so that it reads left-to-right rather than right-to-left. When I try to write, sometimes it will sometimes allow right-to-left within a single word, but when I space it makes me go left-to-right. When I worked from a PC, I never had this problem. But with a mac, now I have it. By the way, it is clearly a problem with word itself. If I go to a notepad or rich text editing pad, it has NO PROBLEM moving back and forth between different directional writing types (the problem is, it is much more difficult to type up a full formal paper with footnotes, etc., in that program). Anyone have a solution?

NYTimes reports the possible opening of a new language charter school that focuses on Hebrew language. This comes after the controversy surrounding the Arabic language charter school, Khalil Gilbran International Academy. Nearly two years after a wave of protests over New York City’s first public school dedicated to the Arabic language and culture, state education officials are expected to consider greenlighting a Hebrew-language charter school in Brooklyn this week. The school would open in the fall if it is approved, first by a committee of the State Board of Regents on Monday and then by the full board on Tuesday. It would begin with 150 kindergartners and first graders and be in District 22, which includes the Sheepshead Bay, Midwood and Mill Basin neighborhoods. The district is 45 percent black, 13 percent Hispanic and 15 percent Asian. It also has a substantial population of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Israel. The State Department of Education staff has recommended that th...

John Hobbins at Ancient Hebrew Poetry has a posting entitled, "Why it is important not to love the God of the Bible," listing those who post online and have facility in Hebrew, Aramaic, and other Northwest Semitic languages "with a fire in their belly." He writes: I take this opportunity to point out something that is not always understood. It’s possible to love the biblical literature without loving the God of which the Bible speaks. There is even a sense in which it is precisely the believer who cannot and must not love the God of the Bible. I am happy to be included in the very long list. I wonder which post in particular suggested to John that I have a "fire in my belly." Or if it just my general attitude to biblical and other ancient texts. Nonethless, I am happy to be listed among those who love the Bible, but have some questions about the god discussed there.