In a ground-breaking and controversial article, Israel Today reported today that the “original Hebrew writings, including the ancient Bible scrolls, did not use vowel points or punctuation.” This amazing news will send shock waves through academia as biblical scholars throughout the world will need to adjust their understanding of the history of the biblical text.

OK, so can someone tell me how is this news and why is it in the “Politics” section of Israel Today? Just wondering…

Jim West at Biblical Theology blog has already announced this, though I feel it is worth repeating since my doctoral advisor (Albert Pietersma) is one of the chief editors and I may be involved in the commentary on the Greek Psalter.

I first heard about the partnership with SBL unofficially at Pietersma’s annual Bar-B-Que earlier in the summer; here is the official announcement from SBL:

SBL and IOSCS Announce New LXX Commentary Series

The SBL’s Research and Publications Committee recently approved a proposal from the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS) to publish a new series of commentaries on the Septuagint based on the Greek text as articulated in the New English Translation of the Septuagint (NETS). The Society of Biblical Literature Commentary on the Septuagint (SBLCS), which will be sponsored and developed by the IOSCS, will differ from other Septuagint commentary series by focusing on the translation at its point of origin. That is, the SBLCS will take the Septuagint seriously as a translation in order to attempt to determine what the translator was doing when he was translating.

To that end, commentaries in the SBLCS will adhere to five guiding principles: the original text as the basis for interpretation; the original meaning of the text as the goal of interpretation; the parent text as the primary context for interpretation; the text itself as the only source for determining a translator’s intent; and the wider Greek-language corpus as the sole basis for identifying normal (and abnormal) Greek constructions. In keeping with these five principles, each SBLCS volume will, in addition to addressing standard introductory issues, offer a detailed commentary on individual pericopes, including a summary of a pericope’s contents, discussion of interpretive questions pertaining to the entire passage, bibliography, a critical edition of the Greek text, a Hebrew text, the NETS translation, and a verse-by-verse commentary on the pericope. (For further details on the contents and structure of the commentaries, see here.)

Responsibility for developing the series contents, making commentary assignments, and editing volumes will lie with the IOSCS through its editorial board (see here), while the SBL publications staff will manage the actual publication tasks. The SBL and IOSCS expect the first volume of SBLCS to appear in 2007, with publication of two volumes per year until the series is complete. For further information about the SBLCS, please contact Albert Pietersma (Joint Editor-in Chief), Benjamin G. Wright III (Joint Editor-in Chief), or Bob Buller (SBL Editorial Director).

James Doohan, the Canadian actor better known affectionately as “Scotty” from the original Star Trek series, passed away today at the age of 85. While this doesn’t really relate to biblical studies, many may not know that Doohan was also a linguist. He devised the rather Semitic sounding Vulcan and Klingon language dialogue heard in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

The real reason I am blogging on this is the sad fact that I am a Trekkie. As a kid I had my Mom make me a red engineering Star Trek uniform just like Scotty’s. I had all the models, including a USS Enterprise with working lights. Even now in my office I have a small Enterprise model and if you look in my drawer you will find Vulcan ears and a working ST:TNG communicator pin.

Here are some pictures, including one from last year’s ceremony when Doohan received his “Walk of Fame” Star.

Who is going to keep the Enterprise together now? “Beam me up, Scotty…”

The Jerusalem Post and a number of other news sources (see the AP stories here and here) report that Egypt is demanding that the Fitzwilliam Museum in Britain return the Rosetta Stone, the three-foot monument containing an engraving in honour of Pharoah. The engraved text is triligual — hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek — which helped scholars decipher hieroglyphics. The basalt monument bears an inscription dated to the 9th year (196 BCE) of Ptolemy V Epiphanes (210-180 BCE). In addition, Egypt also demanded the Catholic University of Brussels to return a relief taken from the an excavation in the 1960s. If they do not comply, then Egypt may take action such as cutting off any archaeological work they may be involved in.

This demand is the latest in a series of attempts by Egypt to recover ancient treasures. Other artifacts Egypt is wanting to see returned include the bust of Nefertiti from Berlin’s Egyptian Museum; the Zodiac from the French Louvre; the bust of Hemiunu from the Hildesheim Museum; and the bust of Ankhkhaf from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

I would think that such treasures should be returned to their native lands, with the condition that there are proper facilities and means to preserve them (which is not an issue for Egypt).