D.J.A. Clines: The Theme of the Pentateuch

Spent an engrossing hour last night in a classic book on the Pentateuch (Torah) by a renowned scholar, D.J.A. Clines, The Theme of the Pentateuch (JSOT Press, 1978).

As I gear up for more academic work in Hebrew Bible, I am working on getting a broad reading of the field. I have been ordering books and updating my collection. I try to order books I find recommended or spoken highly of by other scholars and that is how I ran across The Theme of the Pentateuch.

For those not initiated in academic studies of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), know that there is an unwritten rule that you must at least pay lip service to source theory (the documentary hypothesis, JEDP, the idea that Torah was not written in the time of Moses, but much later by a series of committees or authors). As Clines puts it, academic studies tend to be atomistic and geneticist.

By atomistic he means that scholars tend to publish research on obscure details and avoid the big picture for fear of being though arrogant for daring to theorize about overall meaning. He wittily laments such research essays as, “Seating Arrangements at Divine Banquets in the Near East.”

By geneticist he means academic work on the Pentateuch tends to have an obsession with theorizing about origins. Ironically people avoid theories about the overall meaning while engaging in hypotheses built on guesses about things we know little or nothing about.

Clines gives one of the wittiest descriptions of the precarious nature of historical-criticism I have ever heard:

It is ironic, is it not, that the soundest historical-critical scholars, who will find talk of themes and structures ‘subjective’ in the extreme, will have no hesitation in expounding the significance of a (sometimes conjectural) document from a conjectural period for a hypothetical audience of which they have, even if they have defined the period correctly, only the most meagre knowledge, without any control over the all-important questions of how representative of and how acceptable to the community the given document was.

Wow, that is music to my ears. If source theory could simply be regarded as a hypothetical exercise in trial and error, fine. But it is not. Much academic literature takes the posture that all other theories are absurdly naive, as if their hypothesis based on conjecture about theoretical time frames and agendas is objective stuff.

One more thing I like about Clines is that his interest in Hebrew Bible studies is similar to mine. He wants to examine the larger issues of the final text. He does not dismiss studies on source theory or atomistic research into details, but laments the overemphasis on them.

Regarding source theory of the Pentateuch, Clines gives it a tenuous acceptance for now with strong reservations, because he doesn’t have a better theory. He feels, nonetheless, that there will be a revolution coming and that another theory will emerge and eclipse the old Graf-Wellhausen JEDP branch of theories.

If you want to build a library for Hebrew Bible studies, this would be a good addition after you have read a few basic overviews of the field. A good list of works for a non-expert who wants to come up to speed would start with a survey book such as Walton and Hill’s A Survey of the Old Testament and an overview book, such as The Face of Old Testament Studies by Baker and Arnold. Clines’ volume would be a good next step.

Book Review: Hornby's Spree

Book Review of Polysyllabic Spree

Author: Nick Horby

“To sit alone in the lamplight with a book spread out before you, and hold intimate converse with men of unseen generations - such is a pleasure beyond compare.”

~Kenko Yoshida

I was thinking of reviewing a film (like Wolverine) or a song today, but I decided to review another book today by a British Writer—Nick Hornby. Ah yes, another book. I am into books and I am a diagnosed Bibliophile.

I discovered Hornby through my sister. She bought Polysyllabic Spree but hadn’t gotten the chance to read it. I found it on her shelf in one of my random visits to her room and decided to read this piece of Non-fiction. I have read most (if not all) of Hornby’s fiction, reading his non-fiction was a first.

This book is a compilation of Nick Horby’s column in the Believer for a period of 18 months. It’s a book review column, but I have not read anything as relatable, convincing, funny and objective review in my entire life. He made book reviews sound a little less elitist as they usually are. He doesn’t make claims of being good in making reviews; he makes an honest claim on how he chooses his books and what makes them good for him. He doesn’t make hasty generalizations on whether a book is bad or good, he tells you why HE THINKS it is so.

He made me laugh with his random side comments on the editors of the magazine; also he shares with you snippets of his life when he was reading a particular book. This somewhat candid writing draws the reader in and makes you forget you are reading a piece of non-fiction that attempts to review books.

This book is for all those bibliophiles…it is worth reading from cover to cover; and it gives you an idea to what other books are out there (if by some weird chance you haven’t heard of it). After reading this book, I had a sudden urge to read all of Charles Dickens work (less Pickwick Papers). Hornby calls David Copperfield as comfort reading. Also, the books include excerpts of some of the books he read and gives you a taste of the novels he reviewed.

Well, don’t just take my word. Read it. It offers a good analysis of the books and a little more.

Check amazon for a copy. And for another perspective or review check this and this.

Until Tomorrow, see yah.

Tattoo Machine

Johnson, Jeff. Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink. New York: Spiegel and Grau, 2009.

When I first requested this book it was one I felt inadequate to review. In the world of tattoos I have just one. One small, no bigger than a quarter, simple black and white outline of a sleeping cat. It’s not even in a dangerous place of pain. It’s snuggled on the fatty flesh of my hip. No tender skin of an ankle, inner arm or neck was sacrificed to the needle. I am largely unqualified to even begin to understand the culture of a tattoo, let alone the artist behind one. That being said, I wanted to request Tattoo Machine as a place to start. It’s if I’m saying to Jeff Johnson, “Okay. I’m game. Tell me your story and maybe I’ll learn something breathtaking in the process.” For the simple act of getting a tattoo was enough to take my breath away.

Johnson’s style of writing is very tell it like it is. He’s straightforward to the point of unflinching. Drugs, sex, rock and roll are frequent guests to the party but the guest of honor is all about getting and giving tattoos. Johnson reconfirms the stereotype that tattoo artists are seen as dangerous, on the edge kind of people. EMTs are wary of teaching them CPR. But, the unavoidable truth is that there is another side to tattoo artists. Artists such as Johnson can be well-read, intellectual, funny and yes, even sensitive. 

My only real complaint? Johnson includes an incredibly helpful lexicon of commonly used words and phrases in the world of tattooing. However, that dictionary comes after he has already written a chapter or two using the secret, somewhat strange language. The dictionary should come first.

ps~ Can I say I am disappointed I didn’t get any temporary tattoos with my advance proof? That would have been so cool!

To A Dear Friend (rough)

I sit growing roots in my chair

The rain taps the window mists

The leaves of the green dangling vine

It calls softly to our lives growing roots into the soil of my dreams

Should we follow them clinging firmly together?

Or allow ourselves to be torn from our riches by that gardener society

Put in a pot on the window sill

A pretty flower to be admired!

A diamond on the hand of a maiden who does not speak

My life is strange

I have followed my ambition

I have hacked a trail through my wild jungles of doubt

I have been met with partial success that ambition outpaces

A road paved with gold is followed by many

Paved brick by brick on the hopes of those who came before

It will not be followed by me

I refuse to die with my final rest in tombs made of ivory

My wealth is in my perception of life

Should you join me in my wild ambition I am certain we shall not fail

We voyaged in seas where waves murdered men meekly

Towards golden shores where grandchildren dwell

Smiling laughing greeting us with the sunshine of their possibility

Jeffrey M. Hopkins is the author of Broken Under Interrogation.  He has been thinking much about life in recent years following his two deployments to Iraq.  Broken Under Interrogation is available on Amazon.com.  

In Praise of Love and Youth (rough)

Hear their sweet voices whispering the silence of heavens

Faces light in the dark mines of memories

Diamonds and rubies gleam in time passed

Lovers lay in sweet embrace

All turned to dust in the furies of my lust and wandering youth

I oft ask would I have slowed my pace for you

Been surrounded with the fruits of our shared love

Loving you with wrinkles and arthritis and gout

Now young and beautiful in life’s fullness

An old man bent and broken I shall be

Would I see this, my love again with mine eyes

So I may hold her like the time with no end

Worshiping as a mortal at her temple, divine immortality

For an old man bent and broken I shall be

Jeffrey M. Hopkins is the author of Broken Under Interrogation, a book about neither youth nor love.  It is a book about war and the price of coming home.

Book Review

The other day I got a notion to read some travelogues about journeys through Japan. I  ordered up four books that fit that description. I’m into the third one right now. As a public service, I shall publicize my thoughts on each of them.

Hitching Rides With Buddha by Will Ferguson

This book was also published under the title of Hokkaido Highway Blues. It is the story of the author’s journey from the southern extremity of Japan to the northern. To make things more interesting, he decided to travel by hitchhiking, and to do so in the spring so as to follow the blooming cherry trees as they progress from one end of the archipelago to the other.

The book is highly entertaining. The jokes follow one after the other. If you have ever lived in Japan, Ferguson’s observations on the plight of the foreigner in that country will ring true.

He also did a good job of communicating the changes that the journey wrought in him. His change in attitude from the beginning to the end is clear. Anyone who has ever made a long, solo trip will recognize the weary attitude that Ferguson took on as he progressed northward. The traveller longs for a familiar face or a familiar place to lie down and rest but, none presenting itself, he trudges onward through exhaustion. Ferguson’s fatigue toward the end is palpable.

I recommend it. It is good for a laugh (lots of laughs), and definitely worth a read.

Looking For The Lost by Alan Booth

Alan Booth set the standard for English language travel writing about Japan. He was there before a large number of foreigners infiltrated the country, went to places no other foreigners approached, acquired remarkable insight into the nation and its people, and wrote brilliant prose. His insistence on walking everywhere, furthermore, both set him apart from the common traveler and brought him into contact with more people, who are the real subject of his writing.

Looking For The Lost chronicles three journeys, any one of which is a short story, but which together constitute a fairly hefty tome. The common theme is the recreation of a historic journey. He looks along the way for something which is, ultimately, not to be found - the real or imagined way that Japan was before. Something is revealed about the way Japan is now, though it is never stated. Booth displays it, but it is left to the reader to make of it what he will.

Booth adds historical background to the places he visits, and gives insightful commentary about the people he meets. His British penchant for understatement is charming. Where Ferguson made me laugh out loud, Booth has me chuckling softly to myself. Another highly recommended read, whether you are familiar with Japan or not.

Broken Under Interrogation E-Book Version

Broken Under Interrogation is published by Booksurge Publishing, LLC.

Broken Under Interrogation - E Book Version

We participated in a war that last month had more suicides from its veterans than the soldiers killed in combat actions.  Again, who cares?  What a great tale we tell when we say, “I shall not be one of them.”  And what if these suicides turned homicidal?  What if they did not see fit to merely take themselves out of the equation?  I am not talking randomness.  That is the speech of terrorists.  You will see when there is blood on the streets.  You will wake up from your slumber.  We did all that you cowards asked of us when you sent us to our fates in Babylon.  We did what the fucking cowboy coward wanted.  We have the right to criticize.  You have the right to shut the fuck up and listen.  You sat idly by and let it happen.  You turned the television from the nightly news in fear.  Your simple little lives are dictated by fear.  You are pathetic.  We have learned how to suffer, and all the better when it is your time.  You will hide your head in the sand and run from your problems until your body turns cold.”

- Intelligence Officer John Powers, in a dispatch from Peoria, Illinois.