Is it incurably romantic to think of the Bible as "like" a bunch of people with whom one discusses, and who argue among themselves, but who one defers to as authoritative for us... I.e. model the authority on personal authority rather than on the golf club rule book...The golf club rule book is an approach that is horribly common in "Evangelical" circles....
Hi Tim, I like the idea of a personal authority and having the Bible's authors as conversation partners. It's an appealing metaphor.I am now writing a reply to Craig's reply... but to read it you'd have to go to his blog!
[aside: Do we need to find a "balance of power" with the Bible?]
I guess I fall apart when I wonder which voice to listen to. Should I listen to the mainline voices? The near-silenced prophet? The scribe who reinterpreted something? What do I do when they disagree?
[Is it incurably romantic to answer my own questions with, "as led by the spirit"?]
I guess that's why I came up with the "protege" model. It avoids those questions -- which possibly isn't a good thing.
The words of AmosNow most of the time (as here?) this adds little to our understanding, but sometimes it shows that the scribes have parsed the structure of a verse differently from modern translators, and then things get interesting... Which reading is better? And why?
who was among the shepherds
of Tekoa
which he saw about Israel
in the days of
Uzziah king of Judah
and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash
king of Israel
two years
before the earthquake.
דִּבְרֵי עָמוֹס אֲשֶׁר־הָיָה בַנֹּקְדִים מִתְּקוֹעַ אֲשֶׁר חָזָה עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּימֵי עֻזִּיָּה מֶלֶךְ־יְהוּדָה וּבִימֵי יָרָבְעָם בֶּן־יוֹאָש מֶלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁנָתַיִם לִפְנֵי הָרָעַשׁ ׃Incidentally, any Hebraist who does not have the SBL font installed should not follow his current link, but go to http://www.sbl-site.org/Resources/default.aspx (I'll write to him and suggest he updates the link). What a cool tool, with more good things to come !
דִּבְרֵ֣י עָמֹ֔וס אֲשֶׁר־הָיָ֥ה בַנֹּקְדִ֖ים מִתְּקֹ֑ועַ אֲשֶׁר֩ חָזָ֨ה עַל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל בִּימֵ֣י׀ עֻזִּיָּ֣ה מֶֽלֶךְ־יְהוּדָ֗ה וּבִימֵ֞י יָרָבְעָ֤ם בֶּן־יֹואָשׁ֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל שְׁנָתַ֖יִם לִפְנֵ֥י הָרָֽעַשׁ׃
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