Advances in the Study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic

Benjamin J. Noonan received his PhD from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He is associate professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Columbia International University. Noonan is the author of the forthcoming volume, Foreign Word in the Hebrew Bible Linguistic Evidence for Foreign Contact in Ancient Israel.

'Advances in the Study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic is a helpful and succinct guide to the complex landscape of recent study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic grammar. Noonan provides a brief orientation to the linguistic theories that have animated many of these recent studies but also hinder easy access to them. Noonan's surveys of key advances and debates in the fields provides the 'lay of the land' and key resources for further study. This book is a useful initiation to the recent study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic grammar for students and biblical scholars alike.'

• IntroductionChapter 1: A Short History of Biblical Hebrew StudiesThe first chapter will summarize the history of Biblical Hebrew scholarship, beginning with the ancient period but focusing primarily on the nineteenth century to the present day. Attention will be given to important key figures (e.g., Wilhelm Gesenius) and publications (e.g., Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hebrew Language and Linguistics) from the modern period.Chapter 2: Linguistic TheoriesThe second chapter will overview the field of linguistics, presenting its different branches (e.g., historical linguistics, theoretical linguistics, applied linguistics), as well as the different linguistic schools of thought (e.g., functional vs. generative, synchronic vs. diachronic). The relevance of these categories for understanding the different approaches to Biblical Hebrew will be noted throughout.Chapter 3: Lexical Semantics and LexicographyThis chapter will introduce the basic theory of lexical semantics (lexicology) and its relevance for Biblical Hebrew scholarship. Attention will be given to important issues such as lexical choice and the difference between diachronic and synchronic approaches to lexicology. The contributions of major scholars (e.g., James Barr) and published lexica (e.g., Ludwig Köhler and Walter Baumgartner’s The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament and David Clines’ Dictionary of Classical Hebrew) will be presented and assessed.Chapter 4: The Verbal Stems in Biblical HebrewThis chapter will survey scholarship on the verbal stems (binyanim) of Biblical Hebrew, particularly as they relate to modern advances in our understanding of voice and lexical aspect. Special discussion will be devoted to scholarship on the Niphal, Piel, Hiphil, and Hithpael (e.g., the works of Ernst Jenni and N.J.C. Kouwenberg) because these stems exhibit complexities and have received unique attention in the secondary literature.Chapter 5: Tense, Mood, and Aspect in the Biblical Hebrew Verbal SystemThe fifth chapter will begin with an analysis of tense, mood, and aspect within the context of modern linguistics. Discussion will then present and analyze the work of significant scholars in this area (e.g., John A. Cook, Jan Joosten, Elizabeth Robar, and Alexander Andrason), providing practical examples of how one’s understanding of tense, mood, and aspect affects our understanding of Biblical Hebrew.Chapter 6: Register, Dialect, and Code-SwitchingThe sixth chapter will investigate the application of sociolinguistics to Biblical Hebrew, a relatively recent development in scholarship. Attention will be given to the role that register, dialect, and code-switching play in the Hebrew Bible. Key contributions of scholars to this topic (e.g., the work of Gary Rendsburg) will be assessed along the way.Chapter 7: Dating of Biblical Hebrew TextsThe seventh chapter will overview the present debate over diachrony in Biblical Hebrew. The traditional approach, which views the Hebrew Bible’s linguistic heterogeneity in chronological terms (e.g., the work of Avi Hurvitz), will be presented alongside of the more recent approach that understands this heterogeneity in terms of scribal stylistics (e.g., the work of Ian Young, Robert Rezetko, and Martin Ehrensvärd). Both views will be assessed, and their relevance for understanding Biblical Hebrew will be discussed.Chapter 8: Discourse AnalysisThis chapter will survey scholarship on discourse analysis as it relates to the Hebrew Bible. Within the context of broader approaches to discourse analysis (e.g., the work of the Summer Institute of Linguistics), attention will be given to the Hebrew Bible’s different types of discourse and the unique challenges of conducting discourse analysis on the Hebrew Bible. The contributions of key scholars in the field (e.g., Robert E. Longacre and Roy L. Heller) and related publications (e.g., Zondervan’s Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament series) will be presented and