Introduction Ray Harder.
Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2014 12:44 am
I will be forced to remain mostly a lurker on this forum because:
Although I had a very good and very broad education in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern texts, the death of a child led to the decision to drop out of a PhD program at UCLA before completion in 1987. I then made my living as a teacher of various subjects -mostly microcomputer related but I have briefly taught both Greek and Hebrew at the college level.) and then as a computer administrator. (MIS/IT Director etc.). I hold a BA in Biblical and Theological Studies from Biola University, 1979. I hold an MA from UCLA in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, 1984. I completed 126 PhD units beyond the MA (only 30 were required for the PhD -I got carried away and distracted by the rich intellectual environment!) I did not complete either the dissertation or the comprehensive exams.
Although I had an excellent 8,000 volume library of resources for the study of the Bible and Ancient Near East, My physical and intellectual disability resulting from Multiple Sclerosis (diagnosed 2004) forced me to sell my home and my library which included critical scholarly editions of almost all the major texts from the near east in their original languages and the major scholarly works from the field. I had the main texts, lexicons, and grammars of the major languages from the Biblical and related periods including languages like Greek, Hebrew (including the dialects of Ammonite, Edomite, and Moabite), Aramaic (Including Syriac), Ugaritic, Phoenician, Akkadian, Sumerian, and Egyptian (incuding Coptic). I passed Master’s or PhD exams in all of these languages except Egyptian (Which I studied on my own after grad school and only learned a tiny bit. I had several of the major works on Coptic in my library, but I never got to it. Know no Coptic and almost no Egyptian.
I am disabled/bedridden and have no access to a research library.
Due to my neurological illness, I have forgotten 90% of what I learned in school and studied in the decades since. I have been on the academic computer Networks since before the Internet but find serious researched information to be sadly lacking on the Internet. If I have a question about case endings in Ugaritic or something from the Amarna texts, I used to be able to do basic research in my Library at home and then a research library for more details. I no longer have those resources available to me.
I am new to this forum and have only read a few posts and replies, but overall, I am disappointed in the quality of the discussions. Most of the participants do not have the neccesary educational background to be answering the questions asked and those who do, do not seem to be participating. There are long theologically motivated posts which contain errors of fact as well as unsupported assumptions and conclusions. Unfortunately, without my library and due to my illness, I am generally unable and therefore unwilling to correct these issues and I prefer to make positive contributions rather than criticizing all the time. Can’t people who know the languages who have read the ancient texts in Akkadian, Ugaritic, Hebrew etc. step in and be more aggressive in cleaning up the quality of the discussions?
Although I had a very good and very broad education in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern texts, the death of a child led to the decision to drop out of a PhD program at UCLA before completion in 1987. I then made my living as a teacher of various subjects -mostly microcomputer related but I have briefly taught both Greek and Hebrew at the college level.) and then as a computer administrator. (MIS/IT Director etc.). I hold a BA in Biblical and Theological Studies from Biola University, 1979. I hold an MA from UCLA in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, 1984. I completed 126 PhD units beyond the MA (only 30 were required for the PhD -I got carried away and distracted by the rich intellectual environment!) I did not complete either the dissertation or the comprehensive exams.
Although I had an excellent 8,000 volume library of resources for the study of the Bible and Ancient Near East, My physical and intellectual disability resulting from Multiple Sclerosis (diagnosed 2004) forced me to sell my home and my library which included critical scholarly editions of almost all the major texts from the near east in their original languages and the major scholarly works from the field. I had the main texts, lexicons, and grammars of the major languages from the Biblical and related periods including languages like Greek, Hebrew (including the dialects of Ammonite, Edomite, and Moabite), Aramaic (Including Syriac), Ugaritic, Phoenician, Akkadian, Sumerian, and Egyptian (incuding Coptic). I passed Master’s or PhD exams in all of these languages except Egyptian (Which I studied on my own after grad school and only learned a tiny bit. I had several of the major works on Coptic in my library, but I never got to it. Know no Coptic and almost no Egyptian.
I am disabled/bedridden and have no access to a research library.
Due to my neurological illness, I have forgotten 90% of what I learned in school and studied in the decades since. I have been on the academic computer Networks since before the Internet but find serious researched information to be sadly lacking on the Internet. If I have a question about case endings in Ugaritic or something from the Amarna texts, I used to be able to do basic research in my Library at home and then a research library for more details. I no longer have those resources available to me.
I am new to this forum and have only read a few posts and replies, but overall, I am disappointed in the quality of the discussions. Most of the participants do not have the neccesary educational background to be answering the questions asked and those who do, do not seem to be participating. There are long theologically motivated posts which contain errors of fact as well as unsupported assumptions and conclusions. Unfortunately, without my library and due to my illness, I am generally unable and therefore unwilling to correct these issues and I prefer to make positive contributions rather than criticizing all the time. Can’t people who know the languages who have read the ancient texts in Akkadian, Ugaritic, Hebrew etc. step in and be more aggressive in cleaning up the quality of the discussions?