King Solomon
Word Up
Bernd U Schipper, Proverbs 1-15, Fortress Press, 2019, Pp. i-xxvi, 1-579, reviewed by Darrell Sutton
Paremiology is the branch of study that delves into the compilation of proverbs. By far the most popular wise words from antiquity are those which were assembled throughout ancient Greek civilization. Proverbial expressions were recorded earlier among ancient Near Eastern peoples; but Aristotle collected various items for his own anthological uses. Select proverbs may put the accent on characteristics of humans, animals, insects, mythic analogies or places. Hebraic scholars have had at their disposal a corpus of Hebrew proverbs that antecede the proverbs of Hellas by hundreds of years. Sorting through them, interpreting and classifying them remains a controlled academic field of study.
This stout volume under review is the English version of part one of Dr. Schipper’s commentary which appeared in the Biblischer Kommentar series (2018). The renaissance of studies of olden sages’ statements continues. Remarkable advances in the study of wisdom literature by academy specialists were made in the last century. The gains are featured in this book. Schipper carefully compares archaic Hebrew proverbial statements to early near eastern texts, even ancient Egyptian ones. A large hardcover, the text-block is well done and the Univers 65 font is easy on the eye. As usual, the print quality is superb. The cream-colored pages are opaque enough that there is little glare; but they are thick enough that there is little ghosting of the text from the verso and recto sides of the pages. Each chapter begins with a translation of the Hebrew text. Footnotes are copious, and Dr. Schipper “allows the text’s projection of gender through its language to come through” (xxvi). The bibliography proves that he spared no pains in his investigations of sources and secondary literature. Students will be pleased with what he accomplished, for he struck the right balance in his employment of Greek Septuagint (LXX) readings and his use of Dead Sea Scroll (DSS) material. Continue reading
The Fronde of Youth
Taller Buddha of Bamyan, before and after destruction by the Taliban
The Fronde of Youth
by Stuart Millson
For many years, Sir Mark Tully was the BBC’s “voice of India”. His despatches from the sub-continent, where, in old colonial terms, “he went native”, represented the highest standards of broadcast journalism – chronicles of a country (or countries if one includes Pakistan), rather than the shallow soundbites which assail us from today’s television.
Tully became something of a modern-day, post-imperial Kipling, an English writer steeped in the languages and culture of India. And, whilst as a journalist of the post-war generation he was perfectly reconciled to Indian independence, he nevertheless reported the many complicated strands, religious divisions and political pulses which made the country and its neighbours what they are today. Tully also delighted in railway journeys across India and Pakistan – railways being one of the great legacies of the British Empire – and his observations from packed carriages of the dusty plains and engulfing monsoons of the land he loved, stand among the great travel-writing achievements of this or any time. Continue reading →
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