A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (review)

Abstract

Hebrew Studies 48 (2007) 345 Reviews cism and postmodernism: “capturing the field” (p. 3), “broadside attacks” (p. 34), “conflict of approaches” (p. 17), and in the chapter on feminist criticism employs the word “fiercely” twice in as many pages to describe Schussler Fiorenza’s “committed” exegesis, a small but telling stylistic tick that presumably should have been caught by an editor. Early on in the book, while discussing the crisis in historiography in general and in the study of the history of Israel in particular, Collins makes passing comment on the recent work of Israel Finkelstein and William Dever. Their contribution, he writes, “seems refreshingly moderate and centrist ” (p. 39). There is, of course, something of a mirror to this commendation . True both to it and to his self-professed modernist training (p. 3), Collins finishes his own book by concluding that modernist and postmodernist approaches to the Bible can and should be complementary. Ultimately, for Collins, postmodern biblical criticism serves as a valuable corrective, and thus an important (but still lesser) partner, on a modernist project thereby rendered more suitably moderate and restrained. Or, as he puts it, postmodernist criticism, by “going out to the highways and byways to bring ‘new voices from the margin’ to the conversation” of biblical studies (p. 161) keeps the dialogue more honest “for people who are willing to enter a conversation in good faith and to pursue consensus, but not assume it” (p. 161). Although I do not know Professor Collins personally, this well-written and informative book is clear and important evidence of just such a desire. Matthew R. Anderson Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada matthew.a@sympatico.ca A GRAMMAR OF BIBLICAL HEBREW. By Paul Joüon and T. Muraoka. SubBi 27. Pp. xlv + 772. Rome: Editrice Pontificio Instituto Biblico, 2006. Cloth, $79.00. Joüon’s grammar was originally meant as an intermediate scholarly grammar for students of Biblical Hebrew, as stated by the author in his preface to the original French edition (1923; English translation on pages vii–xi in the current edition). But in time, and owing to its fine qualities, this book acquired the status of an important reference grammar for students and scholars alike. The shift has been furthered by the significant project of an English translation and revision, accompanied by an extensive update of this grammar, undertaken by Prof. T. Muraoka in several editions and reprints, the latest of which is the one under review here. Hebrew Studies 48 (2007) 346 Reviews Though most Semitic and Biblical Hebrew scholars have long recognized the necessity of reading academic literature in the original French, German, Italian, etc., without intermediation, in recent decades English has largely become the main language of communication, discussion, and publication in Semitic and Biblical Hebrew fields of research. The English translation of Joüon’s grammar has accordingly played a crucial role in establishing his work as a standard study and reference tool for students and scholars alike. More important than the English translation is Muraoka’s extensive and persistent quest for new research outputs and methods in Semitic studies, especially Biblical Hebrew, and his blending them into Joüon’s grammar. The comprehensive nature of Muraoka’s updated project justifies the inclusion of Joüon’s grammar since the publication of the first English edition under the title of a joint “Joüon-Muraoka grammar.” As the edition under review here is not the first English edition, below I do not refer to all aspects of those earlier editions but only to those evident in the new one. The latest 2006 English edition has several prominent advantages which should cause any scholar or student immediately to prefer it to the previous editions. First, in this edition Muraoka has again inserted many new important bibliographical references, which bring the work up to date up to at least the end of 2003. Second, this edition is accompanied by an impressive bibliography (pp. 729–772), most entries of which, according to the preface to this edition (p. xviii), and as can be observed in the notable new author index on pp. 721–728, are mentioned in footnotes in the book. Apart from being an important...