scholarly journals Digital Masorah: Toward an Index of Orthographic and Morphological Variation at the Lexical Level

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan De Joode
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Morphological Variation ◽  
Representative Sample ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Computational Method ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Lexical Selection ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Internal Variation

This article proposes a computational method to extract orthographic and morphological variation within the boundaries of individual documents that are part of the Hebrew Bible or the Dead Sea Scrolls. In particular, it presents “profiles” of document-internal variation at the lexical level, e.g., at the level of individual words. This study a) describes the methods used to create an index of variation that can be navigated and explored in order to find meaningful patterns, and b) explores the new avenues for research such an index opens up. Whereas earlier contributions have focused on the underlying rules that affect linguistic variation, the aim of the present contribution is to create a representative sample of that variation. This sample is not at the level of individual phonemes or morphemes, but at the lexical level as there are clear indications that lexical selection played a significant role in ancient linguistic practices.

Romans 5:12–21 against the Background of Torah-Theology and Hebrew Usage

2007 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 391-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Menahem Kister
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Pauline Theology ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Original Thinker

Paul was an original thinker, and his epistles are full of novel, at times paradoxical, ideas. Christology stands at the center of Paul's system, and his Christological teaching is unique among Jewish writings of the Second Temple period. Some, especially non-Christological, elements of Pauline theology do, however, have illuminating parallels in earlier Jewish teachings, which seem to have been modified and adapted by Paul to fit his own revolutionary thought. While Paul's theology cannot be reduced to these elements, they might help to explain (at least partly) its emergence. After all, even the ideas of the most original thinkers owe their emergence to prevailing conceptions of the culture in which those thinkers operated, taking some of them for granted and incorporating them naturally into their thought, while struggling with and reacting to others. In Paul's case, Jewish concepts played a significant role in shaping some central features of his theology. Thus, reading Paul in the light of the Dead Sea scrolls and rabbinic writings is important both for understanding Paul as well as for dating and interpreting rabbinic parallels.

THE BALANCE OF PROBABILITY: STATISTICS AND THE DIACHRONIC STUDY OF ANCIENT HEBREW

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 927-960
Author(s):  
Jarod Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Biblical Hebrew ◽  
Large Datasets ◽  
Dual Function ◽  
Statistical Tools ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Recent Debate ◽  
Diachronic Study

In this article, I discuss three statistical tools that have proven pivotal in linguistic research, particularly those studies that seek to evaluate large datasets. These tools are the Gaussian Curve, significance tests, and hierarchical clustering. I present a brief description of these tools and their general uses. Then, I apply them to an analysis of the variations between the “biblical” DSS and our other witnesses, focusing upon variations involving particles. Finally, I engage the recent debate surrounding the diachronic study of Biblical Hebrew. This article serves a dual function. First, it presents statistical tools that are useful for many linguistic studies. Second, it develops an analysis of the he-locale, as it is used in the “biblical” Dead Sea Scrolls, Masoretic Text, and Samaritan Pentateuch. Through that analysis, this article highlights the value of inferential statistical tools as we attempt to better understand the Hebrew of our ancient witnesses.

An Altar in the Desert?

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-135
Author(s):  
Alison Schofield
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
Spatial Theory ◽  
Conceptual Spaces ◽  
Spatial Practices ◽  
Damascus Document ◽  
The Dead ◽  
Community Rule ◽  
Rule Out

Jodi Magness’ proposal that an altar existed at Qumran leaves some unanswered questions; nevertheless, her conclusions are worthy of consideration. This study examines her claim that the residents at Qumran had an altar, modeled off of the Wilderness Tabernacle, through the lens of critical spatial theory. The conceptual spaces of some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, such as The Damascus Document and The Community Rule, as well as the spatial practices of the site of Qumran do not rule out – and even support – the idea that Qumran itself was highly delimited and therefore its spaces hierarchized in such a way that it could have supported a central cultic site.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible

Canon&Culture ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 321-332
Author(s):  
Peter Flint
Keyword(s):  
Dead Sea Scrolls ◽  
Dead Sea ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Dead
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