Learn Hebrew for Hugh
In honour of Hugh Nibley, Dave posted a link to Nibley’s Zeal Without Knowledge as his Online Essay of the Week at DMI. I consider this my favourite Nibley essay. Particularly enjoyable is the following quote:
How many a Latter-day Saint has told me that he can understand the scriptures by pure revelation and does not need to toil at Greek or Hebrew as the Prophet and the Brethren did in the School of the Prophets at Kirtland and Nauvoo? Even Oliver Cowdery fell into that trap and was rebuked for it (D&C 9).
Nibley is right, Latter-day Saints can be very lazy “scriptorians”. How many times do we complain (or hear complaints) about the Book of Mormon Isaiah chapters, for example? When trying to motivate the Saints to read Isaiah, it seems that our best idea is to “have the Spirit” with us when we study. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but if that is all we do, Isaiah (and much of the scriptures) will forever remain a mystery. You see, I do not think that the Spirit can inspire us if we have an absence of knowledge. According to Nibley’s model, we might have the zeal to read all of the book of Isaiah in one sitting whilst fasting and praying, but if we make no effort to understand ancient Hebrew poetry or the political history of the Kingdom of Judah, we will simply be running on a scriptural treadmill that goes nowhere.
Joseph Smith had the heavens opened to him throughout his life, but, as Nibley rightly points out, he still “toiled” at Greek and Hebrew in order to fully understand the Bible. I hope that Nibley’s legacy to the Saints is not just that they buy his books feeling content that at least one Latter-day Saint has engaged knowledge in pursuit of truth. May we also learn and toil and educate ourselves as to the language of the scriptures and the history of the worlds that created them.
Go learn Hebrew (or Greek) for Hugh.
Ronan, this is something of a puzzle. First, we have the encouragement of Hugh Nibley for students of scripture to learn ancient languages necessary to read the scriptures and related documents in the original tongue: Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Coptic, Latin. Second, we have the fine example of Joseph Smith who, despite a meager formal education and a unique spiritual conduit to inspired reading of the scriptures in English, nevertheless labored in Hebrew himself for many months.
Why then is so little encouragement given to Latter-day Saints to learn original languages? Why, for example, aren’t students at BYU required to incorporate some study of Greek (NT) or Hebrew (OT) into their course of religious study? Or why doesn’t the BYU religion curriculum make the study of Greek or Hebrew more of a priority?
Comment by Dave — March 2, 2005 @ 4:29 pm
Dave,
The answer is obvious: Mormon theology has largely been in the hands of people without scholarly training. Did Bruce R. McConkie or Joseph Fielding Smith know any ancient languages? No, and they even claimed it wasn’t necessary for an understanding of the scriptures. Such is the current climate of Mormon scripture study. Joseph’s interest in Hebrew has been forgotten and Nibley, despite our lionization of him, is still only a small voice overall.
Comment by Ronan — March 3, 2005 @ 4:32 am
The truth is that is really isn’t necessary to study languages to get at the most important things that one can learn from the scriptures. These things do seem to come by inspiration (although the source is something some people dispute).
So why bother with language/historical/cultural study? It provides a larger context for the placement of our scriptures and therefore offers a richer scriptural experience. The more information that we have at our fingertips as we read the scriptures, the more likely we are to make connections regarding what is said and how it should be applied. Certainly, this is a part of what Nibley (and Joseph Smith) were about.
If nothing else, it will make you a more interesting Sunday School teacher.
I find it encouraging on this front that one can purchase a “Study Edition” of the LDS scriptures on CD-Rom that features the “original” Hebrew and Greek texts and some information about how to read them. I haven’t really looked over the grammatical material for accuracy (which I wouldn’t for the Greek in any case), but I find it interesting that the Church is offering this option for the interested (at $10 too; quite a deal)
Comment by John C. — March 3, 2005 @ 9:37 am
“Why, for example, aren’t students at BYU required to incorporate some study of Greek (NT) or Hebrew (OT) into their course of religious study?”
Get idea Dave! You just solved BYU’s capacity problem and improved the religion curriculum at the same time. It would certainly immediately quell demand for a BYU California, Arizona, East Coast, etc.
Comment by Steve (FSF) — March 6, 2005 @ 4:33 pm