Hebrew Thought Compared with Greek

by Thorleif Boman

Book Overview

In its patient, lucid philological approach to crucial issues, in its breathtakingly compact treatment of significant voices from Heraclitus to Job to Bergson, and in the studied independence of its own lines of development and conclusions, Boman's book is a modest masterpiece. It must be read not only by those who are concerned with the theological facets of the problem but by anyone who claims any interest in the problem of thinking in Western culture.--Christian...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393005348
• ISBN13: 9780393005349
• Release Date: October 1970
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.56 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Must Buy

If you want to know the difference between the Greek mind and the Hebrew mind this is a great start when studying the Scriptures. Greek minds equals our western thought and cultral, how we do and understand things. Hebrew thought would be eastern cultral and how they would do things, why the two really do not go together in the sense that I could not explain the Hebrew Scripture with my western mindset But, its great, I would recommend for everyone

A must have for any student of Biblical Hebrew

First, I would like to state that I have yet to read every last page of this book. Much of the material is condensed, and therefore, it's taking sometime for me to go through all the details and form my opinions. However, I would like to say that I have read most of this book, and so far everything that I have read is definately thought provoking, and insightful. It has been well established by people like Max Muller that there is a petrified philosophy within language. Each people or nation has their own unique social psyche, and this will be reflected in the language(s) of their culture. The ancient Hebrews who wrote the Old Testament were no exception to this. Bowman attempts in this book to analyze the Hebrew psyche, and understand how the ancient Hebrews understood both time, as well as action, and how they relates to one another. He quotes from numerous scholars in the field of Biblical Hebrew, and quotes numerous examples from the Old Testament to prove his points. He also attemps to explain and demonstrate how the Hebraic mindset is completely different from our own modern-western mindset. One of the greatest examples in his book is his analysis of time. He demonstrates that the Greeks and other European peoples view time as being something linear, where as the Hebrews appeared to view time as being cyclical. His explanation on the time concept is VERY in-depth, and thought provoking. It will provide much insight for anyone who is willing to take the time to go through the material on the subject. Im my honest opinion, I do not see how anyone can consider theirself to be an educated student of God's word, and more specifically an educated student of Biblical languages, and not understand the concepts and material presented in this book. I highly recommend it. PS. I noted that someone stated in another review that Bowman calls Greek thought "static" and Hebraic thought "dynamic", and that this viewpoint is simplistic in the extreme. I would like to state that Bowman does state this at the very beginning of the first chapter, but goes in-depth to prove his points through out the rest of the book. Furthermore, Bowman also stipulated that Greek though only appears to be static, harmonious, and prudent in comparison to Hebrew though, which by comparison appears to be dynamic, vigorous, passionate and explosive in kind. Furthermore, Bowman stated that he regreted using the terms "dynamic" and "static" to label Hebrew and Greek thought since these are terms commonly used in the real of physics and mechanics, but he stated he used them because of how well their meanings are engrained into our psyche and langauge. Therefore, Bowman was not trying to label Greek thought with an insultive label, but rather only explaning things from a comparitive stand point, and if you read the book you will realize that Bowman does not attempt to insult the Greek psyche, but rather feels that the Greek/European mindset forms a complementary unity with He

A must for proper interpretation of the Hebrew Bible

A very informative book describing, with clarity and detail, the mind of the Hebrews who wrote the Bible. As you read this book you quickly discover that the authors of the Bible do not think like we do. The Biblical text comes alive as you begin to understand the philosophy of the ancient Hebrews and how they perceived life, the world and God. If you read the Bible from our Modern Western view, your interpretation will be a Modern Western interpretation. But, if you can understand the mind of the Ancient Hebrews and read it from their perspective your interpretation will be very different and closer to what the author intended.I highly recommend this book to anyone who is seriously looking to understand the Tenach/Old Testament.

To understand the Bible, you really need this book

Many people who think they are students of the Word content themselves with vernacular translations and/or Strong's Meanings for the OT and NT original languages. Big mistake. Get this book to find out why you have to really delve into the original languages to see why God chose those languages for His Infallible Word. I honestly can't praise this book enough. Wish I had the money to buy thousands of copies of it!

A very applicable work, excellently done.

The author does an outstanding job of bringing to light many common misperceptions that can arise when interpreting the work of one culture from the framework of another. His insights are very applicable and add significant depth and understanding to ancient Hebrew literature. This is an essential book for anyone seeking to understand the context and meaning of ancient Hebrew works.