Review: Advances in the Study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic

In Advances in the Study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic (Zondervan Academic, 2020), Benjamin Noonan seeks to fill the gaps in recent scholarship in biblical languages. After briefly conducting a sweeping historical survey of linguistics and Hebrew and Aramaic studies, Noonan describes eight pertinent areas of advancement in Hebrew/Aramaic language scholarship: lexicology, stems, tense/aspect/mood, discourse analysis, word order, register/dialect, dating texts, and teaching biblical languages. Each of these topics represents a germane area of biblical Hebrew and Aramaic linguistic scholarship. Each chapter includes an introduction to the topic, a chronological and/or topical survey of representative thinkers and ideas, and a discussion of “the way forward.”

Noonan’s text is an important reference for students of biblical languages, particularly those who will be conducting researching in Old Testament studies. Graduate and doctoral students will find an accessible bibliography of precedent research that identifies notable advances and salient gaps for future research. Especially helpful is the organization of this book. The table of contents is detailed, and headers and sub-headers are numbered. Most headers represent an advancing topic, followed by sub-headers of the representative thinkers. This makes information incredibly easy to access. Along with Zondervan’s sibling companion, Advances in the Study of Greek, this book will become an indispensable work for students of Semitic languages and the Hebrew Bible.

(A complimentary review copy was given in exchange for an honest review.)

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