Posts by Augustin

51

Has anyone read Thucydides - beside the author of Daniel?

by kepler in

belshazzar was the son of nabonidus the king.

darius i was a persian king who reigned after cyrus from 522 to 486 bc.

he succeeded the son of neriglissar, labashi-marduk who reigned for only nine months and was put to death in a conspiracy.. .

Augustin

Dear Ann,

I respect your position re: the date of composition for the Book of Daniel. As to historical problems, I see (at lest) two problems: (1) The identity/historicity of "Darius the Mede", and (2) the historical information provided in Dan 11:40-45. As to other problems, I think we (with a little bit of special pleading) can provide acceptable answers.

As to the Biblical canon, I think we should realise that it is somewhat anachronistic to speak about a "canon" before, say, the second or third century CE. But, obviously, there was scriptures considered as authoritative. And in the first century (B)CE, the Book of Daniel was one of these scriptures.

Regards

A.

51

Has anyone read Thucydides - beside the author of Daniel?

by kepler in

belshazzar was the son of nabonidus the king.

darius i was a persian king who reigned after cyrus from 522 to 486 bc.

he succeeded the son of neriglissar, labashi-marduk who reigned for only nine months and was put to death in a conspiracy.. .

Augustin

Dear Ann,

I have no problem with an early date for the Book of Daniel, but I wonder what you make of Dan 11:40-45. I also wonder how you understand Dan 9:24-27. (A brief answer will do.)

Thanks!

A.

18

Analysis of the Book of Daniel

by Londo111 in

i had hoped one or two others were about to start a thread on the book of daniel, springing off from the nwt conversation, but alas, nobody has yet.

therefore, i thought i'd start one--i hope that was not too presumptuous of me.

personally, i have nothing meaty to contribute to this thread, only questions and gut feelings.

Augustin

Leolaia,

Could I get a copy of the article (mentinoed by GLTirebiter)?

Thanks!

A.

54

What happened to Rolf Furuli?

by Vidqun in

rolf seems to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

he is not active on b-hebrew or other message boards anymore.

i wrote to him with a query, and has not heard a thing.

Augustin

Hi!

Rolf J. Furuli is about 68-69 years old; he currently lives in a litte town in the eastern part of Norway. I'm not sure if he has retired. He used to work at the University Library in Oslo, but I couldn't find his name listed at the library's web page. I think he is working on a book on the Book of Daniel (defending the current Watchtower understanding, of course) and his main project: Defending the Watchtower Chronology of Bible history against the scholarly world! The second edition of his The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation was published earlier this year, by "his" publishing company Awatu Publishers. By the way, according to the following site: http://instphi.org/Front%20page.html he's senior fellow at the Norwegian Institute of Paleography and Historical Philology. The institute seems serious enough!

Hopefully, Furuli is safe and sound.

Hope this helps!

A.

38

Who is Rolf Furuli?

by possible-san in

is he a reliable scholar?.

(most of anti-jehovah's witnesses in japan hardly know his name.).

is he an active jehovah's witness?.

Augustin

You'll find some information on Rolf J. Furuli here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolf_Furuli

He is not a professor, if by professor you mean a senior academic "holding a departmental chair". This is how the term is used in Europe, e.g. in Norway. Thus, in Norway he is by no means considered a professor. He is currently working at the University Library for Humanities and Social Sciences in Oslo, Norway, as a consultant. He also has his own company (cleaning services).

I'm not sure if he currently teaches Classic Hebrew at the University of Oslo, but he may have done so in the past, working as a part-time teacher (lecturer).

Interestingly, Furuli is not listed among the scholars who have made the new Norwegian translation of the Bible ("Bibel 2011"). I seriously doubt that Furuli is considered an expert although he surely has a Ph.D. and, therefore, is valuable for both the average JW and the WTC as an apologist.

Regards

A.

7

Is Rolf Furuli's second book on chronology still in print?

by VM44 in

does anyone know if rolf furuli's second book on chronology is still in print?.

his website is no longer online, so where can a person order his books?.

Augustin

Hi! First, Mr. Furuli still has a website (of some sort):

http://www.ub.uio.no/personer/uhs/uhsfagstudier/rolffu/

(In addition to having his own cleaning service, he is working at the University Library in Oslo, Norway.) (Un)fortunately, this page is in Norwegian only, but under "Bakgrunn" (viz. "background") you will find some info on his works (in progress). Now, you may contact him through his e-mail: furuli (at) online.no

As you probably know, Furuli has his own publishing company (otherwise it would have been very difficult for him to have his works published, I guess): Awatu Publishers: http://www.hermesac.no/Awatu_Publishing.pdf

I do apologize for my bad English (I'm not a native speaker).

Best regards

A.

3

A very good read...

by Augustin in

jonsson's take (part 1) on latest watchtower attempt to defend 607 bce as the year jerusalem fell:.

http://kristenfrihet.se/vtsvar/vtsvar1.pdf.

:).

Augustin

Jonsson's take (part 1) on latest Watchtower attempt to defend 607 BCE as the year Jerusalem fell:

http://kristenfrihet.se/vtsvar/vtsvar1.pdf

:)

6

Hunger vs. Furuli

by Augustin in

http://goto.glocalnet.net/kf4/dating.htm.

interesting .

- augustin -.

Augustin

http://goto.glocalnet.net/kf4/dating.htm

Interesting

- Augustin -

4

Who promotes the earlier date for the composition of Daniel?

by Doug Mason in

i have been researching the "70 sevens" prophecy at daniel 9:24ff.. one topic relates to determining the date when daniel was written.

the www provides unnumerable hits on the subject.. i wondered if everyone who promotes the earlier 6th century bce date of composition interpret chapter 9 as referring to jesus christ.. i likewise i wondered whether everyone who promotes the later 164 bce date says chapter 9 refers to antiochus epiphanes.. is it possible that anyone who believes in the earlier date of the composition of daniel also believes that the writer was predicting the activities of antiochus epiphanes?.

doug.

Augustin

I'm sure that you will find people who do not see Dan 9:24ff. as a prohecy about Jesus even if they would accept an early date for the Book of Daniel (viz. all parts of the book). Cf. the commentaries by E.C. Lucas, M. Stuart, and the "preterist" interpretation of Dan 9 advocated by the Dutch/South African scholar Cornelis van der Waal. Few people advocating a late date for Daniel, however, would see Dan 9:24ff. as a prophecy primarily about Jesus.

Whereas I am able to see a possible minor/indirect reference to Jesus in Dan 9:24ff (cf. Gruenthaner, CBQ 1, 1939, pp. 44-45), I tend to see Dan 9 as being parallel to Dan 8 (cf. Dan 9:21-23 as a reference back to Dan 8:27). and Dan 11 (cf. v. 31). One should also note that there are noe reference to Dan 9 in the NT indicating that the prophecy in vv. 24-27 is about Jesus.

Best regards

Augustin

18

Hiding the Divine Name - The WT Society and Hebrew Versions of the NT

by cabasilas in

in the spring of 1980, i was re-investigating my beliefs as a jehovah's witness and this led me to discussions with some people who had done a bit of research on the new world translation.

one of the questions that was disturbing me was the apparent ease the new testament writers quoted old testament passages about jehovah and applied them to christ.

i knew i couldn't get away with that at the kingdom hall, but why did paul, peter and other disciples do this?

Augustin

Slim,

I know that it is possible that the NT text known to us today is unreliable (because it has been tampered with, etc.). The main question, however, is whether the NT author used "kaige" versions of the LXX or a more "pure" LXX text. Furthermore, as even the Watchtower will realise, the NT authors did not quote verbatim from a given OT text. The qere was "kurios" for Greek speaking Jews. This is more or less certain. The very idea that the "original" NT texts did have "YHWH" is based on pure speculation. As demonstrated by both Fitzmyer and Rösel (see his book "Why the Lord is called 'Adonay'"), the Jews did call God "Adonay" long before the NT era. There is no evidence supporting that the NT authors did pronounce the Divine Name; and as the NT texts were read by lectors in the church, even "YHWH" (in Hebrew) in a Pauline epistle would have been pronounced "kurios" (Lord). So, Trobisch & Howard have no case. See Hurtado on the "nomina sacra" etc.

Hope this helps!

-- Augustin --