Hebrew Thought Compared with Greek

by Thorleif Boman

"Builds on the premise that language and thought are inevitably and inextricably bound up with each other. . . . A classic study of the differences between Greek and Hebrew thought."―John E. Rexrine, Colgate University "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 Century "It might be said with some truth that he must be armoured in robur et aes triplex who essays the comparison between Hebrew and Greek thought. . . . The Scandinavian professor who has written this challenging book appears to be such a paragon. . . . A particularly interesting section of the book is devoted to a comparison between Hebrew and Greek conceptions of Time and Space. . . . Valuable and original."― Times Literary Supplement

Genres: Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality, Book Club, Judaica

226 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 1970

Reviews

[Caleb Stober · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took me almost a year to get through for a variety of reasons, though admittedly I took long breaks from it. First, it is deeply philosophical and having not been trained in philosophy, I struggled to apprehend concepts the author takes as a matter of course. Second, Boman makes many of his points through analysis of Greek and Hebrew words themselves--not having been trained in Greek or Hebrew either, this aspect of the book remains enshrouded for me. Third, as a translation from German to English I think it is somewhat clunky and at times understanding is held back not by the reader or the author but by the translator. All of that said, I found this book to be incredibly insightful on the occasions it opened its gates to me; using Greek philosophy as a backdrop, Boman brings out an incredibly robust Hebrew philosophy, relying primarily on the scripture of the Old Testament to do so. I would say that the topics inside, particularly on Greek & Hebrew perspectives on time & space (ch. 4) as well as on the idea of what a/the "word" (i.e. logos/dabhar) is are very insightful. I will note that Boman follows the Documentary Hypothesis and therefore (I believe) wastes some time comparing the various "authors" proposed by that theory; however I don't think this detracts from his overall argument--it just slows it down at times. Someone unfamiliar with DH will no doubt be confused in places when Boman mentions the "Jahwist", "Deutero-Isaiah", etc. sources.

[Thomas Kinsfather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I admit, I'm a novice in the fields of Eastern and Western thought. This book was out of my league. Very technical comments on the subtile nuances between Semitic and western languages. It was pretty heavy.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

More oriented towards linguistic analysis than pure philosophy, I found it very rough going. It's possible it reads better in the original German.

[John Antony · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully written, elegantly argued sentences populate what is one of the most damaging books in the history of biblical studies. You remember how Plato decries the sophists for proliferating Athens with beautifully-spun bullshit? Here it is. Boman's arguments retrenches a hard distinction between Hebrew and Greek thought - reanimating that indomitable spectre of orientalist othering.

Thank the heavens that Barr made Boman obsolete.

[Eric Chevlen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a linguist, and I don't play one on TV. Nonetheless, the ideas in this book were interesting enough--and obtuse enough--that I have now read it twice in five years. Although he never states it explicitly, Thorleif Boman seems to be basing his analysis on linguistic relativity (sometimes called the Sapir-Whorfman hypothesis). That is, the structure of a language is both the product of and, in feedback, the molder of the worldview of the culture which speaks that language.

The author takes Greek as the paradigm for Indo-European languages. He occasionally references other Semitic languages, but the bulk of his analysis is properly limited to Biblical Hebrew. In Boman's analysis, Hebrew (language and culture) is more based on hearing than seeing, while Greek is the reverse. Obviously, both cultures are perfectly capable of creating and responding to both kinds of stimuli. But the Greeks, according to Boman, ascribed reality to what could be cogitated or seen, while the Hebrews ascribed reality to what could be heard or experienced.

The gospels of the Christian Bible (New Testament) are an unusual mixture of the two cultures. They use the Greek language to record what Jews were saying to gentiles. One wonders if the first line of the gospel according to John could have been written in Hebrew. John writes, "In the beginning was the λόγος [logos]." The Greek word is often translated as Word. Of course λόγος can mean word, but it also means order, the opposite of chaos. Hebrew has no equivalent term. The Hebrew term for "word" is "דבר [d'var]." That word (characteristically, Boman would say) can also mean "thing." For the Hebrews, the spoken word had thing-like qualities. Similarly, the word for truth, "אמת [emet]," implies reliable to be so, more than abstractly actual.

The weakness of the book derives from the fact that Boman perforce uses only the Hebrew Bible as his source of Hebrew language for analysis. While the Bible, of course, contains several books, they do not represent the range of subject matter represented by classical Greek. This may introduce a sampling error into Boman's analysis.

As other reviewers have noted, this is not light reading. Boman often strays into the frankly pedantic. Nonetheless, this book is a rich source of ideas about ideas, and worth the effort to ponder.

[Loren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short but challenging book that is written for more of an academic audience. It is part philosophical, and part linguistic. It would be easier if I had more knowledge of Greek and Hebrew (I've had a year of Greek and a semester of Hebrew, which is to say that I know relatively little).

His overall thesis is that Hebrew thought reflects the dynamic, motion, and verbs, while Greek thought reflects the static. Hebrew emphasizes speech and hearing, and Greek represents vision and sight. It dives into their respective concepts of eternity, appearance, time, truth, being, etc. - both how the language expresses those concepts, and by extension how they were thought of in Greek and Hebrew minds. It's an interesting and compelling case.

Wellhausen's Documentary Hypothesis is referred to often, as fact. I disagree, but it's not too tough to eat the meat and spit out the bones. There are lots of little insights into language, epistemology, etc. that make this tough book worth it.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another half-completed book. I look forward to coming back to it someday. It remains an intellectually fascinating read. I find it's insights popping up from time to time in the coolest places.

Read this for a wonderful taste of how differently we can experience the world.

It's a great link to what we would today call embodied cognition. I think it could easily be linked to modern work being done by Lakoff. (writing this review is making me bump this up my reading list!)

Arggh! Where is the time to finish reading all the cool stuff I have! :)

[Robert Palmer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some very good insights into the linguistic differences between ancient Hebrew and classical Greek and how those linguistic differences both reflected and shaped Hebrew and Greek culture. However, the writing style is quite dry and, at times, tedious, but this is likely a product of translation from the original German. Nevertheless, I recommend this book to serious students of the Bible.

[Haley Odom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Technical, but very thought provoking.