A Programmatic Proposal for the Study of Biblical Hebrew as a Language

Abstract

The way in which the academic study of Biblical Hebrew as a language should be conducted is contested. In light of the current debate and the engagement in this question of some of the articles in this issue (viz. Naudé & Miller-Naudé, Holmstedt, Robar, Hardy, Ehrensvärd, Rezetko, and Young, and Noonan), we provide in this article a summary of the status of the debate and a programmatic proposal for the academic study of Biblical Hebrew as a language to move the debate forward. We argue that considering the study of Biblical Hebrew as a language from the vantage point of Complexity Theory is a fruitful approach. Biblical Hebrew as a language can then be analysed as a complex phenomenon whose component systems display interconnectedness, dynamism and emergence.