Scott N. Callaham. <i>Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters: A Parallel Hebrew-Aramaic Handbook</i>

In Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters: A Parallel Hebrew-Aramaic Handbook, Scott N. Callaham provides an innovative new textbook for the study of biblical Aramaic. This book has its origins in Callaham’s teaching of biblical Aramaic at Baptist Theological Seminary, Singapore. Many of Callaham’s publications have focused on the linguistic analysis and teaching of the biblical languages; furthermore, Callaham is the host of Daily Dose of Aramaic (https://www.dailydoseofaramaic.com/). Callaham is therefore uniquely qualified to write Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters, and he does not disappoint.The opening “Introduction” and “How to Use This Book” sections chart a course for incorporating biblical Aramaic into a theological curriculum and for successfully using the book in the classroom. Callaham points out the many similarities between biblical Aramaic and biblical Hebrew, the limited corpus of biblical Aramaic, and contemporary advances in technology that reduce the need for rote memorization in language learning. According to Callaham, biblical Aramaic can therefore easily be taught as an extension of a student’s learning of biblical Hebrew, without overburdening the student or institution.Callaham’s stated purpose for Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters is to “lead students to develop recognition-based reading skills” (p. xi) rather than the memorization of paradigms and decontextualized vocabulary words. Furthermore, the distinctive feature of his book is “its comparative method that places B[iblical] H[ebrew] and B[iblical] A[ramaic] grammar concepts in parallel” (p. xii). This approach, which teaches students biblical Aramaic in light of what they already know of biblical Hebrew and simultaneously reinforces that knowledge of biblical Hebrew, is intended to facilitate student learning and decrease foreign language anxiety.The majority of the book sketches a grammar of biblical Aramaic in two parts divided among nineteen chapters. Part I (chapters 1–10) covers vocabulary and parts of speech other than verbs, including particles, prepositions, nouns, pronouns, and adjectives; Part II (chapters 11–19) covers verb-related topics, including the verbal stems, weak verb forms, participles, perfect and imperfect verbs, and infinitives. In keeping with Callaham’s goal of reinforcing student knowledge of biblical Hebrew while learning biblical Aramaic, some grammatical concepts specific to biblical Hebrew also appear, such as waw-prefix forms (i.e., weqatal and wayyiqtol) and the infinitive absolute.Each of these nineteen chapters presents its content in outline format. Most chapters present biblical Hebrew and biblical Aramaic grammatical concepts side by side, with biblical Hebrew (to be reviewed) on the left page and biblical Aramaic (to be learned anew) on the right page. Summaries of key similarities and differences between biblical Hebrew and biblical Aramaic are given at the top of the first Aramaic page as well as throughout the grammatical outline. Callaham provides many examples from Scripture to illustrate each grammatical concept, which are visually highlighted through the use of color in the examples; references to the standard intermediate grammars of biblical Aramaic (e.g., Franz Rosenthal, A Grammar of Biblical Aramaic, 7th expanded ed., PLO [Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006]) also supplement the relatively brief grammar explanations. Finally, most chapters conclude with at least one suggested learning exercise that asks the student to consider additional examples of a grammatical concept and, in many cases, to compare, categorize, or evaluate the examples.The book concludes with a list of resources recommended for students of biblical Aramaic, an appendix that presents Daniel 7 in Aramaic and in medieval Hebrew translation, a biblical Aramaic glossary (with biblical Hebrew cognates listed when available), a bibliography of works cited in the book, and a Scripture index.Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters has many strengths, the most obvious of which is its side-by-side comparison of biblical Hebrew and biblical Aramaic. Using biblical Hebrew as a foundation for learning biblical Aramaic is very effective pedagogically in that it builds upon a student’s prior knowledge. This approach makes biblical Aramaic easier to grasp because the student can make sense of grammatical concepts in light of already-existing knowledge schemata, rather than starting from scratch. Minimizing the amount of new material to learn also reinforces the student’s confidence in their ability to learn biblical Aramaic, thereby overcoming the foreign language anxiety that hinders many students’ learning of another language.Another strength of the book is that it is well-informed by modern linguistics. Callaham presents topics such as definiteness, word order, verbal valency and tense, aspect, and mood accurately and yet concisely, in a way that students can easily understand. Furthermore, Callaham provides plenty of footnotes that point the reader to important secondary sources, both from the perspective of biblical Hebrew and biblical Aramaic linguistics and from the perspective of linguistics in general. These footnotes reflect Callaham’s mastery of the linguistic literature and provide resources for those who want to further explore certain grammatical concepts.The primary downside to the book is that it does not directly facilitate its stated goal, namely the development of recognition-based reading skills. Practice reading is necessary to develop the skill of reading, but not one of the suggested learning exercises requires extensive reading of biblical passages, and the appendix containing the text of Dan 7 provides no aids for building reading fluency. Furthermore, while Callaham is right to avoid having students memorize decontextualized lists of vocabulary words, he provides little alternative means for the student to learn vocabulary, even though vocabulary knowledge is key to developing reading fluency. As a result, those wanting to develop recognition-based reading skills will have to supplement the book’s content with exercises that provide practice reading and that build vocabulary knowledge in a pedagogically informed way.This weakness notwithstanding, Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters represents a significant step forward in teaching grammar for biblical Aramaic. By building on prior knowledge of biblical Hebrew, it sets the student up for success in learning biblical Aramaic’s grammatical concepts, and it presents those concepts in a linguistically informed way. In short: Callaham’s Biblical Aramaic for Biblical Interpreters is an effective, user-friendly textbook of biblical Aramaic that will serve both instructors and students well.