caption image_size birth_date image article_title name
furuli the university of oslo is a former lecturer in semitic languages at 150px 19 december 1942 rolffuruli-bw . png rolf furuli
 rolf johan furuli
rolf furuli

rolf johan furuli -lrb- born 19 december 1942 -rrb- is a former lecturer in semitic languages at the university of oslo until his retirement in 2011 .
he has translated a number of documents from semitic languages and sumerian into norwegian .
furuli started his studies of new babylonian chronology in 1984 .
he became a magister artium in 1995 and doctor artium in 2005 .
based on his studies , furuli has attempted to defend the religious views of jehovah 's witnesses -- of which furuli is a member -- including their view that jerusalem was destroyed by the babylonians in 607 bc rather than the broadly recognised dating of its destruction in 587 bc .
in a 2004 issue of `` journal for the study of the old testament '' , lester l. grabbe , professor of theology at the university of hull , said of furuli 's study : `` once again we have an amateur who wants to rewrite scholarship .
... f. shows little evidence of having put his theories to the test with specialists in mesopotamian astronomy and persian history . ''
in 2005 , furuli defended his doctoral thesis suggesting a new understanding of verbal system of classical hebrew .
in a review of the thesis , professor elisabeth r. hayes of wolfson college , oxford , wrote : `` while not all will agree with furuli 's conclusions regarding the status of the wayyiqtol as an imperfective form , his well-argued thesis contributes towards advancing methodology in hebrew scholarship . ''
