a time of exploration

The past month has been a chase after the lessons. I get the feeling of already turning into a lecture notes churning machine, clocking in 50-60 hours per week, with a near burn-out after the first. But as I prepare for the lessons, issues about the OT text start to intrigue me, and they become the driving motivation for the job. These include:

• the historicity and specifics of Exodus, the location of the red sea crossing, the location of Mt. Sinai, and
• the ANE and hellenistic influences to the OT text in terms of genre and historiography.

Books that I hope to read:

• Fritz, Glen A. 'The Lost Sea of the Exodus: A Modern Geographical Analysis'. PhD dissertation. Texas: Texas State University, 2006; and the book having the same name.  
• Gruen, Erich S. Heritage and Hellenism: The Reinvention of Jewish Tradition. Hellenistic Culture and Society 30. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.

A helpful review essay of the second book is: Feldman, Louis H. 'The Reshaping of Biblical Narrative in the Hellenistic Period: A Review Essay', International Journal of Classical Tradition 8 (2001): 60-79.
Comparative materials illuminate one's understanding of the biblical text, even though there are issues of temporal and spatial distance to consider.

Being new to the Singapore scene in terms of acdemic book providers, I was excited when I came across the 'Open Trolley', an online book seller based in Singapore. It offers some selection (though limited) of academic books across disciplines. (Books within their catalogue can be collected from Singapore Plaza in a week after payment online.) I would hope that it can do custom-made orders for books that are not stocked. The service would then become an oasis for the thirsty students of the ancient worlds.

Blogging is tricky here. I will try to keep to the restrictions on what I can blog about.