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disappointment. Zimmern's "Babylonians and Assyrians" does not rise above the commonplace; Schrader's "Aryan Religion" is in part vitiated by his brief for ancestor worship to the exclusion of a very evident fetishism and animism; Jeremias' "Book of Life" suffers from the obtrusion of his astral theory; Sanday's "Bible" is practically a condensation of his Bampton's Lectures with some notice of later literature, and the conservative position is maintained, for instance, with regard to the Fourth Gospel with but few concessions to advance in critical views. On the other hand, such an article as that by Dr. Dobschütz on "The Bible in the Church" lends distinction to the volume as a model of orderly development, succinct discussion, and sound statement.

Worthy of special mention are "Brahma Samaj" by Farquhar, "Arya Samaj" by Griswold (the two exhibiting two of the three notable modern. Hindoo theistic movements), and Browne's "Bab, Babism." The composite articles are in general good; the lack here is co-ordination. It happens for instance that the introduction at times traverses and repeats material given by the other writers (cf. 370 with 410). But the average of the articles is very high. Even the utility writers have done well, showing diligence in the collection of facts.

The chief defects are in the finer points of editing. The principal marks of editorial supervision are in the reduction of references to a standard form (in which there are slips; cf. the cryptic entry "Lib. pont. ad Usener,” 343). While topics not legitimately within the scope of the work are included (see above), serious omissions occur. Among geographical articles one wonders why Brazil but not Bolivia is present. Unpardonable is the omission of Asia Minor, a region most important ethnologically and also for the history of religion, serving, as it did, as the melting-pot in which religions passing from the East westward were fused and received new form. Are there to be denominational articles? "Plymouth Brethren" is found, but not "Baptists." The system of cross-references is defective; e.g., "Bereans" has much to say of John Barclay, but the necessary entry "Barclay, John.-See Bereans" is missing. Of twenty-one longer articles by individual authors only five have what all should have, a conspectus of the contents. In the list of contributors there appears sometimes the full name, sometimes the initials, now one given name and initials; there seems to be no regular order in which academic degrees are given.

But lack of editorial care is most evident in the bibliographies. Here the editor-in-chief has given hostages by admitting to his journal finical criticism of a current work, labeling "incorrect" bibliographical entries which are letter perfect, and neglecting to make correction though informed

of his error. The editors do not seem to know that an adequate bibliographical entry includes six particulars: (1-2) author's name with initials (or full name), (3) title of work, (4-5) place and date of publication, and (6) number of volumes; given these, the reader may be expected to find the book. Omission of any of these is serious error.

In the various lists of references given here sometimes the full name, sometimes initials, sometimes only the surname, appears, while place or date may or may not be present. The reviewer is not disposed to press minor inaccuracies, which are found but do not very seriously affect the value of the bibliographies. It is, however, gravely misleading to insert an entry (266): "J. Müller, Philosophy and Theology of Averroes, Munich, 1859 (Germ. tr. 1875)," which should read "Averroes, Die Philosophie und Theologie (arabisch), in Monumenta saecularia, Munich, 1859 (Germ. tr. from the Arabic, 1875)." Especially necessary is mention of the place of publication when the book appeared outside the ordinary channels (e.g., p. 245, Furness' Folklore in Borneo was printed at Wallingford, Pa.; p. 328, Risley's Tribes and Castes of Bengal was issued at Calcutta). Not one reader out of ten, if he wished to obtain them, would know how to go to work to find where these two books were issued.

Furthermore, many of the bibliographies, though rich and full and in the vast majority of cases correct, are chaotic in form, showing no principle of arrangement. Ideal arrangement of a list of works is that in order of importance, but it is difficult. Attainable is mention of leading works first and after that chronological order. But in some of the fullest and otherwise most valuable lists in this work the titles are apparently "dumped" together. This is not twentieth-century bibliography, and it is a serious blemish on the work.

Eight volumes are still to appear. The editors may yet make great contributions to the usefulness of their very worthy publication.

GEO. W. GILMORE

NEW YORK, N.Y.

BRIEF MENTION

OLD TESTAMENT AND SEMITICS

MARGOLIS, MAX L. A Manual of the Aramaic Language of the Babylonian Talmud. Grammar, Chrestomathy, and Glossaries. [Clavis linguarum Semiticarum. Edidit Hermann L. Strack.] München: Beck; New York:

Stechert, 1910. xvi+284 pages. $3.

This is the third volume to appear in Dr. Strack's new series. Its predecessors have been a Hebrew Grammar by Dr. Strack himself, and a Babylonian Grammar, by Dr. Ungnad. The present volume is well worthy of a place alongside of these two. A modern grammar of the Aramaic of the Talmud in concise and usable form has long been a desideratum. Indeed, so far as the syntax of the Talmudic speech is concerned, this is the first presentation of the subject. More than half of the present book is given to the chrestomathy and the vocabulary. These are both deserving of unstinted praise for the care and accuracy that characterize their presentation. The grammatical treatment is marked by clearness and insight throughout. No better book could be asked for as an introduction to the language of the Babylonian Talmud.

DRIVER, S. R. An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament. New ed. New York: Scribner, 1910. xxxii+577 pages. $2.50.

This is in fact the eighth edition of this famous work. It is unfortunate that the title-page should describe it as "printed from new plates" when as a matter of fact the author himself says, "It has not been found necessary this time to have the book reset; the needful alterations and additions have been all introduced on the stereotyped plates" (p. xiv). A well-known and standard work like this does not need misleading advertising. The scope of the revision may be seen from the following statement: "The principal and most numerous changes are those that have been involved in bringing the bibliography up to date and in incorporating notices either of new facts that have been discovered, or of new views that have been propounded, since 1897” (p. xiv). Dr. Driver does valuable service in exposing some misrepresentations of critical positions made by Professor Sayce and taken up in turn by one defender of traditional views after another (pp. xviii ff.). Dr. Driver records no changes of opinion on his own part of any significance. In the new materials of interest, one of the most important is his judgment that the Aramaic of the Assuan papyri may not be used as legitimate argument for the exilic origin of Daniel; for the differences between the Egyptian Aramaic and the biblical are far more numerous and significant than the resemblances. The book increases in value to students with each new edition.

HAUTSCH, E. Der Lukiantext des Octateuch. [Mitteilungen des SeptuagintaUnternehmens der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen. Heft 1.] Berlin: Weidmann, 1910. 28 pages. M. 1.

The Royal Society of Göttingen has set itself the task of determining the Septuagint text in its original form. This involves a tremendous amount of preliminary investigation. Before the Alexandrian version can be recovered as it first came into being it is necessary among other things to identify the existing representatives of the Hesychian and Lucianic texts, a task of no small magnitude and one involving the finest delicacy of perception and keenness of discrimination. The present pamphlet constitutes one

of these preliminary studies. It attempts to show, chiefly by a comparison of the citations of Diodorus, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret, and Chrysostom from the Octateuch with the readings of a certain group of MSS, whether or not the latter may rightly be regarded as representing the Lucian recension. Such work as this is of the greatest value and importance for textual students.

GINSBURG, C. D. Isaias: Diligenter revisus juxta Massorah atque editiones principes cum variis lectionibus e MSS atque antiquis versionibus collectis. Londinii: Sumptibus Societatis Bibliophilorum Britannicae et externae, MCMIX. 93 pages.

Dr. Ginsburg has spent the most of his active life in the study of the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. Isaias is a specimen of the new and latest text upon which he has put years of toil. This when completed is to commemorate the centenary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. The author has had at his command the manuscript and printed biblical treasures of the British Museum, within whose walls he has done the greater part of his work. The basis of this new version is the text "of the first edition of Jacob ben Chayim's Massoretic Recension (printed by Bomberg in Venice in 1524-25) with the correction of obvious errors." Dr. Ginsburg has collated this edition with a large number of authorities never before consulted, and has examined more than seventy MSS in the British Museum, and in the libraries of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. He has also included therein the ancient versions and the Targums. As a result of this examination he brought together every important variation in orthography, vowel-pointing, accent, and reading, and the variant massoretic sectional divisions. These variations appear at the foot of the page, often occupying from one-third to onehalf of a printed page 11X7 inches. The Hebrew type is the most beautiful that we have ever seen.

BRANDT, W. Die jüdischen Baptismen oder das religiöse Waschen und Baden im Judentum mit Einschluss des Judenchristentums. [Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft XVIII.] Giessen: Töpelmann, 1910. vi+148 pages. M. 6.

The author traces the development of Jewish baptismal rites from the days of Israel's wanderings in the desert down to the early days of the Christian church. The original significance of the act of ritualistic washing is found in the belief of the primitive Hebrews that contact with other deities than Yahweh rendered one taboo and that this taboo could be removed by washing and must be so disposed of before one could venture into Yahweh's presence. Growing out of the same fundamental conception was the requirement, which persisted to the very end, that priests and others who had come into close contact in any way with the holiness of Yahweh must wash away this holiness before returning to the discharge of the ordinary duties of profane life. The sacred and profane were two separate spheres; to pass from the one to the other in either direction called for ablutions to remove the effect of the sphere in which the individual was at the time in question. Baptisms of various kinds thus came to occupy a very large place in Jewish ritual. Naturally when foreigners wished to forsake the worship of idols and join themselves to the people of Yahweh, the initial rite for the proselyte was that of baptism whereby the defilement of the old religion was removed. In like manner the

baptism of John was a washing-away of sin. This conception of baptism prevailed also among the Ebionites and the Elkesites and closely related heretical groups. The study is useful for its collection into one easily accessible place of all the more important data for the history and meaning of Jewish baptism; it is rich in citations from the

sources.

SULZBERGER, MAYER. The Am Ha-aretz: The Ancient Hebrew Parliament. Philadelphia: Greenstone, 1909. 96 pages.

The author prepared, and read before the professors and students of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the present paper as one of a series of popular lectures. It is an attempt to show that the roots of the Sanhedrin are to be found in a national assembly of Israel which had its beginning as far back as in the time of Moses. The lecture comprises three parts: (1) the political power of am ha-aretz; (2) its judicial power; (3) the witness of literature. The treatment for a brief space is scholarly and able, and certainly has some strong points in its favor, e. g., in the history and conduct of the trial which brought about the stoning of the house of Naboth (I Kings, chap. 21), and also the arrest and trial of Jeremiah (Jer., chap. 26). We think, however, that a more detailed textual study must be made of all the passages used before the author's chief thesis can be indisputably maintained.

PROCKSCH, O. Studien zur Geschichte der Septuaginta: Die Propheten. [Beiträge zur Wissenschaft vom Alten Testament, herausgegeben von R. Kittel. Heft 7.] Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1910. 134 pages. M. 4.

NB repre

The purpose of this work is threefold: (1) to classify the many minuscule MSS of the prophets on the basis of the various uncials from which they must have arisen and so to point out certain types of uncials which must once have existed alongside of Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, etc.; (2) to consider the relation of these unknown uncials to the known uncials and to one another, and to determine which represents the purest and which the most corrupt form of the Septuagint text; and (3) to throw some light upon the history of the Septuagint text. Dr. Procksch classifies his MSS into three groups, viz., the hexaplar group (I), the pre-hexaplar (II), and the Lucian (III). From among all the codices of the prophetic books, Alexandrinus is selected as the most valuable witness to the original Septuagint; next to it in value comes Sinaiticus representing another textual tradition. Marchalianus (Q) is to be classified with Alexandrinus (A), while Vaticanus (B) belongs to the Sinaiticus (N) group. sents the type of text to which Origen's Septuagint belongs. Midway between the groups B and AQ, showing traces of the influence of both, stands the hexaplar group of minuscules, but more closely related to NB; while the pre-hexaplar group belongs to AQ. Thus two main types of text, viz., NBI and AQII, were independent of and preceded the recensions of Origen and Lucian, at the hands of which they suffered many things after coming in touch with them. The study closes with a history of the Greek text of the prophets and a summary of the results obtained. The general conclusion reached is that the history of the Septuagint is the story of its removal from the maximum to the minimum of distance from the Massoretic text. The author deserves the hearty thanks of all students of the complicated problem of the rise of the Septuagint for his valuable contribution.

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