Congratulations to David Bokovoy

[_guy sajer]

Did not his publishers see Hamblin's post that was pinned at the top of FAIR for weeks, a year or so ago, arguing that the lack of historical finds for the Book of Mormon is exactly what we should expect and perhaps even evidence that it's true?

And I suppose Hamblin, therefore, believes in Big Foot. The lack of evidence for Big Foot is exactly what we should expect and perhaps evidence that it's true.

For what it's worth, I published a paper (co-authored) I originally wrote in a graduate school seminar in the #1 academic journal in that particular field. It was my first publication.

This didn't take away from the fact that I was still as naïve as all get out viz religion. I believed all sorts of things at the time, nearly 100% of which I've since rejected as being silly.

Academics is full of very smart, very capable scholars who, nonetheless, believe some very silly things. If peer-reviewed publications is a mark of authority on things Mormon and religious, then I'm an authority figure on the topic, while DCP is anything but.

I doubt, however, that Hamblin'll take my word over DCP's on religious issues.

So, I think it's quite a coup indeed to publish in a top academic journal while in graduate school, but let's not get carried away and attach more to it than it merits. It hardly bestows any kind of general aura on the person that he should be accepted as an authority on anything other than the narrow field in which she has published. It most certainly doesn't denote any great wisdom or insight of any kind on things religious.

[_Dr. Shades]

Sheesh. All I wanted to do was congratulate David. Regardless of my position on apologetics, it's quite an achievement for him.

In that case, you should've just congratulated David yourself instead of quoting Bill Hamblin.

[_Runtu]

Sheesh. All I wanted to do was congratulate David. Regardless of my position on apologetics, it's quite an achievement for him.

In that case, you should've just congratulated David yourself instead of quoting Bill Hamblin.

Yeah, I guess you're right. Hamblin can't even compliment someone without taking a swipe at others in the same breath (of course, sometimes we're guilty of the same thing).

[_guy sajer]

Yeah, I guess you're right. Hamblin can't even compliment someone without taking a swipe at others in the same breath (of course, sometimes we're guilty of the same thing).

You've made brilliant observation, unlike some of the other dolts around here.

[_dartagnan]

Bill said,

For those who might be unfamiliar with the field, JBL generally publishes articles by the leading biblical scholars in the world. It is quite rare, and quite an honor for them to publish an article by a graduate student. It demonstrates David's exceptional understanding of biblical studies.

I love how Bill and Dan try to Trump up academic accomplishments by LDS. It is as if they are trying to make it perfectly obvious that they think this could compensate for bad apologetics.

Quite rare is it, Bill? Consider the following facts.

Felix H. Cortez was published in the JBL two years ago and today he is only Ph.D candidate. What’s worse, he is clearly one of those conservative “Bible ministry” experts who David Bokovoy has rendered worthless in the field. Bill makes it sound like the JBL only publishes the “best” scholars in the world, making it seem like David’s presence in the Journal means he is among them. The fact is the JBL publishes a wide variety of scholars, including liberal feminists (which they seem to try to include one in each issue). Vanderkam is a Catholic, he is the editor of JBL, and he disagrees with Bokovoy’s take on Ps 82:6. What does that tell you?

Jeffrey Stackert was published in the Spring issue of JBL, 2006. His CV says he received his Ph.D sometime in 2006. Chances are his submitted article was received and accepted while he was still a graduate student. Alan Lenzi was published in Fall issue of JBL, 2006 just months after receiving his Ph.D. This I observed after a casual skimming of the issues from last year. But guess what else these guys have in common. They both received their doctorate from the same University. Brandeis University! And now adding Bokovoy to the list, that’s three recent Brandeis students within a year’s time who will have been published in the JBL. “Quite rare” huh, Bill?

It seems as though the faculty at Brandeis is giving their students the hook-up. Wright and Brettler are probably close friends with Vanderkam and the rest of the editorial staff. And check out the editorial board for JBL. Half of them seem to be the Th.D variety, whom Bokovoy thrashes on occasion as pseudo-scholars.

I wonder if they were aware of Bokovoy’s polemic slams against them before they decided to accept his article for publication.

[_The Dude]

I'm all for taking the wind out of Hamblin's overstatements ("It is quite rare, and quite an honor for them to publish...."), and his tiresome habit of starting threads simply to give high-fives (always with ironic, self deprecating subtitles), but in my opinion you are going too far in criticizing David's publication. Every publication has an Achilles' heel if you just want to cut down someone's accomplishments.

I published two papers as a graduate student -- one in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, but you could discount that because my mentor was a member of the National Academy -- another in Cell, but you could discount that because I shared principal authorship with another researcher (I lost a political struggle on that one). Oh what a looser I was! How did I ever get a job and a grant with such a crappy CV? It must have been through bribery and nepotism.

Whether or not David's article is truly a "rare" accomplishment, it is an important step in an academic career and it shows that Bokovoy is on track. I don't expect you to go out of your way to acknowledge this, but taking it too far in the other direction comes off like a personal grudge.

[_rcrocket]

I don't expect you to go out of your way to acknowledge this, but taking it too far in the other direction comes off like a personal grudge.

There's all too much pettiness in academia. Celebrate each other's accomplishments. If the article lacks merit, then critique it. But for KG to fill bandwith with a lot of supposition and speculation (Brandeis, for goodness sakes, is a pretty reputable place -- more so than BYU in theology) seems over the top.

rcrocket

[_dartagnan]

I'm all for taking the wind out of Hamblin's overstatements ("It is quite rare, and quite an honor for them to publish...."), and his tiresome habit of starting threads simply to give high-fives (always with ironic, self deprecating subtitles), but in my opinion you are going too far in criticizing David's publication. Every publication has an Achilles' heel if you just want to cut down someone's accomplishments.

I didn't attack the publication. I love the JBL. I was a subscriber for several years while living in the states. I just get a kick out of the way Bill and Dan constantly overstate the significance of academic accomplishments. They always make some kind of backhanded snide comment about how the critics are just too ignorant to accept the fact that some LDS are bona fide scholars. The JBL is a great publication, but it doesn't only publish "the best" scholars while rejecting articles left after right because they aren't from real scholars.

They want this to sound elite in some way, and they do a good job of it when preaching to those who don't know better.

As far as David's career goes, I have said nothing about it. I don't see how I have "cut him down" by putting Hamblin's exagerration into its proper perspective. It isn't about David as much as it is about Dan and Bill's infatuation with credentials. It is bordeline creepy.

Bill said this was a rare thing. Clearly it isn't. That was my point. I mean why exagerrate or lie about this kind of stuff? Its stupid to do so. I found two authors from last year's publication who were in David's position, except they had already published books and obtained teaching positions at universities. Many people publish for the JBL without ever obtaining a Ph.D. whatsoever, so what is the main criterion for contributions?

It seems the variety factor is given tremendous weight

Whether or not David's article is truly a "rare" accomplishment, it is an important step in an academic career and it shows that Bokovoy is on track.

Who cares about his career? Not me. It doesn't matter to me if he is the king of all tht's Hebrew, or whether he digs ditches for a living. He still loses his debates online with unexpected speed. Which is somewhat flattering to me I suppose, since it says something when you have reputable "world class" scholars trying to run through apologetic hoops.

I don't expect you to go out of your way to acknowledge this

Sure, I'll acknowledge it. But his career path wasn't the issue for me. It isn't that important to me where David's career takes him. No more than where Will Schryver is headed. I don't go flashing my career acomplishments online as some kind of Trump card for my opponents - look how smart I am? - and I see no reason to indulge others who do.

Bill and Dan are apparently trying to groom David as their new protege, which is to be expected I suppose. Elsewhere they spoke of their "investment [in David] paying off," whatever that means. But David is screwing up badly by talking too much online. This is what has gotten Dan into trouble. Bill too. That is going to eventually bite David in the butt the more he makes his Mormon apologetic agenda known to his academic cohorts. This is the main reason why FAIR decided to make registration a requirement, and the reason it removed posts from the pundits forum. Because Hauglid said too much that could come back to haunt him. They called this "protection," but why should professional academics need protection from their own comments? Because they don't like being held accountable for them. This is why Dan and Bill high tail it every time I confront them on issues regarding Islam; their area of expertise.

I don't get intimidated by scholars, and David has gradually been throwing his "career" in my face as some kind of Trump card.

taking it too far in the other direction comes off like a personal grudge

Huh? The other extreme would to criticize his career and his publication. I haven't done that. I haven't even read the article in question, and I doubt I would disagree with much of what was in it. I have never had a problem with the divine council as a biblical concept.

rcrocket, please show me where I used precious bandwidth for petty speculation and attacked Brandeis.

Did anyone understand anything I wrote in this post? Good grief.

I will say that David has attacked conservative scholarship to the extent that he doesn't even consider it scholarship. Yet he has no problem relying on their generosity when they give him a career boost. Consider David's past comments:

Many conservative Christians who do not want to confront the fact that today’s archeological and textual evidence negates their understanding of the Bible, will often pursue graduate work in the history of interpretation and then, return to their respective traditions presenting themselves as biblical experts.

There really is a difference between a true Bible scholar and an Evangelical/Catholic Biblicist. A true Bible scholar approaches the text objectively, even when it contradicts his or her personal beliefs.

Biblical scholars do not harmonize their research to avoid theological contradictions

Conservative biblical scholarship is only part of the problem

I stand on the shoulders of giants.

This came from a thread over at FAIR called Äre all Bible scholars Created Equal?" David pretty much rendered Catholic and Evangelical scholarship as a joke. The editor of the JBL is a Catholic scholar. Half of the board is Evangelical or Catholic. David sounded like a disgruntled petulant child in this discussion, not like a scholar and a gentleman. Are they aware of his feelings towards them as bona fide scholars? What's worse is that he pretended his professor agreed with him by referring to an article he wrote, which, when read carefully, doesn't say half of the nonsense Bokovoy was interpreting from it.

[_Enuma Elish]

Thanks to those who have offered a congratulations.

This really is a big deal to both my family and me. I felt that the article was pretty good and knew that I could publish it in an academic journal, but to be quite frank, had serious doubts that JBL would pick it up because it is very difficult to get into (when I rather sheepishly told David Wright that I had sent it in, he grinned and said don't get discouraged by the rejection; I should point out that Dr. Wright had not yet read my article). I just figured I’d shoot for the stars and then move forward following the rejection. To be honest, I’m really quite amazed that it was accepted. Unlike mine, Jeff's and Alan's were part of their dissertations.

Even though recent Brandeis graduates Alan and Jeff have also published articles in JBL, there is not a Brandeis University “hookup” with the journal. Submissions are given with a detachable coversheet so that when they are sent out for intensive peer review, the reviewers have no idea who has written the article. My professors are not in the decision-making process. To provide information to the reviewers concerning the author would compromise the academic integrity of the journal. All of the comments I received addressed me in the third person as simply he/she.

In truth, these JBL publications that have been mentioned (mine included) are merely a reflection of the impressive capabilities of Marc Brettler, Tzvi Abusch, and David Wright (the three professors working with doctoral students at Brandeis University in Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East). I feel that I can honestly make some contributions to the field over the course of my career as a direct result of their tutelage.

It really is an exciting opportunity, thanks again to all who offered kind words of encouragement.

Best,

--David

[_The Dude]

Well Kevin, I guess this is the part that crossed the line for me:

It seems as though the faculty at Brandeis is giving their students the hook-up. Wright and Brettler are probably close friends with Vanderkam and the rest of the editorial staff.

Here you were speculating that David's work had succeeded not because of its merits, but because of an institutional "hook-up". Or maybe you were kidding?

As for David's career... if he wants to be an LDS apologist, he's doing quite well it seems. If he wants to be part of a larger community of Biblical scholars... <shrug> I don't know what to say. If it were me, I'd put apologetics on the back burner and wait for tenure before using my real name on-line.

In David's field, tenure might come quickly. He got to publish his article before his mentor even read it! -- that's a whole different world of independence compared to where I come from as a biologist.