Rolf Furuli
Encyclopedia
Rolf Johan Furuli is a lecturer
in Semitic languages
at the University of Oslo
. He became a magister artium in 1995.
He is currently involved in translation of non-Christian religious texts, and is considered an expert in ancient languages. In 2005, he finished a doctoral thesis suggesting a new understanding of Classical Hebrew
. This study has been privately published.
Furuli started his studies of New Babylonian chronology
in 1984. Based on these studies, he has attempted to defend the view held by Jehovah's Witnesses
—of which Furuli is a member—that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 607 BC rather than 587 BC.
Alongside Norwegian
, English
and Hebrew, he is able to read Akkadian
, Aramaic
and Greek
. He has written works about Bible translation and Biblical issues.
Lecturer
Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...
in Semitic languages
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
at the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
. He became a magister artium in 1995.
He is currently involved in translation of non-Christian religious texts, and is considered an expert in ancient languages. In 2005, he finished a doctoral thesis suggesting a new understanding of Classical Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
. This study has been privately published.
Furuli started his studies of New Babylonian chronology
Chronology of the ancient Near East
The chronology of the Ancient Near East provides a framework of dates for various events, rulers and dynasties. Individual inscriptions and texts customarily record events in terms of a succession of officials or rulers, taking forms like "in the year X of king Y". Thus by piecing together many...
in 1984. Based on these studies, he has attempted to defend the view held by Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
—of which Furuli is a member—that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 607 BC rather than 587 BC.
Alongside Norwegian
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Hebrew, he is able to read Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
, Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
. He has written works about Bible translation and Biblical issues.
Writings
- 1995 - Imperfect consecutive and the Verbal system of Biblical Hebrew
- 1997 - The Problem of Induction and the Hebrew verb
- 1999 - The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation with a special look at the New World Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses ISBN 0-9659814-4-4
- 2000 - Modern models and the study of dead languages
- 2001 - The study of new religious movements with a stress on the mental health of Jehovah's Witnesses (with Leon Groenewald and Johan Nerdrum)
- 2001 - Gilgamesh and Atrahasis (with Jens Braarvig and Tor Åge BringsværdTor Åge BringsværdTor Åge Bringsværd is an author, playwright, editor and translator. He is perhaps best known for his speculative fiction. Together with long-time partner Jon Bing, he is also considered as the first Norwegian author to write science fiction literature. Bringsværd regards himself as an anarchist,...
) - 2002 - Science and Bible translation - "Christianizing" and "mythologizing" of the Hebrew text of the Bible
- 2002 - The NWT's translation of the Hebrew verbal system with particular stress on waw consecutive (33 pages), in Tony Byatt and Hal Fleming's (eds) Your Word is Truth—The Fiftieth Anniversary of the New World Translation ISBN 0-9506212-6-9
- 2003 - Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume 1: Persian Chronology and the Length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews ISBN 82-994633-3-5
- 2003 (in preparation) - The book of Enoch - translated from Ge'ezGe'ez languageGe'ez is an ancient South Semitic language that developed in the northern region of Ethiopia and southern Eritrea in the Horn of Africa...
to Norwegian. - 2004 (in preparation) - The Dead Sea Scrolls
- 2006 - A New Understanding of the Verbal System of Classical Hebrew - An attempt to distinguish between pragmatic and semantic factors ISBN 82-994633-4-3
- 2007 - Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume 2: Assyrian, Babylonian and Egyptian Chronology. ISBN 978-82-994633-6-2
See also
- Atra-HasisAtra-HasisThe 18th century BCE Akkadian epic of Atra-Hasis is named after its protagonist. An "Atra-Hasis" appears on one of the Sumerian king lists as king of Shuruppak in the times before the flood. The Atra-Hasis tablets include both a creation myth and a flood account, which is one of three surviving...
- Bible chronology
- Book of EnochBook of EnochThe Book of Enoch is an ancient Jewish religious work, traditionally ascribed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel...
- Dead Sea scrollsDead Sea scrollsThe Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
- Egyptian chronologyEgyptian chronologyThe creation of a reliable chronology of Ancient Egypt is a task fraught with problems. While the overwhelming majority of Egyptologists agree on the outline and many of the details of a common chronology, disagreements either individually or in groups have resulted in a variety of dates offered...
- GilgameshGilgameshGilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk, modern day Iraq , placing his reign ca. 2500 BC. According to the Sumerian king list he reigned for 126 years. In the Tummal Inscription, Gilgamesh, and his son Urlugal, rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil, in Tummal, a sacred quarter in her city of...
- Hebrew verb conjugationHebrew verb conjugationIn Modern Hebrew, verbs are conjugated to reflect their tense and mood, as well as to agree with their subjects in gender, number, and person. Each verb has an inherent voice, though a verb in one voice typically has counterparts in other voices...
- New World Translation of the Holy ScripturesNew World Translation of the Holy ScripturesThe New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures is a translation of the Bible published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society in 1961; it is used and distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses. Though it is not the first Bible to be published by the group, it is their first original translation of...
- Waw-consecutiveWaw-consecutiveThe Waw-consecutive or Vav-consecutive is a grammatical construction in Classical Hebrew. It involves prefixing a verb form with the letter waw in order to change its aspect.-Waw-conjunctive and waw-consecutive:...