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Progress Report:
August 4, 2007
If you are a
returning visitor, thank you for continuing to check back over the
months for updates on this project. After maneuvering through several
snags that life will throw our way at times, the availability of this
research has been obviously delayed. One such “snag” was cleaning up
after a virus that became attached to the site through the previously
posted contact email address. For obvious reasons, the contact link is
no longer operable.
I must concede,
however, that in the big scheme of things, the delay of the past few
years has served to make the project as a whole much better for the
delay. By way of a more in-depth investigation, I am now prepared to
present the case that the ancient use of multi-lingual proper name wordplay was not limited to the
biblical narratives, or unique to the previously assumed ancient
Semitic writer. Rather, clear evidence now shows that the same literary
methodology used to write the bible was also used by one of the
greatest thinkers of the western world: Plato.
In finding that the
Platonic Dialogues were written using the same creative methodology as
the bible, the boundaries of the research originally published on this
website have greatly expanded. Now I, and the academic
community-at-large, have even more puzzling questions that must be
addressed and answered. At the top of the list: How did Plato, an
ancient Greek philosopher, have access to the same—seemingly Semitic—syllabic vocabulary as the writers of the
bible? Or perhaps, and probably more accurately, the question should be
rephrased as: How did the writers
of the bible have access to the same syllabic vocabulary as Plato?
It is quite easy to
answer this latter question in regard to the New Testament narratives,
which were clearly created by Hellenistic writers who had full access
to Greek philosophical tradition. It will not, however, be so easy to
answer in regard to the Old Testament narratives. This lack of ease is
entirely due to currently held academic (and religiously influenced)
assumptions that must be suspended in order to properly address this
provocative question, as well as the many other questions that
subsequently arise. For example, given the nature of the syllabic
vocabulary evidenced in my research, did Plato intentionally use
Semitic language in his dialogues, or—did the authors of the biblical
narratives intentionally use Greek?
This line of
questioning leads us to ask further whether the writers of the biblical
narratives were really of Semitic origin, as religiously influenced
scholarship continues to insist, or were these writers in reality
members of the Greek educated elite?
At the root of all
these questions is the unknown origin of a well-established syllabic
vocabulary that was definitely in use from the days of Plato (or even
before) until after the New Testament Gospels and select epistles were
written in the first century. What was the origin of this syllabic
vocabulary? Was this specialized literary methodology a pedagogical
tool that was used to teach multilingual grammar and other language
skills? Was it also a commonly used vocabulary for allegorical creations
in the ancient world? Why would Plato use such a literary tool? Were
the biblical narratives originally written as philosophical allegories?
These questions, and
a great many more will arise when scholars across the Humanities come
face-to-face with this research. Even with all of the unanswered
questions that must eventually be addressed, I have full confidence in
the veracity of this scholarship. And I have no doubt as to the
tremendous impact that it will one day have upon the academic study of
the ancient world and upon the Humanities in general.
With that said, I am
also acutely aware of the fact that a great many scholars will be
reluctant to acknowledge a discovery that may well bring their own
scholarship into question. As a scholar, I can sympathize. But as a
scholar who cannot overlook indisputable evidence, I remain confident
that there are others like me who want to know as much as possible
about the inescapable objects of their intellectual passions. For these
open-minded individuals, I am now dedicated to publishing this material
in hardcopy form as soon as possible.
With this update, I
do not mean to unduly tantalize those of you who have been checking
back over these many months (I may not know who you are, but I know you
are out there!) Rather, I hope I have adequately acknowledged the lack
of access to this material, while also providing some provocative
questions to consider until the material is published.
I am very close to
being satisfied with a first edition manuscript. When this is achieved,
I plan to offer a hardcopy publication through a PayPal purchasing
option at the top of this page. If you are interested, please keep
checking back. Since I am no longer willing to use an email link for
hackers to wreak their havoc with, I will also provide a regular post
office box address for all written inquires.
Again, thank you for
your interest.
Beth Phillips
August, 2007
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