Morry Sofer

This is useful if you're looking for some practice translating genres you're not very (or at all) familiar with, including medical and legal texts. I skimmed it, though, because right now I'm only interested in some of these genres.

My biggest gripe with this book is the poor quality of the Japanese text. The cynic in me thinks perhaps tiny, blurry text was chosen to show you what real translation conditions can be like, but I think it's just hasty editing. There's really no excuse for it, since computers have been able to output clear, crisp Japanese characters for decades now.… (altro)

Rabbi Schreiber's chronological reconstruction of the book of Jeremiah is interesting, if not in places all that convincing. It does help highlight the extremely jumbled nature of the MT text, but Schreiber doesn't even seem to give consideration to the idea of some sort of non-chronological thematic arrangement, which I found disappointing.

His connection of the figure of Jeremiah to the Isaianic figure of the "Suffering Servant" is the most compelling point of the book. Again, he makes this argument based upon historical rather than literary data but does agree that the two literary figures are importantly connected.

The weakest point of the book is where Rabbi Schreiber attempts to make Jeremiah's strict monotheism and argument for religious pluralism. Without going off into needless detail (or a rant), let me just say: He doesn't succeed in making the connection. And the attempts to make such connections end up feeling a lot more like obligatory nods to a current popular theological trend/slogan than a deeply held religious conviction welling up from a lifetime of engagement with Jeremiah's work. It probably is the latter...but it certainly didn't feel that way to me.

If one is looking for a brief, engaging book to introduce you to the book of Jeremiah and its theological themes, I would still recommend J.G. McConville's "Judgment and Promise" as a good starting point. It's a bit more of a difficult read, but it is much more sensitive to the possible meanings of the final shape of the text rather than this or that historical reconstruction of some wished-for textual arrangement.… (altro)