User talk:Jeff G./Archives/2014/January

MfD nomination of User:Robtencer/The X Factor Fansite
User:Robtencer/The X Factor Fansite, a page you substantially contributed to, has been nominated for deletion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:Robtencer/The X Factor Fansite and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes ( ~ ). You are free to edit the content of User:Robtencer/The X Factor Fansite during the discussion but should not remove the miscellany for deletion template from the top of the page; such a removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. Leaky Caldron  21:31, 31 December 2013 (UTC)
 * I replied there, thanks.  —  Jeff G. ツ  (talk)   12:56, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

New registrant looking for experienced editor
Hello, Jeff

I found a page that says you are an active, experienced user and you are currently online. So I picked you as someone to "bother"!

I am a frequent wikipedia user. I found a page I believe needs editing. I only registered as a user today so I could bring the matter to someone's attention. It seems a steep learning curve to become an editor. I really just want to hand this off to someone who can decide what to do about it. Can you take a look and tell me what you think?

I found a quote in an article section which introduces an unnecessarily contentious tone to the discussion. I believe the section may be improved by removing the quote. I also found a relevant wikipedia article with which to replace the quote, though it may require rewriting the paragraph's topic sentence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Testament

the section is: Greek, Latin and Protestant Old Testaments

I copy and paste the sentence I found issue with here:

Timothy H. Lim, a professor of Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism at the University of Edinburgh, states that, "The Old Testament (OT) or Tanak was written in Hebrew and Aramaic. This collection of books was not written by one man, nor did it drop down from heaven as assumed by fundamentalists. It is not a magical book, but a collection of authoritative texts of apparently divine origin that went through a human process of writing and editing.”[15]

If this is, indeed, an accurate quote of the source material (I can not corroborate that it is), the author's statement that fundamentalists assume the OT dropped down from heaven is contentious and the use of the word magical seems, at least in this context, like baling wire in the construction of a straw man.

So, what substance does this quote contribute to the wikipedia article? What less subjective information does this quote communicate?

>That the OT was written in Hebrew and Aramaic. This is rather common knowledge. Lim's quote in not necessary to support this fact. I'm sure there's a Wikipedia article on original languages of the OT. Perhaps there's a section in this very article? I don't know. My research stopped in its tracks when this horrible quotation derailed me.

What else?

>That the OT is "a collection of authoritative texts of apparently divine origin that went through a human process of writing and editing" and that "this collection of books was not written by one man." There is an entire article about divine inspiration and human authorship at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_inspiration

Therefore, in my opinion, not only is Lim's quote unnecessary but, in its present form as quoted above, it introduces an unsupportable supposition and unscholarly language that diminishes the Wikipedia article. Furthermore, the quote seems out of place in the paragraph as it doesn't address "the process by which scriptures became canons" but instead seeks to address the process by which scriptures were initially written.

Quite probably picking your name at random from the active editor page was not the preferred method for introducing a request for edit. Yet here I am. I just finally wanted to learn what to do about articles I find which I think need editing. Can you advise me as to the proper way to bring passages that seem to require editing to the proper people's attention? Thank you.

Plum — Preceding unsigned comment added by PlumPuzzler (talk • contribs) 23:49, 19 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Plum, hi and thank you for writing. Sorry for my delay in responding. The proper place to address an issue with any article here is that article's talk page, in this case Talk:Old Testament.  —  Jeff G. ツ  (talk)   20:54, 21 January 2014 (UTC)