Rolf Furuli

Rolf Johan Furuli (born 19 December 1942) is a professor emeritus[1][2] in Semitic languages at the University of Oslo; he retired in 2011.

Rolf Johan Furuli
Furuli is a retired Professor in Semitic languages at the University of Oslo
Born (1942-12-19) 19 December 1942
NationalityNorwegian
EducationDoctor of Arts, Master of Arts
Alma materUniversity of Oslo
OccupationEmeritus professor
EmployerUniversity of Oslo

Furuli started his studies of New Babylonian chronology in 1984. He became a magister artium in 1995 and doctor artium in 2005. Based on his studies, Furuli has defended the religious views of Jehovah's Witnesses while a member of the denomination,[3][4] including their view that Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 607 BC rather than the broadly recognised dating of its destruction in 587 BC.[5] In a 2004 issue of Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Lester L. Grabbe, professor of Hebrew Bible and Early Judaism at the University of Hull, said of Furuli's study: "Once again we have an amateur who wants to rewrite scholarship. ... F. shows little evidence of having put his theories to the test with specialists in Mesopotamian astronomy and Persian history."[6]

In 2005, Furuli defended his doctoral thesis suggesting a new understanding of verbal system of Classical Hebrew. In a review of the thesis, professor Elisabeth R. Hayes of Wolfson College, Oxford, wrote: "While not all will agree with Furuli's conclusions regarding the status of the wayyiqtol as an imperfective form, his well-argued thesis contributes towards advancing methodology in Hebrew scholarship."[7]

He has translated a number of documents from Semitic languages and Sumerian into Norwegian.[8]

In 2020, Furuli published a book entitled My Beloved Religion – and the Governing Body in which he maintains that the denomination's core doctrines and interpretations of biblical chronology are correct, but challenges the authority of the Jehovah's Witnesses' leadership.[9] Subsequently, he was disfellowshipped from the denomination.[10]

Writings

He has written works about Bible translation and biblical issues.

  • 1995 – Imperfect consecutive and the Verbal system of Biblical Hebrew (thesis, magister artium, University of Oslo)
  • 1997 – The Problem of Induction and the Hebrew verb in Elie Wardini (ed.) Built on solid Rock. ISBN 82-7099-283-6
  • 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 Motskrift NTNU, Trondheim pp. 83–86 (in Norwegian)
  • 2001 – The study of new religious movements with a stress on the mental health of Jehovah's Witnesses (with Leon Groenewald and Johan Nerdrum) Tidsskrift for Norsk Psykologforening, 2, pp. 123–128. (In Norwegian)
  • 2001 – Gilgamesh and Atrahasis two Babylonian Heroes (with Jens Braarvig and Tor Åge Bringsværd)
  • 2002 – Science and Bible translation – "Christianizing" and "mythologizing" of the Hebrew text of the Bible ISBN 82-994633-1-9 (In Norwegian and Danish)
  • 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[11]
  • 2003 – The book of Enoch – translated from Ge'ez to Norwegian.ISBN 82-525-5177-7
  • 2004 – The Dead Sea Scrolls (translated some documents from Hebrew and Aramaic) ISBN 82-525-5199-8
  • 2005 – The verbal System of Classical Hebrew An Attempt to Distinguish Between Semantic and Pragmatic Factors in L. Ezard and J. Retsø (eds.) Current Issues in the Analysis of Semitic Grammar and Lexicon I pp. 205–31. ISBN 3-447-05268-6
  • 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
  • 2006 – Sumerian Writings (translated some documents from Sumerian into Norwegian) ISBN 82-525-6213-2
  • 2007 –The Neo-Babylonian Chronology and the Cuneiform Tablet VAT 4956 in Forschung-Bibel-Artefakte. pp. XIV-XVIII ISBN 978-3-9811529-2-0
  • 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
  • 2008 – 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, revised edition ISBN 82-994633-5-1
  • 2008 – Kebra Nagast (translated from Ge´ez into Norwegian) ISBN 978-82-525-6704-5
  • 2008 – Baal the King of the Gods in Ugarit (translated some documents from Ugaritic, Phoenician, and Hebrew into Norwegian) ISBN 978-82-525-6590-4
  • 2009 – How do Jehovah's Witnesses think? A Witness describes the faith, in H.K. Ringnes and H.K. Sødal, eds Jehovahs Witnesses An interdisciplinary Study (In Norwegian) ISBN 978-82-15-01453-1
  • 2011 – The Role of Theology and Bias in Bible Translation With a Special Look at the New World Translation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Second edition, Stavern, Norway: Awatu Publishers. ISBN 978-82-92978-02-3
  • 2012 – 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, Second edition ISBN 978-82-92978-03-0
  • 2012 – Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with the Chronology of the Bible, Volume 2: Assyrian, Babylonian and Egyptian Chronology, Second edition ISBN 978-82-92978-04-7
  • 2017 – When Was the Book of Daniel Written? A Philological, Linguistic, and Historical approach (331 pages)[12]
  • 2018 – The Tetragram – Its history, Its use in the new Testament, and its pronunciation, Part One (250 pages) ISBN 978-82-92978-09-2
  • 2018 – Are Jehovah's Witnesses False Prophets?: A Thorough Investigation with Rebuttal, William Kelly and Rolf Furuli ISBN 978-15-48806-50-7
  • 2019 – Can We Trust the Bible? With Focus on the Creation Account, the Worldwide Flood, and the Prophecies (1550 pages)[13]
  • 2020 – The fallacy of prophetic perfect – With translation of verses from the Prophets ISBN 978-82-92978-10-8
  • 2020 – My Beloved Religion — and the Governing Body[9] ISBN 978-82-92978-12-2
gollark: Qualitybot.
gollark: Wait, I thought about the cat thing more and it makes even less sense. Oh well.
gollark: Oh, THAT's what that is.
gollark: Well, it makes some limited deranged sense.
gollark: I see.

See also

Sources
  1. Academia Profile – Oslo University
  2. Flemings, Hal (2008). Examining Criticisms of the Bible. AuthorHouse (self-published). p. 89. ISBN 978-1-4343-2803-8.
  3. Rolf Furuli. "Rapid Response: Bioethical aspects of the recent changes in the policy of refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses". British Medical Journal. doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7277.37. As a member of the hospital liaison committee in Oslo, Norway for the last ten years the question about medical ethics and the use of blood is very important for me.
  4. Osamu Muramoto. "Rapid Response: Bioethical aspects of the recent changes in the policy of refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses". British Medical Journal. doi:10.1136/bmj.322.7277.37.
  5. Rolf Furuli. Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with The Chronology of the Bible—Volume I Persian Chronology and the length of the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, Second edition 2012. Rolf Furuli. Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Persian Chronology Compared with The Chronology of the Bible—Volume II Assyrian, Babylonian, and Egyptian Chronology. Second edition 2012.
  6. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 28 (5): 42–43. 2004. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. Elizabeth R. Hayes (2007). "A New Understanding of the Verbal System of Classical Hebrew: An Attempt to Distinguish between Semantic and Pragmatic Factors (review)". Hebrew Studies. National Association of Professors of Hebrew (NAPH). 48: 359–362. doi:10.1353/hbr.2007.0013. ISSN 2158-1681.
  8. Sverre Bøe, "The New World Bible Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses" (in Norwegian) Tidsskrift for Teologi of Kirke. Oslo, Norway, 2011, p. 170. Sverre Bøe is professor of theology at Fjellhaug International University College in Oslo.
  9. "My Beloved Religion – and the Governing Body". goodreads.
  10. "My only option was to publish the book". Vårt Land. 25 June 2020. I have just been excluded from Jehovah's Witnesses because I have published a book criticizing the Governing Body. However, I see the publication of the book as an emergency. And I'm left with a good conscience.
  11. "Books Received". The Journal of the American Oriental Society. 1 October 2003. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  12. "When Was the Book of Daniel Written? A Philological, Linguistic, and Historical approach". ResearchGate.
  13. "Can We Trust the Bible? (e-Pub)". The Gramma publishers.
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