Thursday, November 27, 2008

Blog comment on Jewish Sabbath book buying at SBL...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I thought this comment by Philip Davies, posted by Jim West on his blog was hilarious:

"Such was the demand for books, especially on Saturday, that some publishers reported Jewish customers choosing their wares on the Sabbath and deferring payment until Sunday. I wonder if this principle applies to all shopping - in which case maybe there is need for a special Jewish credit card on which any actual transaction agreed on a Sabbath is actually processed later? Provided that the shops are not too far from the house, of course..."

For some reasons some of the publishers, Eerdmans particularly comes to mind, seemed greatly understocked. I went on Saturday to get the new Hays Festschrift and a man at the booth looked at me with a strange look on his face--"He doesn't know." Of course he knows, it's in the program. Indeed, Jim West and Nijay Gupta announced it months ago on their blogs!

"I think he knows," I told the guy. Anyway, he told me they weren't going to put them out until some time on Sunday.

My Sunday was outrageously packed, so I didn't get back to the booth till Monday morning... by which time they were all sold out.

1 comment:

JohnLDrury said...

"Hays at one time thought it crucial to maintain the distinction between 'what it meant' and 'what it means' in order to ensure that the Scripture can judge the church. I do not know whether he still thinks that necessary, but from my perspective such a distinction ensures only that members of the Society of Biblical Literature can judge the church."
- Stanley Hauerwas, The Word Leaps the Gap, p. 4.

Ha!