Dear Ward:
I am delighted to read of your Matthew shorthand thesis. John Wenham
mentions something similar in his /Redating Matthew, Mark and Luke/, Hodder
& Stoughton, 1991, without going into much detail. He refers to EJ Goodspeed,
/Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist/, Winston, Philadelphia, 1959: which he calls
"an undeservedly neglected book". I've not been able to have sight of it.
I'm sorry your /Progressive Publication.../ is out of print. I'd be very
interested in any reissue.
Prebendary Dr EK Victor Pearce published a popular outline of the "Matthew's
Shorthand Notes" theory in his /Evidence for Truth/, vol 2, /Archaeology/,
ch 24, pp 261ff. It was printed privately, then reprinted in India at a
fraction of the UK quoted price. Copies may be obtained from Evidence for
Truth, 13 Lismore Road, Eastbourne, Sussex BN21 3AY, UK.
Pearce writes in another booklet, /Weighing the Evidence/, Alpha Books,
Scripture Press Foundation, 1993:
"As a trained tax collector of Rome, Matthew would continue his customary
habit of taking down notes in the vernacular 'of all that Jesus began to do
and to teach'. According to the Early Fathers, this was in Aramaic, the very
language Jesus used. Normally, when maing tax reports, Matthew would then
translate his notes into Greek and send them to Rome. It would therefore be
natural for him to translate his own notes taken during Christ's ministry
into Greek after Pentecost when 'this gospel was to be preached in all the
world' (Matt 26:13). The early Fathers date it eight or ten years after the
resurrection. This would be during the expansion beyond Samaria into the
Greek world; Matthew would see the necessity as indicated in Matthew 28:12-20,
'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations... teaching them to observe
all things whatever I gave to you in command'.
"It comes as a surprise to learn from Roman records that Matthew would be
taking it all down in shorthand-- a tax collector'sáshorthand script. Then he
would rewrite it in the vernacular (Aramaic), then translate it into a Greek
report to Rome. Is that why we get the fullest records of Christ's brilliant
preaching from Matthew? Rome had a very elaborate and detailed tax system
so that no one would escape. There were 111 categories of tax. As a tax
collector Levi (an appropriate name before he became a disciple) would have
full particulars -- long before he became Matthew -- of every household."
(Pearce, /Op cit./, pp 130f).
In Christ,
-- Revd Ben Crick, BA CF <ben.crick@argonet.co.uk> 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK) http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm