From: Calr (credmond@usa.pipeline.com)
Date: Fri Jan 05 1996 - 10:13:25 EST
ADC wrote,
>A second aspect of the problem I'm trying to get at has to do with >the
way literary texts, homilies or public speeches use verbal >allusion. Part
of the meaning of a word in these contexts has to >do with the history of
its use in the reference texts of a given >body. The relationship of
Aramaic and Hebrew is close, with >cognates easily recognized. Therefore,
Jesus, when preaching, >would be able to use any number of terms related to
key words >from Hebrew scripture. To make up a contemporary example,
>suppose I said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask >why it
isn't going to do it," everyone would immediately recognize >a variation on
the reference text alluded to, which controls the >statement's meaning.
> Without Jesus' speech in Aramaic, without those key >linguistic markers,
our ability to connect his words with earlier >ones in Torah is cripplingly
curtailed--really only reduced to >guesswork. And without a sense of the
allusions he was making, >can we assert that we have grasped all the
meaning intended?
> Given that the early apostles' missionary efforts were >directed mainly
at the Gentiles, it was inevitable that Greek would >be adopted as the
language for texts relative to the new Way. >Even so, adopting that
language was the first remove from the >historical Jesus (whom I do not
myself believe to have been >grecophone), the first attrition wrought on
what he actually said.
While this argument makes sense, I believe it overlooks the
significance of Greek in Palestine at the time of Jesus. Greek was so
prevalent that LXX portions were found both in caves 4 and 7 at the
fanatically conservative Qumran community. In one of the caves of the Bar
Kochba rebels at Nahal Hever, LXX portions remain, raising the possibility
that since they were the only thing not burned in the cave, they may have
been preserved by the rebel cave inhabitants out of respect for their
scirptural status. Late 19th century archaeologists found a dedicatory
stone in Greek for the synagogue of Theodotos on Ophel. There is even a
record in Greek of a donation for the paving of a portion of the Temple
area.
If one is concerned about the literature and folklore of the people, I
believe one should also consider the very real possibility that for many
people in Palestine, the LXX may have been the Torah they used. (I think I
remember a thread about this from Ioudaios in Nov. or Dec.). The use of
Greek in the New Testament would not have been disconcerting in Palestine,
and I believe we should leave open the possibility of Jesus speaking in
Greek.
By my reasoning, then, Greek is not far removed - if removed at all-
from the historical Jeus.
-- Cal Redmond The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary credmond@usa.pipeline.com
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