From: Stephen C. Carlson (scarlson@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Dec 23 1997 - 07:15:41 EST
At 04:49 12/23/97 EST, Paul S. Dixon wrote:
>B-Greekers:
>
>Ben Crick has mentioned that, " It is axiomatic that the Gospels were
>translated out of Aramaic/Hebrew originals (/pace/ Papias)." He argues
>from Papias and
>from the Gospel of Luke (see below).
>
>Does anybody know of additional arguments for this position? How about
>rebuttals? I am very interested.
I'm not exactly sure what Ben's statement "translated out of Aramaic/
Hebrew originals" means. It could mean that the Gospels are merely Greek
versions of a Semitic original or it could mean that they employed source
material in a Semitic language. In either case, I would be hesitant to
use the word "axiomatic" to describe Ben's proposition, since that word
has the connotation as to being so self-evident that it is widely accepted.
On the contrary, it is widely accepted that all the Gospels are Greek
compositions.
As for Papias, his statement is fraught with difficulty in construing
nearly every word that has survived for us: MATQAIOS MEN OUN hEBRAIDI
DIALEKTWi TA LOGIA SUNETAXATO, hHRMHNEUSEN D AUTA hWS HN DUNATOS hEKASTOS.
For example, the phrase hEBRAIDI DIALEKTWi is anarthrous, while every NT
occurrence, clearly referring to language or dialect, uses the article:
Ac1:19 2:6 8 21:40 22:2 26:14. This implies that the DIALEKTWi may
signify "style" instead (Kuerzinger), or at best indicates a lack of first
hand knowledge on the part of Papias ("in *a* Hebrew language").
As for Luke, chapters 1 and 2 are widely viewed as imitating the style of
LXX, which was translated out of Hebrew and Aramaic originals. In such a
case, there is no need to postulate a Semitic original.
Since the canonical texts of Matthew and John contain Greek word play, it
is clear that the final composition of these texts are in Greek. As to the
issue of Semitic source material, well, such suggestions have not carried
the day due to a failure to meet the burden of proof. At best we have only
a few tantalizing traces of possible translation variants or translation-
induced mistakes. Since the Evangelists probably relied on oral tradition,
it is impossible to localize the source of such translation variants at the
the Evangelists themselves.
It is hoped that a discussion and exegesis of Papias' Greek not take us too
far from the charter of this Greek list.
Stephen Carlson
-- Stephen C. Carlson : Poetry speaks of aspirations, scarlson@mindspring.com : and songs chant the words. http://www.mindspring.com/~scarlson/ : -- Shujing 2.35
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