From: Jack Kilmon (jkilmon@historian.net)
Date: Fri Jun 30 2000 - 13:41:08 EDT
----- Original Message -----
From: <QashishaD@aol.com>
To: Biblical Greek <b-greek@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2000 10:07 PM
Subject: [b-greek] Re: Reasons Not To Study Greek
>
> And the primary reason NOT to study Greek is........
>
> BECAUSE THE ENTIRE NEW TESTAMENT WAS WRITTEN IN ARAMAIC!
I am sorry...but NONE of the NT books were authored in Aramaic.
Y'shua/Jesus spoke in Aramaic and some oral and perhaps written
source materials were in Aramaic. Retroversion from Greek to
Aramaic can be a useful tool ONLY in exegetical discussions on
the ipsissa verba Iesu itself.
Beyond that, the primary reason to study Greek is to understand
the authors' understandings of the tradition(s). Aramaic is useless
in the study of the Pauline Corpus, for example. I don't see any
convincing indications the Matthean scribe was even competent
in Aramaic OR Hebrew and some hints he may not.
The primary reason to study Aramaic is to understand Y'shua's
understanding. For example, does the Greek MISEI of Luke
14:26 and optic MECTE of Thomas #55 adequately convey Y'shua's meaning
for the Aramaic saneh? The Aramaic alone carries the idiom "to set aside."
There are no extant Aramaic "originals" of any NT work.
Jack
jkilmon@historian.net
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