03-03-2004, 10:33 PM
hkoehli Wrote:Hello, all. I just watched the PBS documentary "From Jesus to Christ," and, as is to be expected, the scholars present a Greek primacy stand. I'm not familiar with most of the arguments for Aramaic or Greek primacy, so if anyone could give some opposing viewpoints, that would be great. Firstly they say that Mark was obviously teaching in Greek, as he had to explain the Aramaic in his gospel (eg. Mark 5:41, "talitha cumi, which is to say..."). Were these explanations added in the Greek? Secondly, they mention passages in Matthew and Luke that are identical in Greek, supporting the theory they were copied from the Q gospel of Jesus' sayings in Greek. Lastly they mention that Matthew obviously has better Greek grammar than Mark. Any comments are appreciated. Thanks,
Harrison
In the aramaic of mark 5:41 there is no explanation given. The words "talithi cumi" do not need to be explained as the whole thing is in Aramaic.
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For some reason the greek translators left some words of Jesus in the original language. This occurs at other times in the greek translations as well.
That being said there are three occaisions where the aramaic does also contain an explanation.
1. Jesus calls two of His disciples "sons of thunder". This is even explained in the aramaic because the word for thunder could also mean rage. So even the aramaic explains that Jesus meant sons of thunder not sons of rage.
2. The field of blood in the early part of the book of Acts. The name of this field "akeldama" is explained in the peshitta as meaning "field of blood" because this word is a local nickname for the field and this word may not have been understood by a foreigner even though they may have been an aramaic speaker.
3.Jesus being Gallilean spoke a Gallilean dialect of Aramaic. In Mark chapt 15:34 Mark recprds Jesus words in this Gallilean dialect and translates them into the Judean dialect of Aramaic.
Matthew merely records these words in the judean dialect.
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However on several other occaisions, as with the exa,mple you gave, the greek translations include words from Aramaic and explain their meaning whilst the peshitta merely gives the entire thing in Aramaic.
Hope this helps