Basic questions about Peshitta primacy

[John Stephens]

Hi John,

Thank you for your prompt reply! In America, the problem of Occidentalcentric history and culture is even more pronounced, and I understand how difficult it is to challenge the deeply rooted psychology that America and the West are the centers of civilization and culture.

I agree and have noticed it as well, having been born here myself.

(3) Having lived in urban areas, it is easy to see the clustering of populations that share a language and culture. I can readily imagine the Aramaic speakers forming cloistered communities abroad. If this is the case, who was the audience for the Greek Septuagint?

Actually, there was no intended audience for the LXX. It was a project to render the Hebrew Bible into Greek at the behest of the Hellenistic emperor Ptolemy II.

Jews had no need for a Greek bible - the same way Muslims have no need for an English Koran. How many synagogues today use the Septuagint? (or even an English translation, for that matter?)

All of them use the original Hebrew and Aramaic text (just as they always have.)

(4) I have not confirmed this in my own study due to the language barrier, but many Greek primacists point to the Greek NT's use of the Septuagint as the authoritative scripture to prove that the NT originated in Greek. What source does the Peshitta use for its quotations from the Tanach?

A very complex topic that we have delved into quite a bit here. For starters, see the F.A.Q. forum entry: http://www.peshitta.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=706