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What is The Lamsa Bible?
#1
(Thanks to Mr. Otto G. Raabe for this explanation)

George Marmisho Lamsa was an Aramaic-speaking Christian who was born in northern Iraq in 1890. Lamsa was a brilliant linguist whose native language was Aramaic and adopted language was English. He was a pioneer in defense of the Peshitta who effectively introduced the existence and primacy of Aramaic scriptures to America beginning in 1933. Lamsa wrote: "Not a word of the Scripture was originally written in Greek." Those were fighting words to some people!

In the early 20th Century the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible was truly king and used almost exclusively by all protestant denominations in the U.S. A native, Aramaic-speaking, Assyrian Christian, Lamsa's innate intelligence eventually led him to Anglican schools in the Middle East through High School and College. He received a degree said to be equivalent Doctor of Theology from an Anglican School in Turkey. When he eventually immigrated to the U.S. he also attended the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School, and the Episcopal Virginia Theological Seminary.

Lamsa really appreciated the beautiful style of the King James or Authorized Version (KJV) but was shocked by the numerous errors that he saw in contrast to his beloved Peshitta. In addition, he truly believed that his calling from God was to translate the Peshitta into English in light of semitic cultural understandings. To this cause he single-handedly dedicated his life with little resources and the charity of many people. Although he sought financial help in his work from many churches and remained neutral, he somewhat favored the conservative and liturgical Episcopal Church having attended Anglican and Episcopal seminaries.

Recognizing the strength of the Authorized Version tradition, Lamsa merged the Peshitta, the wording style of the KJV, and modern 20th Century English to produce his "Four Gospels" in 1933, the "New Testament According to the Eastern Text" in 1940, and the entire "Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts" in 1956 including both the New and Old Testaments and the non-Peshitta New Testament books of Jude, 2nd Peter, 2nd and 3rd John, and Revelation. His was one of the first easily understood modern-English Bible translations, which contributed, in part, to its early popularity. Lamsa also wrote several books including four Bible commentaries describing the customs and life-style of early Aramaic-speaking Christians.

But was Lamsa praised for his remarkable ground-breaking work? No, he was and is still attacked and criticized from all sides. To the traditional Aramaic speaker his work in English is swayed too much by the KJV, or doesn't agree with their reading of the Aramaic text, or some of his cultural interpretations are viewed as anti-supernatural, or some of his wordings are swayed too much by his personal views. Also, the fact that Lamsa included the non-Peshitta New Testament books is considered unacceptable by some since they are not considered to be canonical by the Assyrian Christians.

To Protestant and Roman Catholic theologians Lamsa's work is viewed as an assault on the accuracy of their honored translations and sanctified "original Greek New Testament" or on the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy. (We can readily believe in the inerrancy of the original autographs, but those no longer exist. We study the oldest scriptures to better understand the original message.) In some circles Lamsa's commentaries are described as heretical while to Lamsa they were intended to be based on the underlying semitic culture of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.
+Shamasha Paul bar-Shimun de'Beth-Younan
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Messages In This Thread
What is The Lamsa Bible? - by Paul Younan - 05-27-2004, 03:34 PM
Re: What is The Lamsa Bible? - by Andrej - 09-12-2010, 07:32 PM
Re: What is The Lamsa Bible? - by banthee - 10-06-2010, 10:15 AM
Re: What is The Lamsa Bible? - by Andrej - 10-06-2010, 08:51 PM
Re: What is The Lamsa Bible? - by IPOstapyuk - 12-13-2011, 01:23 AM
Re: What is The Lamsa Bible? - by ASonofGod - 11-03-2012, 07:43 PM
Re: What is The Lamsa Bible? - by distazo - 11-03-2012, 11:20 PM
Re: What is The Lamsa Bible? - by monalisa - 05-29-2013, 03:05 PM

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