07-08-2008, 04:14 AM
Hi Brantana,
Isn't Moffett's book great? We can forgive his Greek primacy, he did a great work.
The answer to your question is rather complicated, but the bottom line is there are no historical quotes from any patristic writers, nor are there any official statements from any Synod/Council of the Church of the East that declare the New Testament's original language to be Aramaic.
By the same token, none of the above criteria exist for the canon of the NT either, defining the current (and historic) 22-book list.
If you read Asahel Grant's book in the "Articles" section (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.peshitta.org/pdf/grant.pdf">http://www.peshitta.org/pdf/grant.pdf</a><!-- m -->), you will be amazed when you get to the part where he states that in discussing the NT with the Patriarch of the CoE himself, Grant came to realize that the Church of the East at the time (this was the 1800s) was not even aware of the existence of the "Western Five" books (i.e., Revelation, Jude, etc).
In short: the CoE was not aware that a school of thought existed holding that the NT was written in a language other than that spoken by our Lord Himself.
Therefore the historic silence.
Until we got here.
Hope that makes sense.
+Shamasha Paul
Isn't Moffett's book great? We can forgive his Greek primacy, he did a great work.
The answer to your question is rather complicated, but the bottom line is there are no historical quotes from any patristic writers, nor are there any official statements from any Synod/Council of the Church of the East that declare the New Testament's original language to be Aramaic.
By the same token, none of the above criteria exist for the canon of the NT either, defining the current (and historic) 22-book list.
If you read Asahel Grant's book in the "Articles" section (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.peshitta.org/pdf/grant.pdf">http://www.peshitta.org/pdf/grant.pdf</a><!-- m -->), you will be amazed when you get to the part where he states that in discussing the NT with the Patriarch of the CoE himself, Grant came to realize that the Church of the East at the time (this was the 1800s) was not even aware of the existence of the "Western Five" books (i.e., Revelation, Jude, etc).
In short: the CoE was not aware that a school of thought existed holding that the NT was written in a language other than that spoken by our Lord Himself.
Therefore the historic silence.
Until we got here.
Hope that makes sense.
+Shamasha Paul