06-10-2004, 02:26 AM
Good evening, Friends!
I have downloaded the Gospels and Acts from the archives at peshitta.org, and I have enjoyed exploring these with the lexicon tools close at hand. The subtext is beautiful, and it has been delightful to rediscover the experience of the Rissen Meshikha in a language that restores it to the Abrahamic tradition.
I hope you will forgive my ignorance in the following questions, but studying this text and following the dabate over primacy has churned up some confusion. I will be grateful for any light you might share with me in this.
1] The Greek text of the Gospel attributed to Luke is addressed to a person called Theophilus, which I always liked to think of as a poetic way of saying "Lover of God." The Aramaic text uses the word [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]fypw0t[/font], "Tawpeela," which doesn't seem to mean anything in Aramaic. The peshitta.org lexicon translates it as Theophilus, and the CAL doesn't seem to contain an entry for this word, lexeme, or root. If Luqa wasn't writing in Greek, why is the recipient's name a translation of a greek word?
2] Greek primacists make a big deal about the idea that Koine Greek in the first century was analagous to English of today: the trade language of the "civilized" world. I understand that this is a Eurocentric view - that God chose a language for his message that the Western world could understand (and we are supposed to ignore everything east of Pax Romana). However, it seems that most of Paul's writings are addressed to churches in the Western world, and it makes sense for him to compose these messages in Greek. What is the reasoning for Paul to use Aramaic?
Again, I am very grateful for your work in this endeavor, and I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience.
Warm Regards,
john paul
I have downloaded the Gospels and Acts from the archives at peshitta.org, and I have enjoyed exploring these with the lexicon tools close at hand. The subtext is beautiful, and it has been delightful to rediscover the experience of the Rissen Meshikha in a language that restores it to the Abrahamic tradition.
I hope you will forgive my ignorance in the following questions, but studying this text and following the dabate over primacy has churned up some confusion. I will be grateful for any light you might share with me in this.
1] The Greek text of the Gospel attributed to Luke is addressed to a person called Theophilus, which I always liked to think of as a poetic way of saying "Lover of God." The Aramaic text uses the word [font=Estrangelo (V1.1)]fypw0t[/font], "Tawpeela," which doesn't seem to mean anything in Aramaic. The peshitta.org lexicon translates it as Theophilus, and the CAL doesn't seem to contain an entry for this word, lexeme, or root. If Luqa wasn't writing in Greek, why is the recipient's name a translation of a greek word?
2] Greek primacists make a big deal about the idea that Koine Greek in the first century was analagous to English of today: the trade language of the "civilized" world. I understand that this is a Eurocentric view - that God chose a language for his message that the Western world could understand (and we are supposed to ignore everything east of Pax Romana). However, it seems that most of Paul's writings are addressed to churches in the Western world, and it makes sense for him to compose these messages in Greek. What is the reasoning for Paul to use Aramaic?
Again, I am very grateful for your work in this endeavor, and I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience.
Warm Regards,
john paul
--
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://beardedbaby.net/">http://beardedbaby.net/</a><!-- m -->
--
"Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts, which are the leadings of GOD." - London Yearly Meeting Advices, 1964
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://beardedbaby.net/">http://beardedbaby.net/</a><!-- m -->
--
"Take heed, dear Friends, to the promptings of love and truth in your hearts, which are the leadings of GOD." - London Yearly Meeting Advices, 1964