Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site ulysses.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!smb From: smb@ulysses.UUCP (Steven Bellovin) Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Yiri's Last Stand ... Brunson's Last Fall Message-ID: <1022@ulysses.UUCP> Date: Tue, 9-Oct-84 13:35:39 EDT Article-I.D.: ulysses.1022 Posted: Tue Oct 9 13:35:39 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 10-Oct-84 04:16:14 EDT References: <946@phs.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill Lines: 13 Although the vernacular at the time of Jesus was indeed Aramaic, one should not discount the prevalence of Greek. There were major infusions of Greek thought and culture, and a large segment of the upper classes were thoroughly Hellenized. It is not at all improbable that the New Testament was written in Greek by Hellenized Jews, much as a medieval European scholar would write in Latin, regardless of his/her native tongue. This is supported by some of the textual evidence. One of the more accessible examples is in the accounts of the crucifixion in the Gospels (sorry, I don't remember which one). Jesus's cry of anguish "My Lord, my Lord, why have you forsaken me?" *is* written in Aramaic: "Eli, Eli, lamah smachthani?" There would be little point to retaining just that phrase when translating to Greek from an Aramaic original. A (secular Jewish) professor of Judaic Studies I know felt that that phrase was extremely significant, as an indicator of the power of the moment on the observers.