[B-Greek] either/or, or both/and, or all three languages?
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Fri Dec 28 04:54:56 EST 2007
In another thread, the sociolinguistics of NT Greek
came up with what I would call the binary
'old paradigm'.
> I'll leave it to the Semitists to
wrangle about the Aramaic behind the text and its
similarities to the Hebrew Text.
... [and a later email in thread]
>While I would not say that Jesus did not know Hebrew
well (he certainly could read the text in a synagogue
setting, Lk.4). It is possible he knew Greek better
than Hebrew. Jesus had a substantial ministry in
Galilee which was heavily hellenized (Galilee of the
Gentiles). Porter has written an interesting article
on the subject (I have it at home in my library, but
I'm travelling right now). The Syro-Phoenician woman
may have communicated with Jesus in Greek as a common
language between them. The use of iota in the Sermon
on the Mount may elude to Jesus teaching Greek,
Mt.5.18. Jesus' conversation with Pilate may have been
in Greek since it was the administrative language
inherited from the formerly Greek empire. No
translator is mentioned (silence is a weak argument I
know). Porter argues the pace of the conversation goes
against a translator being present. The evidence is
not conclusive. Reconstructing the linguistic milieu
exactly is not possible. But on a final note, the
funery inscriptions of Jews in Galilee from the era
of Jesus are in Greek 60 percent of the time (if my
memory is correct). Even the tombs of Rabbis are found
in Greek! It seems natural enough that people would
want the lives of their loved ones commemorated in a
language that could be readily understood. This points
to how ubiquitous Greek was in the area.>
Without going into the merits of individual items I would
like to point out the need for understanding multi-
lingualism. Much NT criticism is written from a mono-
lingual or bilingual perspective, without having digested
current understanding of tri-lingualism in the first
century.
Persons interested in NT Greek and the first
century environment are strongly recommended to
develop a first hand acquaintance with the teachings
of Gamaliel, Yochanan ben Zakkai, and a host of
other first century Jewish teachers, from Galilee and
elsewhere. In a literature where reporting the words of
one's teacher caused frequent fluctuation between
Aramaic and Hebrew, it is noteworthy that the first
century material is overwhelmingly Hebrew. Which
brings us to Greek, since Gamaliel is famous for
"having 1000 students, 500 learning tora while the
other five hundred where studying Greek wisdom."
On the question of whether Jesus knew Hebrew,
Aramaic, and or Greek, I would counter, how could
he not know all three? He was teaching in parables,
(the thousands of known Jewish story parables were
all done in Hebrew,) and intimately interacted with
exegesis attested in Hebrew. As for the doubts of his
or others' knowledge of Hebrew, those are pretty
much a myth that is no longer an option among
specialists in Mishnaic Hebrew here. (James Barr
said in 1988 that NT people need to wake up to
Hebrew in the language situation. . . zzzzzzzzzzz)
Josephus' own statements suggest that he knew his
Hebrew better than Greek and his Greek is a high
standard indeed (maybe with a little help, of course).
See my, articles on "A More Complete
Semitic Background for bar-enasha 'Son of Man',"
in Evans and Sanders, edd. The Function
of Scripture in Early Jewish and Christian
Tradition, JSNT Supp 154, 1998:176-89 ,
and Buth and Kvasnica "Temple Authorities and
Tithe-Evasion: the Linguistic Background and
Impact of the Parable of the Vineyard, the Tenanats
and the Son," in Notley, et al., Jesus' Last Week,
Brill, 2006, 53-80 and 259-317.
The bottom line on this is that NT students are
going to need three languages fluently, Greek,
Aramaic, and Hebrew, these three, and the greatest
of these is Hebrew for the culture and the times.
Greek comes in a strong second, while Aramaic is
probably the least influential. (I say that having a
PhD in Aramaic.) The gospel sayings and parables,
even the narrative structure, look distinctly different
when read with a familiarity of rabbinic idiom and
Hebrew narrative styles (as opposed to Aramaic).
Developing the Hebrew correctly takes
thousands of hours, and so does the Greek. The
last comment is meant to encourage people to go
for gold when outlining PhD or full training
programs.
ERRWSQE
yisge shlamxon
veshalom laxem
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη πληθυνθείη
שלום לכם וברכות
randallbuth at gmail.com
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list