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b-hebrew - RE: The Gospels being in Hebrew originally

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  • From: Trevor Peterson <06PETERSON AT cua.edu>
  • To: Biblical Hebrew <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: The Gospels being in Hebrew originally
  • Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001 08:39:25 -0500


There is, if I recall correctly, a tradition that Matthew wrote his gospel in
Hebrew originally (or something like that--I don't think it's all that
clear),
and there is a medieval Hebrew manuscript of Matthew (which some have
contended preserves an older tradition), and some Aramaic manuscripts, I
believe. Otherwise, a recent translation that has tried to present the
"Semitic NT" has had to resort to the Syriac version for basically every
other
book in the NT (which they consider to be an independent tradition, not based
in any direct way on the GNT).

I haven't looked into the issue all that seriously, but one question that's
been in my mind for quite some time is how well we can distinguish
translational material from original writing. ISTM that we ought to be able
to
compare the GNT material with the GOT and observe common trends that show
both
to be translational or disparate trends that show the GNT to be an original
composition. On the other hand, we should expect there to be Semitic
influence
on the style of the GNT, even if it is only that many of the writers were
native Semitic speakers trying to write in Greek. Maybe the influences are
such that they cannot be distinguished from the marks of outright translation.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics





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