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Wondering Pilgrim

~ the ramblings of a perambulent and often distracted sojourner

Wondering Pilgrim

Tag Archives: koine Greek

Wake up to spirit and cosmos!

12 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Ministry, Personal, Spirituality, theology

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

aramaic, beatitudes, cosmos, Jesus, koine Greek, poor in spirit

English: Pleiades Star Cluster

Image via Wikipedia

Jesus said:

 Tubwayhun l’meskenaee b’rukh d’dilhounhie malkutha d’ashmaya.

“Wake up, you who devote yourselves to the link of Spirit; the design of the universe is rendered through you.”

Let it be said from the outset that I am no Aramaic scholar. I’ve dabbled in Hebrew and have a passing working knowledge (with aid of lexicon and grammar) of  koine Greek, the language of the Septuagint and New Testament. My language skills are little more than those of any hack that tries to make sense of meaning.

The Beatitudes of Jesus in Matthew 5:1-11, even in the KJV English of my youth, have had a magnetic pull on me, as they have for millions of others. Over the years I’ve used word plays in my sermonising, at one stage calling them the “Be” attitudes. Later, noting the passive “makarios” of the koine Greek, I suggested that Jesus was simply drawing the attention of strivers to those who already live in a state of “bliss”, who fly under the radar of the frantic. The latter however seemed, unfinished, incomplete. It seemed to conflict with the overall thrust of Jesus’ message that calls for radical transformation both within the individual and outwards to society.

More recent exposure to Aramaic, the household language of Jesus, brings me to contemplate English renditions that seem to speak the language of the soul.  They make sense; they “click”. Where I struggled with the variant meanings and commentaries from the koine Greek, the variant translations from Aramaic converge to a common point where spirit meets Spirit.

The well-known KJV version of the above is  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Commentaries are often burdened with the weight of the debate around Luke’s omission of the words “in spirit” – fodder for the ongoing dispute between “heavenly minded” devout and social activist devout.
“Kingdom of heaven” is similarly variously seen – but Matthew is always at pains to talk about its “at hand” nature, rather than relegating it as some future Shangri-la.

A translation from Aramaic seems to deal with all these concerns and has an invitingly contemporary ring to it as we attend to the challenge of moving from an anthropocentric to cosmic world-view. Could it be that true poverty of spirit comes about from recognising that, far from striving to be “masters of the universe” (in whatever sphere that may find expression) we are summoned to devote our energies, wit and passion to being in harmony with all that is manifest instead?

Makes sense to me – and it is indeed a “wake up call!”

Related Articles
  • Wakeup calls in an ancient tongue (wonderingpilgrim.com)
  • If Jesus spoke Aramaic, why Listen with Only Greek Ears? ARTB Publishing Announces a Solution for Bible Lovers (prweb.com)
-31.911079 115.772731

Wakeup calls in an ancient tongue

11 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by wonderingpilgrim in Personal, Spirituality, theology

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

aramaic, beatitudes, bible translation, blessed, koine Greek

English: The face of a black windup alarm clock

Image via Wikipedia

“Makarios” is the koine Greek word often translated as “blessed” in the famous Beatitudes from the Sermon of the Mount, a collection of the core message of Jesus. It is unfortunate that a passive, almost listless unpacking of the mysterious word “blessed” renders the equally inactive meanings of “happy” or “fortunate” – hence “happy are you who are poor, mourn, are persecuted…” Such translations lead to a kind of status quo mentality with little incentive to transform self or society.

One positive outcome of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ was a fresh awareness of Aramaic, the language of Jesus and his contemporaries. Aramaic was the language of home and hearth in rural Galilee, koine Greek the universal Hellenistic language of the commercial world of the ancient Mediterranean, hence we have both.

The word translated “blessed” is much more active in Aramaic. It is translated variously as “Wake up! Get up!” Passive acceptance becomes a call to action. It seems much more in line with the message and modus operandi of the Jesus of the Gospels.

Abuna Elias Chacour, a constructive voice for peace in the Middle East,  is an active authority on the Aramaic tongue. An essay on his perspective can be seen here.

My next few posts are going to explore each of the Beatitudes from the perspective of a translation from the Aramaic.

-31.911079 115.772731

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