04-17-2005, 03:59 AM
Shlama akhi Paul,
Well old friend, first of all let me thank you for the generosity, friendship, and support you have shown me over the years. Without it, none of my own meager accomplishments would have been possible.
The pursuit of Aramaic and Peshitta studies has always struck me as having an element of the absurd in it. Think about it. There are supposed to be over a billion professing Christians, thousands of Christian universities and seminaries, and tens of thousands of Christian scholars and clergy. Yet, when it comes to the language of Jesus and his disciples, and to the only complete record of the Scriptures in that language, the field is left almost entirely to a handful of amateurs, such as those here on this forum. A situation almost as absurd as that of Jesus picking a handful of low life fishermen and tax collectors to start a new world wide religious movement.
On a number of occasions I have gotten disgusted with the lack of progress in my Aramaic studies and the unresponsiveness of others, and determined to give it up. During one of these episodes, feeling I had wasted enough time on Aramaic, I decided to pursue another language and went down to my local library to get a book on the subject I had previously seen. While looking unsuccessfully for that volume, I literally stumbled on a pile of books another patron had left on the floor. Picking them up I noticed a book I had never seen before, a survey of various languages. Randomly opening the book I found myself on a page showing Aramaic script. It was the only example of Aramaic in the book, a psalm which read ???The earth is the Lord???s and all therein, the sea, the sky, and man...???
I won???t pretend to know the pressures, emotions, and responsibilities which currently confront you. All I can offer are my own imperfect observations. It has seemed to me for a long time now that you really lost your enthusiasm for translation around the time your mother passed on. Since then you have put most of your energy into forum postings, new forum software, and new forums. I???ve often wished you would give translation just five or ten percent of the time you???ve put into the forum work. But, maybe this was your way of dealing with an already growing emptiness.
The bottom line I suppose comes down to whether you have done this work out of a sense of obligation to family, ethnicity, and church; or whether this work resonates much deeper within your soul. I know from personal experience that endeavors based on a sense of family or social obligation are very difficult to sustain, especially if the individual or group you are doing the work for doesn???t appreciate it. By contrast, an endeavor that emanates from deep within one???s heart is, as the prophet Jerimiah said, like a fire burning deep in your bones. The fire may seem to go out for a time, but it always rekindles when the time is right.
This may seem like an attack on your integrity, or your right to make personal choices different from what the rest of us might wish. It is not. It is, however, a challenge. A challenge to personal introspection and the honesty which results from it, however painfully won. As akhi Judge has already said, you don???t have to do this work out of a sense of guilt or obligation. If that was your motivation for a time, then God has made good use of it, and we have all benefited, and you may be proud of your accomplishments; and if this work touches some need or desire deep in your soul, then some day you will be back, you won???t be able to stop yourself.
In either case, I will always consider you my friend, and will always be indebted to you.
John Marucci
Well old friend, first of all let me thank you for the generosity, friendship, and support you have shown me over the years. Without it, none of my own meager accomplishments would have been possible.
The pursuit of Aramaic and Peshitta studies has always struck me as having an element of the absurd in it. Think about it. There are supposed to be over a billion professing Christians, thousands of Christian universities and seminaries, and tens of thousands of Christian scholars and clergy. Yet, when it comes to the language of Jesus and his disciples, and to the only complete record of the Scriptures in that language, the field is left almost entirely to a handful of amateurs, such as those here on this forum. A situation almost as absurd as that of Jesus picking a handful of low life fishermen and tax collectors to start a new world wide religious movement.
On a number of occasions I have gotten disgusted with the lack of progress in my Aramaic studies and the unresponsiveness of others, and determined to give it up. During one of these episodes, feeling I had wasted enough time on Aramaic, I decided to pursue another language and went down to my local library to get a book on the subject I had previously seen. While looking unsuccessfully for that volume, I literally stumbled on a pile of books another patron had left on the floor. Picking them up I noticed a book I had never seen before, a survey of various languages. Randomly opening the book I found myself on a page showing Aramaic script. It was the only example of Aramaic in the book, a psalm which read ???The earth is the Lord???s and all therein, the sea, the sky, and man...???
I won???t pretend to know the pressures, emotions, and responsibilities which currently confront you. All I can offer are my own imperfect observations. It has seemed to me for a long time now that you really lost your enthusiasm for translation around the time your mother passed on. Since then you have put most of your energy into forum postings, new forum software, and new forums. I???ve often wished you would give translation just five or ten percent of the time you???ve put into the forum work. But, maybe this was your way of dealing with an already growing emptiness.
The bottom line I suppose comes down to whether you have done this work out of a sense of obligation to family, ethnicity, and church; or whether this work resonates much deeper within your soul. I know from personal experience that endeavors based on a sense of family or social obligation are very difficult to sustain, especially if the individual or group you are doing the work for doesn???t appreciate it. By contrast, an endeavor that emanates from deep within one???s heart is, as the prophet Jerimiah said, like a fire burning deep in your bones. The fire may seem to go out for a time, but it always rekindles when the time is right.
This may seem like an attack on your integrity, or your right to make personal choices different from what the rest of us might wish. It is not. It is, however, a challenge. A challenge to personal introspection and the honesty which results from it, however painfully won. As akhi Judge has already said, you don???t have to do this work out of a sense of guilt or obligation. If that was your motivation for a time, then God has made good use of it, and we have all benefited, and you may be proud of your accomplishments; and if this work touches some need or desire deep in your soul, then some day you will be back, you won???t be able to stop yourself.
In either case, I will always consider you my friend, and will always be indebted to you.
John Marucci