08-08-2008, 05:23 AM
August 7, 2008
Dear Mike,
There is a world of difference between the thousands of important variant reading in the Greek New Testament documents versus the relatively few minor differences in the Aramaic New Testament documents.
According to the Greek scholars Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland (The Text of the New Testament, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1989), there are significant differences (two or more important word differences) in 40% of the verses among the Greek New Testament documents. There are literally thousands of variants among the Greek New Testament documents, and these differences are magnified by the fact that the modern English versions are translated primarily from a Catholic Greek text rather than from the Protestant Textus Rcceptus used for the KJV and NKJV versions.
The 22 books of the revered Eastern Text of the Peshitta are essentially variant free. These are the books that are properly the canon of the Peshitta. There is one book in the Peshitta for each letter of the Aramaic alphabet in the Eastern Text.
The Western Five books (2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation) along with the passage of the woman caught in adultery in John's Gospel were added by the western church to form the Western Peshitto, The western version has a few other small changes from the eastern Peshitta text. There are two primary Aramaic versions of Revelation which have some variants.
Since variants are really not a major problem with the Aramaic New Testament, you will find most of the discussion in this forum is primarily directed to proper translation into English.
Otto
Dear Mike,
There is a world of difference between the thousands of important variant reading in the Greek New Testament documents versus the relatively few minor differences in the Aramaic New Testament documents.
According to the Greek scholars Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland (The Text of the New Testament, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 1989), there are significant differences (two or more important word differences) in 40% of the verses among the Greek New Testament documents. There are literally thousands of variants among the Greek New Testament documents, and these differences are magnified by the fact that the modern English versions are translated primarily from a Catholic Greek text rather than from the Protestant Textus Rcceptus used for the KJV and NKJV versions.
The 22 books of the revered Eastern Text of the Peshitta are essentially variant free. These are the books that are properly the canon of the Peshitta. There is one book in the Peshitta for each letter of the Aramaic alphabet in the Eastern Text.
The Western Five books (2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude, and Revelation) along with the passage of the woman caught in adultery in John's Gospel were added by the western church to form the Western Peshitto, The western version has a few other small changes from the eastern Peshitta text. There are two primary Aramaic versions of Revelation which have some variants.
Since variants are really not a major problem with the Aramaic New Testament, you will find most of the discussion in this forum is primarily directed to proper translation into English.
Otto