12-07-2008, 06:58 PM
Shlama all--
I have been getting into the works of other 19th-20th century Peshitta scholars through Google Books and Internet Archive. William Norton of course has long been a hero of mine. CC Torrey's work has been limited in its availablity but I have found his collaboration on a really interesting work "The Shorter BIble" of great use. There are separate volumes for each Testament, and what they have done is kind of harmonized different accounts and limited duplication. There is a heavy Hebrew and Aramaic emphasis in both volumes and the English is very clear with good footnotes.
But, the real focus of this post is on CF Burney. Burney writes in a way that is every bit as methodical as John Gwynn but in much less space. I am reading his "Aramaic Origins of the Fourth Gospel" which is really an argument for the Aramaic Origin of the whole NT. Brilliant stuff.
I can't post the excerpt I want, part of chapter 7 on mistranslations, so please follow this link and get this short but very powerful book. As far as I can tell, the only area where Burney seems to be slightly off is in supporting the contention of his friend FC Burkitt on the whole Rabulla-Peshitta thing. Fact is, this merits a very brief mention in the beginning, but the rest of the treatise to my mind is going specifically AGAINST OS primacy in its details as the Aramaic proofs he uses are Peshitta in nature. Regardless as to how that may be to some of us purists, the proofs are stunning. Burney even gets into why the NT is not quoting the LXX on the Aramaic side and how the Semitic NT patterns are deeper than oral transmission theories, although he seems to stop short of proclaiming Peshitta as original. For me the interesting fact is we who do proclaim Peshitta orginality would use the exact same evidence and argumentation as Burney did. I have seldom seen such a compact yet effective presentation.
See for yourself. I have had a tons of CD Roms leftover from when I did e-books of my rough drafts and they are now being put to good use building an electronic library every bit as impressive as what I have on my bookshelves--and that is saying something. It is all free for the taking if you know where to look, so go here please and enjoy:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.archive.org/details/aramaicoriginoff00burnrich">http://www.archive.org/details/aramaico ... 00burnrich</a><!-- m -->
PS--I recommend downloading the pdf version and going into: View, then Page Display and selecting Two-Up.
I have been getting into the works of other 19th-20th century Peshitta scholars through Google Books and Internet Archive. William Norton of course has long been a hero of mine. CC Torrey's work has been limited in its availablity but I have found his collaboration on a really interesting work "The Shorter BIble" of great use. There are separate volumes for each Testament, and what they have done is kind of harmonized different accounts and limited duplication. There is a heavy Hebrew and Aramaic emphasis in both volumes and the English is very clear with good footnotes.
But, the real focus of this post is on CF Burney. Burney writes in a way that is every bit as methodical as John Gwynn but in much less space. I am reading his "Aramaic Origins of the Fourth Gospel" which is really an argument for the Aramaic Origin of the whole NT. Brilliant stuff.
I can't post the excerpt I want, part of chapter 7 on mistranslations, so please follow this link and get this short but very powerful book. As far as I can tell, the only area where Burney seems to be slightly off is in supporting the contention of his friend FC Burkitt on the whole Rabulla-Peshitta thing. Fact is, this merits a very brief mention in the beginning, but the rest of the treatise to my mind is going specifically AGAINST OS primacy in its details as the Aramaic proofs he uses are Peshitta in nature. Regardless as to how that may be to some of us purists, the proofs are stunning. Burney even gets into why the NT is not quoting the LXX on the Aramaic side and how the Semitic NT patterns are deeper than oral transmission theories, although he seems to stop short of proclaiming Peshitta as original. For me the interesting fact is we who do proclaim Peshitta orginality would use the exact same evidence and argumentation as Burney did. I have seldom seen such a compact yet effective presentation.
See for yourself. I have had a tons of CD Roms leftover from when I did e-books of my rough drafts and they are now being put to good use building an electronic library every bit as impressive as what I have on my bookshelves--and that is saying something. It is all free for the taking if you know where to look, so go here please and enjoy:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.archive.org/details/aramaicoriginoff00burnrich">http://www.archive.org/details/aramaico ... 00burnrich</a><!-- m -->
PS--I recommend downloading the pdf version and going into: View, then Page Display and selecting Two-Up.
Shlama w'burkate
Andrew Gabriel Roth
Andrew Gabriel Roth