Aramaic Light on the Gospels of Mark and Luke [Paperback]

Rocco A. Errico (Author), George M. Lamsa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 28, 2001

This book, like its predecessor Aramaic Light on the Gospel of Matthew, carries you back almost two thousand years, providing a clear perspective of Jesus in the light of his own language, people and times. However, this volume is unique in that it provides insight into the psychology of Jesus' healing methods. This inimitable commentary acts as a Near Eastern guide, taking you through the heart of the gospels, illuminating difficult and puzzling passages and offering unparalleled insight into the character and behavior of Near Eastern Semites. Dr. Errico has not only edited, expanded and annotated Dr. Lamsa's commentaries, Gospel Light and More Light on the Gospels, he has also added information derived from his continual research in Aramaic word meanings and Near Eastern Semitic studies and completed unpublished material that the two of them had only outlined just before Dr. Lamsa died in 1975.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

ROCCO A. ERRICO, Ph.D., D.D., is an ordained minister, author, and lecturer and one of the nation's leading biblical scholars working from the original Aramaic texts. Dr. Errico is the recipient of numerous awards and academic degrees, including a doctorate in Letters from the College of Seminarians, The Apostolic Succession of Antioch and the Church of the East--American See, a doctorate in Divinity from St. Ephrem's Institute in Sweden, and a doctorate in Philosophy from the School of Christianity in Los Angeles. For ten years he studied intensively with Dr. George M. Lamsa, world-renowned native Assyrian scholar of the Scriptures. In 1970 Dr. Errico established the Noohra Foundation, which is dedicated to helping people of all faiths to understand the Near Eastern background and Aramaic interpretation of the Bible.

GEORGE M. LAMSA, Th.D. (1892-1975) was born in a civilization with customs, manners and language almost identical to those in the time of Jesus. His native tongue was full of similar idioms and parables, untouched by the outside world in 1900 years. Dr. Lamsa's formal education began under the priests and deacons of the ancient Church of the East and he later graduated with the highest honors ever bestowed from the Archbishop of Canterbury's Colleges in Iran and Turkey. After arriving in the United States, he devoted his life to translating the Holy Bible from the Ancient Eastern Text and also authored numerous biblical commentaries.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Noohra Foundation (November 28, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0963129279
• ISBN-13: 978-0963129277
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #832,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The True Interpretation, January 11, 2007

By 

happygal "happy" (Paradise) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aramaic Light on the Gospels of Mark and Luke (Paperback)

He studied under the great George Lamsa,orginal reinterpreter of the bible.A "must-read" for those who are studying Truth.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Contextual Commentary, July 7, 2007

By 

A. J. Valasek (Clemmons, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aramaic Light on the Gospels of Mark and Luke (Paperback)

This book is interesting. On one hand, it reads more like a book than a commentary. On the other hand, for a commentary it is accessible to the general public and certainly not scholarly with its wording.

Much like its predecessor, the main purpose is to expose the reader to some contextual problems of reading the Bible from a western mindset through a language not easily transferrable from the original. With one of the authors claiming to have been brought up in a near eastern setting, some of the insights are intriguing and worth pondering over.

The main thrust is dealing with the idiomatic expressions with a little personal theology built-in. Hard line literalists will simply hate this book since it relies on the gray instead of the black and white.

The one MAJOR caution I would suggest is that unless you're going to read the whole book, don't buy it. There are certainly some areas where if a person used this text as a commentary and pulled out a specific verse, they would definitely miss the author's intention since there are multiple lines of theology coursing through this text. However, if you are going to read the whole thing, and it is honestly a pretty easy read for a commentary, you will be able to temper some of the more questionable commentary against the background of the whole text.

5.0 out of 5 stars A closer look at the spritual world and experience of Jesus., February 10, 2010

By 

ga mtns "ga mtns" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aramaic Light on the Gospels of Mark and Luke (Paperback)

Lamsa's and Rocco's work is meant to take us out of our western cerebral society that is cognitively based in doctrine to a more experiential non dualistic view of Jesus' culture and spirituality in the world of Aramaic which was the common tongue of the time. I have all the gospel commentaries and have found them to be enlightening personally and have found that light to open up the hearts of the congregations where I have preached. Aramaic experience is more inductive that the western deductive process. Aramaic builds and widens the faith experience instead of narrowing it. If you like these, you'll like the commentary on the Lord's Prayer and the Beatitudes by Neil Douglas-Klotz called Prayer of the Cosmos. I actually read this one first and it was the beginning of a new and deepening shift in my spiritual life and opened up the gospels in ways that I haven't before experienced.