The Message of Matthew : An Annotated Parallel Aramaic-English Gospel of Matthew [Paperback]

Rocco A. Errico (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2, 1991

Dr. Errico's stirring translation of the ancient Aramaic Peshitta text of Matthew is further enriched with his stimulating and illuminating annotations. This book transports you back to the first century Palestinian Semitic Aramaic-Hebrew culture and world in which Jesus taught his universal message. The Message of Matthew is written in a simple, direct style. The English translation is printed on the left side of the page with footnotes. The aramaic text is printed on the right with additional footnotes in English. These valuable footnotes explain the meanings of Aramaic words and customs with supplementary historical information.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dr. Stylianos Atteshlis, "Daskalos", thanks you [Dr. Errico] for your excellent work on The Message of Matthew. -- Paul Skorpen, assistant to the late Dr. Stylianos Atteshlis

His intention is to carry the reader directly into the Semitic-Aramaic world in which this text originates -- Richard Leviton, author of The Imagination of Pentacost

About the Author

Rocco A. Errico, Th.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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Noohra Foundation (December 2, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963129201
• ISBN-13: 978-0963129208
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #727,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A useful book; with some cautions re: representions of fact, March 2, 2001

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K. P. "kp_in_seattle" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Message of Matthew : An Annotated Parallel Aramaic-English Gospel of Matthew (Paperback)

I've found this book useful and thought-provoking -- for what it is: Clearly a labor of love by an expert in the Syriac language, and yet a work of only quite modest scholarship, with perhaps more of a spiritual appeal. Nonetheless, it should serve as a good source (1) of raw data on the language of, and interesting textual variations found in, the Syriac Peshitta version of Matthew's gospel; and (2) of general insights into the kinds of relations that can exist between a Near Eastern language and its unique modes of thought, as they apply to the reading of a biblical text.

HOWEVER, this volume also has a strong tendency to represent the language of its text (the Syriac of the Peshitta Matthew) simply as "Aramaic", and in particular as the language of Jesus; and not only so, but also as so nearly a direct source of "original" words and phrases, as used by Jesus (and/or by the gospel's author), that it can therefore reasonably be drawn upon to gain unique, reliable insights into what Jesus (or the author of Matthew) _actually_meant_ -- namely, insights which could not be gained from examining any Greek text, or translation based on a Greek text. There's a persistent and palpable sense given throughout, that the text should not really be viewed in the way one would normally view a translation. These notions are, to say the least, controversial ones in the scholarly world, and really ought to be presented as such up front.

Syriac is not your typical dialect of Aramaic (hence the practice in scholarly literature of calling it by this separate name). Not only does it use its own separate trio of scripts (one of which you'll have to learn to read this text, even if you already know either Hebrew, or even some other brand of Aramaic, such as the Biblical, Jewish Palestinian, or Christian Palestinian variety); but it also manifests some real idiosyncrasies in pronunciation, syntax, and vocabulary. For these reasons, it is contrary to widely-used scholarly convention to refer to this language simply as Aramaic (or for that matter even as Syrian Aramaic).

There may be cultural and religious sensibilities involved in this choice of presentation, which one would by no means wish to offend; still, the potential buyer should be aware that outside of a certain religious tradition, it is highly unusual to lump Syriac together with other dialects of Aramaic. It is possibly for similar reasons that the Syriac of the Peshitta Bible is looked upon here as the language of Jesus. Again, while as a cherished belief (and one that is not entirely outside the realm of possibility) it should be respected, on the other hand the reader has the right to know that few scholars would find this plausible. While perhaps the greatest number of scholars -- in a field where there is much debate -- do accept that some form of Aramaic was most probably the native language of Jesus, few of them would regard the language of Christians living not in Palestine, but in Syria, and at a considerably later time, as the likely choice. This alone should raise concern, should one find oneself inclined to look here for the much sought-after _ipsissima_verba_ (exact words) of Jesus. But in fact, the Peshitta text of Matthew -- which is not the earliest Syriac version we have -- is in widespread scholarly opinion most likely to have originated in a very complex synthesis of translations from multiple _Greek_ texts (of Matthew and the other canonical gospels). (We cannot know if there may also have been some independent Western Aramaic tradition drawn upon in producing the Syriac versions; but what is almost certain is that known Greek texts have served as their principal sources.)

Hence, the lessons which one can learn, from the explanations Dr. Errico painstakingly provides for selected Syriac expressions, are of a very general type: Narrowly viewed, they introduce us to the interpretive approach of Syrian Christians toward their own unique biblical text; or perhaps, viewed more broadly, they illustrate the sort of pitfalls one who is inexperienced in Near Eastern thought may encounter in approaching a narrative which was born in a Semitic world, and in some sense exported from it into ours.