Theos-Talk Archives (August 2004 Message tt00099)

--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "krishtar" <krishtar_a@b...> wrote:
> Hi
> Has anyone read any translation from Hebrew or Aramaic versions 
from the algerian Andre Churaqui? I was told by a theology teacher 
that he gave the world wonderfully translated versions of the old and 
new testament.
> I am looking forward to read any track of it and get rid of 
those "new-born christian" versions...
> Krishtar

The problem with reading those documents is that without a grounding 
in ancient literature you won't know what they really mean. Max 
Mueller pointed out in one of his books that language changes enough 
in 150 years that interpreting an old book ain't easy even if it is 
only a couple of centuries old. He was referring to books from India 
and Persia but the same would apply to the Near East. So here these 
documents are 2000 years old. They are filled with historical 
references, riddles, literary allusions, allegories, and veiled 
esoteric ideas which very few modern readers have any chance of 
understanding. Another problem with the NT is that the esoteric 
Christianity of ancient times had its own peculiar terminology which 
is left in transliterated Greek when the gnostic texts are translated 
but which are translated into English when the NT is translated. 
Thus in the NT pleroma is translated "fulness," AEon is 
translated "ages," Archon is translated "lord," Gnosis is 
translated "science" or "knowledge," and so on. The point is to keep 
you from finding out that the NT is filled with gnostic terminology 
and ideas, which makes it clear the text is esoteric. By playing 
that little trick on you, the translators make sure you do not 
suspect there is any hidden meaning. There is little danger of the 
uninitiated finding out the inner meaning, since the veils are quite 
well drawn. I laugh out loud whenever I hear some hokey preacher or 
some fundamentalist nitwit banging his bible and telling his fellow 
ignorami that he must be right because it says so right here. I only 
laugh briefly, though, because I cannot stand to listen to those 
people. Ignorance is amusing, but it is a pleasure that fades fast

If anyone translated the NT from Hebrew or Aramaic something is wrong 
because the original documents, with the exception of MATTHEW, were 
all written in Greek.