This is a follow up to an earlier post. I thought the information might be helpful. It's something to think about as we try to understand the teachings of Jesus.
Aramaic was the common spoken language throughout the Middle East at the time of Jesus and was the tongue in which he expressed his teachings. Unlike Greek, Aramaic does not draw sharp lines between means and ends or between an inner quality and and outer action. Both are always present.
For example, when Jesus refers to the "kingdom of heaven," this kingdom is always both within and among us. Likewise, "neighbor" is both inside and outside of us as is the "self" that we are to love to the same degree as our "neighbor."
Unlike Greek, Aramaic presents a fluid and holistic view of the cosmos, The arbitrary borders found in Greek between "body," "mind," and "spirit" fall away. Furthermore, like its sister languages Hebrew and Arabic, Aramaic can express at least three layers of meaning:
1. Intellectual - the face value of the words in question. The "literal" meaning in modern terms.
2. Metaphorical - how the story presents a metaphor for our lives or the life of a community. Here we must awaken our poetic sensibility.
3. Universal - the universal truth of the text. The wordless experience to which the text points.
To a Middle Eastern teacher like Jesus, none of these viewpoints excludes the others. We should consider all the possible meanings of key sacred phrases and prayers and let them work inside.
The tragedy of biblical translation has been that teachings which were meant to resonate on many different levels of meaning have been whittled down or restricted. The beauty of the language which Jesus spoke is that it gives us permission to let his holy wisdom speak to us in many different ways and on many different levels. It is living and dynamic, not static and fixed.
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