Jax wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 3:17 pm3: The original language of the early Christian texts is koine Greek.
AND
Jax wrote: ↑Wed Apr 21, 2021 4:12 pmOh? Are there Jewish and Aramaric Christian writings associated with early Christianity? I am aware of only Greek texts.
Here is a real problem for the Early Christian Scholars out there and it - perhaps predictably - occurs at the start of Christianity.
Suppose you have a collection of writings centered around the Middle East and Rome, in multiple languages.
Is this a "Gospel" yet?
No.
Suppose you wish to create a story around a character and a group of people who speak and are intimately familiar with Hebrew and Aramaic.
You pull together and collate a number of pages of text, beginning a Framework for your story, written in Greek, with the other pages laid out between this Framework.
Is this a Gospel yet?
No.
Someone notices that there is a Word-Play: There is a Hebrew word for "Lamb" which is found in the OT. That word is " אמּר ". It is "Immar" and it is exactly the same word as "Immer", a group found in the Groups of the Temple Worship Apparatus. You begin to map out a story. Some friends, who are really irritating, know a little History and start calling out a Phrase "Behold the Lamb-of-Yah". They laugh. They're very sophisticated.
So you write a story with all the little secret parts. Your part is written in Greek with some difficulty. Your part has expanded but there are many sections that are in Aramaic. It reminds of what you heard about that book "Daniel". Someone asks you to include a section from a Latin Text. It involves a Latin word "Soudarion". What a pain. "OK. Sure." You lay out a small Latin part at the end of your story.
Is this a Gospel yet?
No.
You translate this into a completely Greek only Manuscript with the Loan-Words and Word-Plays hidden. After all, "Lamb" in Hebrew is not the same as "Lamb" in Greek.
Is this a Gospel?
YES!!! It is now.
Though this is a Toy Analysis, you may find the Aramaic Bible Groups, the Latin Loan-Word Groups and other Groups as well who will expand Linguistic Analysis until you become sorry that you ever brought up the subject.
Was it never a Gospel until it was written solely in Greek? Why? Why not?
Jes' wondrin'.
CW