My Neighbor Jesus - In the Light of His Own Language, People and Time

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The author of this book is an Assyrian. His people, now struggling for bare existence in a non-fertile corner of Iraq, are the pitiful surviving remnant of that conquering race which for thousands of years dominated the fertile heart of Asia Minor, living and writing mighty volumes of world art and world history. They that once came down like a wolf on the fold are themselves today scattered Christian sheep, harried by their fierce neighbors. These present Assyrians, largely mixed with the blood of the captive Tribes, represent the oldest existing Christian Church. Their bishops claim an unbroken succession stretching back practically to the time of Jesus. Their Gospel text dates from the second century, nearly two hundred years closer to the event than the Greek MSS. on which our version is based, and free from that translation into a foreign idiom which proverbially destroys the integrity of the written word. Their native tongue, alone of all spoken now, is that Aramaic Jesus spoke. They still live and think and talk as did the people among whom Jesus was born and to whom he revealed his message. Mr. Lamsa grew up and was trained for the priesthood amid these unchanged ancient customs and traditions. From this background of a peculiar intimacy, and with tireless study of the neglected old Aramaic MSS., the author has drawn a portrait of Jesus through native eyes, bringing fresh illumination on many points to Western readers. Again and again dark and troublesome passages, on which commentators have produced libraries of labored explanation, become clear and obvious in the light of the colloquial speech, which the writer knows as only a native knows a language, and the local Oriental habits of thought of those for whom our Gospels were first recorded. Strangely enough, considering the vast literature on the subject, this seems to be the first such presentation of the historical Jesus by one who speaks Aramaic. HENRY WYSHAM LANIER