Greek primacy

Greek primacy is a scholarly term in general use for the dominance of Hellenism at certain periods of history. In the context of the language of the New Testament, "Greek primacy" is a Wikipedia neologism (Wikipedia 2006, print 2007)[1] for the majority view that the New Testament or its sources were originally written in Koine Greek. It is generally accepted by most scholars today that the New Testament of the Bible was written primarily, if not completely, in Koine or common Greek.[2][3] A small number of scholars argue instead for "Aramaic primacy" (also a neologism) or "Hebrew primacy" (another neologism) for some books, typically Matthew.

Use in socio-historical studies

Greek primacy is a term found originally in socio-historical studies, for the cultural dominance of Hellenism.[4][5]

Use by Aramaic primacy advocates

The recent use of the term "Greek primacy" to relate to the consensus of scholars that the original language of the New Testament is Greek is largely found in sources advocating the minority view (Aramaic primacy) such as Bauscher (2007)[6] and Lataster (2009).[7] The first use in Wikipedia (2006, creation of this article [1]) goes back before the first confirmed use in print (2007).[8] As such, the term may be an example of a Wikipedia neologism.

Notes

  1. ^ first recorded use: The Original Aramaic Gospels in Plain English p59 Rev. David Bauscher - 2007
  2. ^ Metzger B. The Text of the New Testament. Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. Fourth Edition. Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman
  3. ^ Aland, K. and Aland, B. The text of the New Testament (9780802840981)
  4. ^ Bezalel Bar-Kochva The Image of the Jews in Greek Literature: The Hellenistic Period
  5. ^ Shepard Bancroft Clough The rise and fall of civilization 1957 "Reasons for Greek primacy"
  6. ^ Bauscher The Original Aramaic Gospels in Plain English p59: "“Occam's Razor” would decide this matter very easily: The data are much more easily accounted for by Peshitta Primacy than by Greek Primacy. Indeed, Greek Primacy..."
  7. ^ Lataster Was the New Testament Really Written in Greek? 2009 Appendix A - The Deceptive Nature of Greek Primacy
  8. ^ currently appears to be Bauscher 2007, term does not appear in Lamsa.