New Aramaic Class: The Aramaic Lord's Prayer

A number of people have expressed their interest in the Aramaic classes that are offered over at Aramaic Designs, but that the price (in this economy) has been prohibitive.

Because of this a new class is in development that should be ready in the next couple of months that will be on the topic of the Aramaic Lord's Prayer. The basic information at this time is as follows:

ARC010: The Aramaic Lord's Prayer
Duration: 8 weeks (~2 months)
Enrollment: Rolling (you can enroll at any time)
Price: $50

Current Syllabus: (subject to change, but probably close to this)

1. What's So Special About The Lord's Prayer?
   - Context & History
   - The Prayer in Greek
2. A (Brief) History of Aramaic & the Language of Jesus
   - An Introduction to Aramaic & its Alphabet
   - The Aramaic of Jesus
3. The Syriac Peshitta Lord's Prayer
   - An Introduction to the Peshitta
   - The Peshitta Lord's Prayer
4. Other Syriac Lord's Prayer Traditions
   - The Other Syriac Traditions and Their Relation to Each Other
   - Old Syriac, Harklean, etc.
5. Scholarly Reconstructions of the Lord's Prayer
   - Reconstructing the Words of Jesus
   - The Jesus Seminar
   - Individual Scholarly Reconstructions (Jeremias', Fitzmeyer, Chilton, Brock, etc.)
6. Modern Aramaic Traditions of the Lord's Prayer
   - The Plight of Neo-Aramaic
   - Neo-Aramaic Examples (Neo-Assyrian, Ma`loula, etc.)
7. Odd Translations of the Lord's Prayer
   - An "Aramaic" Imagination
   - Notable Odd Translations (Ouseley, Lamsa/Errico, Douglas-Klotz, etc.)
8. Conclusions, Thoughts & Final Paper
   - Aramaic and Prayer
   - Greater Historical Context
   - Final essay on any topic covered in the class, or other topic subject to professor approval (~500-1000 words).
   

All who are interested or wish to have more information, please email in to Information@AramaicDesigns.com.

Peace,
-Steve

Creepy: Aramaic Inscription on Human Skull

"Not long ago, the well-known collector Shlomo Moussaieff acquired two earthenware bowls, the open ends of which were adjoined to form a kind of case—inside the case was an ancient human skull. A magic incantation, written in Aramaic, was inscribed on the skull."

Talk about creepy. :-)

[read the full article]

Peace,
-Steve