"The quality and usefulness of the resulting publication will be significant and extensive, because of the revival of Christianity in the last decade in America, especially as evidenced through the numerous religious broadcasts on television and radio. There is a tremendous need for a translation of the Bible that can withstand the acid test of our times, both negative and positive. And I intend to deliver it." This statement from my Project Proposal to the National Endowment for the Humanities, several years ago, projected the optimism that I felt when I embarked on this, what will end up being a lifelong, translation work. And although I expected the modern-day churches to show more enthusiasm for my work, some of my fondest hopes have been achieved. The first fruit of my labor, the Disciples New Testament, has been both useful and significant. My translation is used as a key reference in some seminaries and there are a few churches that use it exclusively in their sermons. I have had good feedback both from Protestants and Catholics. There's one Catholic parish that uses my translation in their liturgical readings.
Also my translation has opened up some avenues for pursuing peace in the world through an understanding of the Old Covenant. In my translation of Genesis, which I expect to complete within a month, much of the character of the modern-day churches is clarified through a correct translation of the historical events that shaped the Scripture. I have footnoted the distortions of the modern-day translations with respect to the racist labels they've hung on certain Biblical figures in the Book of Genesis. The rest of the "Books of Moses" will contain many more examples of how the modern translations reworked the stories to align them with their nationalistic prejudices. The major distortion, however, will remain the way the Greek-Latin-English translations removed the Aramaic speaking converts from the pages of the Bible, and the contribution of the early Jewish saints who recognized and followed the Messiah. The modern-day churches, especially in the US, think that the Four Gospels were written by the "Gentiles" in Greek. Protestant fanatics ask with incredulous innocence: "Weren't the writers of the New Testament Greek? Aren't Matthew, Mark, Luke and John Greek names?" Some American theologians know that Matthew and John are Jewish names, but a great percentage of them claim that Luke and Mark were Greeks. In this way, they cling to the lie that the New Testament was written in Greek. From there the Protestants and even the Catholics go toward the fallacy that the Gospel is God's gift to the Gentiles. In my opinion this is a tragic view of the faith in our Lord. After all our Lord's main teaching and central commandment was that we love one another as He loved us. This is a teaching that flies in the face of racism against the Easterners, the Jews as well as all the Aramaic speaking converts of the faith in the Messiah.
Such names as Mark and Luke were used so the Apostles could travel through the repressive Roman world of the early Christian days, around the Mediterranean and the Aegean regions. For example, Peter was never called Peter by the Jewish and the Aramaic speaking converts in the Holy Lands. He was known by his true name, "Shimmun." In English it's Simon. His nickname was Keepa or "Rock." Our Lord gave him this nickname because of his character. Shimmun Keepa was a reliable and steadfast Disciple and later a powerful Apostle. These are the connotations of the nickname. Of course our Lord called Himself the "Cornerstone" of our faith, but He designated Shimmun to be the "Keepa" upon which He built His Church. And His Church isn't in Rome. His Church is everywhere!
Another point is that Shimmun or Simon wasn't called "Keepa" all the time, as is the case in the English Bibles. In the modern Bibles it's, "Peter, Peter, Peter." It's wrong. It emphasizes the notion that Simon was the most important figure in the Church. It gave rise to the Papacy. It made the Church in the West see itself as not only the biggest church, but the only Church. It was and is neither. The Church of the East was the biggest Church in the world until the 12th Century. All the churches in the world are supposed to merge into one Church. That is the goal of the faith in the Messiah.
Today, despite all the troubles in the world and all the distortions of the Bible, there is a revival in Western Christianity. As an Eastern follower of the Messiah, I can't be against this revival. In fact, I'm not, and I'm doing my part in translating the Scriptures from the Ancient Aramaic into English, and trying desperately to get people to say "Eashoa" instead of "Jesus," to say "Msheekha" or "the Messiah" instead of Christ, to say "the faith in the Messiah" or "Messianic" instead of "Christian" -- among other things. There are so many benefits to using the Ancient Aramaic words and names, but this will take time and at this point it seems impossible to get people to learn a new language, although I think someday maybe it won't be so impossible, but that's up to the Lord.
--June 1, 2003