The Fourfold Gospel; Section II: The Beginning

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. ... APPENDIX III THE INTERPRETATION OF EARLY CHRISTIAN POETRY In previous volumes of Diatessarica it has been shewn that Hebrew poetic expressions, passing into Greek prose and interpreted prosaically, might give rise to serious misunderstandings. Recently the discovery of the Syriac poems commonly known as Odes of Solomon, but perhaps better called Songs of Solomon, has brought before Biblical students two questions. The first is, "Are we to interpret these particular poems as originally written in Syriac, or as coming to us from a Syriac version of Hebrew, or from a Syriac version of Greek?" The second is of a general character, "Will the different hypotheses of origin, in this and other similar discoveries, make any great difference in the interpretation?" In the Ninth Part of Diatessarica, a volume entitled Light on the Gospel from an Ancient Poet, I gave reasons for thinking that the Odes came to us from Hebrew. A contrary view has been recently set forth by Dom Connolly with great ability, and fortified by definite quotations of Syriac expressions that appeared to him to correspond exactly to expressions in original Greek1. Although I am unable to agree with its conclusions, I am heartily grateful to Dom Connolly who, in response to an appeal of mine for 1 The Journal of Theological Studies, July, 1913, pp. 530--8. Greek the Original Language of the Odes of Solomon. By the Rev. R. H. Connolly, O.S.B. THE INTERPRETATION OF EARLY CHRISTIAN POETRY facts, has adduced eight passages, besides repeating one previously adduced, that seem to him to present "cogent reasons for concluding not merely that the Syriac is a translation from Greek, but also that the Odes were composed in Greek." It appears to me that the discussion of these passages...