Fall Lecture Series
The Aramaic Jesus
Bruce Chilton, Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Philosophy and Religion and director of the Institute of Advanced Theology
Although the Gospels are written in Greek, Jesus and his first followers framed their teaching in Aramaic. Their forms of expression were so influential, Aramaic words and phrases are literally quoted in the New Testament. New discoveries of texts, as well as advances in linguistic study, enable us to look into the Aramaic foundations of the Gospels more deeply than at any other time since the first century.
Although the Gospels are written in Greek, Jesus and his first followers framed their teaching in Aramaic. Their forms of expression were so influential, Aramaic words and phrases are literally quoted in the New Testament. New discoveries of texts, as well as advances in linguistic study, enable us to look into the Aramaic foundations of the Gospels more deeply than at any other time since the first century.
Lectures will take place on the following Mondays at 12:00 pm in Bard Hall.
Monday, October 30th, Monday, November 6th and Monday, November 13th.
"In Search of the Once and Future Eden"
This lecture series with Bruce Chilton is in conjunction with the book launch of Eden Revisited: A Novel by László Z. Bitó ’60. Eden is both a place in the mythic past and the prospect for a balanced, ecological, and human civilization in the future. Gnostic writers in particular have portrayed how the idyllic garden could have been lost, and why regaining its richness has proven elusive. Laszlo Bito, a Bard alumnus from the class of 1960, investigated these issues in his book Eden Revisited. This series is designed to join in that quest, in order to press the issue of Eden’s deep promise.