It continues to amaze me (but not surprise me) how people will keep reposting memes about what Jesus looked like and what language he spoke, etc., when they have never studied the subject (and it shows). So, let me provide a little history lesson and a bit of scholarly understanding.
First, Hebrew was rarely spoken at all in the time of Jesus. Why? Because when other nations – the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Medo-Persians – took over their territory, they imposed their own languages on the people as all conquering peoples do in all cases. Hebrew simply became phased out over time because of this intrusion. It was kept alive only by priests and rabbis who continued to learn how to read the Hebrew texts and recopied them as part of the learning process – so they were able to read and write Hebrew. It was used on a limited basis in the Temple and the synagogues sort of the way Latin is used in the Roman Catholic Church today. That allows lay people to have a very limited knowledge of Latin while the priest have to study it and write it, just the way ancient priest and scribes had to study and write Hebrew. It’s the same dynamic. No one actually speaks Latin as a formal language today and no one spoke it as a formal language in the time of Jesus either. Frankly, the only reason that the ancient scriptures still exist at all in Hebrew/Aramaic is because of this process because by the time of Jesus virtually no one else could have read and understood them in the Hebrew/Aramaic.
Now, the Assyrians and Babylonians had a lesser impact as far as language is concerned than the Medo-Persians did. What that means is that under Medo-Persian rule they, like all others, imposed their language on the conquered, which happened to be Aramaic. Aramaic, by the way, is similar to Hebrew, but distinct from it. So, it was a relatively easy transition for most people. Because of their influence, Aramaic became the spoken language of the area, period. Again, Hebrew had basically been phased out in favor of Aramaic. THAT is why, even up to Roman times, the common people spoke Aramaic as a first language. This was basically universal to that area of the world.
However, as is always the case, once the Greeks conquered the Medo-Persian empire they imposed Greek upon the populations. But, in this case, there was a good bit of opposition from some elements of the population so that some areas continued to predominantly speak Aramaic. This included the area referred to as Galilee.
Now, the opposition was not just about language. See, the Greeks were determined to effectively impose their religion upon other peoples too. And, to a large extent, this effort worked. That’s why you see Greek temples all over the eastern world. That it became mixed with indigenous religions is just natural. But the Hebrews, to a large extent, resisted this. Over time, many did adopt the Greek ways and they generally became members of the upper classes because, frankly, if you wanted to get anywhere in life, you became Hellenized. This included a good number of priests, by the way.
All that being said, by the time of Jesus there were still pockets of resistance to Hellenization and that included Galilee. That is why scholars are generally satisfied that the first language of Jesus was Aramaic. The fact that there are a few instances in the NT that demonstrate that he spoke Aramaic support this. But that does NOT mean that he did not know Greek. He, like anyone else, would have known at least enough Greek to engage in commerce, etc. In his day, Greek was the dominant language of the area whether some people liked it or not. It would have been astounding for anyone of that area during that time-period to have known no Greek! They would have truly been a hillbilly! And Jesus could not very well have spoken only Aramaic and interacted with the masses, many of whom would have had Greek as their fist language, could he?
All of that having been said, even scholars seem to miss the point that Jesus, if the gospels are accurate, was brought up in Egypt. Now, granted, Aramaic was spoken there too to a limited degree. But by the time of Jesus Greek was the predominant language there – so much so that the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) had to be translated into Greek so that people could actually read them. What people need to understand is that a Jewish diaspora already existed by his time and most Jews who were outside of their homeland were in Egypt. And they spoke Greek. Would Jesus have likely been exposed to some of the Koptic (Egyptian) language while there? Certainly. But you never see a meme touting how he knew Egyptian, do you? So, the likelihood is really that Jesus’ first language actually WAS Greek and that he knew a limited amount of Koptic and was probably fluent in Aramaic too because his later life was spent in Galilee. He may have grown to prefer Aramaic and spoke it most often. But there can be little to no doubt that he also understood and spoke Greek.
Now, for those who insist (as the memes do) that he also spoke Latin, the problem really is how much Latin, if any? See, in the eastern empire, once again, the dominant language was Greek. This was something that the Romans simply did not try very hard to change. Why? Because they, for the most part, understood Greek too. There was simply no need for them to try to impose Latin in the eastern empire. There are a few monuments in the east that have Latin inscriptions but, for the most part, inscriptions in the east are in Greek. One notable exception (and this is not a complete exception) came when the Romans defeated the Jews during the Bar-Kokhba Revolt and afterward sought to change Jerusalem into Aelia Kapitolina. Note that I used the Greek form of the name here. Why? Because inscriptions from the city predominantly refer to it this way. But not all of them did. Some show Aelia Capitolina instead. There is a reason for this. The reason is that Aelia was a Roman colony. They deliberately settled Romans in the new city to Romanize it. They erected Roman temples, etc. there too. This was a deliberate effort to forever change the city. Therefore, there are more inscriptions in Latin there than elsewhere in the east.
Anyway, this simply illustrates the fact that Jesus did not have a need to even know much, if any, Latin. Might he have understood a limited amount of Latin? Possibly. But there is no proof of this. I know a few words on French, but that does not mean I know French. I studied it and did not do particularly well in it. So, I would never claim that I KNOW French even though I did try to learn it and, for a time, could almost reasonably use it.
In the end, the fact of the matter is that people like to post and repost memes that make them feel good as if they actually know something when they have never studied the subject at all. I agree that most scholars are right in that the predominant language of Jesus was likely Aramaic for the reasons shown. And I agree that he must have known some – probably a lot of – Greek. Beyond that we only have speculation.
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What Some Really Think Western Civilization Means
This morning I listened to a news commentator state, paraphrasing, that the concept of western civilization is not the same for the rich and powerful today as it is for most other people. But even he seemed to be at a loss to explain exactly what the difference is. Indeed, without some direct knowledge as to what they really think western civilization is, explaining their viewpoint here can be rather futile.
The difficulty in grasping what those among the rich and powerful think western civilization is lies, in part, in the fact, as the commentator did point out, paraphrasing his statements once again, that these people favor the idea that rich oligarchs and dictatorial regimes are the way that western civilization is meant to go, so long as the rich benefit, rather than people-oriented democratic governments.
But even this does not quite get us to the foundational thought in the minds of these people. That they basically reject democratic ideals, favoring stricter forms of government in which the rich benefit seems directly at odds with what we have been taught that western civilization actually is, or should be. So, how can they justify their position?
Well, I would be at somewhat of a loss to explain this adequately too if I had not read something some time ago that basically laid out the answer to this dilemma. The world view of these people rests at least almost entirely on a singular event in western history, and it is an event that literally no one else would point to as the singular event that initiated western civilization. But for them, this event is pivotal. For these people, the spark that ignited western civilization, at least in its present form (or the form they see it as being) was the day when the Apostle Paul crossed from Asia into Europe and began to evangelize that continent.
What? Can they really have such an absurd and simplistic viewpoint and really, literally claim that the Apostle Paul lit the spark of western civilization? Yes they can! And based on this viewpoint, then, automatically, Christianity becomes foundational. For them, western civilization cannot exist without Christianity. And, therefore, western governments cannot function without the foundation of Christian ethics, if you will.
During the late Roman Empire Christian Bishops and apologists even went so far as to posit that the end o the Roman Empire, at least in the west, was part of God’s plan because the Roman Empire, literally, had done what it was brought into being to do in that it had served as a tool for protecting the savior and the initial spread of Christianity. Once the empire fell, what was left was several squabbling petty states, all headed by dictatorial kings. Well, at least where government did not fall apart completely. This became the model for Christian nations because all of these petty states used Christianity as a foundation, the empire of Charlemagne later becoming the most obvious example of what those who wished to rule envisioned.
Now, I am not asserting here any critique of what is good and what is not so good about Christianity. The fact of the matter is that Christianity has been used by various forces in history to do both good and bad things. And it is certainly true that the western civilization that we have today would in no way resemble what it is if not for the influence of Christianity.
But, frankly, Christianity is actually NOT foundational to western civilization and to posit that western civilization basically did not exist until Christianity came into Europe is, at best, a faulty way of viewing history and the development of western civilization, which had its foundations in ancient Crete and Greece and had its start long before Christianity came into being.
Anyone who has ever studied western civilization knows that it predates Christianity. But the truth is that what we see today is a western civilization that has been heavily influenced by Christianity for the last two-thousand plus years. So, western civilization has been greatly changed by it. But that does no mean that Christianity and dictatorial regimes should be re-imposed upon people in the western world as some sort of remedy for the ills we face today, as some would have it. What we are seeing today is, in a way, an attempt to return to the empire of Charlemagne. And this includes a somewhat natural alliance with Russia, even though Russia is rarely considered “western”, because the Russian state, except for the aberration of the Soviet Union, has always had Orthodox Christianity as a foundation along with their supposed Byzantine heritage.
With this mix, this combination of Western and Eastern Europe under the rubric of Christianity, the re-established nation of Israel also becomes a pivotal player because end-times prophecy requires it. Thus, the entirety of western civilization today is literally wrapped up in three political entities; the Western European nations along with the US, Australia, etc., Russia and its satellite nations, and Israel. That Israel is not Christian and does not have Christianity as a foundation is no issue since, with end-times prophecy, they will at some point be brought into the Christian fold. Then all will be complete.
This is literally what those who are seeking to keep power today mean by western civilization.
The Ultimate Failure of Monotheism
Today as we are witnessing a war against Iran initiated by Netanyahu and Trump, we see right in front of our faces the ultimate failure of all forms of monotheism. This statement is not made in sympathy for the Iranian regime. On the contrary, they are as complicit in what has happened as the two other powers, Israel and the US, are. The reason is that, contrary to what we have all been told, this war was never really about stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Instead, it is about the obsession each side has with end-times prophecy.
One must understand that every form of monotheism has, as a fundamental belief, the ultimate end of things. The monotheist thinks of time in strictly linear terms. That means that there must be a beginning and an ending. They also always posit a spiritual world in which there is a war between good and evil, with humans playing the pivotal role in it. In each scenario, all things come to a final point during which there is a great war between good and evil with good, of course, being the ultimate victor. Then comes a final judgment of all of humankind. This has been the scenario from the very beginning, starting with Zoroastrianism, which originated in the far east and was mainly espoused by the various Persian empires throughout ancient history. During their sojourn in Babylon and after their return to their homes, the Hebrew people were exposed to this thought process so that it was added to their own religious belief system. Christianity picked it up from both avenues. And Islam got it from all three. Thus, all forms of monotheism have this belief system as part of its fundamental doctrine, only in somewhat different forms. And, of course, each religion believes that their god will ultimately prevail (forget the idea that they all worship the same god, because they don’t).
So, now the powers that be, all of which follow one or another form of monotheism, have started their war. Never mind that it does not look like the scenario that they always told us it would be. That doesn’t really matter. The important point is that the end-times prophecy people on all sides see the culmination of all of their beliefs taking place at this time. Yes, there are some who say that they don’t see it that way, but they are a minority. But trust me when I say that Netanyahu thinks he is a kind of messiah who will usher in the Jewish version of the end while Trump thinks he is the Christian version and the Ayatollah thinks he is the Muslim version. And each thinks that his god will prevail. That the cost of this final battle will be the ultimate near destruction of one nation or another, along with its people, is of no consequence to either of these leaders.
And here we arrive at the true ultimate failure of all forms of monotheism in that in order for things to culminate into the heavenly world that they envision a final battle destroying whole nations and peoples must first take place. In the Christian version, for example, it is the Jewish people and the nation of Israel which will suffer this fate. Only when Israel is virtually destroyed and Jesus supposedly comes back to save what is left will they finally embrace him as their messiah. Of course, all of this is quite the opposite to everything that Paul wrote about the salvation of “all of Israel”, but that no longer matters. No, instead only that remnant left after the horrors of the battle of Armageddon will ultimately be saved. In addition to this, there are some even now who see this war as a way for the gospel to enter Iran so that the people there might accept it. These people are so jaded that they actually believe that the people would accept the religion of their aggressors! But,a gain, a war was required for this to even take place.
Once one sees this scenario for what it really is, it seems rather pointless, doesn’t it? Humanity has to suffer in order to bring about the salvation of a remnant of Israel (or Iran). Wow! But this is exactly what each side has, for their own reasons, started.
As a Pagan who rejects all forms of monotheism, I am thankful that zi am free of such end-times delusions. I do not believe that an ultimate war has to take place at all, whatever the result. This war is not something initiated by any god. It has been initiated strictly by humans who cannot grasp of any other scenario than the one I have laid out. They cannot conceive of getting to a better world without war first. But we polytheists are not infected with end-times thinking. We have no final great war and no final judgment. We are free of these things. And it is freedom indeed!
Renee Good is the New Hypatia
It was March, 415 CE. Egypt, once the crown jewel of learning, the arts, and science, was a waning culture. Strife and dissent were everywhere.
This did not happen overnight. Egypt had become part of the seemingly ever-expanding Roman Empire some time ago. Although this had taken place by force, Egypt prospered for a long time under Roman rule. But, as the rest of the Roman Empire gradually moved toward decline, so had Egypt.
The divisions in Egypt were more acute than in most other regions of the Empire. Jews and Christians constantly bickered over just about any little thing, intentionally provoking each other, causing riots in the streets and damage to ancient structures everywhere.
Hypatia herself was of Greek ancestry, just as those who still ruled were. This had been the case since the time of Alexander the Great. She was a follower of the philosophy we call “Neoplatonism”. What little survives of her writings indicates that she held no particularly strong religious views (although she was a Pagan) other than that espoused by her philosophy. And she was neither Christian nor Jewish religiously, so that both religious groups held her in suspicion. Because she delved into mathematics and the sciences, especially astronomy, she was seen by many as being a witch. For many in that day in time, there was really no difference between astronomy and astrology. That she also taught these subjects to others made her even more of a target of contempt among those who could not understand any of it.
This is not to say that all Christians and Jews hated her or saw her as suspect. She had such students, who apparently loved her. And even prominent leaders in her city of Alexandria accepted her.
But this was not to continue. A series of popular uprisings and massacres somehow caused Hypatia to become the focus of those with hatred in their hearts. Perhaps it was partly because she would lecture openly in the streets at times, drawing crowds.
Regardless of the circumstances, on a sad day in March of 415, a mob of Christian zealots came upon her carriage as she was on her way home, and drug her from it. Either she got away and ran into a building, or they drug her into it – the sources are not certain. The building had formerly been a Pagan temple, since converted to a Christian Church. There, in front of the Christian altar, they stripped her and cut her flesh with seashells! She was dismembered by the mob, taken outside of the city walls, and burned along with as many of her writings as the mob could get ahold of!
Martyrs often become symbols for future generations. Hypatia did this in her death, just as others had done before her. Many Neoplatonists afterward saw her as a symbol of opposition to Christianity. During the Enlightenment she became a symbol of opposition to Catholicism. But, of course, she was also co-opted by Christians too, as in so many other cases, as part of the basis for the legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria.
It still took a few hundred years for the Roman Empire to completely decline and fall. But the trajectory never improved in the meantime. As they say, it was “all downhill” from here. Today, we in the USA face a stark reality that many refuse to acknowledge. We are an empire in decline. All of the signs are there. The leadership of this country claim that they are making us “great again”. They seem set upon expansion, like the ancient empires. But expansion is not really equivalent to greatness. Not while society is falling apart within. Not while military-style thugs function in a rampant manner in our streets as the mobs did in ancient Alexandria, killing innocent people. Not while our government will openly – immediately – vilify the victim of such military-style mobs in an effort to save face. Not while educational institutions are threatened in every possible way because they don’t teach subjects in a Christian enough manner. Not while the news media is forced to become little more than subservient to the regime!
When a person is murdered by a mob in the name of the regime and its objectives, it is a turning-point. That person becomes a martyr for a greater cause whether the regime likes it or not.
Renee Good is the new Hypatia.
Christian Extremism on Full Display in the US: “Wag the Dog”
Anyone who has paid attention, studied, and/or at least read my latest book, “Because They LIE” (pseudonym Celsus Porphyry) should have seen just about everything that is currently taking place in our nation coming long before it got here. It would be fruitless to go into detail about every situation, from certain segments of law enforcement acting in potentially illegal ways, arresting those who have committed no infraction whatsoever other than simply being here from another country, or arrests of even political figures simply conducting oversight or asking uncomfortable questions – something right out of Stalin’s playbook. It may not be long until we witness political opponents to the new American regime “disappearing” just the way they still do in Russia and the way many undocumented immigrants are in this nation today. If you think that statement is alarmist, I think you need to consider things a little more deeply. I have read a lot of history, and this is how it begins. We have entered the era of Christian fascism in America, something that I repeatedly warned about.
Perhaps the most obvious incident related to this, however, is not any of those things mentioned above. No, instead it was an incident that took place barely over a week ago which, it would seem, the news media has generally already forgotten about and moved on from. This incident, in which Vance Boelter allegedly killed one important Minnesota political figure along with her husband, and wounded two others, is actually a prime example of what I have warned about for some time. Not only did Boelter allegedly perpetrate these heinous acts, but allegedly planned even more, having a supposed list of other targets, all Democrats who, apparently in his mind, stood as “pro-abortion”. And this, in a nutshell, is exactly the problem – a person who can hate abortion so much that he is willing (again, allegedly in this case) to murder those he sees as supporting it. Some would have a difficult time rationalizing how murder can be a remedy for supporting abortion rights. But I submit, this is not difficult for those like Boelter.
You see, people of this sort are what we might generally term, “religious extremists”. They fully believe that they have some God-given right to rule over everyone else to keep them in-line religiously, socially, and politically. It’s really the standard Christian playbook from as far back as Constantine. But few know this simply because they have not studied that part of history. This is the reason that many of this persuasion can refer to President Trump as a “Cyrus ruler”. And why they can also refer to former Senator Hillary Clinton as a “Jezebel”. Not to mention those who regularly insist that everyone should prepare for Armageddon! Yes, preppers are included in all of this too.
Most people who might hear their preaching and rhetoric would simply dismiss these people as at least sort of “unhinged” and pay them no further mind. The problem, however, is with those who do actually listen to them and take in their pronouncements as “gospel”. Such are people like Vance Boelter.
Sadly, I am not making this up. His close associates have referred to him as an ardent Christian and Trump supporter. They have also referred to him as “anti-abortion”. They have stated that he recently returned from a mission trip to Africa and was changed somehow from that experience. But not just that. See, he also appears to have been part of a growing movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. This is a movement that I, in fact, referred to in my latest book, “Because they LIE”. The very reason I did this is because it is a danger to our democratic way of life. And he was a prepper.
Put even some of these things together into one person, not to mention all of them, and you have a domestic Christian terrorist. Put Christian extremism of this nature together with political discontent and the prepper movement, and the natural result is the type of incident that we witnessed when Vance Boelter allegedly committed the above-mentioned atrocities. But if anyone should think that this is some kind of aberration, they should consider the fact that it was only a couple of years ago when such extremists allegedly plotted to kidnap and torture Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer for similar reasons. And we don’t yet know what was really in the mind of Trenton Abston, who allegedly attempted to kidnap Memphis Mayor Paul Young. But I submit that we may find out his thoughts were actually similar too.
Regardless, the basic similarity between all of these is political kidnappings and violence in the name of religion (except, perhaps, for the last one). And this is what the rhetoric of religious groups such as the New Apostolic Reformation movement can easily lead to. And what we are witnessing is the reality that home-grown terrorism is a much bigger problem than the Trump regime is willing to admit. The real truth is that our investigative forces do tend to catch foreign terrorist elements before they have a chance to strike. But those that are home-grown are obviously much more difficult to catch beforehand. We can see this just by recalling the multiple incidents that have taken place in this country this year alone.
Of course, extremism and violent behavior of this type is not relegated only to those who hate Democrats or hate abortion. We can also recall more than one attempt to assassinate Trump himself during the campaign, not to mention the veteran who blew himself, and a Tesla, up in front of Trump Tower earlier this year. But these latter incidents, heinous as they are, were clearly not motivated by any level of religious ideology. No, that is reserved only to the conservative-minded side. You know, the type of people who want the Ten Commandments plastered everywhere you look.
Vance Boelter is exactly the type of individual who has been created by domestic movements such as, but not limited to, the New Apostolic Reformation movement, and the very type of individual whom I have been warning about. But he is also exactly the type of individual that those on the other side of things – those who support such movements and who support Trump – do NOT want you to focus on or really even think about.
Remember back in the 1990s when then President Bill Clinton struck Somalia militarily? The conservatives were all up in arms about it, claiming that he only did that in order to take attention off of his political troubles. They insisted that Clinton had no other good reason for that military strike. And, thus, the phrase, “wag the dog” was coined – a method of distracting people from the real issue by causing another issue to emerge.
Frankly, militarily striking Iran was already in the Trump playbook. I doubt that anyone will easily forget the little tune, based on a song by the Beachboys, “Bomb, Bomb Iran” that the Trump campaign used from the very beginning. Please don’t try to tell me that they weren’t just waiting for the opportunity. But many did ask, “why now”? They asked, “what was the emergency if Iran didn’t yet have a nuclear weapon”? Some are still asking that, and rightly so.
I submit that this military operation was carried out at this particular time exactly in order to distract everyone from the fact that a home-grown religious extremist allegedly perpetrated as political assassination. They don’t want you to dwell too much on that. They want you to focus elsewhere, almost anywhere else. They don’t want people to recognize the fact that the person who allegedly perpetrated this horrible act is not only someone who ardently supported Trump, but who is just like so many others who also do for exactly one reason – religion.
Wag the dog.
Pagan Voices Almanac (PVA); Authored & Edited by: Hekataios Pindaros Amerikos, Hierophant of Hyperboreanism and Oracular Priest of Dodona 