"Builds on the premise that language and thought are inevitably and inextricably bound up with each other. . . . A classic study of the differences between Greek and Hebrew thought."--John E. Rexrine, Colgate University

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Most readers do not know about the Bible used almost universally by early Christians, or about how that Bible was birthed, how it grew to prominence, and how it differs from the one used as the basis for most modern translations. Although it was one of the most important events in the history of our civilization, the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the third century BCE is an event almost unknown outside of academia. Timothy Michael Law offers the first book to make this topic accessible to a wider audience. Retrospectively, we can hardly imagine the history of Christian thought, and the history of Christianity itself, without the Old Testament. When the Emperor Constantine adopted the Christian faith, his fusion of the Church and the State ensured that the Christian worldview (which by this time had absorbed Jewish ideals that had come to them through the Greek translation) would leave an imprint on subsequent history. This book narrates in a fresh and exciting way the story of the Septuagint, the Greek Scriptures of the ancient Jewish Diaspora that became the first Christian Old Testament.

Assumptions That Affect Our Lives traces the foundation of Western thought back to two opposing worldviews: the ancient Greeks, who fathered man-centered secularism, and the ancient Hebrews, who carried forward the revelation of God.

When we read an English translation of the Bible we define the words within it according to our modern vocabulary allowing our culture and language to influence how we read and interpret the Bible. The Bible was written by ancient Hebrews whose culture and language was very different from our own and must be read and interpreted through their eyes. When we define the names of God using our culture and language we lose the Hebraic meanings behind the original Hebrew names of God. Consequently the true nature and character of God is hidden behind the veil of time and culture. By understanding the various names of God through the vocabulary and language of the ancient Hebrews, the nature and character of God is revealed to us in a new light. The prophet Zechariah described the character of God with the words "sh'mo ehhad" translated as His Name is One (Zechariah 14:9). This phrase beautifully describes the character of God from a Hebraic perspective that is lost to us through translation and unfamiliarity with ancient Hebrew culture.

A practical and easy-to-understand guide to the logical structure of both Hebrew and Greek. Ideal for biblical language students.