Syriac Parallel New Testament | George M. Lamsa Biography | Books & Bible
George M. Lamsa (August 5, 1892 - September 22, 1975)
By Steve Ulrich Posted on February 24, 2019 at 5:13 PM
George M. Lamsa (August 5, 1892 - September 22, 1975) was born in a small village called Marbishu (Mar Behishu) which was located in the Kurdish mountains at the corner of southeast Turkey. His village was a few miles from the Iran and Iraq borders. He was the son of Jando and Sarah. He had two sisters. The family last name was not known.
His elementary education was at a small Presbyterian School and his secondary and post secondary education
was at the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Mission to Assyrian Christians school. He distinguished himself through
his excellent work and good grades and as a result was able to get a job as a teacher. After a few years of
teaching, he moved to a new school opened in Van (Turkey). He had to move around a number of times in response
to the persecution of the Armenians which led up to the impeding collapse of the Ottoman empire and the
start of World War One.
Finally in 1913, he had to flee local authorities in Istanbul who were sent to
the University where he was employed. He traveled to Bulgaria and Italy and finally ended up Buenos Aires,
Argentina. In 1917, he earned enough money to emigrated to New York City. In 1919, he earned a scholarship
to the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, where he studied for three years.
He then moved to Washington D.C., where, he assisted the Archbishop of Canterbury raise funds for the reconstruction of war-damaged schools in Turkey. In 1923, Lamsa was able to print his first book "The Secret of the Near East" this helped to promote his work with the Archbishop of Canterbury's mission in Turkey. His second book, "The Oldest Christian People" which was co-authored by William Chauncey Emhardt was published in 1926. William Chauncey Emhardt was the head of the Missions Committee of the Episcopal Church in the United States. Lamsa traveled and spoke promoting the cause of the Christians in the East through the Association Assyrian St. Ephram which was a group organized to raise money for the Christian refugees as a result of World War One.
It was supported by the American
Protestant Episcopal Church. Through various private donors, between 1927 and 1930, he was able to publish
his third book, entitled "My Neighbor Jesus". Shortly thereafter, he started to translate "The Four
Gospels According to the Eastern Version". He finished and published the four Gospels in 1933. It
was published by the A.J Holman Publishing Company which was located in Philadelphia.
Lamsa
continued to lecture at various churches. Through these lectures, he gained a number of
benefactors that supported him regularly throughout his publishing, writing and translation
career. He finished and published the entire New Testament in 1940. In the autumn of 1940,
he began to translation the Old Testament. Lamsa was a student at Dropsie College of Hebrew
and Cognate Learning between 1944-1945 but never received a degree. In 1957, when the entire
Bible was published, his lecturing schedule greatly increased. He soon was spending much of his
time giving radio interviews, speaking and traveling.
Lamsa believed in the ecumenical Christian
Church and accepted any and all invitations to speak. He also tried to promote greater cooperation
and understanding between Christians, Jews and Moslems. He died on September 22, 1975.
Other books of Lamsa include:
Resources:
- - New Testament Commentary from the Aramaic and the Ancient Eastern Customs(1945)
- - New Testament Origin(1947)
- - A Brief Course in the Aramaic Language(1961)
- - Old Testament Light: A Scriptural Commentary Based on the Aramaic of the Ancient Peshitta Text(1964)
- - Old Testament Light: The Indispensible Guide to the Customs, Manners, and Idioms of Biblical Times(1964)
- - The Kingdom on Earth(1966)
- - And the scroll opened.... Drawings by Pat Ronson Stewart(1967)
- - New Testament Light: More Light on the Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation-Over 400 passages explained(1968)
- - More Light on the Gospel: Over 400 New Testament Passages Explained(1968)
- - The Man From Galilee: A Life of Jesus(1970)
- - Idioms in the Bible explained; and A key to the original Gospels(1985)
- - The Life of George M. Lamsa: Translator, Edited by Tom Alyea(rev. 1966)
- - The Short Koran: Designed for Easy Reading(1949)
- - Gems of Wisdom(n.d.)
- - The Hidden Years of Jesus(n.d.)
- - The Key to the Origin of the Gospels(n.d.)
- - Modern Wisdom(n.d.)
- - The Shepherd of All(n.d.)