Looking downstream on the Limmat River in central Z\u00fcrich, Switzerland, toward the Grossm\u00fcnster
(Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shortly before our departure for Colorado, a good friend \u2014 formerly our branch president in Cairo and, upon his retirement from government service in many parts of the world, an Arabic teacher in my department at BYU \u2014 brought over a gift that he and his family quite rightly knew that I would love.\u00a0 It bears the title s N\u00f6i Teschtam\u00e4nt Z\u00fcrit\u00fc\u00fctsch<\/em> \u2014 \u201cThe New Testament in Z\u00fcrich German [Dialect]\u201d \u2014 with the subtitle us em Griechische \u00fcbersetzt vom Emil Weber<\/em>.\u00a0 Our friend is married to a German woman (also a friend, of course), and one of his sons currently lives and works in Switzerland.\u00a0 I had once shared with her an Amish Bible, in their peculiar German dialect, that I had bought in Pennsylvania.\u00a0 I love such things.\u00a0 So they bought this wonderful book for me.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are, I believe, a few German-speaking or German-reading folks who follow this blog, so I\u2019m going to give them a puzzle.\u00a0 A pretty simple one, I think.\u00a0 Can anybody out there identify these five New Testament verses?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Am Aafang h\u00e4t s es scho gg\u00e8\u00e8, s Wort.\u00a0 Und s Wort isch bi Gott gsii.\u00a0 Und Gott isch es gsii, s Wort.\u00a0 Daas isch am Aafang bi Gott gsii.\u00a0 Ales isch dur ins woorde, und ooni ins isch au n\u00f6d \u00f6ppis woorde vo dem, wo s git.\u00a0 In im isch L\u00e4be gsii, und s L\u00e4be isch s Liecht vo de M\u00e4ntsche gsii.\u00a0 Und s Liecht l\u00fc\u00fcchtet im Tunkle; und s Tunkli h\u00e4t s n\u00f6d phackt.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
For something else that I\u2019m working on, I needed a list of what ultimately happened (in their mortal lives, anyway, and according to traditions of varying degrees of strength) to the earliest Christian apostles (apart from Judas).\u00a0 I might as well share it here:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peter<\/strong><\/span> was crucified in AD 66 \u2014 at his request, upside down \u2014 under the Emperor Nero.\u00a0 As it happens, the apostle Paul (an apostle, but not among the original Twelve) was beheaded that same year, also under Nero and also in Rome.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Andrew<\/strong><\/span> is said to have preached within the boundaries of today\u2019s Ukraine and around the Black Sea, as well as in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) and in Greece, where he was crucified.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thomas<\/strong><\/span> served as a missionary east of Syria and traditionally even into India, where he was killed by four soldiers with spears.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Philip<\/strong><\/span>, it is said, taught in North Africa (in Carthage, within modern Tunisia) and also in Asia Minor, where he was put to death.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bartholomew<\/strong><\/span> is claimed to have taught with Thomas in India, but also to have preached in Armenia, Ethiopia, and southern Arabia.\u00a0 The sources don\u2019t seem to agree on how or where he was martyred, but the leading candidates are being flayed alive and then beheaded, in either Armenia or India.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
James, the son of Alpheus,<\/strong><\/span> is reported to have preached in Syria, where Josephus says that he was stoned and then clubbed to death.\u00a0 Some traditions have him being crucified in lower Egypt (that is, in the northern part of the country).<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Simon Zelotes, or Simon the Zealot,<\/strong><\/span> is said to have ministered in Persia and to have been killed when he refused to sacrifice to the sun god.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthias<\/strong><\/span>, who replaced Judas Iscariot after Judas had betrayed Jesus and committed suicide, is reported to have been burned to death in Syria.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matthew<\/strong><\/span>, traditionally credited as the author of the gospel that bears his name, may have escaped martyrdom.\u00a0 Some sources say so.\u00a0 Others, though, relate that he was stabbed to death in Ethiopia.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
John<\/strong><\/span> was the leader in the Christian community in Ephesus, in Asia Minor, and was exiled to the island of Patmos during Domitian\u2019s persecution in the mid-nineties AD.\u00a0 An early Latin tradition reports that he was cast into boiling oil at Rome but escaped uninjured.\u00a0 No martyrdom is reported for him.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, while we\u2019re at it, let\u2019s see what happened to the other two gospel writers:\u00a0 (1)\u00a0 According to tradition, Mark the Evangelist<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 was dragged by a rope through the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, in AD 68, until he was dead.\u00a0 (2)\u00a0 Luke the Evangelist<\/strong><\/span> apparently lived to a ripe old age in his middle eighties, dying in Boeotia, in Greece.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Shortly before our departure for Colorado, a good friend \u2014 formerly our branch president in Cairo and, upon his retirement from government service in many parts of the world, an Arabic teacher in my department at BYU \u2014 brought over a gift that he and his family quite rightly knew that I would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14074,1821,1266,14077,1104,3394,14083,2253,1098,7134,9433,3016,2974,4435,14080,2977,6189,3343,12638,5081,8493],"class_list":["post-87074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-andrew","tag-apostle","tag-apostles","tag-bartholomew","tag-death","tag-dialect","tag-evangelist","tag-german","tag-gospel","tag-gospels","tag-james","tag-john","tag-luke","tag-martyrdom","tag-mathias","tag-matthew","tag-paul","tag-peter","tag-philip","tag-simon","tag-zurich"],"yoast_head":"\n
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