“If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for Texas schoolchildren.”
Texas Governor Ma Ferguson while vetoing a bill to authorize Spanish primary grade instruction during the 1920s.
Story told during Stanford University course Historical Jesus available at iTunes U for free. [link opens iTunes] The course consists of 10 audio files; each runs from 90-100 minutes.
The opening lecture in the series is “Call Me Yeshua.” If his mother had called the person we know as Jesus in his native Aramaic, Yeshua is most likely what she would have called. The name Jesus is a Latin translation of a Greek name which was derived from the Aramaic. The modern equivalent of Yeshua is Joshua.
Compare the Stanford level of study into the historical 1st-century Jewish Pharisee Ribi with the more indepth documentation and analysis of the Netzarim, at http://www.netzarim.co.il (esp. the Historical Museum pages)
I’m three (of 10) lectures deep into the Stanford Historical Jesus and somewhat disappointed. It’s more a philosophy class than history. In fairness, I am not doing the assigned reading (hey, just like real college) — so I may be missing the material that holds it all together. But I don’t think so.
The link provided by the anonymous commenter is interesting but I frankly don’t see how one can compare a web site to the recording of a college level course.