Professor Adam Stokes M.Div (Master of Divinity) on the Greek Bible the Septuagint

So definitely go to Amazon, check it out. Look at the show notes below and support artists and poets. The guests have on today. His name is Adam and he actually helped me with my book and we can like talk about it here and there. But he was so cool. And he like reached out to me and I was like, oh my God. And he, I, he like told me he was in the Giant's and he was until like the Greek Bible of the old Testament and I'm Greek. And, you know, we just honored 200 years of Greek independence and it was major. It was a whole world event. And so many people celebrated it and Brazil and Australia and Boston.
And it was, it was a major, major ceremony. If you know about it, you know, what's up. If not, definitely Google watch YouTube and, and, and C the prolific moment on, on the 200 years of freedom with Greece and maybe Adam will chime in and discuss it as well. But my guest today is Professor Adam Stokes and he is a Master of Divinity and he went to duke university. He has a bachelor's and he also went to Yale divinity school and Princeton seminary. And he's a professor and he's so cool. And today we're having I'm on and we're going to be talking about the Greek Bible.
So with no further ado, Adam, thank you so much for me.
Great to be here. Thank you for having me, Katie.
Definitely. Definitely. You are awesome. Thank
You. And I try, I'm doing good. It's been kind of a busy time besides my job as a professor at St. Joe's, my full-time job is that of a high school teacher. And we just started transitioning from online classes, a back to on campus,
And it's been a little
Bit of an adjustment. So we were on campus up until December, and then it seemed like there would be the second way of COVID. So they had us teaching online and I actually got pretty comfortable with it teaching online. And so going back was kind of weird. The students are slowly coming back and it's nice because when I was on campus last year, there was hardly any students coming in the place seemed like a ghost town. And it just seemed kind of weird to be in a school with no students. So they're coming back in and things are slowly starting to return to normal and hopefully it'll stay that way.
So that's so cool. You're a professor, your actually the first professor I've ever had and she's all over the place. So yeah, me too. Me too. So, so tell us your professor and what do you teach currently? And
I teach an introduction to the old Testament course at Saint Joe's university in Philadelphia. This is my 10th year of doing that. So it's, yeah, it's been a long time, but I love the students. The commute is driving from New Jersey over the Ben Franklin bridge to Philadelphia in the middle of rush hour, but the students are wonderful. I really, I do it. I only because I love the old Testament, but I love interacting, you know, with the students they're, and it's just, it's a really good experience, but right now, as things stand, that class is completely online as well. But I do get to talk to the students via zoom, just like we're doing now. And, and I still try to make it a good experience for them. And
You know, one of the reasons why we really connected was the legacy of history and, you know, there's this Egyptian proverb I thing and it, and it's fragmented, but it's based and they believe you died twice when you physically die. And then when your legacy dies, when people stop telling your story. So when you were saying you taught the Old Testament and it's so cool that people obviously go to school for it, but I just thought it'd be really cool to have this conversation with you. And then for my listeners who aren't in school, or maybe they are in school, but just, you know, to keep the legacy going and talk about the old Testament. So I just find it really fascinating and I'm, you know, I'm a human being and there's so much to learn and there's a lot, I do not know.
And your professor, your professor, and you're educated in this department, so I'm like, Hey, let's have Adam on and let's talk about it. So let's just dive right in. Yeah. Like, let's talk about the Greeks Bible in the old Testament. Where do you want to start?
We can start basically. I think the Greek Bible read the Bible with the best to start with,
Well, what can you tell me about the Greek Bible?
It's kind of a, yeah, that is kind of a loaded term. So the Greek Bible refers to something known as the, what would eventually become known as his step to a gent. And this was A Bible for Greek speaking Jews during the time of second temple Judaism. That's a fancy term for What becomes of Judaism post five 86 BCE when Solomons temples are destroyed by the Babylonians. And then a couple of decades later, five 30, eight BCE, the Jewish people are allowed back to their Homeland. And what emerges from that is the second temple. Judaism's, that's the type of Judaism that Jesus and the apostles would been adherence to.
That would have been their religion, but by the time of Jesus and the Apostle's, the, the Jewish people no longer spoke, their own language, just happens a lot. And immigrant communities, I know you're Greek, my wife, his Haitian, and basically our nieces and nephews. They don't speak Haitian Creole. A lot of immigrants who have come here to the U S after a couple of generations, they don't speak Italian or Irish or even Greek. And so the same thing happened with the Jewish people. Their language was Hebrew, it became Aramaic. And then when Alexander, the great came on the scene and kind of made everything Greek in the ancient world, everybody's spoke wreak, including the Jews'. And so they've forgot basically on your own language, they needed a translation of their sacred scriptures or else.
They wouldn't even be able to read, ah, their own scriptures sow in the process of time, over many decades, even centuries. What emerges is a Greek Bible, but translated by many different people composed by many different editors. There is kind of a central, we talk about the Greek Bible nowadays that only one person translated it, but that's not the case there. Back in the day, there was a legend called The legend Aristeus, which claimed that 70 rabbis went into 70 different case and came out with the same Greek translation. But that's a yes. According to the legend. Yes. And so are riskiest. It's a very, it's an ancient text and kind of explain how the Greek Bible came.
And
When was that? Before 500 BC?
No, this was actually, this was during the Alexandrian period.
Oh, okay. And when was that period? Exactly. And
This has been around the second century BCE. Got
It. Wow. I mean, I mean, hello, welcome to she's all over the, the, I'm
Sorry. I sound like a total nerd. Yes.
Not at all. I mean, that's why we're here. It's like, we don't normally have these conversations unless you're studying at, you know, Princeton or Yale, so, or at another school. So that is, I just thought it'd be really cool to pop it into she's all over the place, because that's what she's all over the place is about. So language. And when did you first learned about the ?
Well, you know, it's funny because I, I was raised in the Baptist tradition. I'm part of the latter day Saint tradition now, but I was raised Baptist and our Bible was basically the king James version. And I knew it was translated from the Hebrew, but I never knew growing up that different Bible versions existed. I kind of knew that the Latin bulkhead existed because I took Latin in high school and we had to read, I was at a Christian school. And so we had to read passages from the Latin Vulgate, but I really didn't know any other translations existed. So I didn't really learn. I didn't even know there was a Greek translation to the Bible until I got to a divinity school and started taking, ah, and start learning Greek.
And we would read little passages from the Septuagint or the Greek Old Testament and the New Testament. And I remember asking my professor, you know, what's the Septuagint thing. And he kind of, he said, if he could read the new Testament, you'll be able to read The Septuagint. So that got me really interested in the Greek Bible. So I think my case is similar to many Christians, unless you're, you grew up in the Greek Orthodox church, or from that tradition for Russian Orthodox church, the spaces there, Old Testament on The Septuagint, you don't really know what the step two, which, and his, which is kind of a shame because it's up to me was the actual Bible that would have been used by Jesus and the apostles, not the Hebrew text, which is, is commonly used for many English translations.
I grew up Greek Orthodox Christian, and we go by I'm the old calender, the new Testament and the King James Version of the Bible. Yeah. Yeah.
So I think in most, especially in the west and America, whatever tradition, whatever Christian tradition, you're a part of the king James version is just going to be infused into that in some way, if you go to a Catholic bookstore as a Catholic bookstore down the street from where I live and they sell king, James Bible is even though that's a Protestant rather than a Catholic translation, but at least the Greek Orthodox tradition, we're kind of exposed to the Greek old Testament through the liturgy. So kind of liturgical, right. That you get in Greek orthodoxy quotes a lot from both the Greek old new Testament, as well as the Septuagint or Greek old Testament.
Cool. Very, very, very cool. Very cool. This is amazing. Share with us you're S encounter and background with the Septuagint, or do you like tell us that in a nutshell, or is there anything more you want to add to that?
I can say I can definitely say some more about that. So I had a very kind of, yes, the best word to use, to be an intimate experience with The Septuagint integrating the school. I was kind of a nerd. I had a social life, but I would spend hours to myself just reading. And I got really, really involved in the step too. And that was a time when I also got just really involved in really interested in studying the classical world. So the Greco-Roman world and Greek mythology, ancient Greek, and religion and culture ancient Roman culture. So the Septuagint for me was kind of part of that. And what I used to find fascinating is that The Septuagint translators would often, you can kind of tell kind of the Hellenistic or Alexandria and context, and they were writing.
And because they bring in a lot of Greek mythology into the Bible, which I thought was really cool. So you have the mention of good God takes the giant. You have mentioned the, the sirens which we get in Odysseus and the OTC is the story of the Odyssey by Homer, you get mentions of Haiti's and Todd, the risk and all these things that you find in Greek Mythology. You also find in, in The Septuagint. So the Septuagint was kinda my friends and it kind of became my Bible over and above the King James Version. And I was raised with when I was in the Verde school and I went on to try and do a doctorate that didn't work out, but a lot of my doctoral work was translating portions of The Septuagint, particularly The Septuagint version of Jo of the book of job.
And even in that, you get references to Greek Mythology. So you have, for example, the horn of Helmut Thea, or the cornucopia, which is associated, I should know this and the Latin teacher without the Zs are die and ISIS, but there's a lot of like connections, which I loved between Greek Mythology and the material that you get in the Septuagint. And I think that its really something, the Septuagint is kind of like the black sheep of the family. It doesn't get enough. It doesn't get enough credit and recognition, especially here in the west where, you know, in biblical scholarship, we're so focused on the Hebrew text on yeah, basically on the Hebrew text and the Hebrew tradition and nobody really knows about The Septuagint and that's really, that's really kind of sad and I wish I wish more people knew about it.
And I think I can do my own little part right now here and now to try and make people to try and get people to, to know what that is.
That's why we're here. And that's why it's one of the reasons why I wanted you on the show to like bring light to it because it's such a legendary sacred piece, like literally from so many centuries
And it becomes the old Testament for the early Christian Church. So for them that was their Bible. And this is before the new Testament comes into existence. You can't have a new Testament until Jesus and the apostles had done their thing. So for the early Christians, it was the, the Septuagint, the Greek old test and it was the Bible. Okay. And
Then I just wonder since you've read it multiple times, have you, you studied multiple ones. So like I I've seen the Bible, like a lot of people have seen and read the Bible. And so is it as many pages, more pages, less pages like fewer pages? Like how many pages is it around? Well,
That, that's a good question. I should say that there's not really what we call step two is kind of a conglomeration of different texts that have been translated over the course of many decades. Even centuries, those texts don't get codified or unified till around the Roman Christian era. So when Christianity becomes the official religion of the Roman empire, you start to get codex codex, Alexandria, Alex, and China's codex Vaticanus, which contain whole versions of The Septuagint. And even those versions kind of differ amongst themselves. The perhaps the most notable difference that you get is that the CEP two, which, and contains several other books that you don't get on your King James Version or your NIV or in most a modern English Bibles, at least from the prostitute tradition.
So, and it contains books and they're called a apocryphal books or Dureau canonical books. But the Catholic tradition has 'cause the Catholic tradition GOs with the number of books that are in the Septuagint, but prostate tradition doesn't have. So you'd have these additional books. And I actually really interesting and really cool. I'm asking you the process of writing a commentary on one of them now, but their addition to the book of Daniel dishes to the book of Esther, and then you have a brand new story, several of them involving women, Judith, Susanna than Toby. So you have these additional books that we're in the early Christians considered part of the camp and were considered part of the Christian Canon for centuries until the Protestant reformation. And then people like Martin Luther say, we're going to go back to the Hebrew text that doesn't contain these books.
And so they're taken out talk to Martin Luther. No, not Martin Luther king, but Martin Luther the reformer. Yes.
And excuse me, excuse me.
Yeah. The angry older German guy. Yes. And so,
Okay. Okay. And which communities were in the world from your research is and studies to this day right now, follow the Septuagint and the
Roman Catholic church. Basically the Septuagint, many of its books get translated into Latin. So the Roman Catholic church keeps the same number of books that are in the Septuagint, but the Greek Orthodox church uses the Septuagint directly. And as you know, and so do most Eastern Orthodox churches, they'll use a translation that comes from The Septuagint. So the Russian Orthodox church uses in Russia and a translation from the Septuagint. And then in Africa, the Coptic church and the Ethiopian church, their old Testament Canon also is based on the CEP two agenda. So it's actually something again, kind of the contrast between the east in the west.
And if you go to the Eastern countries and they know about The Septuagint, but over here and the west, it's still kind of something that's new to me.
I have overdrive. Do you know overdrive? Yes. Yes. Oh my God. Okay. And there, and the VOR, if you're watching this on the video on YouTube, go to the sophisticated psychos on YouTube, if you want to see the video. And if you're listening to me in the audio for, you know, the listener in the viewer. So if you don't know what overdrive is, it's an app and you can download up to it's. They're connected with the library. They have a deal with the library. So you can download up to 30 eBooks per month for free and 30 audio books. I wonder if there are audio books on the Septuagint on there. Yeah.
There's a great one. I'll recommend it. Cause I looked into it. It's called when God spoke groups. So Andy, let me see if I can track down the author's name. I have it right here. Just give me a
Second and tell my mom, cause we love audio books and she's like, she's just reading. She reads nonstop. So I'm going to share that with her. Yeah,
It's really good. So it's by a guy named Timothy Michael law and it's about the history of The Septuagint. Basically its formation, the difference between the Septuagint and the Hebrew text. And he does it in a way and conscious to myself that is not really, that is super easy to follow and not too confusing.
Gray. You're a gray. I mean, you're just for showing up and sharing your knowledge. I am so grateful and, and you're education and the school's you went to and you know what I mean? You took action in your life to be an educator to inform human beings. Most people are just, I don't say most people are so uneducated, but I mean, come on. I mean S you know, some people out there, I mean, you are taking actionable steps. I mean, you're family and your children are so blessed and lucky to have you and the students, you, you show up for the student's and, and you carry and, you know, you're so kind, and, and you showed up for me and, you know, like you were a teacher for me to, to help me with my book. You supported me the, the best way you could, you know, you're, you're a self-published author.
You told me your experience. You had a book deal with a publication, and then you did self publishing and you said the self publishing route was so much better. And please share your book with us. What is your book on it? And so
I have a couple of books out. So my, the one I self published was a call from Egypt to Ohio, where I actually, I do a quote from the Septuagint several times there, but it's not about the Septuagint. It's actually about, ah, the tradition of ancient giants in north America, which is my other kind of a hobby. So I kind of do a kind of amateur archeologist thing. I actually, right before a archeology magazine, ancient American, which I proudly write four. And I'm very curious as to which ancient American focuses on the history of pre-Columbian America and competence tradition of on these giants, that you find a native American native American oral tradition, as well as Cod the physical evidence for these giants.
And so I had shopped the book around wasn't really some of the publishers that I was shopping at to wasn't really kind of happy with the way they wanted the book to go. So I was like, what do I do it by itself? And just have complete control over it. So out of that emerged a, this book and it actually, it worked out really, really well. I have two other books that are published on there, old Testament books, what is a introduction and general introduction to the old Testament called Perspectives in the old Testament. And then another one is my translation of several books from the Latin text of the Old Testament called the Latin scroll's. And those are published by Cognoa CREs. I have a very good relationship with them as with anything, the more control you have, the more you can have a book, the more your book can be kind of in the image to use the biblical term that you want it to be.
So the, the self-publishing was, it was just a really good experience. I'll probably go that route again with future publications.
I love this. And just so you know, I've already started before I buy a book, my first book was published. I've already started putting together my second book. I think I told you I'm I'm on there. I'm on the road. I'm on. I'm ready to go. So just those books will be on the show notes. So everyone, you can just click and pick up the books. So, yeah, moving right along here, The History and Content of the Septuagint. Let's talk about that a bit.
So it's actually
Origins its content. Yeah.
So as I mentioned before, it kind of arises after Alexander the great comes to power and he basically, he brings groups tradition, two, basically the entire bill, the world at the time. And so it's interesting because Judaism during this time, and this has kind of been the case throughout history and seeking two things, kind of how to integrate into this largest group culture, Robin chaining, its own identity in it's own culture. So the, the Septuagint is a bridge that allows the Jewish people to do that. So it allows them, you know, the Greek speaking and allows them to, you know, interact with Greek culture, Greek speaking culture, while at the same time, it's a way for them to preserve and keep and to protect your traditions.
So did that make
Sense? I was just going to say, I was just thinking this whole entire time, you know, I love Jewish people. I love the Jewish people on my whole entire life. I grew up around a lot of Jewish people in my community here, and I just, I just really like admire and respect Jewish people and their culture and their tradition, and there's something sacred and there just because I'm Greek. So, and like you're cultured on culture, like just to like observe other people's culture. And although like we're all connected and we respect one another, just there's something about culture and just like me admiring cause like my blood, his in Jewish, but I just really admire and respect the culture and, and a lot on my Jewish friends, there were the same and we're the same, you know, and there is like the Mediterranean in the hummus, in the food and it's, it's very similar and, you know, like it's just, it's just, I, I just wanted to just give a shout out and just like pay honor and respect.
And it's just so cool how, like, we were just so interconnected back in the day before we were around and the, and the history of it and just to be, you know, watching, you know, knowing history, learning about history, the journey, and, and getting some more details from you about it. So thank you and share more please. Yeah,
No, I have, I have close ties to the Jewish community as well. One of my professors who kind of I'll always refer it to me as the second grandfather, he was Jewish. She let the Judaic studies department and Deakin university, and I still keep in touch with him. And both him and his wife were archeologists. I think they met while they were archeologists is actually adorable, but they, I still keep in touch with them very close to them, just wonderful people. And a lot of my, you know, support when I was going through school, which from the Jewish communities, from which I'm very much, I'm very much indebted. So yeah. So I, I feel exactly, exactly the same way. Even in 21st century, we will talk about this kind of this dialectic of, you know, adapting to the larger culture while retaining their own traditions.
I think, you know, I think every, every ethnic group has that, but I think especially in the history of Judaism, you see this time and time and getting you see it with, you know, What becomes the Septuagint and a lot of the human, the unique features, a lot of the content that you get in the step two region is kind of an attempt to adapt to the larger world. So I'll give you an example. So for example, the Oracles Inn, the books, the prophecy is I should say, or is kind of T fancy of the term, but the prophecies in Isaiah and Jeremiah, they are in the Hebrew kind of very polemical and very harsh against non Israelites. So all of these, not his real life nations, it's the hell and damnation screw you.
You're going to burn and everything that language is kind of modified and toned down and the Greek translation. So this Oracles are placed or set in other parts of the book. So the book doesn't, it has a different feel, a totally different feel when you read it and Greek, and it's much more kind of, it's less polemical, less anti-Israel than you get in the original Hebrew text. And that is that the, the, and that is a case where the content has been directly informed by the Septuagint and vibrant, and in this kind of attempt of second temple Jews to kind of assimilate to the environment around them while retaining their own heritage.
Yeah. It sounds like a very sensitive line. You know, it sounds very sensitive of, you know, when circumstances and things happen and then people make choices and, you know, it's wild, how culture and diversity and, and how, I mean, I'm, I'm, I'm kind of speechless, but I'm here to learn. I'm here to learn. Yeah, definitely. Cool. So anything else on that, on that topic? Or should we move on too? The Septuagint is used by Greek speaking Jews then Christians. So I think we covered that. Is there anything else you want to mention about that? Yeah.
And I'll say one other thing. So in modern day, Judaism, they go by basically the Hebrew text or what is known as the Mesa Radix tradition and they're reading the Bible. And the reason for that, there's a very specific reason for that. And it has to do with Jewish interaction with Christian. So The Septuagint, I always tell my students, even though it's popular within Christianity, it was originally a Jewish text, but as Christianity became popular and Greek speaking Jews became Christian, the Septuagint became the defacto Christian Old Testament. And you started to kind of in their interactions with Christians, move away from the Greek text and start to kind of relearn their original language, go back to their original language Hebrew.
And so they veer back towards the original Hebrew texts while Christianity in his Canada and the number of books that I have sticks with Cod The Septuagint until the reformation.
Yeah. Can you elaborate more on
That? Yeah, so basically The Septuagint, even though it's originally a Jewish book, a Jewish work, basically in modern times, except for the purposes of biblical studies, when Jewish scholars are looking at, you know, the different versions of the Old Testament, the Septuagint is not really popular within Judaism. It's not really a text that's used in the liturgical tradition within Judaism. It's kinda was the text, that institution, it was kind of a tech that was supplanted by Christians, even though it's original in the Jewish texts.
Got it. Got it. Okay. Okay. And then another topic that we're still talking about, the Use of the Septuagint in Orthodox Greek liturgy.
Well, I would say to anybody within the sound of my voice, if you've never been to a Greek Orthodox church service, you need to just go here in south Jersey. There is one, and, and there's a Greek Orthodox church and Princeton just go the liturgy. Well, what I was at Yale when I was, and I lived in new Haven, it was the Greek Orthodox church there. And I would go from time to time and you just get to hear the liturgy. And even if you don't know Greek and liturgy, his beautiful, and it comes from The Septuagint or a Greek old Testament. So I think everybody, and if you can't get to a Greek Orthodox church, just Google Greek Orthodox the liturgy on, on type of thing on YouTube. So you can listen to it.
But that liturgy it's often sung just as the Judaism, the liturgy song. And ah, it, it's absolutely beautiful on it comes from a, the Greek old Testament.
Yes. And my church. Yeah. I will be going to church the Sunday. I love going to church and growing up, you know, the priest would just, it would be in Greek, the whole thing just in Greek. And even when you're like a kid and you're learning basic Greek sometimes because of the liturgy, it's just, sometimes you just don't understand, you know, the breakdown of it, but it's really, really beautiful. And then, and then through the years we would have the priest speaking Greek, and then he would also translate to English, which was awesome. So, you know, sometimes if you go, you just hear, like you say the sound and the tone, the vibration, the sacred nature of it is gorgeous, you know, and it'd be, it can be translated to English as well. And then there's, you know, the books that you can follow along, but one of the, one of the, you know, sing songy chances, kitty , it's just, it's just like, it's like, so meditative in healing.
Yeah.
Lord have mercy. So that's actually, the carrier is actually a part of the Greek letter G coming from the Greek old Testament, that's found in a Roman Catholic tradition as well. So they do the carrier as well during the Latin mass. And then for the rights for the dead in a, the Roman Catholic tradition, they quote from a book of The Septuagint second asterisk. I believe the quote in his I'm paraphrasing big time here, give them eternal rest and peace, but that comes from The Septuagint. So even though the Roman Catholic church on follow the Latin translation of the Bible and in modern times has gone kind of like the cross inspect to the Hebrew, a lot of that two-ish and tradition in the influence, the Septuagint and seeing even the Roman Catholic church, the position,
People listening for the viewer in the listener, what would you like them to know? What would you like them to leave with after hearing your words and, you know, the legacy caring on this legacy, what are like one or two things you want them to know?
Yeah, that's a, that's a good question. I think I want them to know that if anything, that The Septuagint, his just as much and important translation in the Bible as, ah, the king James or any other of your modern translations, and you don't need to know Greek to kind of engage with The Septuagint, their translation, to the Septuagint out there that into English that you can buy and you can kind of read the, and kind of get a pretty good understanding of this stuff too. What the step team Jen is saying for yourself. So there is something called the new English translation of The Septuagint, biblical scholars call it nets for short, but it's a really, really good, very literal English translation of The Septuagint.
And, and, and it's accessible to anybody. I even think it's on me. It was online for awhile cause I used to use it and I was working on a, the Septuagint. But what, I guess my, I guess my main concern, I guess my main desire is that what people know about The Septuagint. And like I said, it's just been relegated to kind of a footnote in the history of the Bible, in the history of interpretation in the Bible. It's very, very important without the CEP two jump and problem going to have an Old Testament in the first place. So it's very, very important in understanding the Bible. And I think that, you know, if you come, whether you come to it just as, you know, ancient literature, or if you come to it a from a religious perspective, I think you'll have a powerful experience with it.
And I want to say how many years, but I actually want to say, how many decades have you been studying The Septuagint
Heck of a long time? So I'm kind of going through three decades now. So I started in graduate school since like 2003 or something. So all the way to the 2010s. And now we're in the 2020s. So a long time, at least like 17 years. So look, he's been working
For a while. I mean, I see the glow in your face and I'm glowing because it's just like, wow, it's the devotion and the passion, like you said earlier. And I'm just wondering, like on a personal level, how was it called to you and what was it a knowing when it happened and have you reflected through the years of Y and like how it came to be for you to be on this path? The conclusion of, of this? Yeah,
Well, I, I think, you know, I've always, I'm a Latin teacher. That's what my main occupation. I I've always loved languages. I've always, it's always been a mystical experience for me to engage with languages at any time. And so that's always, that's always been a passion of mine. I have a special place for you, the classical languages, but you know, I've, I lived in Germany for awhile. I, I spoke German, so I know several other languages and languages I've always been. And the principal very special from me. So I think, and engaging with the CEP two agenda where, you know, God as is the title of Timothy his book, when God spoke Greek, where God speaks Greek, where everybody speaks Greek we're on my favorite character speak Greek.
That was a very kind of mystical experience. And for me, so having to struggle, you know, when I first engaged and the and I was just learning and Greeks having to struggle to read it, and then, you know, over the course of time being able to read it much, much better was kind of a journey with kind of it for me, if that makes sense kind of a spiritual experience. And so, and, and like I said, a, a time and my life on my twenties were not to get too personal here, but my twenties were just, yeah, just kind of a mess, you know? And I think a lot of people's twenties are, you know, you're on, you're on your own from the very first time. And, you know, trying to navigate the larger world, especially when you're a five foot, two black man, his kind of a difficult what kind of a difficult thing.
And so the Septuagint, like I said before was kind of my companion through that. So it has a very personal and very powerful place.
That's so sweet. That's so sweet. And, and I remember when you first shared with me and you're like, oh yeah, I had all this time. And you were just like, in, in the library, you were just studying, I just had my visuals of you studying. And it's like, you had all that time then, and now you don't. So it's like, it was so prolific to have all that time then to have such a sacred time and your life to be able to, to study that it's just it's it's it was it's it was such a gift for you and at the time, or did you know what, at the time it was such a sacred gift or were you just kind of studying or did you always know it was really something, so, yeah. And there
Was something sacred to remember what it was. It was very special from, I think from the moment I, I found out about the Septuagint and, you know, I remember buying, I was flat broke in my early twenties, but I found a way to scrounge up $80 and buy my own Septuagint yeses. It's really pricey. It's the academic. You have to get it from an academic bookstore, but I bought my, I still have that set to a gen and I have a copy. Wow. This is not my, my, the one I bought was actually, and the other room, but his copy that is similar to it. And so I bought this for like, something like this for like $80. And I started eating that was back in 2003. Yes. More
Now or the same price, or is there a little bit
More now? So I was trying to find, they have this nice addition now where its both the, the, the Greek Old Testament and the group New Testament and they call it the Greek Bible. It's going to be a gray car. And that's like that sucker's like 120 or $150. So,
And from my mom and dad, you
Should, you should, it's beautiful. I think the font a little bit too small on it, but, but it's still, it's still, it'll be a great gift. I like,
And I'll get like a bogus one sent me a link. So, and I'll even send me a link and I'll even put in the show notes, you know, just so cause you go on Amazon or you, you search and it's like, there's so much stuff out there and you want to get the ball authentic one. So I know I can trust you for that. I can definitely do that. And then I'm just wondering too, like you see all these different students over the years. So when, when you see these students, are, is there a common thread with the students that you find and how are they called to come and take your course?
Yeah. Well I think I've gained a reputation on at the school I teach at St. Joe's as kinda being the, the nutty professor. So I try to make the experience of, you know, interacting with the Bible because many of them are coming from me. They're coming to the Bible for the first time and not all of my students', it's the largely Irish Italian community. And SGU, so some of them have a Catholic background and they've gone to Sunday school, they'll know some of the stuff, but a lot of my students don't. So I try to make it as accessible to them as possible. So I bring in a lot of pop culture stuff, and I'm just, I'm just kind of a really laid back about it. It's kinda like us having a conversation now. So I'm not, I never get up on, not since like my first or second year of teaching, have I ever gotten, gotten on a podium and started it?
Like just speaking to the lecture, I don't do that. So it's very kind of laid back, which the students seem to like my classes always as you used the theater term, sold out students or always on the wait list for it always asking to get in. So it's been a very successful course. I think the thing that stands out is that all of them come to the old Testament with a humble curiosity. I've never, I've rarely had students who say, you know, I know what all they're, they're interested in the journey that I, that I can take them on and I try to move as cool. If the journey as possible
You are so cool. You are so who'll, you really are anything else you would like to share with the listener or the viewer? Yeah, I,
So a lot of the stuff that we've talked about today can't be found and my book perspective, the, the old Testament and I have, I talk about the stuff as well on my Facebook page and on my Instagram page. So I'm always posting Bible stuff on there and I'm hoping right now, and as I said earlier, I am actually working on the commentary on one of the books and the Septuagint and the additions to Daniel. But I'm hoping to one day do a translation of at least if institutions a very big book, as you can see. But one day I'm hoping to do the translation that contains some selections from the Septuagint for, for my students.
So we'll see, we'll see what happens with that. So I have a lot on my plate right now, actually. So probably wouldn't happen for a few,
Well, it's a great goal to have, and then I'll have the Facebook group in the show notes as well. But you just want to shout out the name of the Facebook group. Yeah.
So I have a it's part of my business. So on this, besides being a college professor and a high school teacher, I'm also a Latin tutor and my business is called link. What classic cross and that's on Facebook. And I also have what you follow by Instagram account, Adam, the giant guy where I have stuff about the Bible stuff about giant stuff, about ancient civilization in general, because my, my, I have a big, the love for anxious civilizations all over the
World. Well, I would love to have you on a season four, if she's all over the place and we can talk about giants with the oh yeah. I love that. Cool, cool. That will be a lot of fun. Okay. So wrapping up here, but before we go, just because I'm Greek and you like Greek Mythology, do you have, do you have like one of your favorite Greek stories about Greek Mythology? Anything you want to share? Oh
Gosh. Oh my goodness. There are so many of them. Let me see. I think that my all time favorite one would be a polycythemia and, and Odysseus in the Odyssey with, by Homer. So
Pardon me? Wait, I'm sorry. Did you read the full Odyssey? Did you read the full book?
French and English translation? Yes. And I have read parts of it and greed. Okay.
I, I listened to it on audio.
Yeah. There's a, there's a really good translation that just came out. It's the first translation done by a female classical scholar. Emily. I'm trying to remember her name. Of course I'm blanking on it, but Emily Watson, but it's a really, really good translation. I recommend every anyone to read it, but there's a so and the Odyssey, there's the story of probably being with the giant and Odysseus and his men get stranded on this island would probably be miss and polythene. And this is just a big a-hole. I could use that term here. He basically bullies of this. He says, man, he actually eats some of them. And Odysseus has to use his cunning and his skill a to figure out a way out of the situation.
And as with a lot of Greek mythology, there's always a higher theme. There's always a higher moral here. And I think what I've loved about his story so much and reflecting on my own experiences in life is that sometimes, you know, you'll find yourself in a bad situation, is that what you can do about it, but you can't use a, you know, your God-given wisdom and your intelligence to try to make the best of it and even figure a way out of that situation. So that's what always struck me about that story. So I read that story and I have my students read that story over and over
Again. You know, we're good. We're just going to have to have you on for episode, just talking about Greek Mythology also, that's going to be so much fun. It's going to be so much fun. One of my favorite books is called the Republic by Plato and reading that book was just so deep for me as a youngster growing up, it really gave me the structure and the platform of the world for humanity of being just and unjust. Like it doesn't matter about emotions, it's about just and unjust. And so I feel like I'm just like straight down the narrow. So no matter how I feel emotionally, I just go to that justice.
Is it just or unjust? It's just, it's always just, it's just a part of my core, you know,
What does good stuff? Yeah. The wrong Play-Doh
Public. His amazing, I definitely highly recommend the Republic. And I remember when I was a kid, like a teenager, I was reading Socrates and his definition of a philosopher was the person who was the lover wisdom. And I'm like, oh, like I'm a lover, a wisdom. I'm a lover wisdom. Like I'm a seeker, I'm a lover. I'm a philosopher because I'm a seeker and I'm a lover of wisdom. So
We think our philosophy is his people who have these PhDs and, you know, SATA or Teradata, but no, a philosopher is anybody who loves wisdom. Yeah.
And like, I know, I think I told you recently, cause I've only told a couple of people cause I haven't really been like announcing it, but I mean, I am soccer teams, his younger sister, like literally I'm representing soccer teams, like love soccer teams and, and I'm so connected ever since day one to S S soccer, Socrates, like number one, who have you been like really connected to? Yeah.
I think in the ancient world, there are, there's a couple of people I would say I'm the emperor Claudius I had an instant connection with him. Yeah. Well, if you know about the background of Claudius, we're not quite sure what he had, it could have been a D D or autism or something. We know he's made fun of it. People make fun of him because of it. But what's really fast thinking about Claudius is that even though he was basically born with what we might deem disadvantages, he doesn't let that get him down. And he actually basically makes his way to eventually becoming the ruler of the world as the Roman emperor. And that's something that I've, I've always, I've always appreciated.
I think for people who struggle in various ways, if there's a physical or mental disability, you know, looking at someone like Claudius is, is kind of as kind of a role model is, is something that can be very, very empowering. There's also a great mini series with my, one of my favorite act there, Jakoby I Claudius great BBC mini series and, and actually presents Claudia S I think very, very well as someone who has the physical or mental disability, but, you know, in spite of that rises and does great and wonderful things.
I'm going to watch that for one thing. Another thing, another thing it's called quote-unquote the underdog. And, and I love that you said that cause like everyone loves like the hero's story of someone who's had the struggle and then has what you're talking about, but I'm a big fan of mental health and I'm an advocate for mental health. And when I was a kid, my number one thing and career decision making class, there was a hundred things. Literally there was a hundred different things and out of the hundred, you had to pick 20. And so I selected 20 and out of the 20, you gotta to prioritize them. And number one, I put health because I figured if I have health, I could have everything else on the list. However, when I was a kid, I was thinking health as in my physical health. I wasn't thinking as my stamina because I was the cross country runner, I wasn't thinking mental health.
And so through the journey of life, learning about emotional intelligence, emotional health, and like, how are you feeling? And like talking to kids now and talking to people like not to say, Hey, how are you doing, like express your emotions? Like, you know, and, and make it comfortable for kids and be like, hit the emotions out. What, cause it's a wave. It comes and goes. So I'm a big fan of mental health and that's another podcast, but,
And it's so important. And a lot of, you know, I teach high school students. I encounter at least before COVID, I would count at least a thousand high school fews and the courts of the day. And you know, they're all I can see sometimes that they're just trying to keep everything in. And I'm like, you know, there's so much you're going through. I'm like, you know, no, don't do that. And I direct them to, you know, guidance and counseling, but I also try to make my space kind of a free space of open space where they can express themselves if need be as well. And that they know that I'm always here for them.
Hmm. Good. Many blessings for you. That's so important just to hold the space for people, you know, to let them express in and get it out. So it's so important. It's and we're so glad we're having this conversation. And actually I have a lot of teenagers who listened to my show, so yeah. So this one's for you kids. Okay, cool. So wow. Professor Adam Stokes, thank you so much for being on she's all over the place. And it looks like, and we're going to have you back for a couple of different topics
And this was great, Katie, and looking forward to, I'm looking forward to our future conversations.
Okay. Cool. All right. Peace out and take it care. And we'll see you next week.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next time. Kyriaki, over and out.