Reference and Function: Semitic Roots and Chinese Characters
Do Chinese characters work the way Semitic roots do? Fr. Marc Boulos talks with Matthew Franklin Cooper about his comparative lexicography of Chinese, Hebrew and Arabic, and about how the Bible traveled east along the roads of Asia.
Matthew Franklin Cooper is the author of two commentaries on the Gospel of John and of the two-volume Jiè Jīng Shuō Wén: A Comparative Sinitic-Semitic Lexicography, with a third volume under way. The study began with a footnote on the Chinese character dào and a word of encouragement from Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi. In this conversation he explains how each character in the five Chinese classics functions much like a Semitic triliteral root, how Michael Rostovtzeff traced Mesopotamian art across Central Asia into China, and why words such as tiān (heaven) and the Hebrew and Arabic terms for the heights may share more than a chance likeness. Fr. Marc and Matthew then turn to Alopen, the Syriac-speaking monk who carried the Peshitta to the Tang court and set Isaiah and the Gospel of John before a Chinese audience in Buddhist terms, and to what that work has in common with ikhlāṣ in the Qurʾan, with usia in the Gospel of Luke, and with the scriptural critique of theosis, Sufi "Neoplatonism" and the project of the self. Two terms hold the conversation together: reference and function.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introducing Matthew Franklin Cooper
2:20 A footnote on the Chinese character dào
4:00 The five classics as a Chinese canon
5:06 Chinese characters and the Semitic triliteral root
6:25 Rostovtzeff and the land routes of Central Asia
8:31 The khamsa, heaven and the heights
10:39 The odes and the Pauline household
12:41 Alopen carries the Peshitta to China
14:14 Isaiah and John in Buddhist terms
16:10 Logos as a poison pill
17:32 Ikhlāṣ: the same teaching
18:02 Reference and function
19:49 Theosis and the project of the self
22:09 The Sufis, Tibet, and "you and I are not him"
24:19 Where the Taoists went wrong
25:56 Matthew's books and where to find them
BOOKS MENTIONED
Matthew Franklin Cooper, The Lamb Before Its Shearers: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2025/5/31/the-lamb-before-its-shearers
Matthew Franklin Cooper, In the Houses of the Poor: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2025/10/18/in-the-houses-of-the-poor-by-matthew-franklin-cooper
Matthew Franklin Cooper, Jiè Jīng Shuō Wén: A Comparative Sinitic-Semitic Lexicography, Volume One: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2025/12/20/jie-jing-shuo-wen-a-comparative-sinitic-semitic-lexicography-volume-one-by-matthew-franklin-cooper
Volume Two: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2026/10/19/jie-jing-shuo-wen-a-comparative-sinitic-semitic-lexicography-volume-two-by-matthew-franklin-cooper
Matthew Franklin Cooper, The Madness of the Shepherd: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2026/3/1/the-madness-of-the-shepherd-by-matthew-franklin-cooper
Ibn Janāḥ, Kitāb al-Uṣūl, edited by Blaise Webster and Marc Philip Boulos: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2026/10/11/kitab-al-usul-edited-by-blaise-webster-and-marc-philip-boulos
Michael Rostovtzeff, Iranians and Greeks in South Russia (1922): https://archive.org/details/cu31924028575060
WEBSITES MENTIONED
OCABS: https://ocabs.org
The Ephesus School Network: https://ephesusschool.org
The Voice of the Shepherd (Fr. Marc Boulos): https://marcboulos.substack.com
Skeireins (Matthew Franklin Cooper): https://skeireins.substack.com
Unto Instruction (Blaise Webster): https://blaisewebster.substack.com
#BibleStudy #BibleAndQuran #Lexicography
SUPPORT THIS WORK
The Bible as Literature is free and made possible by listeners.
Patreon: https://patreon.com/bible
Listen: https://ephesusschool.org
Subscribe here on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.
A production of the Ephesus School Network.
Opening music: "Too Cool" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Matthew Franklin Cooper is the author of two commentaries on the Gospel of John and of the two-volume Jiè Jīng Shuō Wén: A Comparative Sinitic-Semitic Lexicography, with a third volume under way. The study began with a footnote on the Chinese character dào and a word of encouragement from Fr. Paul Nadim Tarazi. In this conversation he explains how each character in the five Chinese classics functions much like a Semitic triliteral root, how Michael Rostovtzeff traced Mesopotamian art across Central Asia into China, and why words such as tiān (heaven) and the Hebrew and Arabic terms for the heights may share more than a chance likeness. Fr. Marc and Matthew then turn to Alopen, the Syriac-speaking monk who carried the Peshitta to the Tang court and set Isaiah and the Gospel of John before a Chinese audience in Buddhist terms, and to what that work has in common with ikhlāṣ in the Qurʾan, with usia in the Gospel of Luke, and with the scriptural critique of theosis, Sufi "Neoplatonism" and the project of the self. Two terms hold the conversation together: reference and function.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introducing Matthew Franklin Cooper
2:20 A footnote on the Chinese character dào
4:00 The five classics as a Chinese canon
5:06 Chinese characters and the Semitic triliteral root
6:25 Rostovtzeff and the land routes of Central Asia
8:31 The khamsa, heaven and the heights
10:39 The odes and the Pauline household
12:41 Alopen carries the Peshitta to China
14:14 Isaiah and John in Buddhist terms
16:10 Logos as a poison pill
17:32 Ikhlāṣ: the same teaching
18:02 Reference and function
19:49 Theosis and the project of the self
22:09 The Sufis, Tibet, and "you and I are not him"
24:19 Where the Taoists went wrong
25:56 Matthew's books and where to find them
BOOKS MENTIONED
Matthew Franklin Cooper, The Lamb Before Its Shearers: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2025/5/31/the-lamb-before-its-shearers
Matthew Franklin Cooper, In the Houses of the Poor: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2025/10/18/in-the-houses-of-the-poor-by-matthew-franklin-cooper
Matthew Franklin Cooper, Jiè Jīng Shuō Wén: A Comparative Sinitic-Semitic Lexicography, Volume One: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2025/12/20/jie-jing-shuo-wen-a-comparative-sinitic-semitic-lexicography-volume-one-by-matthew-franklin-cooper
Volume Two: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2026/10/19/jie-jing-shuo-wen-a-comparative-sinitic-semitic-lexicography-volume-two-by-matthew-franklin-cooper
Matthew Franklin Cooper, The Madness of the Shepherd: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2026/3/1/the-madness-of-the-shepherd-by-matthew-franklin-cooper
Ibn Janāḥ, Kitāb al-Uṣūl, edited by Blaise Webster and Marc Philip Boulos: https://www.ocabspress.org/news/2026/10/11/kitab-al-usul-edited-by-blaise-webster-and-marc-philip-boulos
Michael Rostovtzeff, Iranians and Greeks in South Russia (1922): https://archive.org/details/cu31924028575060
WEBSITES MENTIONED
OCABS: https://ocabs.org
The Ephesus School Network: https://ephesusschool.org
The Voice of the Shepherd (Fr. Marc Boulos): https://marcboulos.substack.com
Skeireins (Matthew Franklin Cooper): https://skeireins.substack.com
Unto Instruction (Blaise Webster): https://blaisewebster.substack.com
#BibleStudy #BibleAndQuran #Lexicography
SUPPORT THIS WORK
The Bible as Literature is free and made possible by listeners.
Patreon: https://patreon.com/bible
Listen: https://ephesusschool.org
Subscribe here on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.
A production of the Ephesus School Network.
Opening music: "Too Cool" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/