num_pages: 336
description: In 1892 two sisters identical twins from Scotland made one of one of most important scriptural discoveries of modern times. Combing the library of St. Catherines Monastery at Mount Sinai they found a neglected beneath an unpreposessing life of female saints they detected what remains to this day among the earliest known copies of the Gospels a version in ancient Syriac  the language spoken by Jesus. The Sisters of Sinai is the enthralling account of how two ladies in middle age and without university degrees uncovered and translated this text bringing a great biblical treasure to world attention.Janet Soskice takes us via the lives of Agnes and Margaret Smith on a quintessentially Victorian adventure. It is partly a physical when Westerners generally feared to tread in the region the sisters Smith traversed the Middle East sleeping in tents enduring temperamental camels and unscrupulous dragomen and facing uncertain welcome from monks deceived by earlier travellers. It is also a journey of the in an era when religious faith was under attack when new discoveries in science and archaeology were rewriting the accepted understanding of the Bibles origins as well as those of humankind a great contribution to knowledge was made by two whose only natural advantage was an astonishing gift for languages modern as well as classical. Finally and most movingly it is a progress of the human spirit. Unwilling to let their lack of formal training or the disdain and jealousy of male scholars stand in their way Agnes and Margaret became renowned scriptural authorities in joyful pursuit of their lifelong passions for adventure and learning. Here rousingly recounted is the story of two unlikely and unsung heroines of the continuing effort to discover the Bible as originally written.
language: English
title: The Sisters of Sinai: How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels
publisher: Knopf