When an Arabic speaking Muslim friend saw Mel Gibson's movie Passion of the Christ with most of the dialogue in Aramaic, he was very surprised that he did not need most of the subtitles in English to understand the movie!

This connection is a critical bridge builder: sister languages, Arabic, and Aramaic, the written language which was once the global language, stretching from the Near East to Malabar in India and East China.

Dr. Sidney Griffith, a Catholic priest and noted Syriac scholar...