The Bible Langauge

Last week I was glancing through some books that were lying around in the church which, as a former librarian, is a favourite pastime of mine. The top one was a thin pamphlet, was called 'The Life of Christ Jesus in Bible Language'. Intrigued, and wondering just what a book written in Greek or perhaps Hebrew, was doing in an Anglican Church, I opened it to have a look at the title page. Apparently The Bible Language was the language of the King James Version of the bible. Who knew?

As I was pondering this, I was reminded of a reader of this blog saying to me a few months ago, that she enjoyed reading ‘Nudgings’ because it was down to earth and she could understand what was being said. That same day, a friend, while talking of her spiritual journey, spoke of a priest who had made a difference in her life, because he spoke in words that she could understand and that made sense to her. As these three events came together in my mind, I began to reflect that the lesson to be learnt from them was a simple one. The church tends to use ‘Bible Language in its liturgy, hymns and sermons. My friends seem to be saying that they prefer the common vernacular because it speaks to them and is easy to understand. This doesn’t seem like rocket science to me!

We have all heard the verse quoted from Matthew 5:33-37: 'Again. you have heard it said of those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord." But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not swear by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black. "Let your word be "Yes, Yes" or 'No, No"; anything more than this comes from the evil one". The meaning of this text that I am most familiar with is that we are people of our word. When we say either yes or no, that is what we mean. We are to be neither fence-sitters of prevaricators.

Looking at The Message Bible this is what you find when the translation is in the vernacular of today [emphasis mine]:“And don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it. You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong." Matthew 33-37

This agrees with what both my friends said so wisely, that when biblical teachings are talked about in the everyday language of our time, those hearing those teachings can both understand and relate to them more easily. For Biblical language to always be understood y those who hear it, it needs to be in the vernacular of the people. When we find the meaning is obscure or needs to be interpreted to us, then it is time to call for a new translation of that message.

The language used in the King James version is beautiful. It reads like poetry. And it is the language I always hear in my head, and probably always will, whenever I hear the Christmas story read aloud. But that does not mean it conveys the meaning of the Greek and Latin manuscripts being translated in the clearest manner. What translation of the Bible resonates with you?

Comments

"The Sadness of Geography"

“Do you understand the sadness of geography?” I have to admit that when I first read this quote by Michael Ondaatje, a Sri Lankan-born Canadian writer, my immediate response was ‘What sadness?’ Geography is all about climate, geology, topography, the names of lakes, rivers, mountains and seas, isn’t it? It is about things, about memory work. It is not about emotions! At least no geography course I ever took was. But then I started to think….. What are those things that divide us? What are the causes of people being unhappy, persecuted, denied their basic human rights and freedoms, being ostracized in society? Those causes are the things that make people different; things like the colour of their skin, their customs and religion, how they dress, the language they speak. These things for the most part are decided not by who they really are, but by the geography of where they are born. And they persist ‘unto the fourth and fifth generations’ no matter where t

Great Joy

“Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the spending joy Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy” I was thinking this week of that well-loved carol, “Joy to the World” and in particular the refrain at the end of the verse 2 where nature is called upon to ‘repeat the sounding joy’. I think that joy is missing in a large part from my Christmas preparations. As Christas Day draws ever nearer, the list of things that ‘need’ to be done grows longer instead of shorter. Tempers are short as we try to fit too many things into too short a time, worried that we won’t get it all done. The Christmas cards might not be delivered by the post office in a timely manner, especially with the rotating postal strikes that have been ongoing all fall! Did I choose the right Christmas gift for everyone? Did I spend too much on that gift … or maybe not enough? Will everything be perfect on Christmas Day? Then I have the memory of my childhood when my mother would wash the kitchen floor on Christmas, cry

Boxing Day Musing

“ Sages leave your contemplation; Brighter visions beam afar. (Angels from the Realms of Glory) It is the afternoon of Boxing Day and these words have been echoing throughout my head since early morning. They remind me of the opening paragraph of this year’s Christmas letter. “As I look back over the Christmases of 2020 & 2021, as well as ahead to Christmas of 2022 I can see changes occurring. Changes that reflect the availability of vaccines as well as a growing knowledge on our part to what we need to do to live safely with COVID-19. Christmas 2020 saw gifts being delivered outside the door and stuffed turkey from M&M’s for the Christmas feast. By Christmas 2021, we had progressed to opening gifts with the family in our apartment wearing masks, and Christmas dinner arrived plated from the festive table upstairs. Never had anything tasted so good! This year will be much the same with visits from family on both Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Because Brianna & Ale

"Nudgement"

As we progress through the season of Lent, we are urged by the lectionary aa well as by the words spoken from the front of the churches to consider how we live and what we do with our lives. Many of us take up a new spiritual practise perhaps denying ourselves something we enjoy or adding something to our daily routine that we think will benefit our spiritual growth in the long run. What we can seen to be doing is in fact judging our lives and then trying to make them better by doing ‘A’, ‘B’, or ‘C’. Quite a while ago I received a note from one of the readers of this blog and it has stayed with me over the time since it landed in my inbox. ‘I just coined the term "nudgement" for myself this morning. I was thinking of how EFM interprets "judgement" as something that surprises you or that you weren't expecting, which is a gentler notion of "judgement" than some of us grew up with, something that is enough out of the ordinary to urge us ou

A Beetle in a Box

In his Philosophical Investigations [1953], Ludwig Wittgenstein uses this analogy. Imagine, he says, that everyone has a small box in which they keep a beetle. However, no one is allowed to look in anyone else’s box, only in their own. Over time, people talk about what is in their boxes and the word “beetle” comes to stand for what is in everyone’s box. How clever! Even while I don’t pretend to understand all the ins and outs of Wittgenstein’s private language argument, the analogy he used to explain it does resonate with me. Imagine a group of people sitting around a table. Each of them has a box. In each of their boxes is something that that person calls a beetle. The catch is that no one can see what is in another’s box, so they have no way of knowing that the other person’s beetle resembles their beetle in any way. The only way they can find out anything about the other person’s beetle is by listening to what the other person says. Eventually the group will deve

Ash Wednesday Musings, 2018

‘By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.’ Genesis 3:19 Most scholars agree that the texts found in Genesis began to be written down sometime in the 10th century BCE and were based on oral and written traditions. It is this verse that is referenced in the Book of Alternative Services during the Ash Wednesday service, ‘Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return’. A few years ago now we attended an Ash Wednesday Service where the words had morphed to ‘Remember that you are stardust and to stardust you shall return’ moving into the cosmology of the 21st century, connecting our bodies with the whole universe. These express the beliefs of a different world view. They both call us to remember that life on this earth is impermanent and fleeting. They call us to pause and to ponder our lives. Which one resonates with you doesn’t matter. What does matter is that

"A Leap of Faith"

"Leap of faith - yes, but only after reflection" - Søren Kierkegaard "Much of Kierkegaard's authorship explores the notion of the absurd: Job gets everything back again by the virtue of the absurd (Repetition); Abraham gets a reprieve from having to sacrifice Isaac, by virtue of the absurd (Fear and Trembling); Kierkegaard hoped to get Regine back again after breaking off their engagement, by virtue of the absurd (Journals); ... the Christian God is represented as absolutely transcendent of human categories yet is absurdly presented as a personal God with the human capacities to love, judge, forgiver, teach, etc." (ex cerpt from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - emphasis mine) Just what does Kierkegaard’s ‘leap of faith’ mean . . . especially if we consider that, as he also postulates, religion is ‘absurd’ [or as the dictionary says, ’ inconsistent with the plain dictates of common sense’ ] We often hear people talking of the ne

To Mask or Not.....

It was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:13-14(a) I have spent most of my life trying to fit in…. sure that there had to be something wrong with me. I simply preferred the company of a book or one or two friends to a more lively or congregant setting. I found myself unwilling to take part in discussions as my words were either ignored or met with upraised eyebrows. Over the years I worked at ‘fitting in’ until I finally realized that that wasn't who and what I was. Now the pandemic restrictions are being or have been erased, I find that old feeling returning. Perhaps you’re an extrovert and glad to be in the midst of people again, to eat inside restaurants and bars, to go to indoor parties, to take a bus trip, to go to the theatre, or to have people to your home. While on the other hand, I am not comfortable indoors without a mask (and not always even then). Onc

Moments of Happiness

“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them…“ Matthew 6:26 NRSV Right now the colouring app that I use daily is running a series of pictures called ‘Moments of Happiness’. What are these pictures about you might wonder. Celebrations? Family gatherings? Attending a concert? All things we have missed over the last two years. The answer would be NO, NO, NO! The pictures to date have shown instead getting a good night’s rest, enjoying a morning cup of coffee, making time for some self-care, cooking, and for today, exercising at home. All things that were part both of our lives both before and during COVID… and will be afterwards as well. I was once told as an adult that not only could I not sing, but that I never would be able to. Immediately I stopped singing (even in the shower). For the most part conductors in the various choirs I had sung in over the years had left me alone. So I had had that! My frien

"Lefthander's Day"

‘August 13 is designated International Lefthander’s Day by Lefthanders International. It was first observed on the 13 of August, 1976 … Lefthanders comprise from 7 to 10 percent of the world’s population.’ [Wikipedia] Welcome to ‘Lefthander's Day '. It is scary to realize that only a few hundred years ago, I would have run the risk of being burned at the stake for witchcraft. I live in a world where I preferred things that squeeze out or pop off. I hate containers where you have to turn that wheelie-thing to get the contents out! They so seldom, if ever, include an arrow showing you which way to turn that wheel … and so I never know if I’m ’right’ or wrong’. I live in a world where I consistently put the cards on the ‘wrong’ side when playing bridge and have even been known the deal the cards around the table the ‘wrong’ way! One of the blessings of the digital age and computers is that I no longer have an indelible ink stain on the side of my left

NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

Search This Blog