This Week’s Newsletter

Posted by The Treasurer, on September 13th, 2015

Here is this week’s newsletter: St Stephens News XXVI No 36

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1 comment to This Week’s Newsletter

• The Reverend Peter M. Hawkins.

  September 19, 2015 at 1:33 PM

  There was an article about which Bible is best.
  Here is my comments:-
  Oh dear! Where to begin?. So what do I belong to? I write as a European who has only visited the USA for a weekend, whose first language is Standard English, but who has collected others on the way, Latin, Koine Greek, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and French.
  I have to say that I cannot remember when I was last asked which version of the Bible should be used. We do have a new one here in French of 15 November 2013, and I have not bought it because my French is not good enough to detect why it is better than the one I have, which is La Bible de Jerusalem. .
  In English in England, the best available translation is considered to be the Revised New English Bible, but I continue to use the NEB un revised. It is good enough.
  The point about Saint Jerome is that he was not very good at Greek and so his version is in Latin, and as Latin became more popular so his version, the Vulgate, gained in influence. The Church at that time was more Greek than Latin, hence the Bishop of Rome is the Pope, Papas in Greek, Father.
  The textus receptus is a version in Latin of the New Testament alone.
  “German scholar named Constantin von Thischendorf discovered a Bible at St Catherine’s Monastery in
  the Sinai Desert that he claimed predated the earliest versions of the Textus Receptus by a couple of centuries.” Thischendorf stole the Uncial Codex Siniaticus from the Saint Catherine’s Monastery Library at Sinai, where the worn out Service Books were placed. It is now in that great repository of thefts, the British Museum. It is a base, along with Alexandrinus, Bezae, the Western Text, and with many other texts in various ancient languages, which have produced the Westcott and Hort New Testament Text, available for all to examine along with a critical apparatus, showing why a reading was preferred against the others. See The British and Foreign Bible Society, 146 Victoria Street, LONDON.
  The Old Testament comes to us mainly in Hebrew Consonants, the Massoretic Text AD 70 now printed in R. Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica, but there are some sections in Greek and Aramaic, and there are versions in part in many other languages of the time including the Samaritan Pentateuch, and the Syriac Peshitta. The Dead Sea Scrolls have been helpful because they give in parts, another version, but also because in their writings they use and refer to matters also to be found in the Apocrypha and New Testament. That can be very helpful in understanding the meaning of the words used. In all this the transmission whilst Oral, was subject to the vagaries of human memory, and the need to improve the story and the recitation. Thus Abraham XX Century BC is referred to as having been circumcised, when in fact that custom originating in North East Africa, was not incorporated before the XVI Century BC. The written text gained errors and improvements as each copy was made. Thus in the story of David killing the Giant Philistine, the actual story does not mention the Philistine’s name. In fact the Philistine Giant, Goliath of Gath, was killed by Elhanen the Jebusite, but as David and Goliath were famous, so Goliath’s name was edited into the beginning and the end of the story of David but remained unmentioned in the story itself. The Book of Mormon also has this error.
  The King James Version, or Authorised Version, is based on the Bishop’s Bible, a translation from the Vulgate, which is from amongst other sources, the Septuagint, a version of the Old Testament in Greek, made in Alexandria. That version is of it’s time, a good attempt but overtaken by modern discoveries and insights. I remember talking with some young Mormon Elders, pointing out to them that their Book of Mormon, having come down on plates of gold in reformed Egyptian, actually reproduced in pastiche the errors and style of the King James version! They had no idea what I was talking about! Ah well.
  Before the Christian Era, the Tradition of the Jews was held on Scrolls in the Synagogue from the 6th Century BC. It had been first written down in the 8th Century BC, before that it was recited at the Shrines at different times of the year, and was held orally as Oracles. The substance of the Old Testament is very varied and thus the earliest part is that of Noah, who was Ziusudra, Hero of the Deluge, 2,900 BC. My son Samuel has visited, whilst on military duty, the only hill in South East Iraq, which is where the Ark landed, according to the locals. It is now a military communications centre.
  The two Creations Myths (something which is sung) Genesis 2 & 1 come from the Babylonian tradition of Enuma Elish, When on high, and were incorporated into the Jewish Tradition in the VI Century before Christ. See the Ancient Near Eastern Texts. The Sabbath custom comes from Sumer, where the word itself originates, and thus was incorporated about the VI Century BC.
  It is thought that it was the Christians who invented the Codex, that is a book with pages attached to a spine. Before that manuscripts were often scrolls. Christians wished to look up references, and a Codex makes that easier. The Synagogue still uses scrolls.
  A lot of work has been done on the text of all parts of the bible, and we can be reasonably sure that what is now given to us as likely, probably is so.
  The process of translation follows. This is great fun, but it must be remembered that language moves, and thus there have to be regular revisions and re-translations. This conflicts with the sentimental attachment that we gain to phrases from our tradition. I remember saying to myself, “Je ne suis pas digne de te recevoir mais dit seulement une parole et je serais guéris,” as I advanced to receive the Holy Communion in Common Worship English in Peterborough Cathedral one weekday morning a few years ago. I have been normally worshiping in French since 2007, and certain bits ring bells for me even in England!
  In Calcutta the great Bengali joke was the text, “Iswar pritibike amon prem korilen” which in today’s Bengali can be translated as, “God so forced himself to make love to the world”. It was plastered on bill boards across the city by those whose Bengali was not very good.
  This morning at the Pardon of Lagomobrach nearby, I learned that I live in the “quartier”, which includes this Chapel of Saint Murille. I will bear that in mind when I wish to say where I live.
  The day following a lady appeared with a letter written in English by a Spanish Car Mechanic to explain what had gone wrong with the engine of her car whilst touring in Spain. I had to work out what it meant and render it into French in a form that a French Insurance Assessor would understand. In the list of parts used was “Asparagras” twice. I tried to discover a translation for this to no avail, so guessed that it was “a bunch of cables”. The word “epiousion” in the Our Father, is unique, and so the meaning has had to be guessed, “daily” as in daily bread.
  I would say that authoritative modern versions are the best for understanding. The English Language of the XVI Century is not used today in Europe, so to pray “Prevent us O Lord in all our doings…” is not helpful despite it being in the Book of Common Prayer 1662.
  Le révérend HAWKINS Peter M., Le Pavillon, Mané Gouélo, RD 765, 56690 – LANDAUL, France. Téléphone : 02 97 59 90 83. Portable ; 06 48 42 78 70 E-mail peterhawkins@sfr.fr
  LANDAUL le samedi 12 septembre 2015