TRANSLATING HOLY WRIT
Dispute about one word.
If I were to wake you from a deep sleep, and ask you to say the words of the prayer Jesus taught us, you would not hesitate one second, also deeply believing that every word is true to the core.
Not so.
The original Greek prayer contains a word – epiousios – that has puzzled Christians ever since theologians had a peek at the Greek version of the Lord’s Prayer. Pope Benedict, before he attained the Holy Office, was the Cardinal for Germany, Ratzinger by name, and the foremost theologian for that denomination. He looked at that word – which occurred only one once more in the New Testament – and concluded that it did not mean ‘daily’, as in ‘give us this day our ‘daily’ bread’, but something like ‘of extra substance’, or at a stretch ‘for the morrow’. Recognizing the erroneous translation, the future pope’s conclusion was to translate that mysterious word to read: “Give us this day our supersubstantial bread”, which, of course, never caught on.
Oxford professor Diarmaid MacCulloch, in his almost 1200 pages book CHRISTIANITY, tentatively concludes that the word ‘epiousios’ points to “the new time of the coming of the kingdom”. That resounds with me, as the Kingdom always was uppermost in Jesus’ mind, urging us to ‘seek first the Kingdom!’
The Kingdom, so misunderstood!
This leads me to Dr. J. H. Bavinck and his book “Between the Beginning and the End”, with as subtitle, A Radical Kingdom Vision. He writes (and I cannot sufficiently emphasize its importance): “The central point of the Gospel is not us poor humans and our pain and suffering; rather, its entire focus is aimed at the unique and powerful reality that God wants to reinstate his Kingdom….There is no such thing as individual salvation. All salvation is of necessity universal.” The Kingdom points both to “Paradise, the Garden of Eden”, and to the New Creation to come.
Simply, Jesus central message is that, in all our actions, we must seek the welfare of God’s creation. Tell that to us 21st Century creatures!
The Riddle of Life.
In another of his books: “The Riddle of Life”, Dr. Bavinck devotes one chapter to “The World Order”. He writes, “We are struck by the unity and order that is evident everywhere, because everything on earth is somehow harmoniously connected to everything else. The one species influences the other, and the one creature depends on the other. Plants cannot exist without the earth that feeds them. Animals, on the other hand, cannot function without the plants, as these are often the sole source for their food.”
Bavinck concludes that “The law of serving is at the heart of every creature: it is the overarching purpose for every being. That law makes it possible for the entire world to exist.”
That is confirmed in Jesus’s words: Matthew 20: 28: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
A secular prophet.
Enter Dr. Barry Commoner who presented us with the four laws of Ecology, coined some 60 years ago, laws that have withstood the test of times.
The first of these informal laws: Everything is connected to everything else, indicates how ecosystems are interconnected. This
interconnectedness of nature also means that ecological systems can experience sudden, startling catastrophes if placed under extreme stress. “The system,” Commoner writes, “if overstressed, can lead to a dramatic collapse”. To me it is a biblical concept, and thus Holy Writ.
The second law of ecology, Everything must go somewhere, restates a basic law of thermodynamics: in nature, there is no final waste, matter and energy are preserved, and the waste produced in one ecological process is recycled in another.
Nature knows best, the third law of ecology, Commoner writes that any major man-made change in a natural system is likely to be detrimental to that system. This too, is purely biblical.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. The fourth law of ecology expresses that the exploitation of nature always carries an ecological cost. It corresponds with Judgement: God/Creation has her built-in form of retribution/Judgement.
Two thoughts to ponder.
- In The Lord’s Prayer the phrase: “Hallowed be Thy name”, has nothing to do with God’s name, as God is beyond naming. Karen Armstrong in her book, “Sacred Nature”, lists 50 names for God in the Scriptures. God is known by his creation, and “Hallowed be Thy Name”, has everything to do with the species created, on which God’s Name is embedded.
- Barry Commoner, celebrated University Professor, lived from 1917-2012, earns the distinction of Revelation 14: 13: “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”
Translating, also the Bible, is a human act, thus fallible, and so is interpreting Scriptures. That’s why both the Bible and the church will cease to be in the New Creation.