Greek
As you may know, the Pope made some comments in a lecture last week that may make him quite unpopular with Muslims everywhere. I hear that he is going to Turkey in a few months, and I've prayed for his safety. My parents hunted down the full text of this lecture, and reading it, I found it quite interesting, and not because of the parts about Islam. Here's some of the interesting stuff:
- The Pope discusses the bonding of rationality with Christianity, and how this relates to the scientific view of reason. This is always a good thing to read about, since it comes up when talking with nonbelievers.
- He also talks about relative morality, which is interesting for some of the same reasons.
- The Pope says that Christianity is linked with Greek philosophy, and that the current theology and philosophy that is part of the religion was born there. This may be old news to some of my readers, but it was fresh for me, and it means that next time I have a reason to read Greek philosophy, I will see a bit more relevancy in it.
- On a lighter note, the word "rapprochement" appears three times. This is not the original text, it is a translation. Does this mean that the translator needs a smaller vocabulary? I don't think I'd ever encountered this word before, and it requires a French pronunciation to boot.
posted by Soaring Gryphon | 8:56 PM
6 Comments:
Here is the quote that got me thinking:
Today we know that the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced at Alexandria -- the Septuagint -- is more than a simple (and in that sense perhaps less than satisfactory) translation of the Hebrew text: It is an independent textual witness and a distinct and important step in the history of Revelation, one which brought about this encounter in a way that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity. A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II was able to say: Not to act "with logos" is contrary to God's nature.
So a translation of the bible is also God's revelation. How does this square with your understanding of the 5 Sola's?
My thought on your comment, Nate- the quote doesn't say that the translation *is* revelation, just that it is important in the history of revelation. I would say probably because it made the Old Testament accessible to Greeks, who were then able to relate it to Greek philosophy and traditions of reason.
Ian- rapprochement! hehe... Some of those translators are barmy. In the first translation of "Theology of the Body" and in some other works of John Paul II (I think there's another one out now), the word "lapidary" was really common. Lapidary???? It means "worthy to be inscribed in stone", but maybe "memorable" or "noteworthy" would have been more accessible...
08:59 9/22/2006
Just read Pope Benedict's discourse, "Three Stages in the Program of De-Hellenization". Question: how are reason and faith bound together? Benedict's entire proposition is that they are, but I have not emerged with any clear understanding of the how or the why - the epistemological foundation, how we know God is a God of reason. Probably Benedict's reasoning is diffused throughout the talk, and I will need to re-read it to fully understand what he has said. I would like to send this to Moez Mouati, an alum who is both a Muslim and a scientific person, to challenge his understanding in greater depth of how Christianity, Islam, and science are related - and hopefully to go beyond the outbursts of prominent members of Islam. If he responds, I'll keep you posted! 8-)>
Translation & Revelation: I agree, Nate, I did think that was kind of odd. I'm not sure I understand what he was trying to say, and considering the oddness of the translation of the speech, I wouldn't be surprised if the original were much clearer on this point.
Lapidary: LOL. I'll have to start using that in my everyday speech. "It was just such a lapidary moment!" Perhaps they don't understand that it is best for the translator to be a native speaker of the language being translated into? Or maybe they're just so over-educated that even though common English was once their native language, they can no longer tell the odd words from the usual.
How are reason and faith bound together:
Perhaps I should make a blog post of this one, just in case it becomes long.
Goldberry,
I have read the quote again to try and see your point. Not sure I can.
First off the Pope makes it clear that the Septuagint is more then a translation, that it contains independent texual whitness. In short that means that there are ideas in the Septuagint that were not in the Hebrew texts.
Second is the phrase "distinct and important step" suggesting that the Septuagint is part of the story of Revelation, just like Moses bringing tablets, Luke and Matthew reading Q, etc.
I would suggest the pope is saying that the septuiget did more then just make the gospel more accessible to the greeks, it also suggests greeks helped make God more accessible to the Jews.
I think that is a very interesting claim.
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