Why We Use the ESV

(In honor of Nancy Thonus Hudson, my high school friend who has served the Wycliffe Bible Translators for nearly thirty years.)*

Bible translation is an ancient and venerable practice.  One of the earliest was in Coptic for Egyptians, which dates to AD 270.  An Ethiopic translation was completed in early 5^th century AD.  Fragments of an early Syriac translation has been discovered, which is not surprising since one of the major early ethnic churches was the Syrian Church.  Between the years AD 350 to AD 439 the Scriptures were translated into Armenian for those in the Caucasus mountain region and in an adjacent region another translation into Georgian was done in AD 450.  An old Latin Bible was completed in AD 195 (which Augustine used) and Jerome completed his new and improved Latin Vulgate (vulgates referring to the common tongue) in 404 AD.  Unlike the old Latin Bible, Jerome relied on the original Hebrew in his translation. This particular translation was to dominate the landscape in the Middle Ages, and unfortunately led the Western Church to neglect the original languages of the Bible up until Erasmus and Luther.   Much more could be said about translations in the East as well as the history of translations in English.  However, at this point we should note four features of translations in the early history of the Church:

• .       Translations were a function of the missionary nature of the Christian Church which was a vernacular movement, the assumption being that people needed to hear the word of God in their own native tongue (cf. Acts 2).
• .       The whole process started in fits and starts and because of the needs of the missionaries, not because of some central authority’s efforts.  Thus, these early translations are uneven in quality.
• .       It was assumed that a translation of the Bible could be called the word of God for this language group, yet…
• .       Figures such as Jerome and much later Erasmus, Luther and Tyndale realized that these vernacular translations needed to be based on the original Hebrew and Greek texts. 

All English translations are in some measure dependent on the ground-breaking translation of William Tyndale, who in turn was influenced by Luther’s translation.  He was both a first-rate Greek scholar and master of early English prose.  To him we owe memorable phrases like “my brother’s keeper” (Gen. 4:9), “the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13), “a law unto themselves” (Rom. 2:14) and “the powers that be” (Rom. 13:1).  As you can tell, Tyndale was attentive to the aural qualities of the Bible.  He understood that the written text was in service to its oral quality and purpose: scriptures were originally written primarily to be read and heard a loud in public worship.

When people ask me why I (and now Truro) use the ESV for public worship its oral quality is one of the primary reasons I give.  There are numerous good translations on the market; I own and read several of them.  But I prefer the ESV for public worship because it stands squarely in the Tyndale tradition of Bible translation, especially his concern for good aural sense.  Because I also believe it is important for the Christian community to memorize key portions of the Bible, the ESV excels over other translations in this regard as well.  As a literal translation, it attempts to follow the rhythm and rhyme, the alliteration and assonance of the original text. The ESV has preserved the felicitous and memorably translated phrases of Tyndale which are noted above. 

 I encourage you to buy a reference edition for your personal study.  Mostly I encourage you to “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” the word of God in whatever translation you use.  For the word of God is “living, active and sharper than any two-edged sword” exposing our souls to God and God to our souls so that we can become wise in matters of eternal significance.







*Heavily indebted to Alistair McGrath's In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible... and Ben Witherington's The Living Word of God

Through the Bible, Week 5 - part 2

"Woman-at-the-well" type scene

In an early post I discussed the importance of type-scenes in the Bible.  I believe the most siginificant among them is the woman-at-the-well type scene, for it is always a betrothal scene - and remember the Bible is a nuptial book, beginning and ending with a wedding.  There are two such scenes in the patriarchal narrative: Genesis 24 and 29.  (Exodus two, recounting Moses and Zipporah is also such a scene as is Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4, but we will limit our comments to the Genesis accounts).  The conventially fixed sequence of events are as follows:  travel to foreign country, encounter there with the future bride at a well or spring, drawing of water, hurrying or running to bring the news of the strangers arrival and a feast at which the betrothal agreement is concluded. Variations on this sequence are important clues to a particular episodes contribution to the theology of redemption and marriage.

Isaac and Rebekah's betrothal scene in Genesis 24 is the most elaborate (until John 4 which has the most elaborate and theologically vital dialogue between bridegroom and future bride), full of detail and repitition. It is also the only version in which the bridgroom is not present for the courting, but rather a surrogate.  It is also the only one where the young woman rather than the young man draws the water and acts heriocally - something of a foreshadowing of their future marriage.  Isaac is the most passive of the patriarchs; Rebekah is the most resourceful of the matriarchs.  

Jacob and Rachel's betrothal scene is more conventional up until the feast, when the betrothal agreement is concluded with a twist.  At this point, Laban, the father of Rachel and Leah, tricks Jacob by giving him his older daughter Leah in the place of Rachel.  Jacob works another seven years for Rachel and finds himself in a long tutelege of taking his own medicine.  He is painfully discovering what Esau must have felt like after Jacob decieved him.  The trickster is being tricked.   A biblical theology of sanctification is embedded in these chapters.

Knowing this type scene, its conventions and variations, is critical in understanding the Gospels and - indeed - the Bible in its entirety as the one true story we all find ourselves in.  My greatest and most enriching personal discovery in Bible study was this type-scene and its illumination of John 4, the whole of John's gospel, and indeed, the entirety of scripture.   Thanks to Robert Alter's book The Art of Biblical Narrative that alerted me to it and to much else.

Remember we are learning to read the part in terms of the whole.  But I am getting a bit ahead of myself.   I guess I can't help it.  I love this stuff.

Guest Preachers at Truro

I am pleased to welcome two great Anglican leaders to Truro's pulpit these next two Sundays, September 30 and October 7.  The Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry and the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner are former pastors and now teach at two of our most strategically placed Anglican seminaries, Trinity School for Ministry and Wycliffe College, respectively.  Dr. Terry also serves as Dean of Trinity.

The Rev. Dr. Justyn Terry 

The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner

I have asked them to further catechize us in our apostolic faith and our Anglican identity.  Please make a point to hear their sermons and their teaching at the Rector's Forum.  Dr. Radner will also have lunch with the Vestry and giving a poetry reading as a postlude to our Fairfax Fall for the Book Festival on Saturday, October 6th.  

Shed to Study Project, Week 5

We are laying new sub floor and insulation.  All of these will be "unseen" but essential to a livable space.  The unseen always makes life livable (or unlivable).

A Parish Built on Love.....

... is the theme of our winter parish mission.  We will be hosting Don Renzo Bonetti from Verona, Italy, the premier Catholic pastoral authority on marriage and family as a spiritual vocation.  In addition, two old friends of Truro are returning: Christopher West and Matt Maher.  Roman Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal and other Christian leaders will be present.  Everyone reserve the weekend of January 26-27.  

We will be updating this post as we approach this extraordinary week. 

Don Renzo Bonetti

Christopher West

Matt Maher

Through the Bible, Week 5

                                 

Monotheism and Marriage: The Drama within the Drama
Genesis 12-50

NOTE: This theme is one of the most crucial in the Bible and in the life of Truro.  We will be exploring it all year long and with particular intensity during our Parish/Region wide mission this January, featuring Don Renzo Bonetti, Christopher West and Matt Maher.  Details to follow.


The patriarchal narratives, which recount the spiritual exploits of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his twelve sons, are foundational to the rest of scripture.  It is not an exaggeration to say that Genesis is about the family and Exodus is about the state.  Thus, from a biblical standpoint, there are some things that are pre-political and beyond the state's competency.  Many Christians and Jews would say that marriage and family are such things.

What Genesis teaches about marriage is fascinating.  The trajectory of these chapters is that marriage functions as the divine pedagogy for monotheism.  As Abraham, for example, learns to love one woman he learns likewise to love one God.  His commitment to Sarah is the seedbed for his commitment to the LORD.  As God reaches out to humans in the revelation of his name, he simultaneously helps them to understand that revelation through their deepest and most intimate relationship.  God is restoring us to our original experiences so it makes sense that the two relationships that were ruptured together would likewise be healed together.

In the language of sociology then, heterosexual, monogamous marriage is the "plausibility structure" for monotheism.  It is the social practice that makes an unusual or un-empirical belief "plausible."  Remember, in the age of scripture, "monotheism" was the unusual or minority belief.

There are two recurring literary forms that are repeated in these chapters and are crucial to understand: repeated (with variation) sister-bride stories AND "woman at the well" scenes.  Part one of this post will discuss the sister-bride stories.  Part two will discuss the "woman at the well" type scene.  These are keys text in our ability to adequately read the Gospels.

Sister-bride stories

There are three stories in the patriarchal narratives where the husband seeks to portray his wife as his sister.  Abraham does it with Pharaoh in ch 12 and with Abimelech, the tribal king of Gerar, in ch 20.
The apple does not fall far from the tree and Isaac does the same to Rebekah when sojourns in Gerar in chapter 26.  What accounts for these stories?  Sarah was, in truth, Abraham's half sister. This is a window into the world out of which God is redeeming the human race.  The culture had decayed considerably; we are far from Eden.  W.F. Albright explains in his important book Yahweh and the God's of Canaan:

In fixing relationships [among the gods] in the ancient Near East, we must remember that both in Egypt and Canaan the notion of incest scarcely existed.  In fact, Phoenicia and Egypt shared a general tendency to use sister and wife simultaneously. Such kings as Amenhotep III and Ramses II married one or more of their own daughters as late as 14th and 15th centuries. Baal was closely associated with two other goddesses... For example, Anat was not only Baal's virgin daughter but also his consort (p128).

So Abraham told a half truth to protect himself but it was a half truth.  Abraham was a product of his world and God took him, progressively, out of the world in order that God might redeem that world through the messianic line promised to Abraham ("through your seed the nations will be blessed.").  The narratives repeat these sister-bride stories not just because they happened, or because they are a window into the ancient near eastern culture which produced Abraham, but because they are the site where God's redemptive action is most powerfully discerned.   Remember the rule of faith discussed earlier: 'the way out is also the way back in."  To heal the relationship with God will also heal the relationship between the sexes and vice-verse. It all goes together just as it all fell together.

We will discuss the other literary feature - "woman at the well" - an important "type scene" in part two of this post.  Till then think on this important truth about Abraham and his progressive faith in God: 

Abraham struggled mightily to believe in God's promises, to trust that God would fulfill his promise without Abraham's "help" - or - to state it more positively, that God would keep his promises as Abraham exercised simple faith.  Do you realize that Abraham got everything that God promised him through Hagar, except Jesus?  Sarah was an essential player in the plan of salvation and Abraham did not recognize that until the very end.  Oh, how far we have fallen from Eden. 
  

Thought for the Week

Another gem from my favorite Rabbi:

In contrast to our civilization, the Hebrews lived in a world of covenant rather than a world of contracts.... Prophecy is a reminder that what obtains between God and man is not a contract but a covenant.  Anterior to the covenant is love, the love of the Father (Deut. 4:37, Isa. 63:7-9) and what obtains between God and Israel must be understood not as legal, but as personal relationship, as participation, involvement and tension.  God's life interacts with the life of the people.  To live in the covenant is to participate in fellowship of God and His people.

Heschel, The Prophets, 2:10.