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The Bogwash Epistles: Epistle #1

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Music: Moonlight Hall Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

My dear Bogwash,

It is indeed an interesting twist of fate, that on the eve of being assigned your human, the Patient makes a decision to embrace with renewed vigor his dormant childhood faith. It is standard policy here at the Training College to assign to our undergraduates (due to their inexperience) those humans who are generally weak in faith, so this recent development is indeed unfortunate.

But while you received the misfortune to be assigned this particular Patient, you have also been extremely fortunate to receive me as your Tutor. We have been rather short-staffed at the College recently and, as such, I have been told to instruct some of you undergraduates personally. This task is, quite frankly, beneath me…but you and I both know that Our Father Below is unaccustomed to being denied. Regardless, if you follow my expert tutelage, we will swiftly crush your Patient’s newfound devotion to the Enemy. If you do as I say and handle him rightly, we will soon have him returning to his former trajectory towards Our Father’s House Below.

In these preliminary stages of temptation you must concentrate your efforts on coming to understand the Patient. What kind of man is he? What are his weaknesses? And more importantly, is he aware of these weaknesses? The less he knows of them the better! I expect a full report in your next letter.

Although the situation is of some concern, we should not panic. Many Catholics have, at some point, renewed the practice of their faith, but ultimately lasted only for but a brief season.

Your Patient has woken up.  It is your job to gently lull him back to sleep.

Your affectionate mentor,

Professor Slubgob.

TEA: Mary and the Early Church (St. Ignatius)

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Mary

Yesterday, I visited St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Los Angeles. The St. Ignatius Women’s Group invited me to give a presentation on the Blessed Virgin and the Early Church. This was a a longer version of a talk I had previously given at St. Brigid’s here in San Diego.

Over the course of forty-five minutes, I told the story of my initial struggles concerning Mary and the Catholic Marian doctrines, explaining how I eventually came to see the truth and beauty in the Catholic Church’s teaching concerning the Blessed Virgin. The audio and the handout are both available for download.

Mary and the Early Church (Download)

I was invited to speak to the group at St. Ignatius by a long-time reader of this blog. If you’re also interested in having me speak to a group at your parish or at a Diocesan Theology On Tap, please see my Speaking page for examples of other recorded talks. Just send me an email and we can work out the details! 🙂

Glory Unveiled

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I’m late, but I’m back!  “Theology On Tap” and “Daughters Of The King” craziness is mostly over now so proper blogging should resume shortly…

2nd Sunday of Lent: 4th March, 2012

The Readings this Sunday are a source of encouragement to strengthen to us during this Lenten season.

In the First Reading we read the familiar story of the testing of Abraham. This patriarch was asked by God to offer what was most precious to him, his own beloved son. This Reading demonstrates the obedience of Abraham, but it also gives us a picture of the love of God the Father who “so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” – John 3:16.

The theme of Christ’s sacrifice is picked up by St. Paul in our Second Reading where he asks “[God] did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?”. 

Finally, in this week’s Gospel we read the story of the Transfiguration. Jesus, together with His “inner circle” ascend a mountain where His glory is unveiled. While transfigured, Jesus is visited by the two greatest figures in Old Testament history, Moses and Elijah.

As this Lenten season continues, let us be inspired by Abraham’s love of God, comforted by the love of the Father which made Him give His Son and humbled by the love of the Son that He would come be our redeemer. Let us too  become “transfigured”, transformed more and more into the likeness of Christ as we serve Him in the world.

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How is “muhaimin” translated?

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Those who attempt to say that the Qur’an teaches the corruption of the earlier scriptures, often appeal to Qur’an 5:48, but this argument turns on the translation of the word “muhaimin”. I therefore surveyed all the Qur’anic English translations I could find…

The Translations

And to you We have revealed the Book containing the truth, confirming the earlier revelations, and preserving them (from change and corruption)
– Ahmad Ali

We have sent down to you the Book with the truth, confirming what was before it of the Book and as a guardian over it.
– Ali Qarai

And O dear Prophet (Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) We have sent down the true Book upon you, confirming the Books preceding it, and a protector and witness over them
– Amhad Khan

And We have sent down to thee the Book with the truth, confirming the Book that was before it, and assuring it
– Arberry

And We revealed to you the Book in [the] truth, confirming what (was) before his hands of the Book and a guardian over it
– Corpus

And We have sent down the Book unto thee with truth; and confirming that which hath preceded it of the Book, and a guardian thereof
– Daryabadi

And We have sent down to you (O Muhammad SAW) the Book (this Quran) in truth, confirming the Scripture that came before it and Mohayminan (trustworthy in highness and a witness) over it (old Scriptures). 
– Hilali & Khan

Then We revealed the Book to you (O Muhammad!) with Truth, confirming whatever of the Book was revealed before, and protecting and guarding over it.
– Maududi

We have revealed the Book to you (Muhammad) in all Truth. It confirms the (original) Bible and has the authority to preserve or abrogate what the Bible contains. 
– Muhammad Sarwar

And We have revealed to you the Book with the truth, verifying what is before it of the Book and a guardian over it
– Muhammad Shakir

And unto thee have We revealed the Scripture with the truth, confirming whatever Scripture was before it, and a watcher over it.
– Pickthall

And to you We have revealed the Book with the truth confirming the Book that was revealed before it, and a guardian over it.
– Qaribullah

And We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a criterion over it. 
– Sahih International

And We revealed to you the Book, with truth, confirming the Scripture that preceded it, and superseding it
– Talal Itani

We have sent down the Book to you with the truth, fulfilling [the predictions] revealed in the previous scriptures and determining what is true therein
– Wahihuddin Khan

To thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety
– Yusuf Ali

The Analysis

As you can see, the most consistent translation of the word relates to the Qur’an’s protection of the earlier Scriptures: “…preserving them… a guardian over it… a protected and witness over them… assuring it… a guardian over it… a guardian thereof… trustworthy in highness and a witness… protecting and guarding over it… a guardian over it… a watcher over it… a guardian over it… guarding it in safety“

This clear consensus makes the polemical nature of the remaining four all the more obvious, offering a “translation” which goes far beyond the the Arabic text:

  • “a criterion over it”
    – Sahih International
  • “confirming the Scripture that preceded it, and superseding it“
    – Talal Itani
  • “has the authority to preserve or abrogate what the Bible contains”
    – Muhammad Sarwar
  • “fulfilling [the predictions] revealed in the previous scriptures and determining what is true therein…”
    – Wahihuddin Khan

The bias of Sahih International’s translation is particularly blatant, translating it as “criterion”, pretending that the Arabic text says “furqan” rather “muhaimin”. Even among this group, Talal Itani seems to suggest that the earlier scriptures are uncorrupted, but just subordinate to the Qur’an.

Early Commentators

It’s instructive to look at how earlier Qur’anic commenators explained the word:

  • “Witness” (Al-Suddi, Qadadah, Ibn Abbas, Mujahid)
  • “Entrusted/Faithful” (Ibn Abbas, Qadadah, Mujahid, Ikrimah, Al-Hasan, Saeed bin Jubayr and others)
  • “Confirmer” (Ibn Zayd, Al-Hasan, Al-Hussein and others)
  • “Preserver” (Al-Khalil, and noted by Al-Tabari and Al-Qortobi)
  • “Judge” (Ibn Abbas, Saeed bin al-Musayyab, Al-Dahhak)
  • “Guardian” (Al-Khalil)

A Sunnydale Funeral

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Back in 2017 I was an avid listener to Buffering the Vampire Slayer, a podcast where the hosts would discuss each episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in turn. As a teenager I had rather enjoyed the campy movie starring Kirsty Swanson and, although I was suspicious at first, I soon came to really enjoy the TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gueller.

Buffering Mail…

I listened to the first few episodes of the Buffering the Vampire Slayer while I was walking the Camino, and I even sent them an email which they read out on the show. I eventually wrote to them again, this time after listening to Episode 3.08…

In that episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there is a funeral. In their commentary episode, the podcast hosts where shocked to hear the word “Hades” mentioned in the reading at the graveside. They were shocked because the context was clearly Christian, yet the hosts associated the word with the occult. They wondered out loud what Christian denomination this might be.

To the library!

I sent them an email pointing out that the text comes from the first chapter of the Book of Wisdom, also known as The Wisdom of Solomon:  

“…because God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living.
For he created all things that they might exist,
and the generative forces of the world are wholesome,
and there is no destructive poison in them;
and the dominion of Hades is not on earth.
For righteousness is immortal”  

Wisdom of Solomon 1:13–15

I went on and explained that the word “Hades” was simply the Greek name used to describe the realm of the dead. In Hebrew, the word is “Sheol” which is translated in English as either “the grave” or “the dead”.

The fact that this reading comes from the Book of Wisdom gives us a big clue as to the Christian denomination of the person conducting the burial. The Wisdom of Solomon belongs to a collection of books known as the Deuterocanon which was removed from the Bible at the Reformation in the 16th Century. It therefore most likely isn’t a Protestant funeral (Lutheran, Baptist etc.). That pretty much leaves either Catholic or Eastern Orthodox and, given the appearance of the priest, I’d say he it’s a pretty safe bet to assume he was Catholic.

Here’s the clip of the hosts reading out my email on their mailbag episode:

Why Easter was particularly amazing this year…

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Around the country there have been quite a few reports that this has been an incredibly fruitful year for Catholicism, with large numbers of people entering the Church. In the San Diego Diocese alone, we had 1,342 people join this Easter. One of them was a housemate of mine, Nathan:

Nate

Nathan is an richly gifted guy and, like his confirmation Saint, Ambrose, he is going to be a real asset to the Church and a real force for good in the Kingdom. Please say a prayer for him and, if you meet him in person, give him a high-five 🙂

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