Tag: Protestant

Bible Translations

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One of my friends sent me an email asking about Bible translations and requesting an introductory post on the subject. Well Ricardo, here you go…

Before we start talking about different translations, let’s begin by considering the language of the original Biblical manuscripts, which are known as “autographs”. In what language were these originals documents written? Despite what Henry Higgins suggests, the Bible was not originally written in English…

true story

So, if it wasn’t English, in what language was the Bible initially written?  Well, the original Biblical documents were, in fact, written in several languages. Different languages were used for the Old Testament and New Testament, so let’s look at them in turn…

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Sunday Lectionary: Cleaning Out The House

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3rd Sunday Of Lent, 11th March 2012

The First Reading and the Gospel this week recall events of epic proportion.

The First Reading takes place three months after the Israelite exodus from Egypt. The Children of Israel have journeyed through the desert and found themselves at the foot of Mount Sinai. The stage is set for arguably one of the most important events of the Old Testament: the giving the Ten Commandments through Charlton Heston Moses.

The Gospel Reading contains no less drama! We read the account from John’s Gospel of the “cleansing of the Temple”. The Lord drives out the money lenders and animal sellers and, when challenged by the authorities, He speaks outlandishly about the destruction of the Temple and its rebuilding in three days…

Moses guarded the nation of Israel and, through God’s grace and guidance, acted as Israel’s leader, law-giver, mediator and intercessor. In Christ all these roles find their fulfillment and perfection.

The Temple has been cleansed. A new dawn is at hand…

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“Ask a…” Series

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Today I want to highlight a “Question and Answer” series from a blog which I often read. The blog is authored by Rachel Held Evans, an author from what I guess you would say is the more liberal end of Protestantism. She’s a really interesting writer. I often don’t agree with her conclusions, but her articles are always engaging and thought-provoking…

Anyway, what I wanted to do today was to highlight her “Ask a…” series which I’ve enjoyed greatly. What happens is she invites her readers to email her questions for an upcoming guest on her blog. These guests have included a Quaker, a Mormon, a gay Christian and many others including a Catholic, Devin Rose, whose book I recently reviewed.

Check it out!

Also, if you have time, I’d invite you to take a look at her Year of Biblical Womanhood project 🙂

Bible Canon Questions

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Today over at St. Joseph’s Vanguard Devin wrote an article about How Evangelicals Know Their Canon Is Correct. It describes an exchange Devin had with an Evangelical concerning which books belong in the Bible.

Now, not all Evangelicals will hold those views expressed in the article, but I have to say that Devin’s exchange bears a strong resemblance to conversations I myself have had with non-Catholics concerning Sacred Scripture…

In my experience, when a Catholic-Protestant dialog reaches this stage it often stagnates. You then spend a lot of time going round and round in circles… 🙁

In an effort to stop this from happening, I find that it is generally best to keep asking questions. These questions will hopefully reveal to the non-Catholic his unknown dependency upon Catholic Church with regards to the formation of the Canon.

You may recall a little while ago I wrote about an exchange I had with a chap called Jay. When we were talking about the Bible, these were some of the questions I asked him:

1.  Let’s say I don’t believe James should be in the Bible.  Show me why I’m wrong. What’s to stop me from just taking this book out of the Bible?

2.  Let’s say I believe that Clement’s letter to the Corinthians should be in the Bible.  Show me why I’m wrong.  He was alive during the time of the Apostles and Clement has strong credentials for being taught by them…

3. Who wrote the Letter to the Philippians? What about the Gospel of Mark? How do you know?

4. Who were the people who painstakingly copied the New Testament manuscripts throughout the centuries?

5. Have you checked the authenticity of every book in the Bible? Are you sure that we have all the available “inspired texts”? How did you reach your opinion over what and what isn’t the Word of God? Are you 100% certain? Can I trust your judgment on this? Because if you’re wrong I could be ignoring text which is the Word of God and reading text which isn’t…

6. Who assembled the canon of the New Testament and when? Please give me names and dates.

You know what really grinds my gears?

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You know what really grinds my gears? :-/

The other day I overheard a conversation during which some of my Catholic friends were speaking particularly brutally about non-Catholics and the non-Catholic churches. There was little gentleness, respect or love. There were a few cheap shots and some statements that were just plain wrong. Ironically, what I heard was reminiscent of some of the anti-Catholic tirades I’ve heard in the past…

I spent several years in Protestant circles and was greatly blessed there. During that time my love for Scripture was nurtured and I was surrounded by many, many inspiring people who lived out lives of deep prayer and courageous virtue. For this I will forever be grateful.

Ultimately, I found certain issues within Protestantism to be troublesome and some fundamental questions which Protestantism itself is unable to answer. This is why I’m Catholic. Even on this blog, I occasionally post entries in which I critique some of my former Protestant positions. However, I do hope that I always do this with respect, gentleness and love.

I still have a great affection for our separated brothers and sisters in Christ. Virtually every conversion story that I’ve heard of those who left Protestantism for the Catholic Church have expressed similar sentiments. Although they ultimately came into conflict with Protestant doctrines, they speak very warmly of their former denominations and express gratitude for the Christian witness they received there.

So, when speaking about non-Catholics and non-Catholic churches, please do so with charity. Otherwise, I may have to shout at you for a while…with respect, gentleness and love, of course 😀

Thanks for the memories (Part 2 of 2)

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Yesterday I told the story of a friend of mine who asked me about how non-Catholics memorize Scripture.

I began by offering a few techniques that I’ve used in the past for committing Bible passages to memory. I then went on to explain that, memory techniques aside, non-Catholics tend to be more familiar with Scripture simply because they make it more of a priority in their lives.

Today I’d like to take a look at the Catholic response to this…

The Catholic Response

First of all, what does the Church teach on the subject? The Catechism says:

The Church “forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful. . . to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures…” – CCC #133 

Well, you can’t really get much more forceful than that! The Church says that “all” Catholics should get to know Jesus better through “frequent” reading of the Bible. The Catechism then goes on to sum up the Church’s position beautifully and succinctly with a quotation from one of the Church’s greatest biblical scholars, Jerome:

“Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ” – St. Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah

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