..the 300s #004..
Part of the beauty of the church is that she is able to offer her story to to all peoples of the world in their respective languages. The sacred text of the church is, through the hard work of translators, taken to every corner of the world. It is made accessible to all people from the primitive tribes in the bush to the progressive tribes in the high rises. One is not required to learn a specific language in order to take their place among those who belong to the Savior.
I live in a city of sacred language. The Arabic contained in the Quran is different from the everyday spoken Arabic of the Muslim population. The Hebrew contained in the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible/OT) is different from the everyday spoken Hebrew of the Jewish/Israeli population. Some Jews do not even speak modern Hebrew as a show of reverence for the sacred language of the text. Up until Vatican II (1962), the Roman Catholic Church held their liturgies in Latin. It was early church in the East (the Orthodox Church) that made the first efforts to offer her stories and liturgies to the peoples of the world in their own languages. Protestants have continued in this tradition.
Today, I began translating the parable of the talents from the Koine Greek in which it was written to modern English. It is nearly impossible to put into good English the artful storytelling of the gospel writer. The parable reads like a motion picture, but only in the Greek. It was clearly meant to be heard. Reading it this way—the way it was written, the way the author intended—is already having a profound effect on my view of the church’s sacred text. It is alive and animated. I can feel the tension in the story, and I find myself, although already familiar with it, waiting to find out what happens.
