95% of printed Bibles are in English

Numbers, rate, percentage and misinformation. Today I was browsing a newsletter of a Christian organization which said 95% of all printed Bibles are in English, but that only 4.8% of the world population knows English.

Apples and oranges. And this was an appeal for more translation projects.

I look to my right and I have 10 Bibles--including one in Spanish and one in Russian. And that doesn't count what's in my husband's office or other rooms. It would make more sense when talking about Bibles to use "household."

There are 983 million people in the world who speak English, 372 as a first language and 611 as a second (about 13%). Yes, having the Bible in your own heart language is important, but it would be important for those with an English language Bible in their home to open it and read.

English was the language of the Union Jack, and the King James Bible went where ever the British went. The Crown had a monopoly and colonists couldn't print and distribute the KJV Bible. The Geneva Bible (1599) was the original Bible of the colonies--came with the Pilgrims in 1620. That said, English Bibles were translations of Greek, Latin and Hebrew.

The first European language Bible printed in the future United States was in German in 1743, not English, and it was for the Brethren (Church of the Brethren current name). The first Bible in any language printed in America was in Algonquin in 1661, which brings us back to the point of the article I read--translations are important.

Christianity in America, a handbook, 1983.

Lutheran Bible Translators.  The Messenger, Christmas 2019.

Saint Luke

Today is October 18 and the day the Catholics, Orthodox and many Protestant denominations honor St. Luke, author of 2 volumes in the New Testament, Luke and Acts. Luke was most likely a Syrian (something to remember, too) and didn't know Jesus or his disciples, but thought it was critical to do the research of what was already written down and being preached in the churches. He did know Paul, and I'm sure those discussions were magnificent. He gives us fascinating insight into our Lord's life and heart, and particularly has a tender heart for the poor and not so powerful. He also provides a lot of focus on women. No one but Mary could have provided the details of the Infancy Narratives. Thank you Lord for the words of Luke.

Luke is the patron saint of artists; bachelors; bookbinders; brewers; butchers; glassworkers; goldsmiths; lace makers; notaries; painters; physicians; sculptors; stained glass workers; surgeons.

And so St. Luke, take care of my sweet, darlin' bachelor and the surgeons and physicians who are helping him. (Had brain surgery Oct. 8)

https://www.liturgytools.net/2018/07/hymns-feast-of-st-luke-evangelist-doctor-physician-artist-18-october.html

"As Luke with courage went
to heal, restore and teach,
obedient to his Lord
in spirit, action, speech,
give doctors, nurses, clergy too
the healing power that comes from you."

http://jocelynmarshall.org/texts/hymn_for_st_luke.html

Guardian angels

Friday morning I was reviewing Bible and extra-biblical writing on guardian angels. We certainly are calling on them today. We know Phil has one –I  remember about 7-8 years ago his car explosion and he had jumped out of the car after someone in a white vehicle pulled up behind him and yelled, “ you're on fire,” then left. Then boom. It went up in flames.

There's a beautiful hymn/poem in the book of Daniel when the three men are being saved from the fire. Unfortunately, that lovely passage is not in the Protestant Bible, so you'll have to look on-line if you don't have a Catholic or Orthodox Bible. See Daniel 3:26-90. At verse 46, "Now the king's men who had thrown them in continued to stoke the furnace with brimstone, pitch, tow, and faggots. The flames rose 49 cubits above the furnace, and spread out, burning the Chaldeans nearby. But the angel of the Lord went down into the furnace with Azariah and his companions, drove the fiery flames out of the furnace, and made the inside of the furnace as though a dew-laden breeze were blowing through it. The first in no way touched them or caused them pain or harm. Then these three in the furnace with one voice sang, glorifying and blessing God: [and the hymn continues]

But I also like my friend Sonja Ness' method. She has named her tumors, "Gertie and the 3 blind mice" and enjoys watching them diminish as they are attacked by chemo (and probably her guardian angel who is guiding her treatment team). So using the angel example in Exodus 23:20-23 I'll name the tentacles of Phil's tumor, "My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out."

Guardian angels aren't just for Hallmark cards. Nor are they cute, sweet and plump with feathery wings. They are strong and powerful like the one who came to Mary (Hail, Mary) to announce the coming of Jesus or the one who greeted the women at the Tomb. They have a long tradition in the church. Saint Basil the Great (d. 378) taught that "each and every member of the faithful has a Guardian angel to protect, guard, and guide them through life." St. Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) wrote, "these celestial spirits have been placed at our sides to protect us, instruct us, and to guide us." Billy Graham wrote a book about angels and called them God's secret agents. Then there was a 19th century Dutch Calvinist, Abraham Kuyper, who also was a fan of angels (also wrote about demons and miracles) and describes their powers. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/kuyper/greater.x.html

A phrase attributed to St. Augustine, "“We cannot pass our guardian angel's bounds, resigned or sullen, he will hear our sighs.”

St. John’s Bible

And I found in that same 2001 letter with the description of the African travel book the following information:

“On Feb. 21, I attended a lecture at the Faculty Club about the St John's Bible, the first manuscript Bible in about 500 years.  The art work is really magnificent.  A monastery in MN has commissioned it, and the calligrapher lives in England.  Father Hollas had a video showing the artist at work--was absolutely fascinating, and slides of the sketches and mock-ups of several scenes, like the nativity (he calls them the infancy narratives) and the raising of Lazarus.  I was surprised that the new RSV was selected as the version.  I asked one of the librarians about it, knowing he is Catholic, and he claimed complete ignorance of any version.  "Oh, we Catholics don't read the Bible, we just rattle our beads," I think he said.  The December issue of Smithsonian has a cover story on this Bible.  It is projected to take 6 years--and of course you can sponsor a page, but the costs weren't as bad as some I've seen for getting your name on a brick of a building.  I think $1,000 was the price of an un-illuminated page.  $250,000 if you want to sponsor one of the Gospels.”

Well, this sounded interesting! Even 18 years later.  I vaguely remember the event, so I looked it up, and it has a blog and a web page.  I’ll for sure want to find that December 2000 Smithsonian (checked—it’s available for $36.)

Information on the calligrapher, Donald Jackson, scribe to the Queen of England.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTS5m59DPoo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULb9xZuj1bE

The Heritage Edition.
https://blog.saintjohnsbible.org/posts/2019/02/mount-saint-mary-college-heritage-edition/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90togEvOruo  Rev. Eric Hollas, O.S.B., Senior Associate for Arts & Cultural Affairs at Saint John's University. http://stmu.it/15cYKtP  Was apparently the person who gave the presentation that night in February 2001 at the Faculty Club.

Today’s message from Vantage Point Devotional

“A January 2005 article in TIME magazine reported: “Studies show that the more a believer incorporates religion into daily living—attending services, reading Scripture, praying—the better off he or she appears to be on two measures of happiness: frequency of positive emotions and overall sense of satisfaction with life.”

Are you a happy believer?  The psalm that contains today’s key verse begins with the confession of a very sad person.  Several times, he asks, “Why are you cast down, o my soul?” But he answers his distressing call with hope, praise and prayer.

Among answers to depression given in a 2016 article in Psychology Today, are to resist the urge to dwell on the past, and focus on what is going right.  The article suggests that one incorporate structure into every day. So the TIME magazine article had it right: attending services, reading Scripture, praying! And so did the psalmist: He sings into the night. The question, are you a happy believer, is worth repeating. More, it is worth doing something about. There are many unhappy people in government if the nightly news is any indicator. Pray that they would find the Lord first of all, and then, that they would find the night song in their souls.

Recommended for Further Reading: Philippians 4:4-9 “

Don’t install Bible study in our public schools

I was in elementary school in the 1940s--they weren't "teaching" Bible then, although it was read occasionally. It's a bad idea--we've got 35,000 protestant denominations and groups, many called "Bible churches." We've got 6 rites within Catholicism with another 21 under that. We've got Orthodox, Mormons, and Jehovah Witnesses, plus some spiritualist types, unity affiliated, Swedenborgian, and those are just the ones in the big tent of Christianity. Then there is a buffet table of other religions who also have their own sacred scriptures. Teach religion at home or send your child to a religious school. We've got lefties who say we can't say "Western Civilization" or use certain pronouns. Can't imagine what they'd do with the battles and ceremonies of the Old Testament.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-boosts-bills-teach-favorite-book-bible-public-schools-220638186.html

There is no shortage of ways to learn or read the Bible.

It’s National Bible Week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PvxAOGYjY0

Byrds were #1 in 1965 with Ecclesiastes chapter 3

“National Bible Week in the United States is annually observed from Sunday to Sunday of Thanksgiving week. It has been so observed since 1941 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the first national proclamation. In the years since, every president has issued a national proclamation, as have many governors and mayors, with U.S. senators and representatives also reading celebratory speeches into the Congressional Record.” https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/national-bible-week-and-the-hymnal

“Pleased to be chosen to help initiate National Bible Week, President Roosevelt agreed to host special events at the White House dedicated to the observance. In addition, a well-organized media campaign was planned, while religious, civic, and fraternal organizations pledged their support as well. To launch the event, a reading of the Bible was scheduled for December 7 on a national radio broadcast of the NBC network––the day before its official weeklong observance. On the scheduled day, Bible reading began on NBC, but to the horror of the nation, the reading was interrupted with the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Throughout the nation, radios were turned to NBC for reporting on the attack, and in between reports, network executives requested National Bible Association leaders to continue to read the Bible throughout the day. Who could have known, that on such a fateful day, America would need most the comfort of God’s Word, and what better preparation for a nation facing the horrors of another world war?”  https://christianheritagefellowship.com/bible-reading-interrupted/

The Reformers and the Catholics--why are the Bibles different?

The fastest growing church in Columbus is Rock City, formed in 2011.

I was baptized in Church of the Brethren, a "New Testament church." on Palm Sunday in 1950 and have been a "sola scriptura" Lutheran since Palm Sunday 1976 when I was confirmed.  I was probably 70 years old before I saw a Catholic Bible at a used book store, and wondered why the Church had "added" things mine didn't have (I probably had 6 translations all with the same list and books). This controversy was thoroughly investigated by St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) when he was quite young--being only about 27 when he began this work. Since "sola scriptura" is basic to most Protestant, "Bible only," non-denominational and Restoration churches, it's worth a look to see what was said post-reformation. Which scripture?  His work was intended to present the Catholic faith to French Protestants some years after Catholics in their region had been persecuted and driven out.  It is reported that he brought 70,000 Christians who had no knowledge of the faith, back into the fold.

For me, one of the most interesting parts (free on the internet, although in print there may be better translations) is "which Bible" should we claim as authoritative?  The one the church used for 15 centuries (and still does), or the one the Reformers decided to revise? The Old Testament canon that Jesus referred to as "scripture," has been changed, although I don't think there was an official body who determined canon--the Jews didn't agree either in the time of Jesus. This is the link to Chapter 7 of "The Catholic Controversy," and the ones preceding it are excellent also. He gives both sides--but pretty much demolishes the argument for removing these Old Testament books and revising the canon to suit 16th century ideas.
http://www.goodcatholicbooks.org/francis/catholic-controversy/protestant-scripture.html#CHAPTER_VII

"The Council of Trent gives these books as sacred, divine and canonical: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Josue, Judges, Ruth, the four Books of Kings, two of the Paralipomenon, two of Esdras ( a first, and a second, which is called of Nehemias), Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job, one hundred and fifty Psalms of David, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, Wisdom ,Ecclesiasticus, Isaias, Jeremias with Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel, Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Micheas, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharius, Malachy, two of Machabees, first and second: of the New Testament, four Gospels, -S. Matthew, S. Mark, S. Luke, S. John,-the Acts of the Apostles by S. Luke, fourteen Epistles of S. Paul,-to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon, to the Hebrews,-two of S. Peter, three of S. John, one of S. James, one of S. Jude, and the Apocalypse. The same books were received at the Council of Florence, and long before that at the third Council of Carthage about twelve hundred years These books are divided into two ranks. For of some, both of the Old and of the New Testament, it was never doubted but that they were sacred and canonical: others there are about whose authority the ancient Fathers doubted for a time, but afterwards they were placed with those of the first rank." (chapter 3)

I was familiar with what the 19th and 20th century seminaries had done with higher criticism and how theologians had cast doubt on the authority of  scripture, but according to St. Francis,  the reformers used a similar method--bit by bit, chipping away at the passages that underscored the theology and Christology they didn't like. Why he asks is the Holy Spirit given to individuals and nobodies to interpret privately the Bible, but not the Church?

"Why shall one allow Calvin to cut off Wisdom or the Machabees, and not Luther to remove the Epistle of S. James or the Apocalypse, or Castalio the Canticle of Canticles, or the Anabaptists the Gospel of S. Mark, or another person Genesis and Exodus? If all protest that they have interior revelation why shall we believe one rather than another, so that this rule supposed to be sacred on account of the Holy Spirit, will be violated by the audacity of every deceiver.  

Recognise, I pray you, the stratagem. They have taken away all authority from Tradition, the Church, the Councils, what more remains? The Scripture. The enemy is crafty: if he would take all away at one stroke he would cause alarm. He starts a certain and infallible method of getting rid of it bit by bit, and very gradually: that is, this idea of interior inspiration, by which everybody can receive or reject what seems good to him. And in fact consider a little how the process works itself out. Calvin removes and erases from the canon Baruch, Tobias, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Machabees; Luther takes away the Epistle of S. James, of S. Jude, the Second of S. Peter, the Second and Third of S. John, the Epistle to the Hebrews; he ridicules Ecclesiastes, and holds Job a fable. In Daniel, Calvin has erased the Canticle of the Three Children, the history of Susanna and that of the dragon of Bel; also a great part of Esther. In Exodus, at Geneva and elsewhere among these reformers, they have cut out the twenty-second verse of the second chapter, which is of such weight that neither the Seventy nor the other translators would ever have written it if it had not been in the original. Beza casts a doubt over the history of the adulteress in the Gospel of S. John (S. Augustine warns us that already the enemies of Christianity had erased it from their books; but not from all, as S. Jerome. says)." . . . Chapter 5 

"But before I quit this subject, I pray you, reformers tell me whence you have taken the canon of the Scriptures which you follow? You have not taken it from the Jews, for the books of the Gospels would not be there, nor from the Council of Laodicea, for the Apocalypse would not be in it; or from the Councils of Carthage or of Florence, for Ecclesiasticus and the Machabees would be there. Whence, then, have you taken it? In good sooth, like canon was never spoken of before your time. The Church never saw canon of the Scriptures in which there was not either more or less than in yours. What likelihood is there that the Holy Spirit has hidden himself from all antiquity, and that after 1500 years he has disclosed to certain private persons the list of the true Scriptures?" Chapter 6