w00t w00t booyah

I haven't heard this one, but then again - I doubt I travel in circles that would.

Y'all might have friends who do, though.

To quote my friend nagerj (He's friends-only, but a lovely person nonetheless):

Some of you may have read about an ancient Irish Psalter that's been discovered in a bog recently. What I didn't know until this morning (compliments of orthodixie) was that some folks are taking the find as a sign from God.

Lemme 'splain.

No, there is too much. Lemme sum up.

The Psalter, written in Latin as pretty much any 9th-11th century Irish Psalter would have been, has been reported as found open to Psalm 83. Some industrious apocalyptic zealots apparently pulled their Bibles off the shelf, turned to Psalm 83, and read such colorful lines as "For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." These lines are followed by references to various peoples conspiring against Israel, including "Ishmaelites" and "Philistines," among others. (You can probably see where I'm going with this.) A-ha! This is an omen from God, that those nasty Arabs (Ishmaelites/Muslims) and Palestinians (Philistines) are attacking the chosen people! The end of this Psalm is filled with prayers for God's vengeance against the attackers.

There's a small problem, though. Psalm 83 in modern Protestant and Jewish Bibles does indeed have all these references to the enemies of ancient Israel. But Psalm 83 in a 9th-11th century Latin Psalter is not the same psalm but would rather correspond to Psalm 84 in Protestant and Jewish Bibles, in which one would be hard pressed to find prophecies about the current crisis in the Middle East. You see, when Martin Luther did his translation of the Bible into German, he also chose to revise the Biblical canon. Besides removing some books (and later adding a few back in that he'd removed, such as Hebrews), he also chose to follow the Hebrew numbering for the Psalms rather than the Christian one found in Greek and Latin Psalters (the one found in the Septuagint).

This is why interpreting the Bible and knowledge about religious history matter. No doubt these folks who see a prophecy in the Irish mud are even now using this find as ammunition in their politics. The National Museum of Ireland has issued a reply with a clarification. One hopes that it gets read.

It's nice to know people more intelligent and better read than myself. He's delightful. (You think we agree on a lot of things? Nah. But then again, is that the point of having friends? They all have to be Just Like Yourself?)

Got my Sojourners email this morning, with this graphic in it:



Ho ho? Who are these guys? So I check the whole site.

I've found my mother's "Northern" Baptists, methinks.

"Judson Press is the publishing arm of American Baptist Churches USA, a Protestant denomination that includes 1.5 million members in 5,800 congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico. The denomination's national offices are housed in the American Baptist Mission Center in Valley Forge, Pa."

Not "Northern," but looking through the site, I see a lot of familiar ground. (sunfell, you might want to share this on dark_christian.)

About the book in question?

In the last few years, books in the Left Behind fiction series, co-authored by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, have taken Christian publishing by storm. Although the books are fictional, they are based on--and promote--a particular understanding of end times events that flow from the authors' theological context and approach to biblical interpretation. Here, Flesher describes and challenges the theological framework, interpretative practices, socio-political ideologies, and the end times scenario that, while prominent in the Left Behind series, are not shared by most biblical scholars. Flesher outlines how to read the Bible and exposes the use and abuse of Scripture to support the peculiar doctrines of "Rapture" and "Tribulation." Demonstrating how theological preconceptions guide the use of Bible texts, she explodes the myth of "literal interpretation" and highlights the importance of understanding history, context and literary genre. Flesher continues with a presentation of alternative readings of Daniel, Revelation, and other key Scriptures. Celebrating these texts as "resistance literature," designed to help Christians keep the faith in a hostile world, Flesher offers practical guidelines for appropriating their message in a post modern world.

Hmm. That's another one I can buy a few copies of for handy distribution. Oh very yes.

(And they have all kinds of things that look pretty tasty, to boot.)

Got my Sojourners email this morning, with this graphic in it:



Ho ho? Who are these guys? So I check the whole site.

I've found my mother's "Northern" Baptists, methinks.

"Judson Press is the publishing arm of American Baptist Churches USA, a Protestant denomination that includes 1.5 million members in 5,800 congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico. The denomination's national offices are housed in the American Baptist Mission Center in Valley Forge, Pa."

Not "Northern," but looking through the site, I see a lot of familiar ground. (sunfell, you might want to share this on dark_christian.)

About the book in question?

In the last few years, books in the Left Behind fiction series, co-authored by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, have taken Christian publishing by storm. Although the books are fictional, they are based on--and promote--a particular understanding of end times events that flow from the authors' theological context and approach to biblical interpretation. Here, Flesher describes and challenges the theological framework, interpretative practices, socio-political ideologies, and the end times scenario that, while prominent in the Left Behind series, are not shared by most biblical scholars. Flesher outlines how to read the Bible and exposes the use and abuse of Scripture to support the peculiar doctrines of "Rapture" and "Tribulation." Demonstrating how theological preconceptions guide the use of Bible texts, she explodes the myth of "literal interpretation" and highlights the importance of understanding history, context and literary genre. Flesher continues with a presentation of alternative readings of Daniel, Revelation, and other key Scriptures. Celebrating these texts as "resistance literature," designed to help Christians keep the faith in a hostile world, Flesher offers practical guidelines for appropriating their message in a post modern world.

Hmm. That's another one I can buy a few copies of for handy distribution. Oh very yes.

(And they have all kinds of things that look pretty tasty, to boot.)

Cardinal Paul Poupard, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said the Genesis description of how God created the universe and Darwin's theory of evolution were "perfectly compatible" if the Bible were read correctly.

Jeez, no wonder the Baptists hate them so.

For the record, I do better with most catholics than the ijits who park their SUVs down the street at Calvary Chapel.

Hey bitpig - did you see this one?

THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.

The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that they should not expect “total accuracy” from the Bible.

“We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision,” they say in The Gift of Scripture.

The document is timely, coming as it does amid the rise of the religious Right, in particular in the US.

Some Christians want a literal interpretation of the story of creation, as told in Genesis, taught alongside Darwin’s theory of evolution in schools, believing “intelligent design” to be an equally plausible theory of how the world began.

But the first 11 chapters of Genesis, in which two different and at times conflicting stories of creation are told, are among those that this country’s Catholic bishops insist cannot be “historical”. At most, they say, they may contain “historical traces”.

Well. How about that.

Hey bitpig - did you see this one?

THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.

The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that they should not expect “total accuracy” from the Bible.

“We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision,” they say in The Gift of Scripture.

The document is timely, coming as it does amid the rise of the religious Right, in particular in the US.

Some Christians want a literal interpretation of the story of creation, as told in Genesis, taught alongside Darwin’s theory of evolution in schools, believing “intelligent design” to be an equally plausible theory of how the world began.

But the first 11 chapters of Genesis, in which two different and at times conflicting stories of creation are told, are among those that this country’s Catholic bishops insist cannot be “historical”. At most, they say, they may contain “historical traces”.

Well. How about that.