"miracle" he consistently changed to "sign" throughout. The command to
ask "in the name of Jesus" caused him hours of deep and perplexing
thought, until he hit upon the, to him, happy rendering, "in his
character." Why not? In the character of the Christ mankind might ask
anything and it would be given them. But to acquire that character
men must repent. And the Greek word "metanoia," so generally
rendered "repentance," would therefore have to be translated "radical
and complete change of thought." Again, why not? Was not a complete
change of thought requisite if one were to become like Jesus? Could
mortals think continually of murder, warfare, disaster, failure,
crime, sickness and death, and of the acquisition of material
riches and power, and still hope to acquire the character of the
meek but mighty Nazarene? Decidedly no! And so he went on delving
and plodding, day after day, night after night, substituting and
changing, but always, even if unconsciously, giving to the Scripture
a more metaphysical and spiritual meaning, which displaced in its
translation much of the material and earthy.
Before the end of his seminary training the translation was complete.
What a new light it seemed to throw upon the mission of Jesus! How
fully he realized now that creeds and confessions had never even begun
to sound the profound depths of the Bible! What a changed message it
seemed to carry for mankind! How he longed to show it to his
preceptors and discuss it with them! But his courage failed when he
faced this thought. However, another expedient presented: he would
write a treatise on the New Testament, embodying the salient facts of
his translation, and send it out into the world for publication in the
hope that it might do much good. Again, night after night in holy zeal
he toiled on the work, and when completed, sent it, under his name, to
a prominent literary magazine published in Paris.
Its appearance--for it was accepted eagerly by the editor, who was
bitterly hostile to the Church--caused a stir in ecclesiastical
circles and plunged the unwise lad into a sea of trouble. The essay in
general might have been excusable on its distinct merits and the
really profound scholarship exhibited in its composition. But when the
boy, a candidate for holy orders, and almost on the eve of his
ordination, seized upon the famous statement of Jesus in which he is
reported to have told Peter that he was the rock upon which the Lord's
church should be eternally founded, and showed that Jesus called Peter
a stone, "_petros_," a loose stone, and one of many, whereas he then
said that his church should be founded upon "_petra_," the living,
immovable rock of truth, thus corroborating Saint Augustine, but
confuting other supposedly impregnable authority for the superiority
and infallibility of the Church, it was going a bit too far.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account