The Apostles

Name: The Apostles
Author: Renan, Ernest

Renan, Ernest

Apostles

There was in this a liberal conception; they wished it should
have no language peculiar to itself, that it should be capable of
translation into every language, and that the translation should be
of the same standard value as the original. Such was not the opinion
of orthodox Judaism. The Hebrew was "the holy language" to the Jew
of Jerusalem, and no version could be compared to it. Translations
of the Bible were in little esteem; so long as the Hebrew text was
scrupulously guarded in the translations, changes and modifications
of expression were tolerated. The Jews of Egypt and Hellenists of
Palestine, indeed, practised a more tolerant system, and habitually
perused the Greek translations of the Bible.{4.25} But the first plan
of the Christians was even broader; according to their idea, the word
of God has no language peculiar to it; it is free, unfettered by any
idiomatic peculiarity; it is delivered to all spontaneously and without
interpretation. The facility with which Christianity became detached
from the Semitic dialect which Jesus had spoken, the liberty which
it at first accorded to every nation of forming its own liturgy, and
its own versions of the Bible in the vernacular, favored this sort of
emancipation of languages. It was generally admitted that the Messiah
would gather into one, all languages as well as all peoples.[4.26]
Common usage and the promiscuousness of the languages was the first
grand step towards this grand era of universal pacification.

Moreover, the gift of languages very soon underwent a considerable
variation, and resulted in very extraordinary effects. Ecstasy and
prophecy were the fruits of mental excitement. At these moments of
ecstasy, the faithful, possessed by the Spirit, uttered inarticulate
and incoherent sounds, which were mistaken for the words of a foreign
language, and which they innocently attempted to interpret.[4.27] At
other times they supposed that the ecstatically possessed was giving
utterance to new and hitherto unknown languages,[4.28] which were not
even the languages of the angels.[4.29]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

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The ApostlesRenan, Ernest

History

The Apostles

Renan, Ernest

Apostles

There was in this a liberal conception; they wished it should
have no language peculiar to itself, that it should be capable of
translation into every language, and that the translation should be
of the same standard value as the original. Such was not the opinion
of orthodox Judaism. The Hebrew was "the holy language" to the Jew
of Jerusalem, and no version could be compared to it. Translations
of the Bible were in little esteem; so long as the Hebrew text was
scrupulously guarded in the translations, changes and modifications
of expression were tolerated. The Jews of Egypt and Hellenists of
Palestine, indeed, practised a more tolerant system, and habitually
perused the Greek translations of the Bible.{4.25} But the first plan
of the Christians was even broader; according to their idea, the word
of God has no language peculiar to it; it is free, unfettered by any
idiomatic peculiarity; it is delivered to all spontaneously and without
interpretation. The facility with which Christianity became detached
from the Semitic dialect which Jesus had spoken, the liberty which
it at first accorded to every nation of forming its own liturgy, and
its own versions of the Bible in the vernacular, favored this sort of
emancipation of languages. It was generally admitted that the Messiah
would gather into one, all languages as well as all peoples.[4.26]
Common usage and the promiscuousness of the languages was the first
grand step towards this grand era of universal pacification.

Moreover, the gift of languages very soon underwent a considerable
variation, and resulted in very extraordinary effects. Ecstasy and
prophecy were the fruits of mental excitement. At these moments of
ecstasy, the faithful, possessed by the Spirit, uttered inarticulate
and incoherent sounds, which were mistaken for the words of a foreign
language, and which they innocently attempted to interpret.[4.27] At
other times they supposed that the ecstatically possessed was giving
utterance to new and hitherto unknown languages,[4.28] which were not
even the languages of the angels.[4.29]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Apostles

The Apostles

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