updated Monday
Theo Hobson writes in The Guardian about Evangelicals turning to Jewish customs? It’s complicated. “Evangelical Christians have become increasingly admiring of the sacramental richness of Judaism.”
Giles Fraser writes in the Church Times about A false ideal that erodes self-worth.
Scott McLemee writes for Inside Higher Ed Let Us Now Praise KJV.
Wayne Clarke asks Should we revere the Authorised Version?
And at The Guardian Jeanette Winterson, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Alexander McCall Smith, Michèle Roberts, David Crystal and Diarmaid McCulloch each write about The King James Bible’s language lessons.
Also in The Guardian David Edgar writes The King James Bible reconsidered. “We are steeped in the idioms and phrases of the King James Version. On its 400th anniversary, David Edgar questions how revolutionary it really was.”
The Guardian also asks its readers to Help us spot phrases from the King James Bible. “As the King James Bible celebrates its 400th anniversary, help us build a picture of how its phrases are used around the web today.” It provides a list of Phrases from the King James Bible, although as the first commenter points out many of these are not original to the KJB, but come from Tyndale.
Johann Hari writes in The Independent Get bishops out of our law-making. “Is Nick Clegg even going to abandon his atheism, and give the forces of organised religion yet more power over us?”
update: The Church Mouse has written this response to Hari’s article: Fact check: Johann Hari’s attack on the Lords Spiritual in the Independent.
Mark Vernon writes in The Guardian about Ultra-Darwinists and the pious gene. “Richard Dawkins won’t like it, but he and creationists are singing from similar hymn sheets, according to a new book.”
Gordon Brown has given a lecture on Faith in Politics?
Carl McColman writes for The Huffington Post about After a Century, Why Mysticism Still Inspires.
“A traditional evangelical belief is that Christians ‘supersede’ Jews as God’s chosen people.” from the Theo Hobson article Thank you Theo Hobson, for your well-written article on why some evangelical Christians are becoming philosemitic. I’m Jewish, and forgive me for not assuming positive intent for many of these evangelicals. There are still “Jews for Jesus” movements out there that try to persuade Jews that they can worship Jesus of Nazareth as the Mashiach, the Annointed One, the divine Son of God and still be Jewish. There’s a rich, fascinating, diverse 2,000-year-old theological tradition for people who believe Jesus is the… Read more »
Even a firm Christian believer can sympathize with much of Johann Hari’s essay on the role of religious leaders in a secular legislature. We might sympathize even more if he had gotten more of his history right. (As Senator Moynihan put it, “You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.”) Some of us settled the “establishment of religion” issue well over 200 years ago. Ah, but that’s just American silliness, you may say. Tell me, my cousins, how has the establishment of the Church of England been working out for you lately?… Read more »
Several Evangelicals have become Jews..as they take the pagan corruption theory of the early Church to its ” logical ” conclusion.
Meanwhile messianic jews ( Jews who become Evangelicals) do not have a Church to show them what customs to maintain).
As for the KJV …its fatal flaw is its dependence on the Textus Receptus..whereby a liturgical gloss is added to the Lords prayer.
Furthermore the KJV relegated the deutero -canonical books to a section entitled Apochrypha.
The happy-clappy music director at my very middle-of-the-road Episcopal Church has taken to blowing a shofar on certain occasions.
I’m thinking of slipping into the choir loft and hiding it, along with her tambourine.
I remember once at theological college where our Head of College wanted us to concentrate our devotions on Holy Thursday to a Celebration of the Passover Feast – without any reference to the Christian Eucharist. Being an older student, and wanting to celebrate the New Passover – with at least equal emphasis – I demurred. Was I wrong?
After the long dreadful history of Christian complicity with antisemitism, I pray we keep our grimy little hands off Judaism– for G-d’s sake!
“As for the KJV …its fatal flaw is its dependence on the Textus Receptus..”
It’s even worse… The 16th century translators deleted the Byzantine additions, exchanging them for the more familiar Parisian Versio Vulgata additions of the 12th century…
So they definitely were aware of what they were doing!
The Church Mouse has published an article questioning the accuracy of Johann Hari’s article on bishops in the House of Lords. I have added a link to it above.
JPM, you might want to hide her Wonder, Love & Praise as well and replace them with Common Praise, a remarkably beautiful hymnal from England, a successor to Hymns, Ancient and Modern.
God forbid that she’d discover Hylton-Stewart Anglican Chants.
>>>God forbid that she’d discover Hylton-Stewart Anglican Chants.
She would find some way to work “Shine Jesus Shine!” into them. Seriously.
“After the long dreadful history of Christian complicity with antisemitism, I pray we keep our grimy little hands off Judaism– for G-d’s sake!”
Much, much too late. There are all sorts of Christian groups that have, in some form or other, appropriated Jewish practices and customs.
What we all need to remember is that: Jesus was a Jew, brought up in the tradtion of Moses and The Prophets. His mother Mary and his foster father Joseph were Jews. John the Baptist was a Jew. We need to honour the Jewish tradition – as we honour our forefathers (and mothers) in the faith. We need to honour the faith of all people who believe in the One True God. We don’t have to become Jewish (or Muslim)to do that, but we do need to honour the Jewish Tradition that brought forth the One we have come to… Read more »
Mice — even church mice would be well advised not to grind axes !
We all know the 26 bishops do not attend Parliament en masse — don’t we ?
FWIW, I know several ethnic Jews (w/ various degrees of past Jewish practice) who have become Christians…
…but because they’re the sort of Christians *I* know (Mainline Protestant or Anglican), none of them feel any burden to “convert the Jews” (unlike the execrable, IMO, “Jews for Jesus” and their ilk).
The Bishop of Leicester wrote to the Independent in response to the Johann Hari article, see here (scroll down for the letter)
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-the-big-society-and-libraries-2219311.html
Re Bill’s comment “Much, much too late. There are all sorts of Christian groups that have, in some form or other, appropriated Jewish practices and customs.” All the more reason for concern. Instance the practice of Christians “adapting” Passover Seder during Holy Week. If one feels a compulsion to do so, then doing so with inter-faith consultation and advice from the Jewish community is advisable. Better still, celebrate passover in a Jewish home if you are fortunate enough to be invited, and leave the “Christian adaptation” at home.