I found myself walking into yet another Cathedral. It's Gothic vaulted ceiling and cold-stone statues which seemed to breathe simply took my breath away. I was in Europe, and relished the opportunity to see how other cultures worship the same God, and yet are drawn to heaven in diverse ways. But there's one thing that disturbed me in almost every Cathedral I saw: their emptiness.
I marveled how in a city of 9 million people, like Paris, there are only a small handful attending mass. I asked myself, "Why are almost all of the Cathedrals empty?" I'll relate this issue to what I call the paradox of the Word: in our day, it's never been easier to obtain the word of God, and yet it's never been so altered, so misread, and so un-read. Specifically, I refer to the King James Bible. Our society has never been more educated, yet the richness of this Bible has been set aside for easier-to-read "modern" translations. How is it that we relish craftsmen of the English language secularly, yet disregard the work of skilled writers and translators Biblically? Historian David Daniell even said, "No Tyndale, No Shakespeare". While these simplified "modern" Bibles still have value, they have chopped up, pureed, and spoon fed the Word to us.
Yet was this not the greatest criticism of Protestant reformers towards the long-standing Catholic church? "Sola Scriptura"-- it was a challenge, an invocation, to explore, dig into, and discover the word for oneself. In that sense, it echoed the Renaissance cry of Ad Fontes and mingled it with Sprezzatura. Essentially: "Go back to The Book itself and become educated. Challenge dogma. Taste Grace. Work out your own salvation. Then, with an enlightened mind, let the truth set you free."
To be sure, this was the reasoning behind so much sacrifice made for the Bible. And the more I study the lives of the reformers and high costs they paid for us-- the future generations-- to come to God, the more motivated I am to live, honor, even cherish my faith. My heart is moved to remember their costs. Their sacrifice was willingly offered in a similitude of the ultimate sacrifice: God's Only Begotten Son.
So, once again I ask this question, but this time to all of you: why are almost all of the Cathedrals empty? And will you let your houses of worship go empty?
I mostly agree, but for discussions sake: it's easy for those of who are thoroughly educated to understand the language of the KJV, but on my mission I met several people who couldn't digest the language--which leads me to my question: what is different between the papacy saying "keep the latin because it's more pure and linguistically beautiful than any english knockoff", even if it means the commoners cannot really read it, and refusing the NIV for those with limited education?
ReplyDeleteI like the direction you went with this Kristina in that we shouldn't over simplify the language of the Bible, but I also agree with Isaac in that there are still many people who benefit from a bible translated in modern language. I served my mission the midwest, and as sad as it is, people couldn't fully appreciate the Bible or the Book of Mormon simply because they couldn't understand it. With bibles translated in simplified language, more of the common people will be able to understand them and follow the teachings inside.
ReplyDeleteThose are some interesting observations about the emptiness of the churches. While I visited Europe, I noticed this as well until I visited a church on Sunday. Maybe I was there at a good time, maybe it was just because it was Notre-Dame de Chartres, but we walked in during a service and it was filled to maximum occupancy.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a very interesting point when you say "Our society has never been more educated, yet the richness of this Bible has been set aside for easier-to-read "modern" translations." While our society has access to more knowledge than every before, I feel we have less wisdom than ever before. We don't have to work for knowledge today, or at least not work nearly as hard, so we esteem it as less. This leads to a very lazy mindset where people are smart but not wise.
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