I like to read the KJV for the Old Testament, because the writing is beautiful. The Catholic Bible just doesn’t have the flair. 🤷🏼♂️
Isaiah, who Mr. Klavan quoted yesterday, also said in the same chapter:
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
This proves a lot. The first and most obvious is free will. You can’t reason with someone who doesn’t have the ability to make his own decisions.
Next is the forgiveness of sins. Come to the Lord and He will forgive you.
And finally, what I find to be the most fascinating and wondrous. The Lord is willing to reason with us. What an incredible gift that is, to be able to reason with our God. It also says that He has given us such great intelligence that we are capable of such reasoning. What a gift. What a gift. 🙏🏻✝️
I agree that it’s hard to beat the KJV in terms of the beauty of its language. Still, there has been 400 hundred years of rigorous and honest scholarly study of the bible. What it lacks in lyrical beauty it makes up in additional revelation. But it could be lovelier.
In comparing perhaps the most famous of Bible entries, they are almost the same, word for word, allowing for synonyms and rephrasing, but the KJV stirs emotion. At least to me.
KJV:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Catholic:
John 3: 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Some verses I prefer in the KJV (good ol Psalm 23 for example just isn’t the same without “yea tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”. But when I’m reading new parts of the Bible and trying to understand, I love the ESV - which to my mind is a pleasing balance of the poetry and rhythm of the KJV without some alienating anachronisms. And I find some verses more beautiful in the ESV. 1 Corinthians 13 affected me much more deeply when I saw it was about “love”. The word “charity” just leaves me a bit cold idk.
So I now have three bibles: 1) an awful (but actually sometimes useful) NIV I started with two years ago. It was my kids’ school Bible and I just picked it up. 2) An ESV after it was recommended as the best modern literary translation on a Reddit thread - which I’m still in no position to judge, and 3) a KJV. Oh - and an ESV study Bible. I use them all. I’ve become a Bible nerd, thanks in part, to the Klavans, and other off beat ministries such as Sinead O’Connor. Artists lead me to Christ truth be told. It’s been a nice ride so far and I’m still traveling on the path.
Dentou is a great word. Transmitting unity conjures up images of both the distribution and reception of things proven to be good.
Tradition in order to resonate and, ultimately, to survive cannot become hidebound. Then there is the challenge of the new. Does it dovetail into our common and proven experience or does it turn it on its head. How to integrate or reject should sometimes take decades and at others take bare minutes.
I feel like this is what your dad is saying when he talks about the Jews. They are the "fathers" of the covenant. Time is nothing without Eternity as well, hence the square AND the compass. Time only is idolatry. In it we are bound only to the immediate. Thanks for helping me seek the eternal while navigating this crazy world. I look forward to your wisdom every day. In fact I'm starting my own letter exchange with my 12 year old based on these. It's fun!
The way Spencer unpacks the word “tradition” stokes the ember of one of my all-time favorite quotes:
“Tradition is not the adoration of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” — Gustav Mahler
Always LOVED this quote
I like to read the KJV for the Old Testament, because the writing is beautiful. The Catholic Bible just doesn’t have the flair. 🤷🏼♂️
Isaiah, who Mr. Klavan quoted yesterday, also said in the same chapter:
Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
This proves a lot. The first and most obvious is free will. You can’t reason with someone who doesn’t have the ability to make his own decisions.
Next is the forgiveness of sins. Come to the Lord and He will forgive you.
And finally, what I find to be the most fascinating and wondrous. The Lord is willing to reason with us. What an incredible gift that is, to be able to reason with our God. It also says that He has given us such great intelligence that we are capable of such reasoning. What a gift. What a gift. 🙏🏻✝️
I agree that it’s hard to beat the KJV in terms of the beauty of its language. Still, there has been 400 hundred years of rigorous and honest scholarly study of the bible. What it lacks in lyrical beauty it makes up in additional revelation. But it could be lovelier.
In comparing perhaps the most famous of Bible entries, they are almost the same, word for word, allowing for synonyms and rephrasing, but the KJV stirs emotion. At least to me.
KJV:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Catholic:
John 3: 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
And that’s a good thing the foundational truths do not change.
Some verses I prefer in the KJV (good ol Psalm 23 for example just isn’t the same without “yea tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”. But when I’m reading new parts of the Bible and trying to understand, I love the ESV - which to my mind is a pleasing balance of the poetry and rhythm of the KJV without some alienating anachronisms. And I find some verses more beautiful in the ESV. 1 Corinthians 13 affected me much more deeply when I saw it was about “love”. The word “charity” just leaves me a bit cold idk.
So I now have three bibles: 1) an awful (but actually sometimes useful) NIV I started with two years ago. It was my kids’ school Bible and I just picked it up. 2) An ESV after it was recommended as the best modern literary translation on a Reddit thread - which I’m still in no position to judge, and 3) a KJV. Oh - and an ESV study Bible. I use them all. I’ve become a Bible nerd, thanks in part, to the Klavans, and other off beat ministries such as Sinead O’Connor. Artists lead me to Christ truth be told. It’s been a nice ride so far and I’m still traveling on the path.
Great letter! Especially the first two paragraphs, LOL!
This one’s fun:)
Dentou is a great word. Transmitting unity conjures up images of both the distribution and reception of things proven to be good.
Tradition in order to resonate and, ultimately, to survive cannot become hidebound. Then there is the challenge of the new. Does it dovetail into our common and proven experience or does it turn it on its head. How to integrate or reject should sometimes take decades and at others take bare minutes.
This series has been dancing around the difference between the thing and the vehicle for preserving the thing. I like it
I watching Pendragon Production Diary Three
I feel like this is what your dad is saying when he talks about the Jews. They are the "fathers" of the covenant. Time is nothing without Eternity as well, hence the square AND the compass. Time only is idolatry. In it we are bound only to the immediate. Thanks for helping me seek the eternal while navigating this crazy world. I look forward to your wisdom every day. In fact I'm starting my own letter exchange with my 12 year old based on these. It's fun!
Elegant descriptions of conservative and progressive. ❤️