Lost in Translation?

 

Are you with me that there has been way too much hype for The Odyssey out there? We have seen it and I'd give it a seven out of ten but I wish the endless interviews with Christopher Nolan and the cast would go away. Yes, we get it that Nolan is a cinematic genius and Devyn Dalton, the Canadian woman stunt double for Matt Damon has the most amazing biceps he's ever seen. 

                                                 Devyn Dalton and Matt Damon

I have been enjoying the debate about the script for the film and whether it is faithful to the original. And should Telemachus be referring to Odysseus as "dad?" It's all good, say some academics, while others declare it an abomination.

One of the naysayers is Emily Wilson one of the foremost translators of The Odyssey, and the first woman to do so. She has sold about a million copies of her translation, no doubt boosted by the buzz of the film, but she has been sniffed at by some classicists for various reasons. It seems a bit much that she has written a bluntly derogatory review of the film given the fame she's gained. 

There are scholars who are Wilson fans but support the script and note that there can be no definitive translation because The Odyssey began as oral story-telling and took on different forms through generations of writing and rewriting.

This fascinates me because the same can be argued about the bible. There was an oral tradition for both the the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospels before scribes put quill to papyrus and parchment. The early languages included Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic. For centuries only Latin received official approval and translators into vernacular languages sometimes paid with their lives. The King James Version of the English bible was for a long time the only authorized version. 

Today we have a variety of translations and paraphrases. Is there a correct one, or do they all contribute to our understanding? We can also watch a host of films and serial adaptations of biblical stories, some of them far more popular than the written word, or Word. 

In some congregations The Chosen series about the life of Jesus is watched instead of traditional bible study. I wonder if Linus reciting from Luke's Gospel in A Charlie Brown Christmas exceeds the number of people who've read the story in any translation over the past 60 years?

I figure conversations such as these, even with some academic trash-talking, is good for our minds and even our souls. 

Learning to be Brave with Bishop Budde

 

Do you remember Bishop Mariann Budde? At the January 2025 worship service in the Washington National Cathedral as part of President Trump's inauguration Bishop Budde created the most Christian of stirs in her sermon. 

Here are some excerpts from the conclusion of her message to jog your memory: 

Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. Millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now, 

There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives.

"The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings; who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants; who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in hospitals, they – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation. But the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. 

I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. And that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. 

It will come as no surprise that Trump publicly panned this invitation to be merciful and he certainly hasn't been during these past 18 months which feel like 18 years of cruelty and terror. At the time one Republican Flying Monkey suggested that Budde be deported. 

 I think the theme of the upcoming webinar with Bishop Budde offered through Sojourners Magazine is perfect: Learning to be brave. We hear that ICE is stepping up its evil deportation program and innocent people are being killed. It feels as though bravery is being trumped by organized hatred.

I have preregistered for the webinar and I look forward to what Bishop Budde has to offer. 

World Nature Conservation Day & Psalm 65

 

5     

By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance

O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas.

By your  strength you established the mountains;
    you are girded with might.

You silence the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    the tumult of the peoples.
 Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.

 You visit the earth and water it;
    you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
    you provide the people with grain,
    for so you have prepared it.
 You water its furrows abundantly,
    settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
    and blessing its growth.
 You crown the year with your bounty;
    your wagon tracks overflow with richness.
 The pastures of the wilderness overflow;
    the hills gird themselves with joy;
 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks;
    the valleys deck themselves with grain;
    they shout and sing together for joy.

Psalm 65: 5-13 NRSVue 

Yesterday was World Nature Conservation Day with the talking points being:

• Healthy ecosystems are essential for human survival.
• Overexploitation has caused habitat loss, species extinction, pollution, and climate change.
• Conservation advances biodiversity, sustainable livelihoods, and climate resilience.
• Encourages balancing growth with environmental preservation.

These all make a lot of sense to me and all levels of government and individuals would do well to ask if these are being given the priorities they deserve for the health of the planet. I'm going to suggest that while most of us wouldn't deny the importance of any of these we aren't doing a great job of addressing even one of them.

When the late Pope Francis issued the encyclical Laudato Si: Care for Our Common Home he addressed all of them within a spiritual and specifically Christian context in a brilliant and balanced way. There may never be a more profound Christian statement on this theme. We would do well to revisit it's themes. 

It happens that Psalm 65 was yesterday's reading and it reminds us that their is a Creator and so we called to care for Creation. For me it complements World Nature Conservation Day. 

Two Waterfront Celebrations in Toronto

 

Biidaasige Park (pronounced "bee-daw-sih-geh" and meaning "sunlight shining toward us" in Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwemowin) is a sweeping greenspace that lines the new mouth of the Don River.

1 Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently,

nourish the life of the world in our care:

gift of great wonder, ours to surrender,

trust for the children tomorrow will bear.

3 Let there be greening, birth from the burning,

water that blesses and air that is sweet,

health in God's garden, hope in God's children,

regeneration that peace will complete.

                                                            Voices United 307

 Two events happened along the Toronto waterfront on the weekend, one a celebration and the other scheduled as a protest. The celebration was the expansion by about 10 acres of an ambitious new park which restores and re-imagines the mouth of the Don River. The Don was effectively killed as a natural waterway as the heart of the city was industrialized but this billion dollar project will bring it back to life again. 

We walked the first part of the park a couple of months ago and while we might not live to see the full effect of the restoration it was inspiring. As the initial excavations were undertaken seeds from native plants no longer seen in the area were discovered and remarkably were germinated and replanted. There are already nests for aquatic birds that had been driven away. Historic tree species have been planted. 

The planned protest was against the expansion of the runway at Billy Bishop Island Airport so that jets could take off and land there. Premier Ford has plenty of medal potential for the Blockhead Olympics -- closing the Science Centre, tunnelling under the 401 highway, etc. -- but this was up there. Why do this, at great expense, when there is an excellent express train from downtown to Pearson Airport? 

The runway itself would change the outflow of Toronto Harbour and the province expropriated a portion of beloved Little Norway Park from the city for the flight path. The noise level would rise considerably. 

Happily, the federal government said no, at least for now, and the march/rally/flotilla in opposition to this folly was transformed into a party. How wonderful that these two events could coincide -- providence? The city has now tabled a motion to have the expropriation of the park rescinded. 

Livable cities are part of God's plan if we believe the book of Revelation, an aspect of a new heaven and a new earth. I do believe that heaven for Christians isn't just "pie in the sky" but a resurrection reality that begins here and now. 

 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God...

                                                              Revelation 21: 1-2a

Gambling Away our Moral Compass

 

On my cycling route today I passed the entrance to a marina and a boat with this unsettling logo close to the gate. I had to stop and take a photo because it blatantly says so much about the world of omni-present gambling we now live in. Notice I didn't write "gaming", the word which is now used almost exclusively to describe this multi-billion dollar industry. Someone decided that it is more playful than entering a den of thieves. 

Gambling has been around forever -- soldiers drew lots for Jesus' garment at the time of his crucifixion in all four gospels -- but now you can play on your dumbphone using a little square of plastic instead of travelling anywhere or laying down actual cash. It's impossible to watch major sporting events without being inundated by ads. Little wonder gambling addiction is on the rise. We know that governments at every level are now dependent on gambling revenue although they still can't balance budgets. I just saw that our city received it's latest quarterly payment from the local casino to the tune of nearly $800,000. Yet our roads get worse. 

I'm reading an excellent British murder mystery in which one of the key characters is the billionaire owner of an online betting company. He foresaw the opportunities for this form of gambling well ahead of the curve and ended up immensely wealthy. Along the way he went through a religious conversion and committed himself to ethical gambling because Jesus helped him find his moral compass. The detective n charge of the murder investigation quietly challenges the conceit of this "road to Damascus" experience for the CEO and his well-crafted rationales. 

During my ministry I spent time with individuals leading lives of quiet desperation because of the financial mess they found themselves in because of gambling. In some instances they lost homes and jobs and relationships. They definitely weren't having innocent fun. 

Here is the link to a Broadview Magazine article about online gambling from a couple of years ago. The illustration is perfect.  

An Ipsos survey conducted in late 2022 suggests nearly half of Canadians believe the amount and volume of gambling advertising is excessive and needs to be reduced. Some observers also worry that the promotions could negatively affect young people, a concern that one former gambler echoes. “I think I would have been hooked at 18 rather than 24 if this is how I grew up,” he says.(Illustration: Sébastien Thibault)

https://broadview.org/online-gambling-canada/

A Timely Prayer for Wisdom

 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you, and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne today.  And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in.  And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted.  Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil, for who can govern this great people of yours?”

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.  God said to him, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or for the life of your enemies but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right,  I now do according to your word. Indeed, I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you, and no one like you shall arise after you.    I Kings 3:5-12 NRSVue

Three World Leaders. Three Incredibly Bad Decisions.

When I saw this headline for a New York Times opinion piece by Thomas Freidman one name came to mind, but what about the other two? It doesn't take long for the award-winning columnist and author to name all three: 

Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin are drastically different men, but they do have one important thing in common: Each thinks he is the smartest person in any room he enters. Alas, though, because they have all done the dumbest thing you can do as a leader — surround yourself with sycophants — they have all blundered into dead-end wars from which they can extricate themselves today only by eating a banquet of crow. 

Watch out. There is nothing more dangerous than a reckless leader faced with a plate of crow: Sometimes his instinct is to double down on a losing strategy instead. 

Friedman goes on to describe, persuasively, the monumental blunders all three have made lurching into wars they aren't winning and likely never will because of their arrogance. He doesn't mention that all three have attempted to attach their schemes to religion, in Netanyahu's case fundamentalist Judaism, for Putin Russian Orthodoxy, and Trump conservative Christianity. They all have messianic aspirations, at least as a cover for their hubris and duplicity. 

I was struck by this Sunday's Hebrew scripture reading in the Common Lectionary titled Solomon's Prayer for Wisdom. Solomon, successor to flawed King David, has a dream in which he prays for wisdom to govern and the ability to discern between good and evil. God is pleased that Solomon hasn't asked for long life or wealth or victory over enemies so he grants the heir apparent his desire. 

When I was young, people would describe a sage and respected leader as having "the wisdom of Solomon", although the phrase is rarely used anymore.

Putin, Trump and Netanyahu are supposedly guided by the same Hebrew scriptures so they might get together for some earnest and prayerful bible study. Who knows, they could receive a Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts,,,in their dreams. 

I enjoyed Friedman's closing paragraph: 

Bottom line, eventually all these conflicts will end in negotiations, because none of these leaders can sustain their stupid wars indefinitely. The only question is when they will have to call the waiter over and say: “Young man, could you please bring me a plate of crow.” 

Galileo, Astronomer & Person of Prayer

 

A historian has discovered that a 16th century printing of The Almagest—a highly influential ancient astronomy text—contains extensive annotations from Galileo Galilei, the astronomer who later overthrew that text’s conception of a geocentric cosmos.Reproduced with permission of the National Central Library of Florence

The Lord is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
 The Lord is good to all,
    and his compassion is over all that he has made.

 All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
    and all your faithful shall bless you.
 They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom
    and tell of your power,
 to make known to all people your[b] mighty deeds
    and the glorious splendor of your[c] kingdom.
 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

                                                                    psalm 145: 8-13 NRsvue 

Earlier this year I wrote about the unexpected discovery of a copy of an important medieval text with what had been a partially blank page on which Psalm 145 had been written in and annotated. Ivan Malara, the scholar who found this insertion recognized the hand-writing of Galileo, a supposition that has now been supported by a number of other experts in the field. Here are a couple of paragraphs from my March blog entry: 

Here is the description from an article in the Smithsonian Magazine: 

Historian Ivan Malara spotted the inscriptions in January while leafing through a 1551 copy of the Almagest at Italy’s National Central Library of Florence. Malara realized that a loose page in the text—a second-century C.E. astronomical manual by the Greco-Roman polymath Ptolemy, which asserts that Earth is at the center of the universe—contained a transcription of Psalm 145. The handwriting was reminiscent of Galileo’s, an astronomer often lionized as the “father of modern science.” Additional annotations in the book’s margins similarly matched Galileo’s hand.

There are lots of reasons to remember Galileo, not the least of which is the conflict between the astronomer and the Roman Catholic church regarding his proposition that our solar system is heliocentric rather than geocentric .Galileo was tried for his supposedly heretical premise that the Earth and other planets were in orbit around the Sun rather than the Earth being at the centre. He did avoid torture or execution but as the result of two trials for heresy he was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life and ordered not to promulgate his dangerous views. 

The update to this story was about the authentication but there was something else that caught my attention. Here is a paragraph from a recent Smithsonian piece: 

At first, the psalm—both a prayer and a poem exalting God’s greatness—had bemused Malara. This was the only early printing of The Almagest he had seen with a biblical reference, and it seemed contrary to both the modern stereotype of Galileo flouting religious authority and Malara’s own experience studying Galileo’s writings. But in another 16th century printing of The Almagest in Florence, he found a note by an unknown author claiming that “Galileo, before studying Ptolemy, offered a prayer to God.” That jibes with a 1673 letter written by the mathematician Alessandro Marchetti, who also said Galileo prayed each time he sat down with The Almagest.

The story many of us have heard through the years is that Galileo poked the Church in the eye and the mighty church poked back. We have come to realize that Jesuit scholars were coming to similar conclusions about our heliocentric solar system around the same time as Galileo. Now we're told that Galileo was a person of prayer and brought those sensibilities to his important work.

We live and we learn, thanks be to God, Creator of the Universe. 

                                                                 Galileo on Trial