Saturday, October 06, 2012

On not offending heathens


An Episcopal order of nuns has translated the Psalter in "expansive" language.

In the psalms, the sisters eliminated references to God as “he.” Masculine words such as “watchmen” became “sentries.” “Alien” became “foreigner,” Pemberton said. “`Heathen’ is a pretty pejorative term, too. There are no `heathen’ in here. Now they’re all ‘nations.’“

Remembering the 20 years or so I spent singing the Psalter every day, I am relieved that there are no more pejorative terms in it. That's the last thing you'd want in the Bible...


---

2 comments:

OreamnosAmericanus said...

In the spirit of jpnill, I suggest that "foreigner" should be rendered "undocumented" and "heathens" as "practitioners of primordial faith traditions."

Anonymous said...

Instead of sin, let us speak of sinconvenience.

- Trevor

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...