ὀφειλήματα are not “transgressions” but “debts”
April 6, 2024 10:08 AM Subscribe
One does not need to be a scholar of late antiquity to notice how often Jesus speaks of trials, of officers dragging the insolvent to jail. The Lord's Prayer, quite explicitly, requests — in order — adequate nourishment, debt relief, avoidance of arraignment before the courts, and rescue from the depredations of powerful but unprincipled men. [Note: The first 3 paragraphs are rather opaque and ornate but from the 4th paragraph, which begins "Christians are quite accustomed to thinking of Christianity as a fairly commonsensical creed," biblical scholar David Bentley Hart really starts cooking, albeit with academic vocabulary.]
Retranslation from an earlier version of the essay: Give us our bread today, in a quantity sufficient for the whole of the day. And grant us relief from our debts, to the very degree that we grant relief to those who are indebted to us. And do not bring us to court for trial, but rather rescue us from the wicked man.
According to John Chrysostom (c. 349–407 CE) who was appointed the Archbishop of Constantinople in 397 CE, the rich are thieves, even if their property comes to them legally through enterprise or inheritance, since everything belongs to all as part of the common human estate.
Slacktivist on David Bentley Hart: A term that Hart argues means “the wicked man” or “the evil man” gets translated instead as “the wicked one” or “the evil one.” That translation causes readers to assume the text is referring to Satan or “The Devil” and these texts become cornerstones for the construction of a whole theology of Satan. Meanwhile, the wicked man is off the hook. None of the texts indicting him are even regarded as mentioning him any more so he gets away scot free, enabled and empowered to continue exploiting the poor and corrupting justice at every turn.
Retranslation from an earlier version of the essay: Give us our bread today, in a quantity sufficient for the whole of the day. And grant us relief from our debts, to the very degree that we grant relief to those who are indebted to us. And do not bring us to court for trial, but rather rescue us from the wicked man.
According to John Chrysostom (c. 349–407 CE) who was appointed the Archbishop of Constantinople in 397 CE, the rich are thieves, even if their property comes to them legally through enterprise or inheritance, since everything belongs to all as part of the common human estate.
Slacktivist on David Bentley Hart: A term that Hart argues means “the wicked man” or “the evil man” gets translated instead as “the wicked one” or “the evil one.” That translation causes readers to assume the text is referring to Satan or “The Devil” and these texts become cornerstones for the construction of a whole theology of Satan. Meanwhile, the wicked man is off the hook. None of the texts indicting him are even regarded as mentioning him any more so he gets away scot free, enabled and empowered to continue exploiting the poor and corrupting justice at every turn.
Yt fed me down the Dead Sea Scrolls rabbit hole this year and it has been interesting.
I have no idea if James Tabor is as correct as he authoritatively comes across, but there are interesting details about the 2nd Temple centuries that pop lifestyle crypto-Baptist churches can’t touch with a bargepole.
Robert Cargill was a classmate of my sisters in Fresno and I also like his stuff. . . . He’s stepped away from active faith but is still doing the archeology…
posted by torokunai at 11:04 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
I have no idea if James Tabor is as correct as he authoritatively comes across, but there are interesting details about the 2nd Temple centuries that pop lifestyle crypto-Baptist churches can’t touch with a bargepole.
Robert Cargill was a classmate of my sisters in Fresno and I also like his stuff. . . . He’s stepped away from active faith but is still doing the archeology…
posted by torokunai at 11:04 AM on April 6 [1 favorite]
Humph!
None of this has anything to do with Christianity as practiced in My Neighborhood!
posted by BlueHorse at 12:47 PM on April 6 [2 favorites]
None of this has anything to do with Christianity as practiced in My Neighborhood!
posted by BlueHorse at 12:47 PM on April 6 [2 favorites]
Mod note: Comment removed. Please be considerate and respectful with the material of posts and avoid threadshitting.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 12:48 PM on April 6
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 12:48 PM on April 6
Yt fed me down t
I quickly ended up here ...
Do Women Make Better Priests? - David Bentley Hart
His quick answer: how could they be worse?
posted by philip-random at 12:53 PM on April 6 [3 favorites]
I quickly ended up here ...
Do Women Make Better Priests? - David Bentley Hart
His quick answer: how could they be worse?
posted by philip-random at 12:53 PM on April 6 [3 favorites]
How does the parable of the talents or give unto Caesar what is Caesar's fit in here?
I also feel like a lot of the early Church leader's emphasis on donation is pretty common in growing religions and mainly about the expense of a missionary network, then when the religion gets powerful enough that the secular rulers start to convert a lot of it has to be moderated because political power and continuity of government becomes more important to the now wealthy religious authorities.
posted by hermanubis at 1:20 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
I also feel like a lot of the early Church leader's emphasis on donation is pretty common in growing religions and mainly about the expense of a missionary network, then when the religion gets powerful enough that the secular rulers start to convert a lot of it has to be moderated because political power and continuity of government becomes more important to the now wealthy religious authorities.
posted by hermanubis at 1:20 PM on April 6 [1 favorite]
Interesting to see that it's James who, after Jesus, states the case against the rich most strongly.
Wasn't James the book that Luther wanted to kick out of the Bible?
It reminds me that one feature of the (much-argued-about) "Protestant work ethic" was an erasure of the idea of the "holy poor". A bunch of religions say that people who voluntarily give up their possessions are aligned with something higher than the rest of us. Saint Francis types are saints, while the rest of us are grubbing around in greed and jealously.
With Jesus "take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink"* Christ as the founder of the faith, you'd think that Protestantism would've been forced to keep at least some of that idea.
But that doesn't seem to be a feature of any Protestant society I've heard about. The poor, the homeless - they might be people that you help (though generally not without judgmental means testing), but they're never seen as holy. I've never heard of a Protestant pointing to a homeless person and saying, "Here's someone who has wisdom that I don't, who has holiness that I don't."
*an attitude I've only heard of working well in practise in hunter-gatherer societies that have hundreds of food sources rather than depending primarily on a single crop
posted by clawsoon at 1:28 PM on April 6 [4 favorites]
Wasn't James the book that Luther wanted to kick out of the Bible?
It reminds me that one feature of the (much-argued-about) "Protestant work ethic" was an erasure of the idea of the "holy poor". A bunch of religions say that people who voluntarily give up their possessions are aligned with something higher than the rest of us. Saint Francis types are saints, while the rest of us are grubbing around in greed and jealously.
With Jesus "take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink"* Christ as the founder of the faith, you'd think that Protestantism would've been forced to keep at least some of that idea.
But that doesn't seem to be a feature of any Protestant society I've heard about. The poor, the homeless - they might be people that you help (though generally not without judgmental means testing), but they're never seen as holy. I've never heard of a Protestant pointing to a homeless person and saying, "Here's someone who has wisdom that I don't, who has holiness that I don't."
*an attitude I've only heard of working well in practise in hunter-gatherer societies that have hundreds of food sources rather than depending primarily on a single crop
posted by clawsoon at 1:28 PM on April 6 [4 favorites]
clawsoon, I guess one might argue that having a fridge full of food helps with the 'not thinking/worrying about what you will eat or drink', and is therefore quite acceptable…
Personally, I've always found it intriguing that the Lord's Prayer specifies that it is this day and daily bread. Like the manna in the Old Testament, stocking up is discouraged, to instead rely on God every single day. So yeah, there is something less-than-holy about a comfortable life.
posted by demi-octopus at 1:57 PM on April 6 [7 favorites]
Personally, I've always found it intriguing that the Lord's Prayer specifies that it is this day and daily bread. Like the manna in the Old Testament, stocking up is discouraged, to instead rely on God every single day. So yeah, there is something less-than-holy about a comfortable life.
posted by demi-octopus at 1:57 PM on April 6 [7 favorites]
demi-octopus: Personally, I've always found it intriguing that the Lord's Prayer specifies that it is this day and daily bread. Like the manna in the Old Testament, stocking up is discouraged, to instead rely on God every single day. So yeah, there is something less-than-holy about a comfortable life.
I remember reading an article about how the Khoisan didn't worry about tomorrow's food and thinking, "Waitaminute, they're the only people I've ever heard of who are doing what Jesus said to do! Or maybe it's the other way around..."
posted by clawsoon at 2:24 PM on April 6 [2 favorites]
I remember reading an article about how the Khoisan didn't worry about tomorrow's food and thinking, "Waitaminute, they're the only people I've ever heard of who are doing what Jesus said to do! Or maybe it's the other way around..."
posted by clawsoon at 2:24 PM on April 6 [2 favorites]
Demand sharing also sounds very sermon-on-the-mount-y.
posted by clawsoon at 2:28 PM on April 6 [2 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 2:28 PM on April 6 [2 favorites]
MetaFilter: stepped away from active faith but is still doing the archeology
posted by chavenet at 5:17 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
posted by chavenet at 5:17 AM on April 7 [4 favorites]
There are Christians who do live this life, although they are definitely few in the modern day. One obvious example is Koinonia Farm in Americus, GA, the founders of Habitat for Humanity and great friends of the Carter family.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:22 AM on April 7 [7 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 5:22 AM on April 7 [7 favorites]
I literally just preached about this an hour ago!
The NT lectionary texts for this Sunday juxtaposed the post-resurrection Thomas narrative (unless I put my fingers in the wounds of his hands, etc) with the distribution of wealth by the apostles in the early church from Acts (from each according to their ability, etc).
Everyone was buzzing about the rapture-bound goofballs prepping for the eclipse and the texts provided an excellent little narrative tension between proclamations of faith vs. actual acts of faith. "Budgets are moral documents" and all that. Because if you really believed the solar eclipse spelled the end you'd have no qualms signing your wealth over to your local congregationalist pastor ahead time.
The early believers didn't simply proclaim their faith - they quite literally sold everything the owned - nothing was held in private ownership. Now that's evidence of things unseen.
What a fine article. Hart continually proves to be a brilliant friend to thinking Christians everywhere. It is never enough enough to say the thing - but what is needed is to say the thing over and over and over again in as many different ways as possible. Originality is entirely overrated.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:24 AM on April 7 [10 favorites]
The NT lectionary texts for this Sunday juxtaposed the post-resurrection Thomas narrative (unless I put my fingers in the wounds of his hands, etc) with the distribution of wealth by the apostles in the early church from Acts (from each according to their ability, etc).
Everyone was buzzing about the rapture-bound goofballs prepping for the eclipse and the texts provided an excellent little narrative tension between proclamations of faith vs. actual acts of faith. "Budgets are moral documents" and all that. Because if you really believed the solar eclipse spelled the end you'd have no qualms signing your wealth over to your local congregationalist pastor ahead time.
The early believers didn't simply proclaim their faith - they quite literally sold everything the owned - nothing was held in private ownership. Now that's evidence of things unseen.
What a fine article. Hart continually proves to be a brilliant friend to thinking Christians everywhere. It is never enough enough to say the thing - but what is needed is to say the thing over and over and over again in as many different ways as possible. Originality is entirely overrated.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 9:24 AM on April 7 [10 favorites]
This is fascinating! I always thought the Lord's Prayer was a weird set of disconnected requests, but as a prayer for a poor person to have enough to eat, to be released from debt, and not to be menaced by the courts, it makes actual sense.
posted by Zarkonnen at 8:00 AM on April 8 [2 favorites]
posted by Zarkonnen at 8:00 AM on April 8 [2 favorites]
I am an atheist Jewish lefty, so I'm superficially aware of the Lord's Prayer. Well, I mean, because I've been exposed to Christianity my whole life, I can repeat the whole thing minus the doxology at the end. So of course I found this compelling. I need to go back and look at many of the passages Hart cites to support this theme, but I did look into how others have translated it and it doesn't seem like his interpretation is in the norm. In fact the Greek word translated as debt/transgression/sin seems to have no definitive consensus as to its meaning, which gives Hart a nice opening to connect through.
posted by Captaintripps at 8:35 AM on April 8 [1 favorite]
posted by Captaintripps at 8:35 AM on April 8 [1 favorite]
At first I was like "Oh, great, Jacobin, that worthless hive of the too-full-of-themselves Left," and then I looked at the first paragraph and I was like "Oh shit would ignorant people please not try to make evolution metaphors" and then I was like "OK the substance is correct but this person is way too impressed with their own prose style" but I kept reading.
And in the end, I came away kind of disappointed. I'm no scholar of Greek, but AFAICT "πειρασμός" does in fact designate "temptation" in the something like the sense that is typically understood by the pious, whereas "trial" as in "legal proceeding" would be more like "εκδίκαση" or maybe "δίκη." It appears that TFA has a hallucinatory reading of the original here and if that is indicative of Hart's scholarship I'll pass on reading his translation of the New Testament.
I mean, you don't have to mistranslate the Lord's Prayer to make the argument that early-days Christianity was subversive AF. The thinking that it's not good enough to just let the parable of the rich man and the eye of the needle speak for itself, you have to embroider that somehow... that seems consistent with what I don't like about Jacobin in the first place.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 1:28 PM on April 10
And in the end, I came away kind of disappointed. I'm no scholar of Greek, but AFAICT "πειρασμός" does in fact designate "temptation" in the something like the sense that is typically understood by the pious, whereas "trial" as in "legal proceeding" would be more like "εκδίκαση" or maybe "δίκη." It appears that TFA has a hallucinatory reading of the original here and if that is indicative of Hart's scholarship I'll pass on reading his translation of the New Testament.
I mean, you don't have to mistranslate the Lord's Prayer to make the argument that early-days Christianity was subversive AF. The thinking that it's not good enough to just let the parable of the rich man and the eye of the needle speak for itself, you have to embroider that somehow... that seems consistent with what I don't like about Jacobin in the first place.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 1:28 PM on April 10
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posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 10:49 AM on April 6 [11 favorites]