Jots & Tittles

014

Bible Art from Coast to Coast

Mary Magdalene is, in popular imagination, the original prostitute with a heart of gold and the prototypical repentant sinner. The Gospels, however, never portray her as a prostitute or as a penitent. This occurs only in later Western tradition, which conflates Jesus’ close disciple Mary Magdalene, who arrived first at the empty tomb (Mark 16:1), with the unnamed “sinner of the city,” who tenderly washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, dries them with her hair and then anoints them with oil from an alabaster jar (Luke 7:36–50).

In Search of Mary Magdalene, the current exhibition at the American Bible Society in New York, explores the Magdalene’s transformation from saint to sinner and back again, and considers how her changing image reflects changing interpretations of women throughout the history of Christianity. The display of manuscript illuminations, paintings, sculptures, prints, film stills and book jackets will remain on view through June 22. For more information, contact the American Bible Society, 1865 Broadway, New York, NY; phone: (212) 408–1500; Web: www.americanbible.org.

Meanwhile, on the west coast, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles presents a series of drawings and paintings of the churches of Utrecht made by the Dutch artist Pieter Saenredam during a visit to the city in 1636. Saenredam was the first artist to specialize in painting existing (rather than fanciful) buildings. Saenredam depicts the church interiors as they appeared during the Reformation, when the walls were whitewashed, and religious art and stained glass windows were removed. The Sacred Spaces of Pieter Saenredam remains on view through July 7. Contact the Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles; phone: (310) 440–7360; Web: www.getty.edu.

Religion in America

Interest in religion increased sharply after the September 11 attacks, but that interest has already fallen to pre-September 11 levels, according to a poll of 2,000 Americans conducted by the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. In November 2001, 78 percent of Americans detected an increase in the role of religion in American life. Six months later, in March 2002, that number had dropped to 37 percent.

Despite these changes, the number of Americans who consider religion very important has remained roughly the same throughout this period—just over 60 percent. And Americans tend to attend religious services as often as they ever did (45 percent go at least once a week).

Two-thirds (63 percent) of Americans say religion is very important in their lives, and nearly 60 percent see religious faith as the basis of America’s strong society; but about 35 percent take the exact opposite view, stating that society would be just as strong if most Americans were not religious. Most Americans (67 percent) consider the United States a Christian nation, but 84 percent believe that people can be good Americans even if they have no religious faith.

Seventy-five percent of Americans say that many religions can lead to eternal life, compared with only 18 percent who regard their own religion as the “one true faith.” This 015ecumenicism is seen across all religious faiths and backgrounds, although those who consider themselves highly committed to their faiths are less likely to accept other paths to salvation. Nevertheless, almost 50 percent of the most strongly committed white evangelical Protestants believe that their faith is not the only path to eternal life.

Americans have mixed feelings about the power of religion. About 60 percent claim that children raised in a religious faith are more likely to become moral adults. Yet two-thirds (65 percent) of Americans believe religion is a significant cause of war. Only 5 percent of Americans view the September 11 attacks as a sign that God no long protects the United States

The complete report appears on the Pew Web site: people—press.org/reports.

The Survival Bible

From the island of Kauai, Hawaii, comes a new way to read the Old and New Testaments. The Survival Bible is a handcrafted wooden chest topped by a viewing “screen” (transparent panel) through which readers can read a collection of “Scripture Scrolls,” small paper scrolls containing select biblical quotations on topics such as faith, love and healing. The scroll entitled “Abiding in God’s Word” contains 10 apt sayings, including John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Sayings are accompanied by brief comments. Beside John 15:7 we read: “The word of God will reveal the way in and out of every situation and will always set a right course for your life.”

The 6-inch-wide traveler’s version of the Survival Bible comes with a scroll viewer and an illuminated screen (on the set we received, the light was too weak to be effective), a totebag, and 12 miniature paper scrolls in a plastic storage box—all for $95. The scrolls are designed to fit over spindles inside the scroll viewer, but it took several tries before we were able to get them to work properly. The largest set (and the most expensive, at $350) is the oak Family Treasure Survival Bible Learning System, which comes with a three-drawer chest.

The manufacturers claim the Survival Bible will “transform your life” by encouraging meditation on one scripture verse at a time. Of course, most Bible readers don’t need a $350 wooden box to do that. For more information, visit survivalbible.com or call 1–800-284–1187. We eagerly await the Temptation Island Bible.

014

Genesis Sonnet

A poem by Frederick L. Simmons

Just think what Genesis really says he,

Adam, did: Caught, trying to find some small

Tasty bite in God’s Eden, he lied! All

He could think to say was “That woman, she

Made me do it,” as if God’s wrath somehow

Could be evaded by blaming Mother

Eve, hoping that might give him another

Chance, which Adam’s sons still do,

even now.

That’s why, hearing lies today from their man

Modern wives rage—they know the whole

Serpent

Tale was devised to make them more

content

With what they were told was the

Divine plan!

Once Adam dared risk his God

to deceive,

What woman would in Adam’s

sons believe?

From Contemporary Biblical Sonnets No. 2, by Frederick L. Simmons, a Los Angeles lawyer specializing in taxation and estate planning.

015

The Bible in the News

The United Bible Societies’ 2001 Scripture Language Report garnered fewer than 200 words in the popular press—but what a story it is!

The report indicates that at least a portion of the Bible has now been translated into almost 2,300 languages (2,287 to be exact). The tally includes 24 new entries for 2001 alone. A little sleuthing on my part reveals some fascinating facts about the current state of Bible translating worldwide.

For example, for four languages (all of which seem enticingly exotic to me) the first ever Bible translation encompasses the entire New Testament: the Eleme language of Nigeria, spoken by just under 60,000 people; Helambu, one of the dialects spoken by about 7,500 Sherpa in Nepal; Rukai, the language of almost 8,000 individuals in Taiwan; and Kapingamarangi, the native tongue of around 3,000 Micronesians.

I never knew that there were 16 languages or dialects spoken in the Netherlands, two of which, Venlos and Zeeuws (also known as Flemish), now have portions of the Bible. (By comparison, 176 are spoken in the U.S.A.) As is most common throughout the world, the first (and as of yet only) part of the Bible in Venlos is the Gospel of Mark. Rarer, but still not uncommon, was the decision to render the Psalms as the first foray into Zeeuws Bible translating. Far more unusual was the determination by the Lumun Bible Translation Committee to make Ruth the first portion available in this Sudanese tongue.

And so it goes: The approximately five million speakers of Tigrinya in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Israel can now read deuterocanonical texts in their native languages; several thousand Kashubian speakers, in Poland and other countries, at last have direct access to the Gospels; 20,000 speakers of Simte in India for the first time possess complete Bibles.

According to the American Bible Society’s David Burke (quoted in a marvelous feature on Burke in the New York Daily News, March 9, 2002), 4,200 distinct dialects and languages are still Bible-less. In short, there’s still a lot of Bible translating work to do in this world. And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of universal communication. To my knowledge (and I’m ready to be corrected by BR readers alien or otherwise), Klingon is the only extraterrestrial tongue that has benefited from a full-fledged Bible translation project. If volunteers are needed to pursue similar tasks elsewhere in the outermost regions of the universe, I want to be in their number. In other words, “Beam me up!”

Bible Art from Coast to Coast