PR for BC?
On 17 May voters in British Columbia will go to the polls to elect a provincial government. They will also have the opportunity to vote on whether to adopt a form of proportional representation known as the single transferable vote (STV). The holding of a referendum on this issue was recommended by a Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform. The work of the Assembly and its recommendation is recounted in Jack MacDonald, Randomocracy: A Citizen's Guide to Electoral Reform in British Columbia, which can be read here in its entirety in pdf format. If BC voters approve this variety of PR, momentum will likely build for electoral reform elsewhere in Canada.
Incidentally, if STV succeeds, it will be largely due to the efforts of Nick Loenen, a Reformed Christian who once spoke at Redeemer about his recently published book, Citizens and Democracy: the Case for Proportional Representation.
31 March 2005
'Sergyanism' in the Russian Church
Lawrence Uzzell is an Orthodox Christian who has long been active in promoting religious freedom in Russia and the post-communist world. Although the Patriarch of Moscow is currently trying to bring back into the fold the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), formed some eight decades ago as a temporary measure to prevent Soviet control over Russian émigré churches, the legacy of "Sergyanism", or collaborationism, is still very much alive and thriving in places, as indicated in this Moscow Times article by Uzzell: "Reaching for Religious Reunion." It seems that the Church of Greece is not the only Orthodox jurisdiction in need of reform.
Lawrence Uzzell is an Orthodox Christian who has long been active in promoting religious freedom in Russia and the post-communist world. Although the Patriarch of Moscow is currently trying to bring back into the fold the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), formed some eight decades ago as a temporary measure to prevent Soviet control over Russian émigré churches, the legacy of "Sergyanism", or collaborationism, is still very much alive and thriving in places, as indicated in this Moscow Times article by Uzzell: "Reaching for Religious Reunion." It seems that the Church of Greece is not the only Orthodox jurisdiction in need of reform.
30 March 2005
Today's medical news
"Brain Cells Built from Hair Stem Cells: Follicles appear as potent source for regenerating tissues." If I had known that earlier, I might have thought twice before getting my hair cut yesterday.
"Brain Cells Built from Hair Stem Cells: Follicles appear as potent source for regenerating tissues." If I had known that earlier, I might have thought twice before getting my hair cut yesterday.
Martin defends Martin
Tony Martin, MP for Sault Ste. Marie, defends the Prime Minister's proposed Civil Marriage Act, not despite but because of his Catholic faith, especially what he calls "the spirit of Vatican Two." Presumably this speech did not have the imprimatur of his bishop.
Tony Martin, MP for Sault Ste. Marie, defends the Prime Minister's proposed Civil Marriage Act, not despite but because of his Catholic faith, especially what he calls "the spirit of Vatican Two." Presumably this speech did not have the imprimatur of his bishop.
A milestone birthday
All right, already! You don't need to rub it in. But, yes, it is true. I have now reached the half century mark. I should have some profound observations to make, now that I have acquired a measure of antiquity and sagacity. But perhaps I'll save them for my hundredth. Check back here in 2055.
By the way, birthday greetings are also due to Mr. Eric Theodore Hogeterp, one of my esteemed protégés, with whom I share not only this day but a middle name as well.
All right, already! You don't need to rub it in. But, yes, it is true. I have now reached the half century mark. I should have some profound observations to make, now that I have acquired a measure of antiquity and sagacity. But perhaps I'll save them for my hundredth. Check back here in 2055.
By the way, birthday greetings are also due to Mr. Eric Theodore Hogeterp, one of my esteemed protégés, with whom I share not only this day but a middle name as well.
29 March 2005
Orthodoxy and political culture
Why is it that one never hears of military coups d'état in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Britain or the United States? Why does federalism work in Germany and India but not consistently in Nigeria or Russia? Why does constitutional government function so smoothly in most of Europe, and more recently east Asia, but scarcely at all in subsaharan Africa or the Middle East? The answer is to be found in that all-important concept of political culture, which can be defined as the total complex of political institutions and supportive traditions characterizing a given people, including attitudes towards political authority, participation, political rhetoric, styles of leadership, expectations of government, limitations on government action, and so forth. The word constitution, used in its older unwritten sense, might in some respects be deemed synonymous with political culture.
There have been efforts at quantifying or measuring political cultures, the most famous of which was undoubtedly that of Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba nearly half a century ago, whose results were documented in The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. A more recent and fascinating study of regional political cultures within a single country was published by Robert Putnam a dozen years ago, titled Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. A decade and a half ago Seymour Martin Lipset came out with a book, Continental Divide, comparing the political cultures of Canada and the United States.
Since the end of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union, much work still needs to be done in studying the unique Russian political culture. Samuel Huntington sees Russia as the pivotal state in what he describes as a distinct Orthodox Christian civilization, whose values clash with those of the west. By contrast, Nikolai Petro views Russia and the Orthodox countries of Eurasia as sharing a common civilization with the west. In The Rebirth of Russian Democracy: An Interpretation of Political Culture, Petro argues that Russia's political culture, which appears to outsiders to foster little other than dictatorial régimes, is more complex than this stereotype would have it. In fact, there has long existed, side by side with authoritarian and totalitarian rule, an alternative political culture, often found amongst domestic dissidents and émigrés. This political culture is one which Petro calls "constrained autocracy," focussing on the complex of independent social initiatives which, since the late 1980s, has come in the west to be called civil society. Here the emphasis is not so much on the formal mechanisms of democracy and popular rule as on those institutions serving to limit the power of the autocrat.
Petro has recently weighed in on the subject with the following article: "The Orthodox Are Coming," in which he explores the implications of increasing Orthodox Christian influence within the European Union as its outer boundaries move continually eastward. Indeed, Petro sees the Russian Orthodox Church itself as one of the more crucial institutions supportive of civil society, if not always of political democracy in its western forms. Writes Petro:
Petro believes it is time to rediscover what unites east and west rather than what divides us:
To be sure, there is something to be said for Petro's approach, which is a worthwhile corrective to those who would paint the Russian and Balkan political cultures in a single monochromatic hue. Yet there are two difficulties with his interpretation which ought not to be overlooked.
First, far from being a western construct, the notion of a fundamental east-west divide finds longstanding support within Russia itself, where there is a rather substantial subculture fearful of the decadent, apostate west. This is the side of the Russian soul which is insular and xenophobic, claiming a unique role for "Holy Russia" in upholding true belief against the heresies of Catholicism, of the various forms of protestantism and of modern secularism. Eurasianists, as they have sometimes been labelled, place little if any value on democracy and constitutional government, which they view as alien imports.
Second, even if Petro is correct in identifying an alternative political culture championing the independent initiatives of civil society, it is by no means inevitable that its adherents would govern in significantly different fashion from their opponents if they were to inherit the reins of power. Good intentions do not by themselves translate into representative constitutional rule, especially if there is no past experience with this in the political culture as a whole.
Of course, this should not be taken as an argument for cultural determinism. Yet cultures do not generally change quickly and abruptly. The habits of centuries are not easily shaken off, as Putnam discovered in his study of the Italian regions. This is where Huntington is almost certainly closer to the mark than Petro in isolating the apparently ineradicable boundaries separating the world's religiously based civilizations. It also suggests that the outer boundaries of the European Union may one day prove to be narrower than is generally supposed, despite the formal presence within Europe of Greece and Cyprus -- for now at least -- and soon-to-be members Romania and Bulgaria. Might Dimitri Obolensky's "Byzantine Commonwealth" be recreated as a counterpart to a western-oriented European Union? I doubt this is to be wished for, but we shouldn't be surprised if something like this does eventually occur.
There have been efforts at quantifying or measuring political cultures, the most famous of which was undoubtedly that of Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba nearly half a century ago, whose results were documented in The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. A more recent and fascinating study of regional political cultures within a single country was published by Robert Putnam a dozen years ago, titled Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. A decade and a half ago Seymour Martin Lipset came out with a book, Continental Divide, comparing the political cultures of Canada and the United States.
Since the end of communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union, much work still needs to be done in studying the unique Russian political culture. Samuel Huntington sees Russia as the pivotal state in what he describes as a distinct Orthodox Christian civilization, whose values clash with those of the west. By contrast, Nikolai Petro views Russia and the Orthodox countries of Eurasia as sharing a common civilization with the west. In The Rebirth of Russian Democracy: An Interpretation of Political Culture, Petro argues that Russia's political culture, which appears to outsiders to foster little other than dictatorial régimes, is more complex than this stereotype would have it. In fact, there has long existed, side by side with authoritarian and totalitarian rule, an alternative political culture, often found amongst domestic dissidents and émigrés. This political culture is one which Petro calls "constrained autocracy," focussing on the complex of independent social initiatives which, since the late 1980s, has come in the west to be called civil society. Here the emphasis is not so much on the formal mechanisms of democracy and popular rule as on those institutions serving to limit the power of the autocrat.
Petro has recently weighed in on the subject with the following article: "The Orthodox Are Coming," in which he explores the implications of increasing Orthodox Christian influence within the European Union as its outer boundaries move continually eastward. Indeed, Petro sees the Russian Orthodox Church itself as one of the more crucial institutions supportive of civil society, if not always of political democracy in its western forms. Writes Petro:
A new generation of Western scholars on religion (Zoe Knox, Christopher Marsh, Elizabeth Prodromou, Nikolas Gvosdev) have even applied Western literature on civil society to contemporary Orthodoxy. By looking at the Church’s highly delegative, almost “confederative” system of administration, and focusing on its community-centered initiatives, they argue that the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) is playing an important role as the country’s largest civic organization.
Petro believes it is time to rediscover what unites east and west rather than what divides us:
We, in the Catholic-Protestant West, should prepare for the coming of the “Orthodox Century" by appreciating all that unites us. If the dividing line between East and West continues to exist in our hearts and minds, removing it from the political map of Europe will accomplish very little. In the long run Europeans must become much better educated about their common Byzantine and Eastern Christian heritage. Even in the short run, however, the essential elements of this common inheritance can be used to shore up pan-European democratic institutions. Recent scholarship by Silvia Ronchey, Helene Ahrweiler, and Antonio Carile, provide a conceptual link between Byzantine political thought and the modern age, and highlight how much current European aspirations to pluri-culturalism and subsidiarity (the idea that matters should be handled by the lowest competent authority), have in common with the Byzantine political model.
To be sure, there is something to be said for Petro's approach, which is a worthwhile corrective to those who would paint the Russian and Balkan political cultures in a single monochromatic hue. Yet there are two difficulties with his interpretation which ought not to be overlooked.
First, far from being a western construct, the notion of a fundamental east-west divide finds longstanding support within Russia itself, where there is a rather substantial subculture fearful of the decadent, apostate west. This is the side of the Russian soul which is insular and xenophobic, claiming a unique role for "Holy Russia" in upholding true belief against the heresies of Catholicism, of the various forms of protestantism and of modern secularism. Eurasianists, as they have sometimes been labelled, place little if any value on democracy and constitutional government, which they view as alien imports.
Second, even if Petro is correct in identifying an alternative political culture championing the independent initiatives of civil society, it is by no means inevitable that its adherents would govern in significantly different fashion from their opponents if they were to inherit the reins of power. Good intentions do not by themselves translate into representative constitutional rule, especially if there is no past experience with this in the political culture as a whole.
Of course, this should not be taken as an argument for cultural determinism. Yet cultures do not generally change quickly and abruptly. The habits of centuries are not easily shaken off, as Putnam discovered in his study of the Italian regions. This is where Huntington is almost certainly closer to the mark than Petro in isolating the apparently ineradicable boundaries separating the world's religiously based civilizations. It also suggests that the outer boundaries of the European Union may one day prove to be narrower than is generally supposed, despite the formal presence within Europe of Greece and Cyprus -- for now at least -- and soon-to-be members Romania and Bulgaria. Might Dimitri Obolensky's "Byzantine Commonwealth" be recreated as a counterpart to a western-oriented European Union? I doubt this is to be wished for, but we shouldn't be surprised if something like this does eventually occur.
27 March 2005
Pascha
Ecumenical Patriarchate
Monastery of the Holy Saviour, Chora
Now the queen of seasons, bright with the day of splendour,
With the royal feast of feasts, comes its joy to render;
Comes to glad Jerusalem, who with true affection
Welcomes in unwearied strains Jesus’ resurrection.
- St. John of Damascus
Ecumenical Patriarchate
Monastery of the Holy Saviour, Chora
Now the queen of seasons, bright with the day of splendour,
With the royal feast of feasts, comes its joy to render;
Comes to glad Jerusalem, who with true affection
Welcomes in unwearied strains Jesus’ resurrection.
- St. John of Damascus
26 March 2005
Famagusta
I have never been to Famagusta, the city on the east coast of Cyprus where my father grew up and where his family was living at the time of the Turkish invasion of 1974. However, ten years ago, during my only visit to the island, I stood in a building just south of the Green Line and saw what is now a ghost town through binoculars. I have just found some before-and-after photographs of the Varosha neighbourhood of Famagusta, which was a centre of Cyprus' tourist industry between 1960 and '74. The first was taken in 1973, the year before the invasion:
The second photo was taken much more recently and shows the extent to which what was once a thriving urban centre has now deteriorated:
These are found at the Return to Varosha, Famagusta, Cyprus website. Had the Annan Plan to reunify Cyprus been acceptable to both sides in the conflict, Varosha would have been returned to the legitimate government of the Cyprus Republic almost immediately. It is still being used as a pawn in the on-again-off-again negotiations. Assuming it is eventually returned, it would take a massive influx of capital to bring it back up to living standards. Such an effort to render habitable a ghost town would be very nearly unprecedented in history.
I have never been to Famagusta, the city on the east coast of Cyprus where my father grew up and where his family was living at the time of the Turkish invasion of 1974. However, ten years ago, during my only visit to the island, I stood in a building just south of the Green Line and saw what is now a ghost town through binoculars. I have just found some before-and-after photographs of the Varosha neighbourhood of Famagusta, which was a centre of Cyprus' tourist industry between 1960 and '74. The first was taken in 1973, the year before the invasion:
The second photo was taken much more recently and shows the extent to which what was once a thriving urban centre has now deteriorated:
These are found at the Return to Varosha, Famagusta, Cyprus website. Had the Annan Plan to reunify Cyprus been acceptable to both sides in the conflict, Varosha would have been returned to the legitimate government of the Cyprus Republic almost immediately. It is still being used as a pawn in the on-again-off-again negotiations. Assuming it is eventually returned, it would take a massive influx of capital to bring it back up to living standards. Such an effort to render habitable a ghost town would be very nearly unprecedented in history.
Terri Schiavo
If this story, told by Schiavo's lawyer, is true, then a massive injustice is being perpetrated in Florida. Thus far the courts are unmoved and the possibility is increasing that she will become a martyr to the prolife cause. Where does the truth lie in the case? It's not easy to know from this distance.
If this story, told by Schiavo's lawyer, is true, then a massive injustice is being perpetrated in Florida. Thus far the courts are unmoved and the possibility is increasing that she will become a martyr to the prolife cause. Where does the truth lie in the case? It's not easy to know from this distance.
25 March 2005
24 March 2005
An unusual child?
In our house we have a 6-year-old daughter with some unconventional proclivities. She prefers to eat the white of an egg rather than the yolk (I think I was just the opposite), she loves to chew on the crusts of thick Italian-style bread rather than on the soft middle, and she takes the squid and octopus out of my specialty seafood pasta sauce -- because she likes them better than the pasta! In the recently rereleased 1957 television musical Cinderella, she loves comedienne Kaye Ballard's step-sister Portia -- seemingly more than Julie Andrews' Cinderella. She likes to make pretend prisons out of old shoe boxes. She tapes yarn to Leggo pieces and pretends they're mice. And, last but not least, she takes toy bats to bed with her at night. I suppose all children have their idiosyncracies.
In our house we have a 6-year-old daughter with some unconventional proclivities. She prefers to eat the white of an egg rather than the yolk (I think I was just the opposite), she loves to chew on the crusts of thick Italian-style bread rather than on the soft middle, and she takes the squid and octopus out of my specialty seafood pasta sauce -- because she likes them better than the pasta! In the recently rereleased 1957 television musical Cinderella, she loves comedienne Kaye Ballard's step-sister Portia -- seemingly more than Julie Andrews' Cinderella. She likes to make pretend prisons out of old shoe boxes. She tapes yarn to Leggo pieces and pretends they're mice. And, last but not least, she takes toy bats to bed with her at night. I suppose all children have their idiosyncracies.
NIV Apocrypha?
Three days ago I wrote a brief review of Today's New International Version of the Bible and commented, among other things, that the absence of the apocryphal books from this translation stands in the way of it becoming genuinely ecumenical. On second thought, I suspect that their absence would be implied by the larger cross-textual harmonizing approach of the NIV translation committee. If one comes to the task of translation with the conviction that any discrepancies among texts have to be ironed out to meet contemporary historiographic standards, then it would be difficult to find a place for some of the books which protestants tend to label Apocrypha.
For example, Judith is an obvious work of fiction and Tobit is very likely fictional as well. The author of the former book refers to Nebuchadnezzar as ruler of the Assyrians rather than the Babylonians (1:1). Yet the Babylonian exile is referred to as if it were past (4:3), which would presuppose that the Persians had already conquered Babylon. Judith's hometown of Bethulia defies geographical identification (4:6). There are a number of other clues in the story that its author was not intending to write literal history, or, if he was recounting an historical occurrence, may have disguised some of the names and ethnic references to protect himself and his people from reprisals. For example, "Nebuchadnezzar" could well have been Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the hellenistic ruler of Syria whose open persecution of the Jews led to the Maccabean revolt in the early 2nd century BC.
Similar discrepancies can be found in Tobit. For example, the hero's apparent personal experience of the defection of the northern tribes in the 10th century BC would make him several hundred years old by the time the story's action took place (1:4). In other words, it would be impossible to harmonize Judith and Tobit with the other books which are recognized as indisputably canonical. Furthermore there are discrepancies between the I and II Maccabees, including conflicting accounts of the death of Antiochus. The very inclusion of such books would seemingly necessitate a departure from a central tenet of the NIV/TNIV's translation philosophy. So there probably never will be an NIV/TNIV Apocrypha.
Three days ago I wrote a brief review of Today's New International Version of the Bible and commented, among other things, that the absence of the apocryphal books from this translation stands in the way of it becoming genuinely ecumenical. On second thought, I suspect that their absence would be implied by the larger cross-textual harmonizing approach of the NIV translation committee. If one comes to the task of translation with the conviction that any discrepancies among texts have to be ironed out to meet contemporary historiographic standards, then it would be difficult to find a place for some of the books which protestants tend to label Apocrypha.
For example, Judith is an obvious work of fiction and Tobit is very likely fictional as well. The author of the former book refers to Nebuchadnezzar as ruler of the Assyrians rather than the Babylonians (1:1). Yet the Babylonian exile is referred to as if it were past (4:3), which would presuppose that the Persians had already conquered Babylon. Judith's hometown of Bethulia defies geographical identification (4:6). There are a number of other clues in the story that its author was not intending to write literal history, or, if he was recounting an historical occurrence, may have disguised some of the names and ethnic references to protect himself and his people from reprisals. For example, "Nebuchadnezzar" could well have been Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the hellenistic ruler of Syria whose open persecution of the Jews led to the Maccabean revolt in the early 2nd century BC.
Similar discrepancies can be found in Tobit. For example, the hero's apparent personal experience of the defection of the northern tribes in the 10th century BC would make him several hundred years old by the time the story's action took place (1:4). In other words, it would be impossible to harmonize Judith and Tobit with the other books which are recognized as indisputably canonical. Furthermore there are discrepancies between the I and II Maccabees, including conflicting accounts of the death of Antiochus. The very inclusion of such books would seemingly necessitate a departure from a central tenet of the NIV/TNIV's translation philosophy. So there probably never will be an NIV/TNIV Apocrypha.
23 March 2005
Poetic justice
Prominent Chicago poet, antiwar activist and devout Unitarian revealed to be escaped convict and murderer from Massachusetts. One wonders why it took authorities so long to make the connection.
Prominent Chicago poet, antiwar activist and devout Unitarian revealed to be escaped convict and murderer from Massachusetts. One wonders why it took authorities so long to make the connection.
Befuddled geese
Today's weather for Hamilton: Cloudy with 70 percent chance of snow. High minus 1. I guess the geese are not infallible.
Today's weather for Hamilton: Cloudy with 70 percent chance of snow. High minus 1. I guess the geese are not infallible.
Upcoming event
James W. Skillen of the Center for Public Justice, Annapolis, Maryland, will be discussing his new book, With or Against the World? America's Role Among the Nations, on Thursday, 31 March 2005, 7:30 pm, at Redeemer University College, Rm. 111 in the Main Academic Building. Drinks and treats will be provided. It will be hosted by the student-led group, Kuyper's Café.
James W. Skillen of the Center for Public Justice, Annapolis, Maryland, will be discussing his new book, With or Against the World? America's Role Among the Nations, on Thursday, 31 March 2005, 7:30 pm, at Redeemer University College, Rm. 111 in the Main Academic Building. Drinks and treats will be provided. It will be hosted by the student-led group, Kuyper's Café.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
After Napoleon's defeat in 1812 Tsar Alexander I ordered that a new church be built in Moscow to commemorate the Russian victory over the French emperor's armies. The cornerstone was laid in 1839 and the completed building was dedicated in 1883, the year that Alexander III was crowned tsar. The story of the church is told at the webpages of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Valery Kiselev
The original cathedral
In 1931 the church was ordered demolished by Joseph Stalin. The site of the building was subsequently occupied by a heated outdoor municipal swimming pool. In my personal library I have a book, Moscow and Leningrad Observed, published in 1975, containing a photograph of this swimming pool and indicating that a church had once stood here.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of communist rule, a decision was made to rebuild the church according to the original plans and on the original site. This was begun in 1995 and completed five years later in 2000. Judging from the following photograph, it is difficult to tell the difference between the two buildings:
Russian Orthodox Church
The rebuilt cathedral
The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is the seat of the Patriarch of Moscow, who, quite appropriately, writes of the "miracle of the resurrection of the Cathedral."
After Napoleon's defeat in 1812 Tsar Alexander I ordered that a new church be built in Moscow to commemorate the Russian victory over the French emperor's armies. The cornerstone was laid in 1839 and the completed building was dedicated in 1883, the year that Alexander III was crowned tsar. The story of the church is told at the webpages of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Valery Kiselev
The original cathedral
In 1931 the church was ordered demolished by Joseph Stalin. The site of the building was subsequently occupied by a heated outdoor municipal swimming pool. In my personal library I have a book, Moscow and Leningrad Observed, published in 1975, containing a photograph of this swimming pool and indicating that a church had once stood here.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of communist rule, a decision was made to rebuild the church according to the original plans and on the original site. This was begun in 1995 and completed five years later in 2000. Judging from the following photograph, it is difficult to tell the difference between the two buildings:
Russian Orthodox Church
The rebuilt cathedral
The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is the seat of the Patriarch of Moscow, who, quite appropriately, writes of the "miracle of the resurrection of the Cathedral."
22 March 2005
Undergraduates, II
They just keep coming. Another inspirational post from our resident Latin-Rite Calvinist, which very nearly makes Augustine's Confessions seem like dry prose by contrast. These young people make it exceedingly difficult not to love them!
They just keep coming. Another inspirational post from our resident Latin-Rite Calvinist, which very nearly makes Augustine's Confessions seem like dry prose by contrast. These young people make it exceedingly difficult not to love them!
21 March 2005
Undergraduates
One of these days I will post something explaining why I've come to love our undergraduate students so fiercely. In the meantime, do read this inspirational post written by one of them. This is the sort of thing that makes what my colleagues and I are doing at Redeemer so immeasurably rewarding and significant. May God bless the young author of this post and others like her.
One of these days I will post something explaining why I've come to love our undergraduate students so fiercely. In the meantime, do read this inspirational post written by one of them. This is the sort of thing that makes what my colleagues and I are doing at Redeemer so immeasurably rewarding and significant. May God bless the young author of this post and others like her.
Queen Camilla
Britain's Department of Constitutional Affairs has confirmed that, as the consort of the future king, Camilla Parker Bowles will become queen, unless legislation is explicitly enacted to the contrary. The difficulty with such legislation is that it would have to be passed in all 17 countries which recognize Britain's monarch as head of state. This includes Canada, whose monarchy is entrenched behind an amending formula in the Constitution Act, 1982 (section 41) requiring unanimous provincial approval. Whether this covers the status of the consort of the reigning monarch is unclear. Could the objection of, say, Prince Edward Island derail the requisite constitutional amendment and leave Camilla the queen of Canada alone?
Nettavisen
Our next queen?
My educated guess is that the federal government would choose to regard this as a mere statutory matter subject to an ordinary parliamentary majority and that the courts would probably agree.
Britain's Department of Constitutional Affairs has confirmed that, as the consort of the future king, Camilla Parker Bowles will become queen, unless legislation is explicitly enacted to the contrary. The difficulty with such legislation is that it would have to be passed in all 17 countries which recognize Britain's monarch as head of state. This includes Canada, whose monarchy is entrenched behind an amending formula in the Constitution Act, 1982 (section 41) requiring unanimous provincial approval. Whether this covers the status of the consort of the reigning monarch is unclear. Could the objection of, say, Prince Edward Island derail the requisite constitutional amendment and leave Camilla the queen of Canada alone?
Nettavisen
Our next queen?
My educated guess is that the federal government would choose to regard this as a mere statutory matter subject to an ordinary parliamentary majority and that the courts would probably agree.
The TNIV Bible
Some time ago I wrote a short piece on Bible translations and why I chose to use the Revised Standard Version as the default version in my book. This past week we received in the mail a handsome leather-bound edition of Today's New International Version of the Bible (TNIV), which was recently published by Zondervan and which my wife requested at last November's SBL/AAR meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The distinguishing feature of the TNIV is its use of gender-inclusive language where warranted in the biblical text and the avoidance, for the most part, of male generic pronouns. In this it is similar to the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), which is now 15 years old and is the preferred translation for liturgical use in many mainline protestant churches.
One can hardly make an exhaustive assessment of a new Bible translation in so short a time, of course, but I think it is worth communicating one's initial impression. To begin with, the TNIV reads very smoothly indeed, judging from our use of it in our family's evening prayers. Its language is elegant and easily comprehensible. However, the TNIV has the same major deficiency as the NIV itself, namely, harmonizing across texts without warrant in the existing ancient manuscripts. What I wrote nearly two years ago with respect to the NIV applies to the TNIV as well:
Like the NRSV, the translators of the TNIV have unwisely resurrected the archaic word mortals as a substitute for the generic masculine men, as, e.g., in Psalm 8:4, 9:19, &c. This is a questionable innovation at best, given that ordinary speakers of English generally do not use mortal in any context at all. However, the TNIV does not make the mistake of using it in Revelation 21:3, when mortality has obviously been conquered in the redeemed earth. Moreover, there are a number of passages, e.g., Psalm 54:3, in which people is the word of choice. This makes more sense.
The TNIV has avoided the anachronistic reference in the NRSV to "human rights" in Lamentations 3:35, which here reads: "to deny people their rights before the Most High". It has also eluded the inadvertent ascription of errors to the Law of God in the NRSV's translation of Psalm 19:12, which here reads: "But who can discern their own errors?" The insertion of own properly clarifies this. The TNIV maintains the male reference in Proverbs 10:5: "He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son." Here the NRSV unwisely substitutes child, with its implication of immaturity.
However, in Psalm 127 the TNIV replaces the references to sons with children, which does not seem to fit the context, especially in light of verse 5: "Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court." The RSV reads as follows: "Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate." The footnote to this verse in the New Oxford Annotated Bible says: "The gift of many stalwart sons makes a father feel secure." Given the highly gendered division of labour in ancient Israel, the shift to children masks this meaning. Even the NRSV recognizes this and retains the reference to sons.
Finally, as in the NRSV, the TNIV's translation of Psalm 8 alters the masculine pronoun to a generic plural, thereby making it unclear why the author of the letter to the Hebrews would cite it as a messianic reference to Jesus in Hebrews 2:5-9. For a translation that otherwise harmonizes across texts, this seems an odd thing to do. This is what I wrote of the NRSV two years ago:
At this point, while I think the TNIV has corrected some of the more egregious renderings in the NRSV in its use of inclusive language, it has not altogether escaped the ideological single-mindedness of which I speak above.
Two more comments are in order.
First, the translation of the Greek adelphoi as "brothers and sisters" in both the NRSV and TNIV New Testaments strikes me as correct. After all, in English the word brothers always refers to males. However, I wonder whether the word brethren might not have made for greater economy of expression. Although it is slightly archaic, it is much less so than mortals and it continues to be used and understood as a generic designation in the names of more than one protestant denomination, e.g., the Plymouth Brethren.
Second, like the NIV, the TNIV does not contain those books regarded by Catholics and Orthodox as deuterocanonical and by protestants as apocrypha. This marks both NIV and TNIV as bibles for evangelicals only. The fact that the majority of the world's Christians regard such books as Judith, Tobit and the books of the Maccabees as canonical scripture appears to have made no impression on the work of the NIV translation committee. Ironically this will keep the largest-selling version of the Bible in the English-speaking world from becoming genuinely ecumenical and that's unfortunate.
Some time ago I wrote a short piece on Bible translations and why I chose to use the Revised Standard Version as the default version in my book. This past week we received in the mail a handsome leather-bound edition of Today's New International Version of the Bible (TNIV), which was recently published by Zondervan and which my wife requested at last November's SBL/AAR meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The distinguishing feature of the TNIV is its use of gender-inclusive language where warranted in the biblical text and the avoidance, for the most part, of male generic pronouns. In this it is similar to the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), which is now 15 years old and is the preferred translation for liturgical use in many mainline protestant churches.
One can hardly make an exhaustive assessment of a new Bible translation in so short a time, of course, but I think it is worth communicating one's initial impression. To begin with, the TNIV reads very smoothly indeed, judging from our use of it in our family's evening prayers. Its language is elegant and easily comprehensible. However, the TNIV has the same major deficiency as the NIV itself, namely, harmonizing across texts without warrant in the existing ancient manuscripts. What I wrote nearly two years ago with respect to the NIV applies to the TNIV as well:
For example, the translators change the tense of the Hebrew verb in Genesis 12:1 to make it agree with Acts 7:2 on when Abraham received God’s call to the promised land. They similarly revocalize the Hebrew in Gen 47:31, so that the dying Jacob leans on his "staff" instead of his "bed," to make it agree with Heb 11:21. In attempting to smooth over the rough edges of the biblical text, it sometimes takes the reader in misleading directions from a textual perspective.
Like the NRSV, the translators of the TNIV have unwisely resurrected the archaic word mortals as a substitute for the generic masculine men, as, e.g., in Psalm 8:4, 9:19, &c. This is a questionable innovation at best, given that ordinary speakers of English generally do not use mortal in any context at all. However, the TNIV does not make the mistake of using it in Revelation 21:3, when mortality has obviously been conquered in the redeemed earth. Moreover, there are a number of passages, e.g., Psalm 54:3, in which people is the word of choice. This makes more sense.
The TNIV has avoided the anachronistic reference in the NRSV to "human rights" in Lamentations 3:35, which here reads: "to deny people their rights before the Most High". It has also eluded the inadvertent ascription of errors to the Law of God in the NRSV's translation of Psalm 19:12, which here reads: "But who can discern their own errors?" The insertion of own properly clarifies this. The TNIV maintains the male reference in Proverbs 10:5: "He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son." Here the NRSV unwisely substitutes child, with its implication of immaturity.
However, in Psalm 127 the TNIV replaces the references to sons with children, which does not seem to fit the context, especially in light of verse 5: "Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court." The RSV reads as follows: "Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate." The footnote to this verse in the New Oxford Annotated Bible says: "The gift of many stalwart sons makes a father feel secure." Given the highly gendered division of labour in ancient Israel, the shift to children masks this meaning. Even the NRSV recognizes this and retains the reference to sons.
Finally, as in the NRSV, the TNIV's translation of Psalm 8 alters the masculine pronoun to a generic plural, thereby making it unclear why the author of the letter to the Hebrews would cite it as a messianic reference to Jesus in Hebrews 2:5-9. For a translation that otherwise harmonizes across texts, this seems an odd thing to do. This is what I wrote of the NRSV two years ago:
But suffice it to say that, if one of the characteristics of an ideology is to follow rigidly the inexorable logic of a single abstract principle, e.g., the abolition of the division of labour or the freedom of the market, to the exclusion of other legitimate concerns, then the NRSV has by no means avoided this in its otherwise laudable use of inclusive language. To show that they affirm the equality of men and women, the translators have not only masked the highly gendered character of the original cultures -- itself problematic in the translation of an ancient text -- but, more seriously, have created difficulties of their own in the English text which would not have occurred had they been less single-minded.
At this point, while I think the TNIV has corrected some of the more egregious renderings in the NRSV in its use of inclusive language, it has not altogether escaped the ideological single-mindedness of which I speak above.
Two more comments are in order.
First, the translation of the Greek adelphoi as "brothers and sisters" in both the NRSV and TNIV New Testaments strikes me as correct. After all, in English the word brothers always refers to males. However, I wonder whether the word brethren might not have made for greater economy of expression. Although it is slightly archaic, it is much less so than mortals and it continues to be used and understood as a generic designation in the names of more than one protestant denomination, e.g., the Plymouth Brethren.
Second, like the NIV, the TNIV does not contain those books regarded by Catholics and Orthodox as deuterocanonical and by protestants as apocrypha. This marks both NIV and TNIV as bibles for evangelicals only. The fact that the majority of the world's Christians regard such books as Judith, Tobit and the books of the Maccabees as canonical scripture appears to have made no impression on the work of the NIV translation committee. Ironically this will keep the largest-selling version of the Bible in the English-speaking world from becoming genuinely ecumenical and that's unfortunate.
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