Stephen Colbert Meets New Testament Scholarship

Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's "Colbert Report" is said to be a devout Roman Catholic. When I watch his interviews with Elaine Pagels and Bart Ehrman, it looks to me like he's not so sure they've got it right.

Here's his interview with Elaine Pagels, co-author (with Karen L. King) of Reading Judas: The Gospel of Judas and the Shaping of Christianity (New York: Viking, 2007). Hekman Library users can find the book at BS2860 .J832 P34 2007.



Here's his interview with Bart Ehrman, author of Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (New York: Harper, 2005). Hekman Library BS2325 .E45 2005.

"This I Believe" - Finding Creeds and Confessions

Since April 2005 National Public Radio has been running a series called This I Believe . Americans from all walks of life and backgrounds are invited to "share the personal philosophies and core values that guide their daily lives." The program sponsors have a commendable goal: that this will help Americans develop a mutual respect and toleration for the beliefs of others. The series was inspired by a similar radio series in the early 1950s hosted by Edward R. Murrow, in which 25 prominent Americans stated their credos (Credo is the Latin for "I believe").

Hieronymus' first impulse was to submit his credo - the text of the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed. But when I got to the This I Believe Submission Agreement, I found that "by clicking the I ACCEPT button below you affirm that this essay is original to you." Well, I've always taken some comfort in having a credo in common with other Christians, and I'm suspicious of "original" religious ideas. But after all, it was a personal essay they wanted, not a copy of a creed. If you browse through the hundreds of essays on file on the This I Believe website, you will see that a number of Christians have indeed used either the Nicene Creed or the Apostles' Creed as a starting point for their essays. Some of them have done a fine job explaining how these beliefs make a difference in how they live.

Christians through the centuries have said "I believe" in unison. These creeds and confessions have been formulated in response to different situations and historical circumstances, but have been drawn up so that believers could corporately confess their faith. Where can you find copies of these creeds and confessions?

Creeds & Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition, edited by Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006) and Valerie Hotchkiss (New Haven : Yale University Press, 2003) (Hekman Library BT990 .C653 2003 ) is a 4-volume (with CD-ROM) standard reference work with the following contents:

• v. 1. Rules of faith in the early church. Eastern
  Orthodox affirmations of faith. Medieval Western
  statements of faith
• v. 2. Creeds and confessions of
  the Reformation era
• v. 3. Statements of faith in
  modern Christianity
• v. [4]. Credo : historical and theological guide to Creeds and confessions of faith in the Christian tradition. This final volume, written by Pelikan, surveys the history of these creeds and discusses issues and controversies about the function and formulating of creeds.
  
  See the Speaking of Faith radio program, "The Need for Creeds," including Krista Tippett's 2003 interview with Jaroslav Pelikan.
  
  This work by Pelikan and Hotchkiss replaces the standard work by nineteenth-century church historian Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (originally published in 1877), although Schaff is still worth consulting. The three volumes of Schaff's work are conveniently available through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL): v. 1 The History of Creeds ; v.2 The Greek and Latin Creeds ; and v. 3 The Evangelical Protestant Creeds .
  

The Qur'an: Which Translation?

A new translation of the Qur'an by a Laleh Bakhtiar, a Muslim woman, has been getting a lot of media attention recently. Here's an excerpt from an article in the NY Times of March 25, 2007:

"Laleh Bakhtiar had already spent two years working on an English translation of the Koran when she came upon Chapter 4, Verse 34.
She nearly dropped the project right then.
The hotly debated verse states that a rebellious woman should first be admonished, then abandoned in bed, and ultimately ''beaten'' -- the most common translation for the Arabic word ''daraba'' -- unless her behavior improves.
''I decided it either has to have a different meaning, or I can't keep translating,'' said Ms. Bakhtiar, an Iranian-American who adopted her father's Islamic faith as an adult and had not dwelled on the verse before. ''I couldn't believe that God would sanction harming another human being except in war.''
.. . . . . . . . . . .
Her eureka moment came on roughly her 10th reading of the Arabic-English Lexicon by Edward William Lane, a 3,064-page volume from the 19th century, she said. Among the six pages of definitions for ''daraba'' was ''to go away.''
''I said to myself, 'Oh, God, that is what the prophet meant,' '' said Ms. Bakhtiar, speaking in the offices of Kazi Publications in Chicago, a mail-order house for Islamic books that is publishing her translation. ''When the prophet had difficulty with his wives, what did he do? He didn't beat anybody, so why would any Muslim do what the prophet did not?''

My one year of Arabic instruction happened more than 20 years ago, so I'm in no position to judge the quality of this translation. I am a little suspicious of someone who translates by scanning a dictionary for a definition that suits their interpretive purposes, but maybe the Times isn't giving us the whole story and her translation decision was a bit more sophisticated than the story's portrayal.

But the other day a student did ask me, "Which translation of the Qur'an do I use in my paper?" What's the most reliable English translation of the Qur'an? Is there any one translation which reputable scholars use when they write about Islam?

One sentence won't suffice for a good answer. For help, take a look at the section on Islam in the Hekman Library Religion and Theology Research Guide.
One helpful perspective on English translations is found in an article by Khaleel Mohammed, "Assessing English Translations of the Qur'an," Middle East Quarterly 12 (2005).

Pseudonymous Hieronymus

Welcome to the blog for the Religion and Theology Reference Division of Hekman Library at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary. We'll use this blog to post news, research tips, book notices, and other items relevant to religion and theology reference.

What's the name all about? We've chosen to go by the pseudonym "Hieronymus" in honor of St. Jerome (Latinized as "Hieronymus") ca.340 - 420. Jerome was a brilliant biblical commentator whose greatest legacy to the church was his Latin translation of Scripture based on the Hebrew text. In a revised form his translation became what we know today as the Vulgate.