Annual Christmas Letter 2012

Yes - it's done at Christmas and our fleshly lives are reflected in the written word over the past 45 years, a kind of incarnation in reverse. We have notes online but only back to 1978. I am not sure when we started the annual letters - probably about the time we moved from Toronto to Calgary. The very old ones are buried somewhere if they are not lost.

All the Christmas files have had to be moved - should now be accessible here.

Recently I converted some baby pictures from 1969! One of my retirement projects is to convert all our pictures to digital and reconstruct the family history. Facebook does a very nice annual summary - great for the young but not yet where I can use it to organize my 6 cubic feet of negatives and the thousands of digital pictures already in 5 differing copies of Picasa!

So here's the Christmas letter - some will get hard copy but not more than a couple of dozen. Some will find out through Twitter and some through Google+ and some through Facebook, and some through direct email.

Enjoy

A little Greek puzzle

I don't read Greek, but a couple of hundred people have followed the suggestion from Abram K-J that we read Isaiah in the LXX.  Am I ready finally to learn a little Greek? I have a dozen books around the house that have sat for 50 years waiting for me to pick them up. Well, I'm in - and I will listen.  At about 5 verses a day, perhaps I will get the hang of it sometime over the next 6 months.

In the meanwhile I thought about putting together one of my usual pictures of Isaiah 6:1-5.  In this I am ahead of the group. But I will go back, having done the first five verses and catch up a bit - at least at a conceptual level.  This is the origin of the Sanctus of the Ordinary of the Mass.  The music of verse 3 is like this:

For those who don't read music there's a quick rendition below.

 

Original audio source (here)

And here are the words that repeat in Isaiah 6:1-5, following my usual strategy of spotting similar sounds in the Hebrew - but this time the Greek is in the gloss.  I have to say this was very difficult to do for a blind and deaf person.  But the coherence and framing of these five verses is nevertheless obvious based on the words that repeat.

If anyone sees this - can you tell me if I got the interlinear sort of right?  It was hilarious trying to get glosses out of Google translate. It is difficult enough doing a manual interlinear in English!  What is this δυσὶν?

Anyway - I now have these five verses in a database where I can manipulate them somewhat (in raw form since my psalms software is somewhat specific to psalms... mea culpa).

Incidentally - I am doing the online reading with the polyglot Bible. I can't read the Greek yet - but I am OK with the Hebrew and Latin and I can frequently guess the Greek. This link has an easy to use dictionary - but it doesn't define δυσὶν either.

Selected recurring words (1 to 5)

Word and gloss * first usage

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

2

3

4

5

6

Vs

Root

המלך ὁ βασιλεύς

░

1

מלך

ואראה εἶδον

░

1

ראה

ישׁב καθήμενον

░

1

ישׁב

מלאים καὶ πλήρης

░

1

מלא

שׁשׁ ἓξ

░

2

שׁשׁ

כנפים πτέρυγες

░

2

כנף

שׁשׁ ἓξ

░

2

שׁשׁ

כנפים πτέρυγες

░

2

כנף

בשׁתים καὶ ταῖς μὲν δυσὶν

░

2

שׁנים

יכסה κατεκάλυπτον

░

2

כסה

ובשׁתים καὶ ταῖς δυσὶν

░

2

שׁנים

יכסה δυσὶν κατεκάλυπτον

░

2

כסה

ובשׁתים καὶ ταῖς δυσὶν

░

2

שׁנים

וקרא καὶ ἐκέκραγον

░

3

קרא

זה ἕτερος

░

3

זה

זה ἕτερον

░

3

זה

ואמר καὶ ἔλεγον

░

3

אמר

קדושׁ ἅγιος

░

3

קדשׁ

קדושׁ ἅγιος

░

3

קדשׁ

קדושׁ ἅγιος

░

3

קדשׁ

צבאות σαβαωθ

░

3

צבא

מלא πλήρης

░

3

מלא

הקורא ἧς ἐκέκραγον

░

4

קרא

ימלא ἐπλήσθη

░

4

מלא

ואמר καὶ εἶπα

░

5

אמר

טמא ὢν καὶ ἀκάθαρτα

░

5

טמא

שׂפתים χείλη

░

5

שׂפה

אנכי ἔχων

░

5

אנכי

טמא ἀκάθαρτα

░

5

טמא

שׂפתים χείλη

░

5

שׂפה

אנכי ἐγὼ

░

5

אנכי

יושׁב ἔχοντος

░

5

ישׁב

המלך βασιλέα

░

5

מלך

צבאות σαβαωθ

░

5

צבא

ראו εἶδον

░

5

ראה

The meaning of the holy - what is that - and why is this passage here? 

The importance of the Psalms

In the carnival I emphasized the Psalms as th'essentiall in the words of John Donne.  David Koyziz this month is sharing psalms in a way that begins to hear the singing of psalms from around the world.

If anyone is troubled, ... let them sing a psalm James 5:13. Or more specifically  perhaps Ephesians 5:19.

David has posted psalms today (with words) from Korea to Hungary. He also posts quite a few without words - from his Geneva psalms collection.

I wonder in how many countries I could find psalm singing, and in how many languages?  There's a lot of noise in a Google search - I am going to have to be shrewd.

Of course there are all those recordings of the interpretation of the te'amim according to Suzanne Haik Vantoura. I suspect there are about 50 online - but all in Hebrew.  That's OK, but not achieving much of a worldwide audience.

Then there are polyphonic and classical snippets of psalms from Weelkes to Rutter. In the Western tradition these are largely English, Latin, German, and other European languages.

What could be found and shared with a useful result? I have recovered first all the utube posts that I could from my prior posts over the last 6 years. I will do some more research - if you have favorite psalm settings, please let me know in a comment. [the list below has empty links - only click the ones with a name following.]

1 SHV 2 Handel 3 Purcell 4 Clemens non Papa 5 Wesley (Oxford) 6+7 Der Universitätschor Innsbruck 8 Mt Athos 9 in Dutch 10 James Faux - film+score 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 SHV 20 21 Boyce 22 23 Bernstein 23 SHV 24 SHV 25 26 27 SHV 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 RVW 35 36 37 38 39 Greene 40 41 42 Howells 43 44 45 Handel 46 47 Gibbons 48 McKie 49 50 AC 51 Allegri 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62-SHV 63 Purcell 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 Monteverdi 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 Brahms 85 86 87 88 89 Handel 90 Bairstow 91 AC 91 SHV 92 93 94 95 96 SHV 97 98 SHV 99 100 SHV 101 102 Purcell 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 Handel 111 112 Vivaldi 113 SHV 114 AC 115 Mendelssohn 116 117 Bach 118 119 120 121 AC 121 SHV 122 Parry 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 SHV 131 132 Weelkes 133 Pop rock 134 135 136 137 SHV 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 SHV 149 150 Rutter

The one day of creation and redemption

Time, hurry up please, it's time. The pub is closing. The day is at hand. (And always has been and always will be).

So merrily blogging along on my reading cycle, and Biblioblogs are working again for me today - bravo Steve, I came across this question: Does God send storms?

I copied my comment. Can you see how it gets around the problems with both taxonomy and syllogism?

I hope this comment gets through - I am sending it - and God is too. Technology being what it is, a bug might interfere or a spam blockage, and that might be God's fingers as well (Psalm 8). 

This item you have is for me tightly tied up with the figure of Leviathan and the presence of the story, the myth of past ages, in our lives by grace. 

The 7 days are 1 as the poet George Herbert declares (Easter, I got me flowers) - "there is but one and that one ever". This is the day of resurrection, the day the Lord has made, the day of grace (to cite AKMA's post this morning). Each of these days is present to us - Leviathan enters on day 1 and stays till day 6, maybe even day 7. 

Leviathan (a little crocodile also in a post this morning) is us in a parable, we, the beni elohim of Job, are also the accuser, accusing each other. We are in the midst of the tohu vebohu of creation and also in the day of grace. We have been taught what to do. Time is more mysterious than we give it credit. 

I was just fooling with Google translate and a Hebrew prayer over creation turned into this: Welcome you gentlemen who write about our work

ברוך אתה אדוני אלוהינו מלך העולם, שכותב על היצירה שלנו

Now - about God and sending. Send - occurs in 34 verses in the psalms. It is a high usage word, according to BLB, it is used 847 times in the canon they have in their database. (Much as I dislike the Strong's numbering scheme, it is an early 19th century stab at an identifier for data, predating Wittgenstein and Codd, and it's what we have available in this very compact site at BLB in spite of its limitations.)

So what does God send? Well, we won't go into too much detail or the blog would collapse, so here's just the first two instances from Psalm 18.

וַיִּשְׁלַח חִצָּיו וַיְפִיצֵם וּבְרָקִים רָב וַיְהֻמֵּם	18.15	and he sends his arrows and disperses them and lightnings he multiplies and confuses them	direct object, arrows, for the mystifying of syllogism and taxonomy
יִשְׁלַח מִמָּרוֹם יִקָּחֵנִי יַמְשֵׁנִי מִמַּיִם רַבִּים	18.17	He will send from on high He will take me he will draw me out from many waters	send - no direct object, but indirect location. draw, משׁה (mshh) Moses, unique in this form in the Psalter.

Send is a polyvalent word. It includes subject, direct object, several possible indirect objects from, to, and potentially more objects in relation, e.g. for a purpose. The first send that God does in the psalms is in Psalm 18:14 (h15).

Now how do we 'make sense' of a verb when the subject is God. Carefully - since we do not know the subject perfectly nor do we understand as if we were in charge. So first, he sends his arrows. Arrows and lightnings are not all lined up in a row but dispersed and confused.  This is the arrow that penetrates (sticks fast KJV) the subject in Psalm 38:2 (3h).

You will note that the first two uses of send are framing something: verse 16 (e15) is in the middle: the "discovery of the foundations of the world".  An important insight. And this whole passage (8-19) - a storm scene, a theophany, is a response to the prayer of one who is passionate, verses 1-7 (2h):
אֶרְחָמְךָ יְהוָה חִזְקִי I am passionate about you, Adonai my courage.

Verse 16, the framed verse, is full of possibility.

Then seen are channels of waters

and discovered are the foundations of the world

at your rebuke יהוה

at the breath of the wind of your nostrils

or perhaps - at the panting of the spirit of your anger(!) - so much for gloss selection.

The image of the channels of water reflects the water of Psalm 1, anticipates the desires of Psalm 42 and the judgments of Psalm 69. The drawing out from the water reflects the story of Moses in Exodus 2:10. The verb for breathing (panting as in giving birth) is used (in the Psalter) only here and in the last verse of Psalm 150, suggesting this theophany has to do with or anticipates a birth.

What will humans allow to come to fruition and maturity as the result of a storm that discovers the foundations of the world?  

We've here just touched this poetry lightly. It has so much to offer. It will create a response in us that will perhaps even help us manage real-life storms and confusion. 

So time - we are in that first day, Genesis 1:2 - when there was darkness, and formless void. Our Leviathan is fighting and producing turmoil. Will it learn as Job learned?

There is still a month of 20% discount available on my book.  You could put the prepaid order under the Christmas tree or give it on one of the 8 days of Hanukkah in an envelope with a promise of delivery at the end of January. Place your orders here.

Disappearing comments

My comments seem to just disappear on some blogs - even those I consider friends :(

Suzanne has posted on my favorite error in the KJV. This raises for me all the 'work' = 'play' I did with translating Job in 2009. So I commented re "Leviathan and his fluttering eyelids and dawn form a frame for chapters 30 to 41" with a bunch of other things that got lost.

It disappeared into the ether. It seems to me that this happened frequently last month too.

Anyway it was one of the old posts on whether God answers Job. And it's clear he does - in this parable.

So when comments just disappear - is it a bug or is it a bug? [fixed - but who knows!]

Carnival - analysis and reflection

In the work done last month, I wondered what would arise from it as I proceeded. I have to admit some apprehension, some excitement, fear, and some difficulty afterwards letting it go. (You can see a bit of the emotion in that I hardly blogged at all apart from the carnival, 8 of 11 posts, in November.)

I began on day 1. I was reasonably sure that if I did not work every day, I would fail to finish with an adequate product. I worried about the delays in the October Carnival. I wondered if I could fit everything into one post. (I kept independent back ups on a test blog, and I tested on various devices like handhelds, laptops, etc to ensure it was technically OK - shows quite well on my Blackberry for instance). The columns, incidentally, which allow just a little more juxtaposition, are simply an extra table. They were not particularly easy to manage - so I am not sure I recommend it. I just worked with a simple editor and notepad where necessary.

Mid month, I had scanned roughly 2000 posts and selected about 10%. (low signal to noise ration). We ended up with about 350 posts contributed by about 90 persons.  The art and commentary also just appeared.

I had vague goals: how many posts written by women would I find?  How many different languages could I unearth?  Could there be representation from several religious traditions?  Are all continents represented?  And I am biased towards the aural and oral these days (except in posts like this one) so I was glad to include some music.

Then there was how to organize the thing - by book? - no, too much detail. By major section and century? - eventually, this emerged.

Then the content - the month began and ended with such trouble that by the end I realized I could have created a litany instead of a carnival. The idea of using John Donne just appeared - and with le Donne as mentor, it stuck. Mid month, I went to a lecture on the anniversaries and was utterly delighted with the summing up of my history from childhood to liturgy in these poems.

So instead of  Torah, Prophets, Writings, NT, various related extra-canonical items, archaeology and the usual dose of polemics and current events that simply cannot be ignored, I arrived at the Patriarchs, Prophets, 'waters' for the whole Bible. Apostles, Martyrs, and Virgins - and I left out Confessors and Doctors - though there's hay to be made here.

The idea sets the carnival in the 16th century. I bet some earlier and later settings (medieval, 19th C) might also be a challenge to other creators.  Anyway, it was a good month for reading John Donne again even if occasionally out of context.

So - did I represent all continents? Yes, almost:

• North America dominates with about 65 (25% female) of the approximately 90 persons represented. 
• South America - only 1 from Brazil. 
• Asia, a couple from India, 
• Africa - 4 I think (but I guess a couple - the Arabic fundamentalist, and one from Malawi, and maybe 2 others). 
• Australia/NZ had 5 persons represented, 2 female.
• Europe - Britain, 7 of which 2 are female, Continent, 7 or so, none from Germany, but Italy, France (at least Languedoc for content), the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, were represented. I know several scholars from Denmark, but they don't blog I suppose...

What do you think?  Could something more than Noyse emerge from the Biblioblogs, heading toward that equal music?

Some belated early fall colours

A random collection of spices and flowers. The cyclamen always make me smile.
The sage, thyme, rosemary, etc get regular use in the kitchen.