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| Whodunnit?While I was in Grand Rapids in May, I made an effort to solve a mystery that has vexed me for a long time: who translated Procedures Held With Regard to those of the Religion of the Netherlands? This is the primary source document for the debates between de Bres and various Roman Catholic officials while he was in prison, as well as the letters to his church, his wife and his mother. We also find the eyewitness account of his martyrdom in this work. Somebody translated it from French and put a typewritten manuscript of it in the Hekman library at Calvin College/Seminary. But there is no name attached to the translation. The helpful staff at the Meeter Center didn't know. Thea Van Halsema included a partial translation of the letter from de Bres to his wife in her little biography -- even though it doesn't match the one found in the English translation of Procedures. I phoned her and had a very nice conversation with this pleasant elderly woman -- but she didn't know anything about the English translation of Procedures either. So, it remains a mystery. Here are the facts that I do know:
1) The translation was done before the computer age -- it's done on a typewriter. So, quite likely it was done before 1990.
2) The translator was not a native English speaker, in fact, I think it's quite likely that his/her native language was Dutch. For instance, "le propre Fils de Dieu" is translated "the own Son of God." That's a classic Dutchism, reflecting the use of "eigen."
3) The translation was poorly done. Sometimes whole sentences are left out. For this reason, I would recommend that anyone doing serious scholarly work with Procedures not rely too heavily on this English translation. You need to consult with the original French. Maybe this is the reason why the translation is anonymous.
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| Praying to ChristAccording to Jaroslav Pelikan (Credo, 169), the church father Origen at one point insisted that we may not pray to Jesus Christ because in the Lord's Prayer we are taught to pray to "Our Father." Pelikan goes on, "But Eric Jay has pointed out 'that Origen is not always consistent and that his devotion to Christ led him both himself to pray boldly to Christ and to encourage others to do so, even though when he comes to write a treatise on the subject he is unable to justify the practice theologically.'" In other writings, Origen does become more open-minded to the practice of praying to the Son. After all, it's pretty hard to argue against it when the apostles themselves did it, even after having been taught by the Lord himself in person.
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| The End is NearWell, the end of my time as a pastor of the Langley Canadian Reformed Church anyway. As of 12:01 AM on Monday, I become the responsibility of the Providence Canadian Reformed Church of Hamilton, Ontario. On Sunday afternoon here in Langley, I preach my farewell sermon (Hebrews 3:1-2). But we will be sticking around here until the middle of August. Beginning next week, I have another kick at the can with my dissertation, this time courtesy of my new congregation. If all goes well, I should have the first draft of the entire book done by the time we move. We'll be setting out for Ontario around the 17th of August and we'll make a family vacation of it, stopping in to see friends and family in Alberta, Winnipeg, and Thunder Bay. At the moment, it appears that my installation date in Hamilton will be September 13. While we'll certainly miss our congregation here in Langley, we are looking forward to getting to know (or getting reacquainted with) our new church.
So as I become a writing machine for the next few weeks, I probably won't be spending much time blogging and it will be quieter than usual. If something catches my eye and I think it might be worth sharing, I'll post it. But no promises.
As I've mentioned before, once I get to Hamilton, my plan is to do something different with my blogging. I'd like to streamline my resource site with a blog and give the whole thing a more professional look. Stay tuned...I'll be sure to post the details here as they become available.
Have a great summer with God's blessing!
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| The Unquestionable Word of God -- Jacobus Revius
Jacobus Revius was a Dutch poet who lived from 1586 to 1658. He was an ardent Reformed believer. He held the Word of God with the highest regard and that is readily evident in this short, but profound little poem:
When people speak who lightly err,
I do not ask from whom, but what it is they tell.
When speaks the Lord, I do not question what;
To me this is enough: who says it is my God.
Wanneer den mensche spreekt, die lichtelijcken dwalet
Soo vraeg ick niet van wie, maer wat daer is verhalet.
Wanneer de Heere spreeckt, k' en vraeg' niet wat hy zy
Maer wie gesproken heeft, en dat genoeget my.
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| More News from the Synod Down UnderYesterday at Synod Legana of the Free Reformed Churches of Australia (FRCA), a decision was finally reached about the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (RCN). The synod decided "to continue sister church relations with the RCN under the adopted rules." However, that does not mean that everything is now smooth sailing. There remain very significant concerns about the direction of the RCN -- in fact, this relationship is now described as being in tension. Some of the specific issues are identified in decision 4:
Exhort the RCN with love and care to be faithful in their approach to hermeneutics and combating the influence of a post-modern 'spirit of the age' (Ground 3). As specific examples, we mention the following: - Our ongoing concerns about the position of our Dutch sister Churches on connecting the fourth commandment to the Lord's Day as a day of rest, as we confess in Q/A 103 of the HC.
- Our concerns that the public comments of Dr. Harinck have not been retracted, even though he remains a professor in Kampen.
- Our ongoing concerns regarding the administration of both sacraments for military personnel (refer art. 94, Acts of Synod West Kelmscott).
The matter of George Harinck is worth noting. Ground 9 goes into more detail:
Although our deputies discussed the concerns regarding the public statements of Dr Harinck with deputies BBK and in their address to Synod Zwolle-Zuid, the responses from Synod Zwolle Zuid and Deputies BBK were not satisfactory (see pp. 60, 115 of Deputies Report to Synod Legana 2009; see Synod Zwolle Zuid 16-5-2008 Besluit 3).
[BBK = Committee for Relations with Foreign Churches]
Regular readers of Yinkahdinay might remember that I posted an English translation of his interview with Nederlands Dagblad. Shortly afterwards, the board of the Theological University in Kampen issued a statement and I also provided an English translation of that. The FRCA synod didn't buy it, nor were they convinced by subsequent explanations. However, I am wondering why the matter of Stefan Paas wasn't mentioned, either at Synod or in the reports. See here and here for some background on that issue.
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