Will Shetterly is starting up his cool translation of Genesis again, and it has me thinking about what my ideal Bible translation would be like.

I’d like a Bible that preserves the unique character of a collection of literature written in a number of ancient cultures that are now alien to us. I don’t want it to be accessible, in language written down to a fifth grade level. I’ve already got some of those. I don’t want one that reads well in worship. I’ve got some of those too.

Genesis is a case in point. It’s a collage of writings that come from competing religious traditions in ancient Judaism and even pre-Judaism. They have unique styles and viewpoints. If you know they’re there, you can find them, but I’d rather be slapped in the face with it.

The best translation of Genesis I’ve seen in print is At the Start by Mary Phil Korsak. Here’s how it opens: Click to continue reading “Wish I had an alien Bible”

I have both the experience and the vision, so go vote Chutney some UU Blog Awards. Let’s not have a brokered convention.

Seems to me there are two sources of authority for religious professionals. There is delegational or positional authority, which carries with it the power accorded it by the congregation’s officialdom. And then consensual authority, which is the authority granted by real live congregants, individually and collectively.

You must have both to do your job. Work solely from positional authority, and you will find your decisions rejected and ignored. Work solely from consensual authority, and you will find yourself deprived of the power to make decisions.

So I was talking to my cousin tonight, and somehow we ended up talking about my majoring in religion in college.

I told him that I called the bishop up during my senior year of high school to ask what I should major in if I wanted to go on to seminary and be a preacher. He said, “English.” He said I’d be bored by seminary if I majored in religion (and he was right).

My cousin said it would have been better if I’d asked him how to move diagonally.

Commenter Silver Tongued Devil has his own blog now: Drunk and Mean at the Dairy Queen.

It looks like one of the UUA trustees is boycotting GA because of the ID requirements for entering the convention center.

Here’s a question for those boycotting GA: Do you think everyone should boycott GA? Is the ID requirement so egregious that all UUs should cancel GA themselves by voting with their feet and not showing?

If so, please tell me how, as specifically as possible, the cost to the association—financial or otherwise—from not having GA would be worth it.

A lot of essential business goes on at GA. (Is the ID situation more important than electing a president, for example?) How would canceling GA deal with this controversy more effectively than other means, ones that could be pursued during GA?

Or what if enough people boycotted to render GA useless? What would you, as a boycotter, say to the people who showed up to find themselves at a dead-in-the-water GA? Too bad, so sad?

More succinctly: What if there were real world consequences to your boycott? Because there would be significant negative consequences to your fellow UUs.

And if it isn’t worth canceling GA over, why are you boycotting? Isn’t it just an ineffectual social justice tantrum then? Protest is easy when you know nothing will come of it.