Message 1
From: Eileen Corder
Date: Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:30:44 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39642] Highfire/Exchange 43
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Message 2
From: Julio.Rodriguez # walgreens.com
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 03:31:01 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39643] Re: new updates......
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Message 3
From: aqua4tis # aol.com
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:18:23 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39644] Re: new updates......
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Message 4
From: ArtSpotiB # aol.com
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:27:57 GMT
Subject: [Baren 39645] Whale of a Print
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Digest Appendix
Postings made on [Baren] members' blogs
over the past 24 hours ...
Subject: A Labor of Love
Posted by: Annie B
Happy Labor Day! Slowly carving page 1 of Eliot's Algonquin Bible, Book of Genesis The Puritans placed great importance on education and literacy, as Puritan individuals were obligated to read and interpret the Bible for themselves. This was as much a political as a religious stance, since literacy broke down the exclusive authority of the popes and priests of the Anglican and Catholic churches. John Eliot's Indian Bible falls within this tradition of making the scriptures available to the common person, and it was the first time the Bible was translated for the purpose of evangelization. English Puritan Richard Baxter once stated that it was "impossible to mention the name of John Eliot apart from the word love." Surely the ten-year process of translating the Bible into Algonquin was a labor of love, and no doubt Eliot grew to love the Wampanoag people with whom he spent so much of his time. But even love has unintended consequences. Even though Eliot respected the Wampanoag people so much that he labored to convey the gospel to them in their own tongue, it was impossible for Eliot to convey the gospel without conveying English-ness and without denigrating Indian-ness. The spiritual conversion of the so-called "Praying Indians" of Massachusetts required the converted to cut their hair and dress in English style clothing. In addition, Eliot brought his converts into "Praying Towns" and set up a Bible-based structure by which the Indians could "govern themselves" under his guidance. In other words, conversion to Christianity required separation from Wampanoag cultural heritage and submission to the Anglo culture. Most any evangelizer will tell you that his/her motivation is love -- either love for God or love for the object of his/her evangelistic fervor. A couple of years ago I was on the receiving end of a fervent mission on the streets of Northampton. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday morning and I was waiting outside while Lynn was at the bank. I hardly noticed the small group of people coming toward me on the busy street until a middle-aged woman thrust a flyer at me and said "Jesus loves you." I smiled and said, "no thanks." Suddenly it was her face she was thrusting at me, and she practically spit at me as . . . [Long item has been trimmed at this point. The full blog entry can be viewed here] |
This item is taken from the blog Woodblock Dreams.
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