In my last blog I described the initial Bishop
Nominating Committee retreat where I was allocated to the “Communications
Sub-Committee”. Now was the time to “roll our sleeves up” and start working.
One of my tasks was to assist in defining what
we needed to communicate, to whom, and how often. When thinking about this task
I started to wonder why communication should be so difficult.
I prayed about this, and as I looked at
scripture to help me understand why we do not communicate easily, I was guided
to Genesis 11:1-9 - The Tower of Babel.
“Now the
whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved
eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to
each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used
brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come,
let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the
heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will
be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But God came
down to see the city and the tower the people were building. God said,
“If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then
nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go
down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So,
God scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped
building the city. That is why it was called Babel — because
there God confused the language of the whole world. From there God scattered them
over the face of the whole earth”
Even though the words "Tower of
Babel", from the Hebrew word balal meaning to jumble or to confuse, do not
appear in the Bible and is referred to only as a city and tower, it is now a
phrase used to describe the confusion caused by multiple languages and
miscommunication.
This story is an etiology, a narrative that
explains the origin of a custom, ritual, name, or other phenomenon. It explains
the origin of the multiple of languages and cultures.
God was concerned that by working closely together
to build the tower the people were trying to determine their own destiny. God brought
multiple languages into existence and as a result, humanity was divided into
linguistic groups, unable to understand one another.
A first century Jewish interpretation explains
this as a story of pride, an act of defiance against God, and resulting
punishment.
Later interpretations proposed God's actions were
not punishment but were motivated by the desire to expand humanity through
multiple languages, multiple cultures and diversity across the entire world.
It is in these interpretations we see two
different theological questions:
1.
Was
it God’s punishment for the sin of pride?
2.
Or
was it God’s gift of multiple languages and cultures, each with its own value?
In looking at God’s actions as a punishment I
interpreted it as:
·
The people started with one
language,
·
They wanted a tower to
reach the heavens, to make a name for themselves, and for nothing to be impossible
for them,
·
They would no longer need
to rely on God,
·
God recognized the sin
of pride in their achievements and that they were moving away from their right
relationship,
·
God punished them by scattering
them all over the earth with multiple languages, so they would not work
together and would need to rely on God’s benevolence.
In looking at God’s actions as the gift of
grace to further develop the spirituality and culture of humanity, I interpreted
the same words as:
·
The people started with
one language,
·
God encouraged the
people to reach for the heavens to make a name for themselves, so nothing would
to be impossible for them,
·
God wanted to recognize
their achievements, their belief, and wanted to expand their relationship,
·
God helped them expand
across the world by giving them multiple languages and diverse cultures, so
they would have to strive to work together and build relationships.
When thinking of Genesis 11:1-9 as punishment I saw communication as a problem to be
solved. Each message I developed would need a transliteration from my
own Anglo Catholic viewpoint into multiple languages, irrespective of the
culture of the people with whom I was communicating.
In thinking of Genesis 11:1-9 as God’s grace in building multiple and diverse cultures I
saw communication as an opportunity to develop a neutral and meaningful message
which could be translated considering both the language and the culture of the
recipients.
Whilst working on the Communications
Sub-Committee this thinking of multiple and diverse cultures as a gift from God
provided me with the opportunity to put into practice what I learned in the
School For Ministry (SFM) liturgy classes.
Our discussion on Vatican 2 taught us about the
limiting aspects of transliterations versus the increased understanding through
translation of liturgy into local languages which reflect both local language
and culture.
By attending a few bilingual services, I have
noticed there is a difference between reading Spanish without really
understanding the message (or sacramental worship) versus taking a well-crafted,
neutral message and delivering it into a Latino culture, translated using words
which would be understood and relevant to the needs of the recipients.
In all my Communications Sub-Committee work I
have taken the positive view it is the God’s grace which allowed the worldwide
development of languages and diverse cultures. I try to ensure the message and
information to be distributed is focused, factual, and does not contain my own cultural
bias before sending it to be translated by someone who is a member of, and understands,
the Latino culture we are communicating with.
Even with this understanding of communication, multiple
languages, transliteration, translation, and multi culture there remains the
theological questions; were God’s actions in Genesis 11:1-9 punishment for pride or the gift of grace to humanity?
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