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To: wideawake
it's return to its rightful status as the common heritage of Catholics is a consummation devoutly to be wished.

This may be true of the writer but not all Catholics.

Many Catholics would probably also prefer that the Bible not be translated into the common tongue; they may consider that the common tongue is not associated with sacred worship and devotion. However, disgruntled Christians who were being treated in a condescending manner by their leaders wanted to understand the truths of God a few centuries ago, not just recite them like a parrot or follow after a leader because he/she can orate in Latin.

I agree that Latin and other classical languages are extremely valuable for any person to study however I do not believe that the following statement is accurate:

worshipped in a language which they associated with sacred worship and the sacraments.

I think they realized that any language can be associated with worship and/or the sacraments. God does not understand just one language, as important historically as it may be. And He probably prefers to hear the common tongue, as it would be more representative of an individual's true heart and mind.

32 posted on 01/30/2003 11:27:55 AM PST by what's up
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To: what's up
Quiz question, no cheating:

Which translation of the Bible, into English, is older?
a) Douay-Rheims (Catholic)
b) Authorized Version (Anglican/Protestant)
34 posted on 01/30/2003 11:40:31 AM PST by ArrogantBustard
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To: what's up
However, disgruntled Christians who were being treated in a condescending manner by their leaders wanted to understand the truths of God a few centuries ago, not just recite them like a parrot or follow after a leader because he/she can orate in Latin.

In point of fact, there were two enormous religious orders of the Church, the Dominicans and Franciscans, who were dedicated to the work of preaching from the Scriptures in the vernacular tongues of Europe. The sermon from every pulpit was in the vernacular as well.

The disgruntlement was due to a desire to disobey, not due to any hatred of Latin. Every reformer knew how to read Latin as well as they knew how to read their own tongue. Calvin wrote his sermons in Latin and his famous Institutes were also written and poublished in Latin.

Luther's major works of Scripture commentary and doctrinal argument were written in Latin as well.

Here's a newsflash - the number of people who could read and the number of people who could read Latin in early modern Europe were almost identical. To have any education at all at that time meant knowing the Latin tongue.

60 posted on 01/31/2003 8:47:14 AM PST by wideawake
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