A chara, – Des Cryan (Rite & Reason, Opinion, December 27th) shakes up our usual picture of the birth of Jesus, querying whether the account in St Luke’s gospel (Chapter 2, verse 7) really tells us that there was no room for them in the “inn”, the commonly used translation in English versions. The Wycliffe translation (1382-1395) was picturesque with a double-negative: “ther was no place to hym in no chaumbir”. Tyndale’s 1526 translation had “there was no roume for them with in in the hostrey”, and in 1534 he revised it to “ther was no roume for them within in the ynne”. Douay/Rheims (1582) and the King James (1611) translations follow suit with “inn”.
Understanding of the original Gospel texts has improved over the years, and in 1985, the New Jerusalem Bible translates the phrase inelegantly as “there was no room for them in the living-space”, with an explanatory footnote; and the Christian Community Bible (Philippines, 1997) has “living room”.
It’s good to re-think our seemingly set traditions, even if it upsets our Nativity plays! We could transfer our attention to Luke’s use of the word “manger” three times in the short narrative. It is a container for food (cf. French manger, to eat). Right at the birth in Luke’s account, it seems to underline that this child will in some mysterious way be a source of life-nourishment: bread broken, life poured out, for the life of the world. – Is mise,
Sir, – Des Cryan (Opinion, December 27th), while addressing the portrayal of the Christmas story, raises questions that are relevant in today’s world.
The story of the stable has helped us in Trust at times to point out that people in our capital city today sleep in sheds, tents, containers and under bushes – none with the warmth even of a stable or the breath of animals.
While this is happening, experts and bureaucrats struggle to find an appropriate definition to facilitate debate and more importantly distribution of grant aid – eg what constitutes a home or even shelter.
A detailed analysis like that presented by Des Cryan is unlikely to take place in the corridors of power at local or national level, these corridors likely now to be in Berlin and presided over by the Troika. Bob Dylan was so right when he said “I can’t understand the values of definition and confinement – definitions destroy.” – Yours, etc,