When you read a book in a language in which you are, say, 90% literate, you read more slowly of necessity. So I read the Geneva Bible in Early Modern English. The Geneva Bible that I am reading is an exact copy of the 1560 edition. Lotta changes in the English language in the last 460 years. They would have as much difficulty reading and understanding modern rap lyrics as I do reading Chaucer, or modern rap lyrics.
I have found that there is much truth in the sixty year-old adage of Canadian English-speaker Marshall McLuhan that "the medium is the message" and when you are forced to read more slowly you are forced to linger. It takes discipline to read the white spaces in a contemporary work of fiction. It takes patience to read a work from 1560. The effect is the same: the mind is multi-tasking, "translating" the nearly-but-not-quite familiar words, boring in on the paragraph you're reading as if you have blinders on, and also "picturing." So it was with me early this morning right before going to bed reading the Gospel of Saint Matthew ("S. Matthewe."). When I started again I was all the way up to the fifth page.
Take hede that ye giue not you al-
mes before men, to be fene of them,
or els ye fhal haue no rewarde of your
Father which is in heauen.
(The long-s is disorienting, only type-able today as a standard "f." Otherwise I have kept the script and punctuation identical to as it appears in this exact copy of the Geneva Bible.)
Therefore when thou giueft thine al-
mes, thou fhalt not make a trumpet to be
blowen before thee,as the hypocrites do
in the Synagogues and in the ftretes, to be praifed of men .
Verely I fay vnto you,
they haue their rewarde.
And at this point I paused and thought of a former Jewish girlfriend who once took me to Temple. Her father, a doctor, had a pew very near the front for which he paid a premium. And I thought of the Woody Allen film, "My father paid $10,000 for a front pew, you know, to be closer to God."
I continued:
...
That thine almes may be in fecret,& thy
Father that feeth in fecret, he wil rewarde
thee openly.
And when thou prayeft, be not as the hy-
pocrites: for they loue to ftand , and pray
in the Synagogues,& in the corners of the
ftretes, becaufe they wolde be fene of me.
Verely I fay vnto you , they haue their
rewarde.
I paused again: This is sooo the values of the Protestants: the virtue of modesty; the bare, spare simplicity of the Protestant service, of the "lifestyle" of Protestants, no "bling," to "show off" is unbecoming if not a sin. It is said of American WASP's that their goal is to get their names in the newspapers twice, upon birth and upon death. "It's tough to be a Jew," to self. And I thought of my Jewish girl and I going to the new performing arts center with the name of the benefactor boldly emblazoned in huge letters on the facade facing the highway: I, unknowingly having internalized this Protestant desideratum: "Wouldn't it be more impressive if you donated anonymously?" She: "Why donate then?"
But when thou prayeft, enter into thy
chamber; & when thou haft fhut thy dore,
(turn the page)
pray vnto thy Father which is in fecret, &
thy Father which feeth in fecret, fhal re-
warde thee openly.
Alfo when ye pray, vfe no vaine repe-
titions as the heathen: for they thinke to
be heard for their muche babling.
Be ye not like them therefore : for your
Father knoweth whereof ye haue nede,
before ye afke of him.
After this maner therefore pray ye,
Our father which art in heauen,halowed
be thy Name.
Oh! That is the introduction to the Lord's Prayer?! I did not see that coming. I had bored into the paragraphs, had lingered and paused, thought, continued on, "Where was I?" Turning the page was key; it was the message in the medium and it hit me like this ten pound book just smacked me square in the forehead. Tres dramatique. The pausing and lingering impressed the concepts upon me as reading in contemporary English would not have. Turning the page had the effect of closing a chapter. Reading it over I still do not see how the Lord's Prayer is introduced by or flows from those first words of "Chap. VI." It seems to come out of the blue.
And as I read the familiar lines I pictured. The Geneva Bible came over with the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Several of the passengers bibles were kept and preserved. They were all the Geneva, the bible of the Protestant Reformation. And so I pictured that sea-tossed wretched refuse huddled in deep holds separated from the terror and oblivion of the deep blue by a foot of timber reading aloud to comfort and steel themselves, having to pause as the sea caused them to lose their place, and turning the page to the words,
Our father which art in heauen,halowed
be thy Name.
Thy kingdome come. Thy wil be do-
ne euen in earth,as it is in heauen.
Giue vs this day our daily bread.
And forgiue vs our dettes , as we alfo forgiue our detters.
And lead vs not into tentation, but de-
liuer vs from euil:for thine is the king-
dome , and the power, and the glorie for
ever,Amen.
I have found that there is much truth in the sixty year-old adage of Canadian English-speaker Marshall McLuhan that "the medium is the message" and when you are forced to read more slowly you are forced to linger. It takes discipline to read the white spaces in a contemporary work of fiction. It takes patience to read a work from 1560. The effect is the same: the mind is multi-tasking, "translating" the nearly-but-not-quite familiar words, boring in on the paragraph you're reading as if you have blinders on, and also "picturing." So it was with me early this morning right before going to bed reading the Gospel of Saint Matthew ("S. Matthewe."). When I started again I was all the way up to the fifth page.
Take hede that ye giue not you al-
mes before men, to be fene of them,
or els ye fhal haue no rewarde of your
Father which is in heauen.
(The long-s is disorienting, only type-able today as a standard "f." Otherwise I have kept the script and punctuation identical to as it appears in this exact copy of the Geneva Bible.)
Therefore when thou giueft thine al-
mes, thou fhalt not make a trumpet to be
blowen before thee,as the hypocrites do
in the Synagogues and in the ftretes, to be praifed of men .
Verely I fay vnto you,
they haue their rewarde.
And at this point I paused and thought of a former Jewish girlfriend who once took me to Temple. Her father, a doctor, had a pew very near the front for which he paid a premium. And I thought of the Woody Allen film, "My father paid $10,000 for a front pew, you know, to be closer to God."
I continued:
...
That thine almes may be in fecret,& thy
Father that feeth in fecret, he wil rewarde
thee openly.
And when thou prayeft, be not as the hy-
pocrites: for they loue to ftand , and pray
in the Synagogues,& in the corners of the
ftretes, becaufe they wolde be fene of me.
Verely I fay vnto you , they haue their
rewarde.
I paused again: This is sooo the values of the Protestants: the virtue of modesty; the bare, spare simplicity of the Protestant service, of the "lifestyle" of Protestants, no "bling," to "show off" is unbecoming if not a sin. It is said of American WASP's that their goal is to get their names in the newspapers twice, upon birth and upon death. "It's tough to be a Jew," to self. And I thought of my Jewish girl and I going to the new performing arts center with the name of the benefactor boldly emblazoned in huge letters on the facade facing the highway: I, unknowingly having internalized this Protestant desideratum: "Wouldn't it be more impressive if you donated anonymously?" She: "Why donate then?"
But when thou prayeft, enter into thy
chamber; & when thou haft fhut thy dore,
(turn the page)
pray vnto thy Father which is in fecret, &
thy Father which feeth in fecret, fhal re-
warde thee openly.
Alfo when ye pray, vfe no vaine repe-
titions as the heathen: for they thinke to
be heard for their muche babling.
Be ye not like them therefore : for your
Father knoweth whereof ye haue nede,
before ye afke of him.
After this maner therefore pray ye,
Our father which art in heauen,halowed
be thy Name.
Oh! That is the introduction to the Lord's Prayer?! I did not see that coming. I had bored into the paragraphs, had lingered and paused, thought, continued on, "Where was I?" Turning the page was key; it was the message in the medium and it hit me like this ten pound book just smacked me square in the forehead. Tres dramatique. The pausing and lingering impressed the concepts upon me as reading in contemporary English would not have. Turning the page had the effect of closing a chapter. Reading it over I still do not see how the Lord's Prayer is introduced by or flows from those first words of "Chap. VI." It seems to come out of the blue.
And as I read the familiar lines I pictured. The Geneva Bible came over with the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Several of the passengers bibles were kept and preserved. They were all the Geneva, the bible of the Protestant Reformation. And so I pictured that sea-tossed wretched refuse huddled in deep holds separated from the terror and oblivion of the deep blue by a foot of timber reading aloud to comfort and steel themselves, having to pause as the sea caused them to lose their place, and turning the page to the words,
Our father which art in heauen,halowed
be thy Name.
Thy kingdome come. Thy wil be do-
ne euen in earth,as it is in heauen.
Giue vs this day our daily bread.
And forgiue vs our dettes , as we alfo forgiue our detters.
And lead vs not into tentation, but de-
liuer vs from euil:for thine is the king-
dome , and the power, and the glorie for
ever,Amen.
