From my diary

Well that was nice!  I’ve just got back from a short holiday in Iceland, in Akureyri to be specific.  Masses of snow, although no real snowfalls while we were there.  The post-holiday tidy-up is well under way now.

I have ignored a few emails while I was away.  Here’s two.

It looks as if my translation of the Jerusalem “Life” of John Damascene is attracting interest.  I’m keen to get back to that very soon now.  It’s funny how quickly a project fades once you stop working on it.

Also I learn that a college friend of mine has produced a book.  The title is Lost in translation: The Gospels of Mark and John: Fresh insights from the original Greek text, by Tim Hawkins.  It’s available here on Amazon.com and Amazon UK.  He read classics at Oxford, and has been a vicar ever since.  Here’s the blurb:

The New Testament was written not in English but in Ancient Greek, a language far more expressive than our own. This book revisits and comments on a number of short passages in the Gospels of Mark and John, where Greek words reveal an extra force, a double meaning, or a picture linking with other parts of Scripture or the words of Jesus. The Greek is simple and written in simple sentences, because the writers were focused on recording these unique events for posterity rather than with an eye to literary fame. Some words are very unusual, found only in the New Testament, and they give us fascinating insights to enrich our faith.

This book is for anyone interested in studying the Bible; it is not just for academics or preachers. It is not going to overturn traditional Christian theology but to underline it.

I’ve not seen it, but I get the impression that he wanted to bring out some points where the Greek text has a deeper meaning than is possible for any translation to reproduce in English.