Pope Francis, J.R.R. Tolkien and the Lord’s Prayer

National Catholic Register ^ | Jan. 5, 2018 | John R. Holmes

[Pontiac]

On Dec. 6, 2017, Pope Francis, in the midst of a video segment explicating the Lord’s Prayer on Italian television, voiced a criticism of the English translation of the phrase “lead us not into temptation” that created a brief media stir.

Snip

When I heard the Pope’s words, I knew that the linguistic discussion sounded familiar, but I couldn’t remember it from any Bible study or Scripture class. Then I realized: I had heard it from J.R.R. Tolkien, the devout Catholic, author and creator of the Middle-earth “legendarium.”

Snip

In a passage Tolkien wrote more than 80 years ago, he observed that the word rendered in modern English as “temptation” was already problematic in the Latin translation of the Pater Noster from Greek. “Tentatio,” Tolkien wrote, “(or the unrelated temptatio that was confused with it) was a good translation of [peirasmos] ‘a test or trial (of strength or worth)’ and was already beginning c. A.D. 1200 in English in scriptural and theological contexts.”

[Pontiac]

From an early age when I thought abuot those words in the Lord’s Prayer I thought it odd that God would ever tempt me. God wanted me to be good, so why would he put temptation in my way?

A trial makes more sense. Good does put us through trials from time to time. Disease, financial hardships, death of a loved one and many others.

Praying that we not be put through painful trials makes sense.

[Pontiac]

Catholic ping

Being a Tolkien fan I found it interesting.

[vladimir998]

Everyone overreacted when Pope Francis said what he said. This debate about the translation of the Pater Noster has been going on for a very long time.

Raïssa Maritain made some remarks about this and she died in 1960: https://www3.nd.edu/~maritain/jmc/etext/notlp07.htm

Another good article on this with the relevant Greek and Latin: https://www.newcriterion.com/blogs/dispatch/lead-us-not-into-mistranslation

[Fedora]

Tolkien didn’t propose changing the English translation to sound like the even less-accurate Spanish-based translation Pope Francis favors, though.

[metmom]

http://biblehub.com/greek/3986.htm

Strong's Concordance

peirasmos: an experiment, a trial, temptation
Original Word: πειρασμός, οῦ, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: peirasmos
Phonetic Spelling: (pi-ras-mos')
Short Definition: trial, testing, temptation
Definition: (a) trial, probation, testing, being tried, (b) temptation, (c) calamity, affliction.

HELPS Word-studies

Cognate: 3986 peirasmós (from 3985 /peirázō) – temptation or test – both senses can apply simultaneously (depending on the context). The positive sense ("test") and negative sense ("temptation") are functions of the context (not merely the words themselves).