Posted on 03/31/2003 5:28:35 AM PST by dead
As Sir Thomas More notes in his Dialogue Concerning Heresies, pre-Tyndale translations of the Bible were certainly permitted. Considering literacy levels of the time, such translations were largely redundant, since the literate classes could already understand Latin. Most of the general populace couldn't understand written English.
Right, but most of them couldn't afford books, anyway. Books weren't really accessible except to the rich (or those prepared to make financial sacrifices for them) until the relatively cheap process of making paper from wood pulp was developed in, I think, the eighteenth century.
The catholic church was corrupted long before Vatican II. The moment the Pope and his court appointed themselves as universal dictators over Christendom. All one has to do is look at the wickedness of some of the popes who committed murder (Borgia), adultery, fornication, the heresies of indulgences and the purchase of the Papacy (simony).
Catholics who sought to counter the Reformation, that led to the Council of Trent in the 16th century. The council sought to impose order amid the chaos by, among other things, standardising the Mass.
It did much more than that. It unleashed the Jesuits and persecution on anyone who didn't buy into the extra-biblical catholic doctrines, and resulted in the Inquisitions and 30 years war. They tried to FORCE people to abide by catholicism - sounds alot like miliitant islam to me.
No group during those times had a monopoly on "intolerance".
Henry VIII's Protestant reign resulted in the burning of 81 individuals for their Catholic religious beliefs. Mary Tudor's Catholic reign then resulted in the burning of 280 individuals for their Protestant religious beliefs.
One may argue that 280 is almost three and a half times worse than 81 but the fact remains that the conduct of both sides was loathsome during those times.
This is something I have been wondering about. Greek was the common language of the Empire. It seems strange that Latin would have edged it out totally in the film. While Latin may well have been used by some of the officials, any intercultural communication, including PP's interaction with Christ and the Jewish leaders was much more likely to have taken place in Greek, I would have thought.
As much as I admire Gibson and am looking forward to the movie, is this more Gibson's preference for boosting Latin than historical accuracy?
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