Daily Archives: April 9, 2015

So I send you: believing

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john20 v21Thomas. Although many translations include “doubt” in v. 27 — and thus lead to the phrase “Doubting Thomas,” but there is no Greek word for “doubt” in the verse. The phrase do not be unbelieving, but believe contrasts apistos and pistos — the only occurrence of both these words in John. Simply put, the word does not mean “doubt” and Greek does not lack the equivalent words: diakrinomai, dialogismos, distazō, dipsychos, aporeō, and aporia. Lowe and Nida (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains) give three definitions for the adjective – pistos.

  • pertaining to trusting — one who trusts in, trusting
  • pertaining to being trusted — faithful, trustworthy, dependable, reliable
  • pertaining to being sure, with the implication of being fully trustworthy — sure

Thus apistos would be “not having trust or faith or certainty.” Continue reading →

Franciscan Simplicity

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saint-francis-of-assisi-cimabueMy Franciscan brother, Fr. Dan Horan OFM, is prolific writer of exceptional clarity. He has an article over at American Magazine that might create some dialogue in the world of Franciscan scholars and perhaps a pundit or two. A simple history of the Franciscan intellectual tradition (too simple to be factual) is that many people from Bonaventure on have tried to peer into the writings and life of St. Francis and synthesize his thought and spirituality in flowing and lofty constructs and thoughts. Francis was no simple person, but he was a man of particular dedication to Scripture. One only need to read Francis’ own writings to see that.  And that is at the core of Fr. Dan’s article Continue reading →