Retranslation Day Two - Learning Some Intricacies!

Today I planned to tackle just a few lines from Collection I.V.2.7, but ended up doing the whole paragraph and made more sense of it. I looked up a lot of things that I had just made assumptions about before (ostensibly in the interest of saving time, but laziness can be a factor too). I worked beyond my goal of 30-60 minutes, hitting the two hours mark today, which is big progress for me.

So here is the Macarian thought of the day:

"Not one of us shall really discover God through one word/saying, but in order that he has him in the heart in all perception and full knowledge. (this is what God did...- my words, not in text, but I think implied) On account of your great worth, O humanity, He passed up all the diversity of creation. How wide is the heaven which offers also the shining of the stars, and (yet) the Lord did not take delight in them. And of what sort are the luminaries, of what sort and how great is the earth, and God disregarding everything, he took rest in the heart (of humanity). You alone are called the temple of God and you became the divine dwelling place, in order to lodge and encamp the Lord. "For I will regard with favor the one who is meek and quiet and who trembles at my words." (Is. 66:2b) and again "I will reveal myself to him" (Jn 14:21b) and "I and my father will come and we will make our lodging in his presence." (Jn 14:23b). Then you are the possession of God, you are the inheritance of the king. Do not despise him, O human, but enter upon the race and struggle, in order that you may be counted worthy of the crown by means of work and truth. For many from among us are listening to the Word from the Scriptures, and nevertheless, as the writings say, those have acquired, but only the strangers to work and perception know how to speak. "But if one competes, he does not receive the crown if he does not compete lawfully." (II Tim 2:5) There is a necessity of the race and toil and struggle, there is a necessity of affliction and labor, in order that one has Rest forever and ever."

Retranslation Making More Sense!

Although I'm in a drought with my dissertation at the moment due to some emotional valleys, I decided this week to retranslate some of the rockier parts of my Collection I translations of Macarius. I started with the first one today, Logos V.2.3, and just the last few sentences. But now they make more sense to me and they are actually very encouraging in this season of grief and sorrow. Hope they encourage you too.

"It is joy for the one who mourns and those who are burdened, and consolation refreshing the afflicted, and the tears and the groaning out of the depths of their hearts produce delights for those who belong to the house/family of God. For those who bypass this measure/rule by avoiding all affliction from the face of the soul are also the ones who forsake the tears, grace and love carried by/through the Lord. For such is the measure of completeness."

I know that when the tears come, there is healing in them and God is present with all those who mourn. In fact, he is a fellow mourner sitting with us in the dust. I appreciate your prayers that I would mourn as the grief comes, but be faithful to move forward with life when God gives me a good day like today. Today I used one of the humongous Greek-English concordances that my father and step-mom gave me for Christmas a few years back. It brought tears to my eyes, but thankfulness for that continuing symbol of their support in this project.

The Plan to Finish Chapter One

After meeting with my director last Thursday, I have a new deadline for chapter one: May 1st. Although I already have 21 pages written, it still feels like a daunting task as chapter one involves the literature review. Half of my scholars write in German, a couple in French and a few in English. So I'm committing to translating some German for the chapter 30 minutes a day for the next month. The plan to complete the rest of the chapter in a month involves a daily focus on either a scholar or theme. The first two weeks will be primarily on the scholars. So yesterday, I wrote on Ephrem A. Davids' Das Bild vom Neuen Menschen which I discovered will offer some helpful material for my dissertation. He deals with some of my favorite subtopics such as the image of God and sanctification. Today, I'll be delving into one of the 'biggies', Hermann Dörries, who wrote Die Theologie des Makarios/Symeon, one of the longest works devoted to Macarius: 459 pages of text! Tomorrow will be a French scholar, Vincent Desprez, and later in the week, three Anglophones (Marcus Plested, Alexander Golitzin - my director!, and Columba Stewart). Getting some of the challenging German work done early in the week is a better idea than leaving them until the end of the week!

I've requisitioned a number of books from Marquette and Inter-Library Loan this past weekend. One is a major work on Macarius written in the late 90's by Klaus Fitschen. Then there are the SEVEN Finnish-German conferences on Macarius. I've looked at five of them before, but discovered this weekend that two more conferences took place in 2003 and 2007. (More reason to finish soon, so the 2011 conference doesn't become part of my reading requirements...Or maybe I'll have the opportunity to present at the 2011 conference if I finish my dissertation!) There are occasional papers given at the conference in English (or at least published in English - so maybe they'd let an American sneak in...)

The reward for a month of solid work will be a trip to Pittsburgh for the PTS alumni days! The travel arrangements are already in place, but it will feel wonderful to get on the plane knowing that chapter one has been turned in!! Stranger things have happened.