A gem from a reader
From the Times obituary of Canon David Isitt
When he joined the staff of Bristol Cathedral in 1977 his first sermon concerned the lack of a word for joy in the Eskimo language and the challenge this posed the Bible Society in translating the biblical words "there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth".
However, Isitt informed his listeners: "Eskimos do have an expression for that moment when the dogs come home for the day and are released from their sledges with much tail wagging." So in the Eskimo New Testament the phrase became "there is more tail wagging in heaven". "If our Christian living of the Gospel isn’t setting tails wagging," he said, "why then it’s hardly begun."
Highly commendable of the late Canon, I would think. A propos of the Inuit / Yupik languages, the word for daughter is 'panik', which I think is mildly amusing.
Labels: Greenland, Men and women of the cloth
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on Tuesday, September 08, 2009 at 12:16 pm.
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that's actually quite lovely
Isn't it just? It does the Canon, and by extension the C of E, no end of credit.
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