Saturday, September 29, 2007

Pimp My Liturgy - 02

Yes, I know. Too much time on my hands.

But this second instalment of Pimp My Liturgy focuses, as did the previous, on the Dead Sea Scrolls. There is so much boring shite in those scrolls, they need my help, believe me.

However, today will also throw into the mix that peculiar and silly NT philosophical faddism that denies the significance of authorial intent (I'm imagining certain rabid NT scholars punching desks, crying that we have documents, not authors). Against all that claptrap, cf. P Esler's treatment of authorial intent in his New Testament Theology: Communion and Community, and Max Turner's article in Between Two Horizon's. But assuming the anti-authorial-intent twaddle for a moment, today I will pimp: 4Q503 (4QDaily Prayers^a).

The original fragments (11 vv 1-3; 13-16 vv 3-7) to be pimped run as follows:

"1. [...] ... Blank [...] 2. [The twel]fth of the month, in the evening, [they shall bless ...] 3. [...] ... And we, his holy people, exult this night [...]; [... the lig]ht of day [...] 4. [... Blessed be] your [na]me, God of Israel, in a[ll...] 5. [...] Blank [...] 6-7. [...] ... [...]"

(The [...] and ... refer to illegible or lost text. Text within [] is a restoration of sometimes minimally preserved text)

I wouldn't want to try and reconstruct authorial intent here, obviously. We have documents, not authors. So I thought I'd pimp this old liturgical nugget with plain old tongue speaking – so this is really one for charismatic brothers and sisters.

To be sung to the tune of 'You can't touch this' by MC Hammer (one should also preferably wear enormous trousers for this rendition):

"1. Kiwiminebananana, Bananananana
Blank kiwiwiwbenenene
2. The twelfth of the month, in the evening, they shall bless Banananananana
3. alalalalblalala brrrrzipweepop And we, his holy people, exult this night kiwiminebananana the light of day kiwiminebananana
4. Blessed be your name, God of Israel, in all kiwiminebananana
5. kiwiminebananana
Blank
kiwiminebananana
6-7 kiwiminebultmanndidnthaveacluebanananakiwiminebananana"

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6 Comments:

At 9/29/2007 2:49 AM, Anonymous Shane Clifton said...

In some of the very early pentecostal texts that i read in my studies, you actually get typed out tongues messages in the middle of sermons (generally - a translated version - although a few times i came accross attempts to type out the original tongue). Great fun really.

 
At 9/29/2007 4:59 AM, Anonymous T. Michael W. Halcomb said...

We've seen Tilling as a stoner among other things, how about Tilling in some hammer pants?

www.michaelhalcomb.blogspot.com

 
At 9/29/2007 5:11 PM, Anonymous Jim said...

Why do Pentecostals love bananas so much? I note that the word occurs frequently. Is it some Eerdmanian fascination?

I only ask because I don't know. Pentecostals are scary and I try to avoid them. And, since there won't be any in heaven (or Anabaptists), I'm trying to get used to not being around them.

;-)

 
At 9/29/2007 9:45 PM, Anonymous Chris Tilling said...

Hi Shane! Perhaps we need an internet translator for such language too?

TMWH, I thought I's put Barth in hammer pants instead ... (cf. my latest post)

Jim, we are all far to spiritual for you to understand, but, yes, it is an Eerdmanian thing.

 
At 9/30/2007 8:41 PM, Anonymous ntWrong said...

Some people find biblical scholarship dry and sleep-inducing. Somehow you manage to find hidden delights to keep yourself from nodding off.

I can tell you have a pentecostal background; I think this must be some kind of spiritual gift.

 
At 10/03/2007 12:55 AM, Anonymous Chris Tilling said...

:-)

Thanks Steven,
I think!

 

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