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Editing Jesus
John M. McCarthy on the Implications of Changing the Pater Noster
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things." "The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master—that's all."
On the first Sunday of December, the Catholic Québécois recited a new "translation" of the Our Father. "Ne nous soumets pas à la tentation" ("lead us not into temptation") is now rendered "Ne nous laisse pas entrer en tentation" ("do not let us enter into temptation"). Earlier this past November, the Italian Bishops' Conference approved a similar change to the Italian translation, from "non indurci in tentazione" ("lead us not into temptation") to "non abbandonarci alla tentazione" ("do not abandon us to temptation"). Rather than making a unilateral move in altering the Our Father according to Pope Francis's inferred wishes, it appears that Catholic bishops are taking a "synodal" approach.
A little over fifty years ago, the same Latin translation of the Our Father was said in every Roman Catholic Mass. Now, to go along with just these three languages—Latin, Italian, and French—Catholics can celebrate a genuine diversity in what is signified. Why should any single language, say Latin, maintain a monopoly on meanings? Surely the Catholic Church in her economy can offer a more evolved range, a full smorgasbord.
The English translation of "lead us not into temptation" has been a point of continuity among English-speaking Christians through many centuries—it is identical in the King James Version, the Revised Standard Version, and even the Douay-Rheims Bible. At the end of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which I attend regularly, it is an edifying experience to stand with my Christian brethren reciting the Lord's Prayer using the same words. Pope Francis has advocated for a robust ecumenism; perhaps he could have used the Our Father as a point of emphasis.
Clearer Translations?
Still, the pope had worried that the old translation would lead to confusion: "I am the one who falls. It's not Him pushing me into temptation, to then see how I have fallen. A father doesn't do that. A father helps you to get up immediately. . . . It's Satan who leads us into temptation. That's his department."
One may readily find other passages in Scripture that confirm the pope's theology: "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one; but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire" (James 1:13–14).
Fr. Scott Lewis, a New Testament scholar at Regis College, commented, "the Pope is correct. The word in question is peirasmon, and although it can mean temptation, the more common understanding is 'testing' or 'trial.'" Unfortunately, Father Lewis's assessment did not, and does not, accurately describe the change in the translation. The word in question is not peirasmon, which stays tentation in French and tentazione in Italian, but eisenenkēs (carry into), which is now "translated" laisse entrer (let enter) in French and abbandonarci (abandon) in Italian.
Cardinal Giuseppe Betori said, "the Latin (inducas) and Greek (eisenenkēs) have only a concessive value: in practice, 'to let in.'" The director of the University of Montreal's Institute of Religious Studies, Alain Gignac, with the Greek Gospels in hand no less, claimed that the Greek phrase could be translated literally as "let us not go in the direction of temptation."
Not Translation but Revision
This, I am sorry to say, is wrong. It is not the right verb, nor the correct person. Crack open Louw and Nida's Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament. Throw in the unabridged ninth edition of Liddell and Scott's irreproachable Greek-English Lexicon. You will not find in either, "go in the direction of," "go," "let in," "abandon," or any synonym of such verbs under eispherō. The same can be said for the Latin induco.
John M. McCarthy is a fellow at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire, where he lives with his wife, Aja, and their three children. He is a Roman Catholic and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston College.
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