Scripture for the Ridley Cambridge Draft
by Lionel E. Deimel
June 13, 2009
Two months ago, I wrote a
blog post announcing the availability of a document listing all the
scripture cited in the
Ridley Cambridge draft for an Anglican covenant. I decided to add
this page to my Web site to make “Scripture
References for the Ridley Cambridge Draft of the Anglican Communion
Covenant” more readily available. (Many Web searches do not return
material on blogs.) I do hope that this collection of Bible passages
will be useful to those reading the Ridley Cambridge draft, though I
have to add the caveat that one may get a different view of the
significance of the cited scripture by reading not only what was cited
by the Covenant Design Group but by reading the context of those
passages as well.
Perhaps another caveat is in order, namely that one’s choice of Bible
version may affect the message one gets from the cited passages. One
does not need to be a biblical scholar, or even a reader of New
Testament Greek, to appreciate that the notion of the “plain meaning of
Scripture” is suspect. Different Bible translations can differ from one
another in significant ways, to say nothing of the possibility of
interpreting the text in other than a totally literal fashion.
In any case, consider me a skeptic of any document that tries to justify
itself by citing Bible passages. Curiously, most of the citation in the
Ridley Cambridge draft are in the introduction, which is said not to be
a part of the covenant but which is also supposed to be inseparable from
it.
Although I do not feel qualified to say much about the use of
scripture in the draft, I would like to point out one thing I did notice.
Only three verses of the Bible are actually reproduced in the draft, and they are 1
John 1:2–4, used as an epigraph in the introduction:
This life is revealed, and we have seen it and testify to
it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was
revealed to us – we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that
you also may have communion with us; and truly our communion is with the
Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. These things we write so that our
joy may be complete.
What is curious about this passage is the fact that I cannot identify
the Bible translation from which it is taken. The corresponding passage
in my compendium, which uses the New Revised Standard Version, is the
following: this life was revealed, and we have
seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was
with the Father and was revealed to us—we declare to you what we have
seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly
our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are
writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
Whereas these two renderings are quite similar, neither the NRSV nor any
other Bible translation I consulted—the Web hosts quite a few that can
be examined—use the word communion. The word used instead is
invariably fellowship. I suspect what is being cited here is the
Covenant Design Group Version of the Bible. Make of this what you
will.
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