Book Reviews
New Zealand Prayer Book, by the Anglican Church of New Zealand, Call Number 264.03 NEW 1997
In its pastoral and congregational praying, the NZ Prayer Book uses more inclusive and straightforward language than the BCP does. In its strictly liturgical text, the NZ has the same wordings as the BCP, “Father, Son, Holy Spirit, sin, our father in heaven,” the creeds, et al. Those of us who want more contemporary expressions are of course free to reword these terms in our private worship. God after all, hears what is in our hearts, not what words we use per se.
The interspersing of Maori can be distracting if one is not use to bilingual texts. The use of pointing (‘) in the Psalms can also be distracting, although it is helpful for doing Anglican chanting.
On the whole, I found the NZ to be interesting, and recommend it to people who want a change from our BCP. If anyone wants to buy it the NZ is available from Amazon and Episcopal Book Store, though at twice the price of the BCP.
Inclusive Language New Testament, by Priests for Equality, a Roman Catholic group, Call Number 225.52 INC 1994.
This translation, made from the original Greek, goes further than any other in using inclusive language for God (“Abba God”) and humanity (“kingdom”). The translators could have done still better if they had used “Father-Mother” for God (Abba being masculine) and “dominion” for kingdom (again, a masculine term).
Priests for Equality have also done translations of the Psalms, the Hebrew Scriptures and the entire Bible. They have changed not only sexist language, but other wordings as well to improve one that may have created other kinds of barriers for people. All these translations are from the original languages and are available from Amazon.
Incidentally, Priests for Equality is a group of women as well as men. God is doing a new thing, and some of us look for the day when Roman Catholic Women can also be Priests
By Kirby Lewis
New Zealand Prayer Book, by the Anglican Church of New Zealand, Call Number 264.03 NEW 1997
In its pastoral and congregational praying, the NZ Prayer Book uses more inclusive and straightforward language than the BCP does. In its strictly liturgical text, the NZ has the same wordings as the BCP, “Father, Son, Holy Spirit, sin, our father in heaven,” the creeds, et al. Those of us who want more contemporary expressions are of course free to reword these terms in our private worship. God after all, hears what is in our hearts, not what words we use per se.
The interspersing of Maori can be distracting if one is not use to bilingual texts. The use of pointing (‘) in the Psalms can also be distracting, although it is helpful for doing Anglican chanting.
On the whole, I found the NZ to be interesting, and recommend it to people who want a change from our BCP. If anyone wants to buy it the NZ is available from Amazon and Episcopal Book Store, though at twice the price of the BCP.
Inclusive Language New Testament, by Priests for Equality, a Roman Catholic group, Call Number 225.52 INC 1994.
This translation, made from the original Greek, goes further than any other in using inclusive language for God (“Abba God”) and humanity (“kingdom”). The translators could have done still better if they had used “Father-Mother” for God (Abba being masculine) and “dominion” for kingdom (again, a masculine term).
Priests for Equality have also done translations of the Psalms, the Hebrew Scriptures and the entire Bible. They have changed not only sexist language, but other wordings as well to improve one that may have created other kinds of barriers for people. All these translations are from the original languages and are available from Amazon.
Incidentally, Priests for Equality is a group of women as well as men. God is doing a new thing, and some of us look for the day when Roman Catholic Women can also be Priests
By Kirby Lewis
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