No More Yahweh

[Cam42]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1630128' date='Aug 17 2008, 07:44 PM']Verbum, Apo.

Anywho, I gotta say Alleluia, cause this is pretty good, and Like what was mentioned, it's continuing the Judeo tradition of the sacredness of God's name, which was spoken once a year in the tabernacle. It's quite special, so it should still be given that respect.

Btw, good to see you back there, camster.[/quote]

It is good to be back!!!! And I agree, this is a great move by the Holy Father.

And I am still getting caught up, sorry, I didn't realize this had been gone over.

[Winchester]

Dude...where's my Yahweh?

[StColette]

Yahweh is a horrible translation from the Hebrew and so is Jehovah! I'm very pleased to see this! When I was studying Biblical Hebrew we were never allowed to say Yahweh. It was completely forbidden in the class.

[geetarplayer]

It is definitely a move towards greater unity with our Judaic roots. I remember speaking with a rabbi about worship, and he said something to the effect of, "We never say the name of the Almighty, but it seems you Catholics just don't have a problem with singing it."

[Archaeology cat]

[quote name='StColette' post='1630563' date='Aug 18 2008, 06:31 PM']Yahweh is a horrible translation from the Hebrew and so is Jehovah! I'm very pleased to see this! When I was studying Biblical Hebrew we were never allowed to say Yahweh. It was completely forbidden in the class.[/quote]
Same here. There were a couple of Jews in the class who would have been greatly offended had anyone pronounced YHVH as anything other than 'Adonai. Actually, that happened, when another person did say Yahweh - didn't go over well.

[servus Mariae]

Straight from the Vatican! Laudetur Deus!!!

Vatican Says "Yahweh" Not to Be Pronounced

Calls on Practice Used by 1st Christians

WASHINGTON, D.C., AUG. 19, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A note from the Vatican has reiterated a directive that the name of God revealed in the tetragrammaton YHWH is not to be pronounced in Catholic liturgy.

Bishop Arthur Serratelli, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, in a note informing prelates of the Vatican directive, said the indications "do not force any changes to official liturgical texts," but might cause "some impact on the use of particular pieces of liturgical music in our country as well as in the composition of variable texts such as the general intercessions for the celebration of the Mass and the other sacraments."

Commonly used songs with phrases such as "Yahweh, I know you are near," will need to be modified.

The June 29 Vatican message, from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, clarified that the name of God revealed in YHWH was not pronounced by the first Christians, following the tradition already in use.

It explained: "The venerable biblical tradition of sacred Scripture, known as the Old Testament, displays a series of divine appellations, among which is the sacred name of God revealed in a tetragrammaton YHWH -- hwhw. As an expression of the infinite greatness and majesty of God, it was held to be unpronounceable and hence was replaced during the reading of sacred Scripture by means of the use of an alternate name: 'Adonai,' which means 'Lord.'

"The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the so called Septuagint, dating back to the last centuries prior to the Christian era, had regularly rendered the Hebrew tetragrammaton with the Greek word Kyrios, which means 'Lord.' Since the text of the Septuagint constituted the Bible of the first generation of Greek speaking Christians, in which language all the books of the New Testament were also written, these Christians, too, from the beginning never pronounced the divine tetragrammaton."

Theology

The Vatican goes on to note that this practice had "important implications" for New Testament Christology.

"When in fact, St. Paul, with regard to the crucifixion, writes that 'God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name" (Phil 2:9), he does not mean any other name than 'Lord,' for he continues by saying, 'and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord' (Phil 2:11; cf. Isaiah 42:8: 'I am the Lord; that is my name')," the Vatican note explained.

"The attribution of this title to the risen Christ corresponds exactly to the proclamation of his divinity," it continued. "The title in fact becomes interchangeable between the God of Israel and the Messiah of the Christian faith, even though it is not in fact one of the titles used for the Messiah of Israel."

"Avoiding pronouncing the tetragrammaton of the name of God on the part of the Church has therefore its own grounds," the Vatican concluded. "Apart from a motive of a purely philogical order, there is also that of remaining faithful to the Church's tradition, from the beginning, that the sacred tetragrammaton was never pronounced in the Christian context, nor translated into any of the languages into which the Bible was translated."

[Selah]

This is a wonderful decision.

[Jevitt]

"O Lord, I know, You are near"

I like that better.

[goldenchild17]

interesting. seems to be a good move. should make many people happy

[Brother Adam]

It made many people in our parish very angry, but many Catholics have a hard time understanding how the Church progresses through history and are stuck with the Catholicism that they grew up with. Even the local Catholic newspapers published 2 line stories that completely left out why the Vatican made the decision it did so to continue to foster anger in "progressive" Catholics. We ran a one page special bulletin insert to explain the change. I'm excited to see the change to help us regain a sense of sacredness at Mass.

[Mercy me]

I am very excited by this. Then I first learned about the name I remember asking why we say it. No one has given a me an answer that makes sense and I haven't been comfortable with it since. I understand what the Vatican has said and it is the first answer that has made sense. Yeah!!

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='goldenchild17' post='1647675' date='Sep 4 2008, 08:53 PM']interesting. seems to be a good move. should make many people happy [/quote]

Indeed. Amen.

[Nihil Obstat]

I'm ever so slightly confused.
Are we going to follow the Jewish practice now and never pronounce it, or is this just during Mass?

[Apotheoun]

I think any verbal use of the tetragrammaton should be avoided.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='Apotheoun' post='1649717' date='Sep 7 2008, 12:09 AM']I think any verbal use of the tetragrammaton should be avoided.[/quote]
...but in terms of this announcement. Is it only forbidden during mass, or all the time now?