Mural, St. Joseph’s Church, New Plymouth, New Zealand, by Michael Smither.
“Michael Smither was commissioned to prepare 14 Stations of the Cross for St Joseph’s Church in New Plymouth, New Zealand and although there was controversy because parishioners thought they were too stark, he was, nevertheless, later invited to paint a mural on the back wall of the church. He has completed the mural of “Doubting Thomas” (opposite) and a a second mural on the baptism of Jesus (see here ).
“When he was a child, Michael Smither was taught that doubt was a sinful and negative trait but, despite this, he always had a sneaking respect for Thomas as a person who had the strength to stand alone and make a personal search for the truth. When asked to paint a church mural, he chose Thomas because, he said, ‘he was, for me, one of the most courageous of the apostles. He had to find out for himself. It was a courageous thing to do. I named one of my children Thomas.'” (Source for this and the image: The Bible Through Asian Eyes by Masao Takenaka and Ron O’Grady 1991)
Orthodox Icons are not drawings or creations of imagination. They are in fact writings of things not of this world. Icons can represent our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the Saints. They can also represent the Holy Trinity, Angels, the Heavenly hosts, and even events. Orthodox icons, unlike Western pictures, change the perspective and form of the image so that it is not naturalistic. This is done so that we can look beyond appearances of the world, and instead look to the spiritual truth of the holy person or event. (Source )
The name that is transliterated as “Thomas” in English is translated in Finnish Sign Language with the sign signifying “doubt” (referring to John 20:25). (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
Following are a number of back-translations of John 20:27:
Uma: “After that, he said saying to Tomas: ‘Put your (sing.) finger here, and see the nail-places that are in my hand. Bring your (sing.) hand here, put it in the spearing-place in my side. Don’t be uncertain. Believe!'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Then he said to Tomas, ‘Look at my hands. Feel. Stretch your hand out and touch the scar in my side. Do not doubt any longer. Really believe now.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “And then he said to Thomas, ‘Stick your finger in here; your hand also, stick it here in my side. Look at my hands and no longer doubt, but rather believe.'” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Then he said to Tomas, ‘Here are my hands, probe/feel-them. Stretch-out also your (sing.) hand to insert it into my side. Don’t doubt but rather believe (sing.).'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Then he said to Tomas, ‘Look at my hands, and poke your finger here in the wound where the nail went. Also put your hand here in my side. Don’t say it is lies any longer. Believe it now.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “Thomas was then told, ‘Place your finger here and touch my hand. Put your hand here in my side where the spear went in. Do not doubt, believe.'” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
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