Divine Office/Christian Prayer

[Jimzz12]

I had a copy of Christian Prayer that I was using for the Office, but the translations made me feel like well… being all mushy and wishy washy with the whole inclusive language thing. I’ve tried to ignore it and now have taken recourse to only reading the Psalms directly out of the Bible.

I’m a bit of an old school Catholic mixed with the new… Novus Ordo mixed with Latin and Greek…et al. So as you can see I’m not all that into something that says ‘and I will gently and delicately seperate the good wheat from the not so good wheat and then give everyone milk and cookies’

For me evil has been tangible. My reassurance is in the Sacraments. I require ‘tangible’ translations.

Someone might say I am chasing a good translation becoming caught up in the chase, but I discarded the old book like six months ago, just to avoid the scourge of chasing after dust and air.

Are there any English translations that are worth my time or money? Or should I just just double up my efforts on Spanish? (which in my opinion is the best language to pray in… Thanks to Thomas Merton for opening my eyes to it) Alas, I am not fluent enough in Spanish so I am trapped.

 

[Cluny]

I’m not aware of the Psalms in Christian Prayer (which were taken from the 4 volume English edition of the Liturgy of the Hours) being in inclusive langauge.

I personally have no problem with inclusive language if the sense of the original is clearly inclusive.

 

[Jimzz12]

I’m not aware of the Psalms in Christian Prayer (which were taken from the 4 volume English edition of the Liturgy of the Hours) being in inclusive langauge.

I personally have no problem with inclusive language if the sense of the original is clearly inclusive.

Perhaps I should have clarified. The Psalms are the only part of the translation I feel comfortable with. In this regard, I am not alone as I have come across the same opinion elsewhere. The language problem I’ve encountered in the non-Psalms material. I’ve read some people and this was my practice, as well, to use my preferred translation of the Bible when ever it was appropriate – say… for the Magnificat etc.

Related question: What’s the scoop on the New Grail Psalter? Last I knew Conception Abbey was working it and GIA was going to be the publisher. At least its not the abominable OCP :takethat:

 

[Tepeyac]

I don’t think the non-psalm bits of Christian Prayer are in inclusive-language. The copyright for the translations is from the 70s and think that’s before inclusive-language became an issue. Maybe what you mean is that your not happy with: #1 the texts of some of the prayers, or #2 with the style of translation.

If it’s #1 there’s not much you can do about it except for the psalm-prayers. They’re not part of the original Liturgy of the Hours and you can skip them if you want to (though personally I’ve found them helpful sometimes).

If it’s #2 I’ve heard that the British edition of the Divine Office (check out reviews at the link) has a better translation but I’ve never looked at it myself. There’s also Lauds & Vespers which is in English & Latin but the English translation is unofficial and it looks like it doesn’t include the Proper of Saints. If you pray online you can always use Universalis but again it’s an unofficial translation and you can’t curl up with a computer