Saturday, March 24, 2007

_Jesus the Christ_ in Spanish


_Jesus the Christ_ in Spanish
Originally uploaded by gwilmore.
I spent some time playing with my camera this morning and created a little missionary opportunity with it. Click on the image and read my description of the photograph.

2 Comments:

Blogger Bruce Young said...

I'll have to read Jesus the Christ in Spanish. I have a copy in French but don't remember ever having read the whole thing in that language. My family and I are currently doing our evening scripture reading in a Spanish translation of the Book of Mormon. Margaret says Spanish always brings a special spirit for her, probably because of profound experiences she's had related to that language and the people who speak it. I think there may be something in the language itself. It's a bit of a cliche that Spanish is a spiritual language (somebody once said he used German with his horse, Spanish with God, French with his mistress . . . I'm not sure whether Italian came into it). But I think the spiritual qualities of Spanish may be more than a cliche.

10:09 AM  
Blogger Garry Wilmore said...

I can understand why Margaret feels the way she does. I have read the Book of Mormon more than 70 times, but I'd have to say the time I enjoyed it most, and derived the greatest benefit from it, was the first time I read it in Italian. That was during the summer of 1999. There are nuances in the foreign-language editions that can sometimes cast a new meaning to a familiar passage. Case in point: when Nephi is discussing the Exodus with his rebellious brethren, he said the children of Israel were "straitened" by the Lord throughout those years in the wilderness. I had never really thought about the true meaning of that word until I read it in Italian, which uses the verb "confinare." That means to limit or restrain or put within specified boundaries.

I have what may be the rather unusual distinction of having read all the Standard Works of the Church in three languages. (More than once in each language, in fact; for instance, I've read the Old Testament three or four times in Spanish and about three times in Italian.) I can't explain the reason for this, but as between the foreign-language translations with which I am familiar, I discovered that I like the Old Testament better in Italian, but prefer the New Testament in Spanish. The Psalms are especially good in Italian, a language ideally suited for poetry.

10:29 AM  

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