Lost in translation.

According to John Wilkins ("The Beginning of the Beginning," January 18), the opponents of Cardinal Augustin Bea at Vatican II argued that St. Paul had spoken of Jews as "enemies of God." Indeed the New English Bible features the following translation of Romans 11:28: "In the spreading of the gospel they are treated as God's enemies for your sake, but God's choice stands, and they are his friends for the sake of the patriarchs." Yet the Douay-Rheims translation rendered the same passage this way: "As concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are most dear for the sake of the fathers." In the King James Version the passage reads: "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes."

By consulting the original Greek, one finds these older translations truer to St. Paul's words than the more modern New English Bible. Paul did not describe Jews as "enemies of God." What happened? Perhaps modern scholars have wanted to make explicit what they felt was implicit. Here they do so at the risk of fomenting hatred. In any case, at Vatican II, Romans 11:29 proved more important: "For the gifts and calling of God [are] without repentance."

JOHN CONNELLY

Berkeley, Calif.

THE AUTHOR REPLIES

I thank John Connelly for his letter. He refers to a passage in my article where I cited opponents of Cardinal Bea's draft of Vatican II's declaration on the Jews. A key Pauline text was at issue for one critic, the Melkite leader Maximos IV Saigh, who wanted changes in the draft. His reasons for intervening are reported by Giovanni Turbanti in the final volume of Giuseppe Alberigo's History of Vatican II: "Maximos IV asked that Romans 11:28-29 be cited in its entirety, for it spoke not only of God's special love of Israel because of the fathers, but also of Israel's enmity toward God because of the gospel" [my italics].

Connelly points out that the original Greek simply says "enemies." In a footnote, Turbanti cites the actual text of Maximos's objection: "When the text cites St. Paul saying that the Jews are 'beloved because of the fathers,' it should add the words 'yet enemies because of the gospel'" [my italics]. So Maximos followed the Greek.

The Revised Standard Version (RSV), however, the best translation in English for scholarly work on St. Paul, and the one which I consulted for my article, is explicit. It translates Romans 11:28-29 this way: "As regards the gospel they are enemies of God for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable" [my italics].

Turbanti explains why Maximos's proposed change was not accepted at the council: "The reason for the rejection ... was that the words in Scripture referred to persecutions inflicted on the first Christian communities and not to Jews of later centuries, still less to the Jewish people as such." That could point to taking "enemies" to mean "enemies of the Christians," though it could also be compatible with the RSV reading. Scripture scholars I have consulted, however, regard "enemies of the Christians" as a very unlikely interpretation. They prefer "enemies of God" or "enemies of the gospel."

In any event, one must consider St. Paul's characteristic rhetorical style. We must not force the expressions "enemies of God" and "enemies of the gospel" further than they were meant to go. This is another of the paradoxes St. Paul loved: enemies ... but beloved. The first term should be kept in apposition to the second, and the stress falls on the latter--as verse 26 makes clear ("All Israel will be saved"). This was precisely Cardinal Bea's approach at Vatican II.

JOHN WILKINS