I can’t say why, but of the New Testament, I’ve always been partial to the beginning of John. Here in the NIV: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. // Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.”

I like the poetry of it, the sound of it (the repetition). It’s also a nice callback to Genesis. “In the beginning” then God spoke “Let there be light.” So, quite literally, mythologically speaking, in the beginning was the Word of God. Also, there’s a part later in John chapter 1 about the “Word became flesh,” and sure he means Jesus, but it just sounds really interesting and mysterious– words becoming incarnate.

But I digress. (I began with digression in fact.) The book I’m reading provides this translation “In the beginning was the ratio, and the ratio was with God, and the ratio was God.” Apparently ratio is another translation of the Greek “logos,” more commonly “word.” I guess this makes sense word-root-edly speaking if you consider words like “analogy” and “logic” and, on the other side, the Latin-by-way-of-French “ratiocination.” All three words imply reasoning via comparisons, i.e. ratios.

I digress again. My though upon reading that version went this direction: What would it mean to the passage if we translate it a different way? And how did John mean it? And what other translations could there be? Well, it turns out a lot: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logos. I quite enjoy discovering heavy words.

This entry was posted on January 6, 2010 and is filed under language, philosophy/religion, quotations.