On this day:
1738
A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with the settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners.
1895
Playwright, poet, and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of “committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons” and sentenced to serve two years in prison.
1925
Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
1999
The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details the People’s Republic of China’s nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.
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“We can no longer stand old people, we don’t even want to know that they exist, and that’s why we park them in specialised places away from the eyes of other human beings.”--Houellebecq
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A German-based technology company was able to export restricted tech to Russia even after the European Union imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Vladimir Putin’s regime over his invasion of Ukraine.
An investigation by POLITICO has found that Kontron — which has operations across the EU, Britain and America — used its Slovenian subsidiary to export over €3.5 million in sensitive telecommunications tech to its Russian arm in late 2023.
***
Jesus replied: Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.
Anyone who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not my own: it is the word of the Father who sent me.
I have said these things to you while still with you;
but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.
Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
While this is John, who is a unique writer, this tone is very different from Christ. And compact. Something of a notecard for the apostles, in case they missed things. He is part of the Godhead. What he offers is not temporal; his peace is spiritual. He is returning.
And there's the Paraclete.
Paraclete is a word that has not been translated. "Paraclete" appears in Greek versions of the Hebrew Bible even before the time of Jesus and in Aramaic translations of the text from the first century. In the New Testament, it appears only in John.
It's a rarely used Greek word composed of two terms: para, meaning “alongside,” “next to,” and Kletos which derives from the verb kalein, “to call.” A parakletos is someone called to “stand next to.” It has a legal application as "advocate," but in John includes the sense of "comfortor."
During his period as a hermit in the mid-12th century, Peter Abelard dedicated his chapel to the Paraclete because "I had come there as a fugitive and, in the depths of my despair, was granted some comfort by the grace of God.
Christ, again in John, refers to himself as the Paraclete and talks about the coming of "another Paraclete."
All of this in Christian theology implies a revolutionary, intimate immersion of humanity in God.
Interestingly, Muslim writers have argued that "another Paraclete" (John 14:16)—the first being Jesus—refers to Muhammad. This claim is based on Quran 61:6, with a little change in spelling.
"And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, "O children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of God to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad." But when he came to them with clear evidences, they said, "This is obvious magic."
— Sahih International
A few Muslim commentators, such as David Benjamin Keldani (1928), have argued the theory that the original Koine Greek used was periklytos, meaning 'famed, illustrious, or praiseworthy', rendered in Arabic as Aḥmad (another name of Muhammad), and that this was substituted by Christians with parakletos. There are currently no known Greek manuscripts with this reading (all extant Greek manuscripts read παράκλητος parakletos), although the earliest manuscript evidence available is from the 3rd century.
Christ, again in John, refers to himself as the Paraclete and talks about the coming of "another Paraclete."
All of this in Christian theology implies a revolutionary, intimate immersion of humanity in God.
Interestingly, Muslim writers have argued that "another Paraclete" (John 14:16)—the first being Jesus—refers to Muhammad. This claim is based on Quran 61:6, with a little change in spelling.
"And [mention] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, "O children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of God to you confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad." But when he came to them with clear evidences, they said, "This is obvious magic."
— Sahih International
A few Muslim commentators, such as David Benjamin Keldani (1928), have argued the theory that the original Koine Greek used was periklytos, meaning 'famed, illustrious, or praiseworthy', rendered in Arabic as Aḥmad (another name of Muhammad), and that this was substituted by Christians with parakletos. There are currently no known Greek manuscripts with this reading (all extant Greek manuscripts read παράκλητος parakletos), although the earliest manuscript evidence available is from the 3rd century.
A Jewish scholar, Dr. Faydra Shapiro, writes a lovely commentary:
"Looking at the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, of course, the word does not exist, because, well, it’s written in Hebrew. However, in the Greek translation of the Hebrew text from well before Jesus’ time, the word does indeed appear. And we also see it in the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew text from the first century. So the followers of Jesus would not have been like “Para-whaaat?” but would have already been familiar with the term and its connotations.
...
So when the earliest Jewish followers of Jesus heard the word “Paraclete” they would not have thought “it’s all Greek to me” but rather immediately would have heard all of these biblical associations together in a kind of symphony: of profound comfort during a time of perceived abandonment, of an intermediary who stands between you and another helping to increase understanding, of someone standing alongside and advocating on your behalf."
A kind of symphony.
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