New Church Life September/October 2017 | Page 48

new church life : september / october 2017
Suppers Holy Supper was offered at Bryn Athyn Cathedral , particularly so that ministers could take the sacrament with their wives . In the evening , ministers and wives ate together at Cairnwood Estate , following a social hour . Bishop Keith offered appreciation for the support wives and families give to the ministers .
Thursday , June 22
The Rev . Nathan D . Gladish opened worship with Psalm 141 and its multisensory depiction of prayer . With this psalm and several other readings he directed our attention to the uses of prayer for others , and how it introduces us into spiritual community with others .
Grammar Serving Understanding The Rev . Malcolm G . Smith introduced the Rev . Derrick A . M . Lumsden whose paper was titled : “ The Grammar of the Divine Human : Understanding Coupled Adjectives in Swedenborg ’ s Latin .”
After noting that we are on holy ground when dealing with the subject of the Divine Human , Derrick turned to language . Latin often uses adjectives substantively , as we do in English when speaking of “ the good ” or “ the handsome .” They can be paired in English “ the handsome good ” as they are often paired in Latin . Divinum Humanum is such a pairing of substantive adjectives . But because this pairing is distinguished from Humanum Divinum , should one of the terms be thought of as an adjective and the other as a substantive ? If so , which one ?
To answer the question , he examined another pair of substantive adjective pairs which , in English , are translated : “ spiritual celestial ” and “ celestial spiritual ” in the light of three passages that the Writings themselves use to define these terms . The conclusion he drew from the analysis was that even though Latin tends to place adjectives after nouns , in the case of paired substantives , the first seems to function as an adjective and the second as a noun ( as English speakers expect in English ).
Applying this to the original pair would mean that “ Divine Human ” is the Human that has a Divine quality and “ Human Divine ” is the Divine that has a Human quality . He wanted to bring this subject to the Council to see if this conclusion is a valid way of unpacking coupled adjectives , as it has implications for helping us understand the emphasis of the Lord ’ s substance , identity and power – that the Human was made Divine . Likewise , for those regenerated in His image , it is our humanity which is to be made spiritual and celestial in quality .
The Rev . Stephen D . Cole gave a formal response with a broadening look
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