{"id":93981,"date":"2015-10-14T00:23:58","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T07:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=93981"},"modified":"2015-09-22T21:35:22","modified_gmt":"2015-09-23T04:35:22","slug":"a-reader-puzzles-about-mary-being-full-of-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2015\/10\/a-reader-puzzles-about-mary-being-full-of-grace.html","title":{"rendered":"A Reader Puzzles about Mary being “Full of Grace”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

She writes:<\/p>\n

Hi Mark, we have your email from when you sent us your book we ordered (Mary Mother of the Son<\/em><\/a>), I got it for my husband as he is in full communion with the faith but still has troubles with Mary at times. Your book has been outstanding (we have been reading it together kinda as a book study and just finished Part 1). His questions and similarities are almost identical to the concerns you had towards Mary, so it has been very helpful and insightful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m delighted to hear that!<\/p>\n

Any ways he recently started attending a bible study with his family members who are not catholic and he fully wants to be able to understand translations better from his protestant bible vs. his catholic bible, and better defend his catholic faith. He came across this article (below) that talks about how we catholics are interpreting the Greek words wrong \u201cfull of grace\u201d when it is \u201chighly favored\u201d instead\u2026..Anyways this is his email to you and we were hoping someone could help us find an easier more understandable way to explain the catholic teaching\/translation of Mary \u201cfull of grace\u201d vs. Mary \u201chighly favored\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hi. I am a convert to the Catholic Faith. I have found that She contains the truth, yet being a convert I am still constantly in need of proof. I was trying to defend Mary \u201cfull of grace\u201d when I came upon this article.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/carm.org\/mary-full-grace-and-luke-128<\/a><\/p>\n

He gives a good basis to St. Jerome getting the Greek translation wrong in Luke 1:28.<\/p>\n

I also read this article which I believe does a decent job in explaining the name of Mary that the angel gives.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.catholic.com\/magazine\/articles\/hail-mary-conceived-without-sin<\/a><\/p>\n

The two articles just seem to be at odds with what the actual translation is. I believe that Tim Staples is right in his translation and explanation and I\u2019m not exactly sure what I am looking for. But I would like some kind of clarification. That is, I need a way to defend that Mary is full of grace in light of the first article mentioned. Are we actually right in our translation of \u201cFull of Grace\u201d over the more popular \u201chighly favored\u201d? Does this actually mean the same thing in Greek?<\/p>\n

Like I said I\u2019m not really sure what I\u2019m looking for I just want to know as much as I can\u00a0such\u00a0that I can do\u00a0a good job of defending my faith.\u200b<\/p>\n

Thank you for any help you can provide<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Greek word is \u201cKecharitomene\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s a title, more than a word, just as if I were to walk up to you and say, \u201cHail, Big Kahuna\u201d or \u201cGreetings, Your Awesomeness\u201d.\u00a0 That in itself is significant since angels don\u2019t normally give humans titles in Scripture.\u00a0 Typically their greeting is \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid\u201d since the response of sinners to angelic glory is a healthy awareness that the angel would be perfectly justified in striking down any member of our miserable sinful species on sight.<\/p>\n

But in Luke\u2019s account Mary is, surprisingly, unafraid of the angel, and it is the archangel who is deferential and greeting her with \u201cKaire, Kecharitomene!\u201d\u00a0 It is the *greeting<\/strong>*\u2013the title\u2013not the angel, that troubles her.\u00a0 She is puzzled by it.\u00a0 As to the title itself, CARM is too simple by a long shot.\u00a0 The problem is that the Greek word is too full of meanings and connotations to be patient of a single rendering in English, so translators are stuck doing the best they can.\u00a0 The root of the word is \u201ccharis\u201d, a term that can mean \u201cgrace\u201d, \u201cfavor\u201d or even the very life of God himself.\u00a0 So the title encompasses \u201cfull of grace\u201d (the translation Jerome, the greatest biblical scholar of antiquity, used).\u00a0 But it also encompasses, \u201chighly favored one\u201d and \u201cone full of the life of God\u201d.\u00a0 A translator has to pick one, a Greek speaker can hold all three in mind.\u00a0 But the dumb thing to do is pick only one and demand the other connotations be trashed.\u00a0 CARM is just engaging in a little Catholic bashing here.<\/p>\n

I discuss this some in the chapter on the Immaculate Conception in Mary, Mother of the Son<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Translation is as much art as science and it is not at all uncommon for words and ideas in one language to be too \u201cbig\u201d to easily translate into a single word in another, or for one language to have several words while another language has only one.<\/p>\n

Take \u201clove\u201d.\u00a0 For English speakers, \u201clove\u201d covers everything from how you\u00a0 feel about pizza, to your dog, to your husband, to your best friend, to your child, to God.\u00a0 For other languages, there are different words for each kind of love and woe betide you if you use the wrong word.\u00a0 The Greeks have four words for love<\/a> depending on whether you mean affection, friendship, erotic love, or the love of God.\u00a0 Some years ago, President Carter went to Poland and gave a speech declaring America\u2019s love for Poland, but the translator used the Polish for \u201cerotic love\u201d and not \u201cfilial affection\u201d. It was not a stellar moment in US\/Polish relations.<\/p>\n

All of which is to say that \u201cKecharitomene\u201d is patient of the reading Jerome gives it, as well as others. It\u2019s not either\/or.<\/p>\n

God love you as you seek to serve our Lord and honor her of whom he said, \u201cBehold your mother.\u201d \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

She writes: Hi Mark, we have your email from when you sent us your book we ordered (Mary Mother of the Son), I got it for my husband as he is in full communion with the faith but still has troubles with Mary at times. 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