We discussed at some length what to include for a footnote to 1:26,27 and agreed to a format for displaying the rhetorical devices in chapter 3. Additionally, after much discusion, we decided to use either the word “fury” or “punishment” for orgē, depending on the context. This impacted several verses in Romans but also required some minor tweaks to the work we’ve already completed in Matthew, Mark, and Colossians.

We spent considerable time wrestling with how to render hilastērion in 3:25 given the theologically-charged issue of the atonement and the relative obscurity of Paul’s cultic metaphor (for many contemporary readers anyway). We decided on “Godde offered him as the place of reconciliation through trust in his blood.”

Finally, we couldn’t help but jump ahead to 16:7 regarding Junia the apostle.

All in all, a very productive discussion!

Additionally, we’ve updated The Good News According to the Tradition of Matthew to make a correction and added Study Bible annotations at the end of To the Philippians and To the Colossians.

We won’t be posting any more books for the remainder of the year, but work continues on Luke, John, and Romans. We anticipate being able to post another book in January.

I have tried to use gender-neutral language throughout when referring to human beings. Sometimes this has been, to put it mildly, quite difficult. I have often had to use what some people regard as an ugly and ungrammatical form, saying “they” rather than “he or she.” This is a classic example of what happens when a language is going through a time of change. That can’t be helped. Indeed, it is because languages are constantly changing that we regularly need fresh translations (p. xvi).

Other contemporary translations, such as Today’s New International Version, have also taken the route of the “singular they,” as have the editors of the Divine Feminine Version.

This approach allows for a more straightforward rendering of the Greek than the more creative approaches of changing the third person singular to the third person plural — e.g., “Those who love me will keep my word, and … we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23, NRSV) versus “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and … We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23, NASB) — and changing the third person to the second person — e.g., “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?” (Matt. 7:9, NRSV) versus “Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks him for a loaf, will give him a stone?” (Matt. 7:9, NASB).

Compare the “singular they” approach: “Which of you parents, if their child asks for bread, will give them a stone?” (Matt. 7:9, DFV).

Although the “singular they” has not always been considered grammatically correct usage in English by all grammarians, it is probably the single most popular solution to the problem of the generic masculine third person singular pronoun. For more information, see our Basic Principles Essay in our Divine Feminine Version Study Bible.

We made another important decision in our October meeting as well. Although we had already discussed the issue at some length in May, we revisited our use of the term “Christa” in light of continuing feedback on our project and decided to return to the term “Christ” instead. Our previous work has been updated to reflect this change.

If you’d like to provide feedback by posting on the weblog, the best places to comment are the Positive (Constructive) Feedback page or, if you don’t care at all for what we’re doing, the Rebuttals page.

In another exciting development, the Rev. Dr. Laura Grimes has agreed to be recognized as a General Editor in the project. Though she’s the newest member of the team, she’s brought with her a wealth of pastoral experience, academic insight, and inspiration which has contributed significantly to our work. Thanks so much, Laura!

If you’d like to provide feedback by posting on the weblog, the best places to comment are the Positive (Constructive) Feedback page or, if you don’t care at all for what we’re doing, the Rebuttals page.

We began by discussing and revising a proposed application for inclusion on the DFV editorial team for future reference.

We addressed and agreed upon our general approach to the narratives involving Abraham in Acts 7:2-8, Romans 8:1-23, and Galatians 3:6-29, agreeing to include Sarah in the narrative as appropriate.

We discussed our approach to the word pistis extensively, considering its usage throughout the New Testament. We agreed to Julie’s proposal of  following the example of The Complete Gospels and The Authentic Letters of Paul in using the word “trust” instead of the words “faith” and “believe,” with the exception of the unqualified phrase “the faith.” As part of that discussion, we agreed on the subjective genitive interpretation of pistis christou in Paul.

We agreed to adopt Laura’s proposal to consistently use the word “partnership” instead of “communion” or “fellowship” for koinonia.

After a more thorough discussion, we decided to render episkopos as “guardian” and diakonos as “minister” with the exception of those cases where it literally means “servant” (as in the Gospels).

After discussing further the usage of the word doxa in John and the epistles, we agreed to switch back from “radiance” to “glory.”

Given our distinction between “Lady” (when kyrios refers to Godde) and “Lord” (when it refers to Jesus), we discussed the important question of which term to use when it’s not clear to whom it refers. We decided that when the context is sufficiently ambiguous, we will use “Lady” as a default. Where it seems more clear that the reference is to Jesus, we will use “Lord” instead of “Lady.”

We discussed whether to continue using “Torah” instead of “Law” for nomos but tabled the discussion for the next meeting.

We reviewed Laura’s work on the first chapter of Philippians and finalized it. We will address the other three chapters in our next meeting. We did skip ahead to one verse in chapter 2, however, and agree to use the feminine pronoun in Philippians 2:7 so as to emphasize Christ as the incarnation of the divine feminine.

As a side note, we did not have time to consider Shawna’s work on Colossians, but it’s on our agenda to consider right after Philippians.

Finally, we scheduled our next Skype conference for next month. An important adjustment we’ve made to our process is to move from less frequent weekend marathon meeting sessions to more frequent, shorter Skype sessions. This should considerably streamline our process and help keep us focused.

In addition, we made several other adjustments at that time. Here are some highlights:

In order to remain consistent with our rendition of the word hagios, we decided to use “Holy Spirit” instead of “Divine Spirit.”

Instead of using “assembly” for “synagogue” and “Judean” for “Jew” — which was originally intended to mitigate anti-Semitic readings — we decided to use “synagogue” and “Jew” so as not to unintentionally de-Judaize the NT.

Instead of flattening out a variety of terms with the single word “good,” we decided to use “just” for “righteous” and ”justice” for “righteousness.”

We discussed at some length whether to use the word “servant” or “slave” for doulos. The team was divided on the question, so we agreed to the compromise of “bondservant.”

Deciding that “Realm of Godde” didn’t convey the ambiguity that we had originally intended, we decided to switch to the more commonly used “Reign of Godde” instead.

We also spent considerable time discussing the suggestion that we use “Christ-Sophia” instead of “Christa.” Initially we discussed going to the more literal rendition “Anointed,” but by the end of the weekend decided to retain the term “Christa.”

Those are some of the highlights from our May meeting. This morning we had a shorter Skype meeting to begin considering other questions as we begin to work on Paul.

Laura is also the author of Sophia’s Book of Hours and Sophia’s Rosary. Sophia’s Book of Hours contains prayers for morning, midday, evening, and night offices.  It includes Psalms from Sophia’s Psalter, along with other readings and prayers.

Sophia’s Rosary adapts the traditional  rosary devotion with prayers to Sophia and God the Mother as well as twelve new sets of scriptural “mysteries” for meditation which focus on feminine images of God and great women of the Bible.  It can be used with any set of prayer beads (Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, Buddhist malas) and also makes an excellent outline for individual or group study of biblical women.

Free sample pages for all three Sophia prayer books can be obtained by emailing laura@grimes.ws and they can be ordered — with significant discounts for multiple copies of one book or combinations of books — at http://lauramgrimes.blogspot.com.