Moses in a lounge suit
Sir: The publication of the Old Testament in modern English brings to light something that Christian commentators have never faced. Non-Christians see it, and use it against us. That the Old Testament is a fountain, and stronghold of what is now called 'racism', the innate superiority of one race over all others. One can read the six- tieth chapter of Isaiah (in the Authorised Version) with pleasure, as a superb ode by a patriot of an ideal land,
'The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls.
And their kings shall minister unto thee.
And the sons of them that afflicted thee shall come bending before thee.'
Now the NEB:
'Foreigners shall rebuild your walls, And their kings shall be your servants.
And the sons of your oppressors shall come forward to do homage.'
There is not much difference, but the feel- ing comes that what was poetry has become prose, and demands a literal interpretation. which poetry does not. We are back in the days of Victoria and Disraeli, when Indian princes did homage to the great queen of the west. A good parallel is 'Rule Britannia', harmless as a song, dangerous nonsense if turned into prose and taught in schools.
The Old Testament ought not to be put into the hands of children until they can study it as secular literature. Otherwise they grow up in the belief that, as God chose the Jews two thousand years ago, he may be choosing their own nation for that role now.
The Dutch in South Africa, having this background, could hardly help seeing them- selves as inheriting in the dark continent the role of 'chosen people'. It is not the whites in Africa who are to blame for apartheid.
but our grandfathers who brought them up to believe that racial superiority has divine sanction. They might have been bet- ter colonists, if they had the Buddhist scrip-
Springfield, Grasmere, 'Ambleside, West' morland
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