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112-825: The compiling of the Einheitsübersetzung is a consequence of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council . Vatican II authorized the use of non- Latin languages in the Mass and allowed the local languages into the liturgy. A compilation of new translations of the Bible became urgently needed for the liturgical use in local languages: "the Church by her authority and with maternal concern sees to it that suitable and correct translations are made into different languages" ( Dei verbum , 22) The Einheitsübersetzung

224-570: A Messiah of David (i.e. a descendant). From these ideas, Second Temple Judaism would later emerge, whence Christianity , Rabbinic Judaism , and Islam . Although the specific process by which the Israelites adopted monotheism is unknown, the transition was a gradual one and was not totally accomplished during the First Temple period. It is unclear when the worship of Yahweh alone began. The earliest known portrayals of Yahweh as

336-550: A century earlier there were 737 Council Fathers, mostly from Europe ). At Vatican II, some 250 bishops were native-born Asians and Africans, whereas at Vatican I, there were none at all. General Congregations (§3, 20, 33, 38–39, 52–63). The Council Fathers met in daily sittings – known as General Congregations – to discuss the schemas and vote on them. These sittings took place in St. Peter's Basilica every morning until 12:30 Monday to Saturday (except Thursday). The average daily attendance

448-435: A few days to allow each national group of bishops to meet and draw up a list of its own members who might be suitable candidates. Cardinal Frings , the senior German bishop, rose to second the motion. There was loud applause and the motion was declared carried. That day's sitting was adjourned after only 15 minutes. For the next few days, Council Fathers met in national groups and drew up lists of candidates. The bishops from

560-481: A heavier emphasis on church traditions than was found in the original text and the consensus decision-making process used up to that point did not hold, after which common ground between the denominations had to be found. After the completion of the revision it had to be submitted for a Papal Approbation , which was also rejected by the EKD. The new edition (February 2010) prefers gender-neutral wording and does not render

672-407: A list of the bishops who had served on the preparatory commissions, as if to suggest that they elect the same people to the conciliar commissions, with the result that Curial forces would dominate the conciliar commissions as they had dominated the preparatory commissions. As the voting was about to begin, Cardinal Liénart , the senior French bishop, rose and proposed that the election be delayed for

784-405: A modest decentralization of liturgical authority to national episcopal conferences. The conservatives objected to all these proposals, especially to the downgrading of Latin. Debate dragged on for 15 days, before the vote was taken on whether the schema was acceptable in principle. To everyone's surprise, only 46 (out of 2,215) voted against. A second win for renewal. The schema was now returned to

896-409: A more understandable and relevant way. Support for aggiornamento won out over resistance to change, and as a result the sixteen magisterial documents produced by the council proposed significant developments in doctrine and practice, notably The council had a significant impact on the Church due to the scope and variety of issues it addressed. Some of the most notable changes were in performance of

1008-534: A number of schemas were consolidated and merged, with the result that the total number of schemas was whittled down from 70 to 22. Paragraph numbers in this section refer to the Council Regulations published in the motu proprio Appropinquante concilio , of 6 August 1962. Council Fathers (§1). All the bishops of the world, as well as the heads of the main religious orders of men, were entitled to be "Council Fathers", that is, full participants with

1120-538: A platform from which they could work to further their views. Private Periti (§11). Each bishop was allowed to bring along a personal theological adviser of his choice. Known as "private periti ", they were not official Council participants and could not attend General Congregations or commission meetings. But like the official periti , they gave informal talks to groups of bishops, bringing them up to date on developments in their particular area of expertise. Karl Rahner , Joseph Ratzinger and Hans Küng first went to

1232-504: A response in very limited circles. By 1960, the movement was still in its infancy. By the 1930s, mainstream theology based on neo-scholasticism and papal encyclicals was being rejected by some theologians as dry and uninspiring. Thus was born the movement called ressourcement , the return to the sources: basing theology directly on the Bible and the Church Fathers . Some theologians also began to discuss new topics, such as

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1344-525: A return from the Vulgate to the original sources. The translation work lasted from 1962 to 1974, after which the translation was tried in practice then reworked from 1975 to 1978. In 1978, the final edition was accepted by the German Bishops' Conference . Since then, the Einheitsübersetzung has proven that it has accomplished its purpose and has become the official text source for religious life in

1456-777: A shared connection. Doeg the Edomite , for example, is depicted as having no problem in worshiping Yahweh and is shown to be at home in Jewish sanctuaries. Unlike the chief god of the Ammonites ( Milcom ) and the Moabites ( Chemosh ), the Tanakh refrains from explicitly naming the Edomite Qōs. Some scholars have explained this notable omission by assuming that the level of similarity between Yahweh and Qōs would have made rejection of

1568-476: A similarity Plutarch used to argue that Jews worshipped a hypostasized form of Bacchus–Dionysus. In his Quaestiones Convivales , Plutarch further notes that the Jews hail their god with cries of " Euoi " and " Sabi ", phrases associated with the worship of Dionysus. According to Sean M. McDonough , Greek speakers may have confused Aramaic words such as Sabbath , Alleluia , or even possibly some variant of

1680-426: A two-thirds majority. For each schema, after a preliminary discussion there was a vote whether it was considered acceptable in principle, or rejected. If acceptable, debate continued with votes on individual chapters and paragraphs. Bishops could submit amendments, which were then written into the schema if they were requested by many bishops. Votes continued in this way until wide agreement was reached, after which there

1792-660: Is associated with Seir , Edom , Paran and Teman , and later with Canaan . His worship reaches back to at least the Early Iron Age , and likely to the Late Bronze Age , if not somewhat earlier. While the Israelites held him as their national god , their religion—known as Yahwism , involving the worship of Yahweh among a broader Semitic pantheon —was still essentially polytheistic or, according to some accounts, monolatristic . However, during and after

1904-556: Is in the Egyptian demonym tꜣ šꜣsw Yhwꜣ , " YHWA (in) the Land of the Shasu " ( Egyptian : 𓇌𓉔𓍯𓄿 Yhwꜣ ) in an inscription from the time of Amenhotep III (1390–1352 BCE), the Shasu being nomads from Midian and Edom in northern Arabia. Although it is still uncertain whether a relationship exists between the toponym yhwꜣ and theonym YHWH , the dominant view is that Yahweh

2016-634: Is mentioned as the ruler of Jerusalem and probably also of Judah. In 587/6 BCE Jerusalem fell to the Neo-Babylonians , Solomon's Temple was destroyed, and the leadership of the community were deported. The next 50 years, the Babylonian exile , were of pivotal importance to the history of Israelite religion. As the traditional sacrifices to Yahweh (see below) could not be performed outside Israel, other practices including sabbath observance and circumcision gained new significance. In

2128-633: Is one thing; the manner in which these truths are set forth (with their meaning preserved intact) is something else. The first working session of the council was on 13 October 1962. That day's agenda included the election of members of the 10 conciliar commissions. Each was to have 16 members elected by the Council Fathers and 8 – later 9 – members appointed by the Pope. Most bishops knew very few bishops other than those from their own country, and so did not know whom to vote for. They had been provided with

2240-408: The 9th century BCE , there are indications of rejection of Baal worship associated with the prophets Elijah and Elisha . The Yahweh-religion thus began to separate itself from its Canaanite heritage; this process continued over the period from 800 to 500 BCE with legal and prophetic condemnations of the asherim , sun worship and worship on the high places , along with practices pertaining to

2352-501: The Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BCE, the Israelite religion gradually evolved into Judaism and Samaritanism , which are both strictly monotheistic and thus regard Yahweh as God in the singular sense—that is, as the supreme being of the universe and without any equals. In the oldest examples of biblical literature , Yahweh possesses attributes that were typically ascribed to deities of weather and war , fructifying

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2464-568: The Greek Magical Papyri , under the names Iao , Adonai , Sabaoth , and Eloai . In these texts, he is often mentioned alongside traditional Graeco-Roman deities and Egyptian deities . The archangels Michael , Gabriel , Raphael , and Ouriel and Jewish cultural heroes such as Abraham , Jacob , and Moses are also invoked frequently. The frequent occurrence of Yahweh's name was likely due to Greek and Roman folk magicians seeking to make their spells more powerful through

2576-749: The Land of Israel and leading a heavenly army against the nation's enemies. The early Israelites may have leaned towards polytheistic practices that were otherwise common across ancient Semitic religion , as their worship apparently included a variety of Canaanite gods and goddesses , such as El , Asherah , and Baal . In later centuries, El and Yahweh became conflated, and El-linked epithets, such as ʾĒl Šadday ( אֵל שַׁדַּי ‎), came to be applied to Yahweh alone. Some scholars believe that El and Yahweh were always conflated. Characteristics of other deities, such as Asherah and Baal, were also selectively "absorbed" in conceptions of Yahweh. Over time,

2688-470: The Luther Translation of the Bible used by Protestant churches was never intended. The Einheitsübersetzung is designed for the complete religious life, from religious instruction to worship. Linguistic comprehensibility and poetic style were considered. Linguists and experts in liturgy , catechetics , didactics , educational media, and sacred music worked with the theologians to secure

2800-564: The Negev and Beersheba , both in the territory of Judah. Shiloh , Bethel , Gilgal , Mizpah , Ramah and Dan were also major sites for festivals, sacrifices, the making of vows , private rituals, and the adjudication of legal disputes. Yahweh-worship was thought to be aniconic , meaning that the god was not depicted by a statue or other image. This is not to say that he was not represented in some symbolic form, and early Israelite worship probably focused on standing stones , but according to

2912-504: The World Council of Churches were represented. The observers were entitled to sit in on all general assemblies (but not the commissions) and they mingled with the Council Fathers during the breaks and let them know their reactions to speeches or to schemas. Pope Paul VI welcomed their participation "with gratitude and respect". Their presence helped to break down centuries of mistrust. Lay auditors . While not provided for in

3024-647: The creator-god of all the earth is first elaborated by the Second Isaiah , a 6th-century BCE exilic work whose case for the theological doctrine rests on Yahweh's power over other gods, and his incomparability and singleness relative to the gods of the Babylonian religion. Benjamin D. Sommer argues that the distinction between polytheism and monotheism has been greatly exaggerated. The centre of Yahweh's worship lay in three great annual festivals coinciding with major events in rural life: Passover with

3136-699: The "antepreparatory period". On 17 May 1959, Pope John appointed an Antepreparatory Commission to conduct a vast consultation of the Catholic world concerning topics to be examined at the council. Three groups of people were consulted: the bishops of the world, the Catholic universities and faculties of theology, and the departments of the Curia. By the following summer, 2,049 individuals and institutions had replied with 9,438 individual vota ("wishes"). Some were typical of past ways of doing things, asking for new dogmatic definitions or condemnations of errors. Others were in

3248-447: The "prophets of doom who are always forecasting disaster" for the church or world. He spoke of the advantage of separation of Church and state but also the challenge to integrate faith with public life. What is needed at the present time is a new enthusiasm, a new joy and serenity of mind in the unreserved acceptance by all of the entire Christian faith, without forfeiting that accuracy and precision in its presentation which characterized

3360-536: The 5 European countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria) that spearheaded the renewal movement decided to create a single list, to which a number of renewal-minded bishops from other countries were added, for a total of 109 names. The election took place on October 16. It brought in new blood: 79 of these 109 were elected to a commission seat and 50% of the members of the very important doctrinal commission were among these 79. In addition 43% of

3472-638: The Biblical texts the temple in Jerusalem featured Yahweh's throne in the form of two cherubim , their inner wings forming the seat and a box (the Ark of the Covenant ) as a footstool, while the throne itself was empty. There is no universally accepted explanation for such aniconism , and a number of scholars have argued that Yahweh was in fact represented prior to the reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah late in

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3584-647: The Council Prominent Reform-minded Bishops at the Council Prominent reform-minded theologians at the Council John XXIII opened the council on 11 October 1962 in a public session at St. Peter's Basilica and delivered his opening address Gaudet Mater Ecclesia  ("Mother Church Rejoices") before the Council Fathers and representatives of 86 governments or international groups. He criticized

3696-586: The Doctrinal Commission (representing the conservative tendency) and the Secretariat for Christian Unity (representing the renewal tendency). A third victory for renewal and a crucial turning point at the council. This innocuous schema could be boiled down to two propositions that had been said many times before: the Church must use the media to further its mission, and people must be protected against immorality and other dangers presented by

3808-915: The German-speaking dioceses. Protestant theologians from the Protestant Brotherhood of St. Michael, a part of the Berneuchen Movement , worked on the Einheitsübersetzung from the start. They did not yet have an official commission from the Catholic Church. The Protestant Church in Germany (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland, abbreviated EKD, which is generally equivalent to the Lutheran church in America)

3920-676: The Israelites, and there is no consensus on its etymology, with ehyeh ašer ehyeh (" I Am that I Am "), the explanation presented in Exodus 3:14, appearing to be a late theological gloss invented at a time when the original meaning had been forgotten, although some scholars dispute this. Lewis connects the name to the Amorite element yahwi- ( ia-wi ), found in personal names in Mari texts, meaning "brings to life/causes to exist" (e.g. yahwi-dagan = " Dagon causes to exist"), commonly denoted as

4032-426: The Jerusalem temple was always meant to be the central or even sole temple of Yahweh, but this was not the case. The earliest known Israelite place of worship is a 12th-century BCE open-air altar in the hills of Samaria featuring a bronze bull reminiscent of Canaanite Bull-El (El in the form of a bull) and the archaeological remains of further temples have been found at Dan on Israel's northern border, at Arad in

4144-434: The Mass, including that vernacular languages could be authorized as well as Latin. Pope Pius XII's 1943 encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu gave a renewed impetus to Catholic Bible studies and encouraged the production of new Bible translations from the original languages. This led to a pastoral attempt to get ordinary Catholics to re-discover the Bible, to read it, to make it a source of their spiritual life. This found

4256-474: The Midianites/Kenites) inside Israel and through their association with the earliest political leaders of Israel. Christian Frevel argues that inscriptions allegedly suggesting Yahweh's southern origins (e.g. "YHWH of Teman") may simply denote his presence there at later times, and that Teman can refer to any southern territory, including Judah. Alternatively, some scholars argue that YHWH worship

4368-572: The Official Regulations, a small number of lay people were invited to attend as "auditors" beginning with the Second Session. While not allowed to take part in debate, a few of them were asked to address the council about their concerns as lay people. The first auditors were all male, but beginning with the third session, a number of women were also appointed. In the very first weeks of the council proceedings, it became clear to

4480-420: The Pope could be convinced to forget about aggiornamento . On the other side were those theologians and bishops who had been working towards a new way of doing things, some of whom had been silenced and humiliated by the Curia in the 1940s and 1950s. For them, the council came as a "divine surprise", the opportunity to convince the bishops of the world to turn away from a fortress-like defensive attitude to

4592-486: The Pope's announcement of a Council, they realized that it could be the culmination of the Church's program of resistance to Protestantism , the Enlightenment and all the other perceived errors of the modern world. It was also seen as an opportunity to give the stamp of conciliar infallibility to the teachings of the most recent popes and to the Curia's vision of the role of the Church in the modern world, provided

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4704-637: The Second Temple period, speaking the name of Yahweh in public became regarded as taboo . When reading from the scriptures, Jews began to substitute the divine name with the word adonai (אֲדֹנָי‬), meaning " my Lord ". The High Priest of Israel was permitted to speak the name once in the Temple during the Day of Atonement , but at no other time and in no other place. During the Hellenistic period ,

4816-579: The absence of Yahweh from Canaan, his links with Edom and Midian in the biblical stories, and the Kenite or Midianite ties of Moses , but its major weaknesses are that the majority of Israelites were firmly rooted in Palestine , while the historical role of Moses is problematic. It follows that if the Kenite hypothesis is to be maintained, then it must be assumed that the Israelites encountered Yahweh (and

4928-542: The autumn of each of the four years 1962 to 1965, although it had been anticipated initially that the work of the Council would have been complete after three sessions. Pope John XXIII called the council because he felt the Church needed "updating" (in Italian: aggiornamento ). In order to better connect with people in an increasingly secularized world, some of the Church's practices needed to be improved and presented in

5040-667: The beginning of the council, there were 224 official periti, but their number would eventually rise to 480. They could attend the debates in the General Congregations, but could not speak. The theologians who had been silenced during the 1940s and 1950s, such as Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac, and some theologians who were under suspicion in Roman circles at the beginning of the 1960s, such as Karl Rahner and Hans Küng, were appointed periti because of their expertise. Their appointment served to vindicate their ideas and gave them

5152-597: The biblical narrative of an Israel vacillating between periods of "following other gods" and periods of fidelity to Yahweh. Some scholars date the start of widespread monotheism to the 8th century BC E, and view it as a response to Neo-Assyrian aggression. In an inscription discovered in Ein Gedi and dated around 700 BCE, Yahweh appears described as the lord of "the nations", while in other contemporary texts discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei (near Lachish) he

5264-528: The birthing of lambs , Shavuot with the cereal harvest , and Sukkot with the fruit harvest. These probably pre-dated the arrival of the Yahweh religion, but they became linked to events in the national mythos of Israel: Passover with the exodus from Egypt, Shavuot with the law-giving at Mount Sinai , and Sukkot with the wilderness wanderings. The festivals thus celebrated Yahweh's salvation of Israel and Israel's status as his holy people, although

5376-691: The chapter hall of the Benedictine monastery attached to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome came as a surprise to the cardinals present. He had tested the idea only ten days before with one of them, his Cardinal Secretary of State Domenico Tardini , who gave enthusiastic support to the idea. Although the pope later said the idea came to him in a flash in his conversation with Tardini, two cardinals had earlier attempted to interest him in

5488-482: The comprehensive usability. The comprehensive introductions to the individual biblical books which include historical Bible criticism , as well as the numerous explanations of the text, contribute to the understandability and wide application potential. The objective of the Second Vatican Council was to produce a "suitable and correct" translation of the Bible "especially from the original texts of

5600-415: The conclusion that infant sacrifice , whether to the underworld deity Molech or to Yahweh himself, was a part of Israelite/Judahite religion until the reforms of King Josiah in the late 7th century BCE. Sacrifice was presumably complemented by the singing or recital of psalms , but again the details are scant. Prayer played little role in official worship. The Hebrew Bible gives the impression that

5712-530: The construction of the Temple in 957 BCE to its destruction in 586 BCE, exilic for the period of the Exile from 586 to 539 BCE (identical with Neo-Babylonian above), post-Exilic for later periods and Second Temple period from the reconstruction of the Temple in 515 BCE until its destruction in 70 CE. There is almost no agreement on Yahweh's origins. His name is not attested other than among

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5824-410: The council as some bishop's personal theologian, and were later appointed official periti . Some notable theologians, such as Edward Schillebeeckx , remained private periti for the whole duration of the council. Observers (§18) . An important innovation was the invitation by Pope John to Orthodox and Protestant Churches to send observers to the council. Eventually 21 denominations or bodies such as

5936-786: The current result" The revised standard version became available in December 2016. Second Vatican Council Nine decrees: Three declarations: The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican , commonly known as the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met in Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and 12 weeks, in

6048-535: The dead and other aspects of the old religion. Features of Baal, El, and Asherah were absorbed into Yahweh, and epithets such as El Shaddai came to be applied to Yahweh alone. In this atmosphere a struggle emerged between those who believed that Yahweh alone should be worshipped, and those who worshipped him within a larger group of gods; the Yahweh-alone party, the party of the prophets and Deuteronomists , ultimately triumphed, and their victory lies behind

6160-531: The death of Pius XII in 1958. By the early 1960s, other theologians under suspicion included Karl Rahner SJ and the young Hans Küng . In addition, there was the unfinished business of the First Vatican Council (1869–70). When it had been cut short by the Italian Army's entry into Rome at the end of Italian unification , the only topics that had been completed were the theology of

6272-460: The earlier agricultural meaning was not entirely lost. His worship presumably involved sacrifice, but many scholars have concluded that the rituals detailed in Leviticus 1–16, with their stress on purity and atonement , were introduced only after the Babylonian exile , and that in reality any head of a family was able to offer sacrifice as occasion demanded. A number of scholars have also drawn

6384-460: The earliest Biblical literature, Yahweh has characteristics of a storm god typical of ancient Near Eastern myths, marching out from Edom or the Sinai desert with the heavenly host of stars and planets that make up his army to do battle with the enemies of his people Israel: Yahweh, when you went out of Seir,     when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled,

6496-727: The early Persian period. They saw the messiah in Zerubbabel , a descendant of the House of David who seemed, briefly, to be about to re-establish the ancient royal line, or in Zerubbabel and the first High Priest, Joshua (Zechariah writes of two messiahs, one royal and the other priestly). These early hopes were dashed (Zerubabbel disappeared from the historical record, although the High Priests continued to be descended from Joshua), and thereafter there are merely general references to

6608-409: The existence of other deities was denied outright, and Yahweh was proclaimed the creator deity and the sole divinity to be worthy of worship. During the Second Temple period , openly speaking the name of Yahweh in public became regarded as a religious taboo, and Jews instead began to substitute other Hebrew words , primarily ăḏōnāy ( אֲדֹנָי‬ ‎, lit.   ' My Lords ' ). By

6720-530: The gods of a subjected people, some have assumed the coin simply depicts the surrender of a Judean who was called "Bacchius", sometimes identified as the Hasmonean king Aristobulus II , who was overthrown by Pompey's campaign. In any event, Tacitus , John the Lydian , Cornelius Labeo , and Marcus Terentius Varro similarly identify Yahweh with Bacchus–Dionysus. Jews themselves frequently used symbols that were also associated with Dionysus such as kylixes , amphorae , leaves of ivy , and clusters of grapes ,

6832-532: The historical dimension of theology, the theology of work, ecumenism, the theology of the laity and the theology of "earthly realities". These writings, whose new style came to be called la nouvelle théologie ('the new theology'), attracted Rome's attention, and in 1950 Pius XII published Humani generis , an encyclical "concerning some false opinions threatening to undermine the foundations of Catholic doctrine". Without citing specific individuals, he criticized those who advocated new schools of theology. It

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6944-444: The idea. They were two of the most conservative, Ernesto Ruffini and Alfredo Ottaviani , who had already in 1948 proposed the idea to Pius XII and who put it before John XXIII on 27 October 1958. Over the course of the next 3 years, the Pope would make many statements describing the results he expected from the council. They formed something like 3 concentric circles: Two less solemn statements are attributed to John XXIII about

7056-526: The invocation of a prestigious foreign deity. A coin issued by Pompey to celebrate his successful conquest of Judaea showed a kneeling, bearded figure grasping a branch (a common Roman symbol of submission) subtitled BACCHIVS IVDAEVS , which may be translated as either "The Jewish Bacchus " or "Bacchus the Judaean". The figure has been interpreted as depicting Yahweh as a local variety of Bacchus, that is, Dionysus . However, as coins minted with such iconography ordinarily depicted subjected persons, and not

7168-404: The last few years, the Bishops' Conference has attempted a revision of the translation. The revision was also supposed to be a joint project with the Protestant church. A conflict between the Roman Catholic church and the Protestant side arose during the work which resulted in the EKD terminating the 1970 contract in 2005. The conflict arose from disagreements about the Roman Catholic side's push for

7280-406: The latter difficult. Other scholars hold that Yahweh and Qōs were different deities from their origins, and suggest that the tensions between Judeans and Edomites during the Second Temple period may lie behind the omission of Qōs in the Bible. It has been argued that Yahweh was originally described as one of the sons of El in Deuteronomy 32:8–9 , and that this was removed by a later emendation to

7392-481: The life of a newborn child rather than the universe. This conception of God was more popular among ancient Near Easterners but eventually, the Israelites removed the association of yahwi- to any human ancestor and combined it with other elements (e.g. Yahweh ṣəḇāʾōṯ ). Hillel Ben-Sasson states there is insufficient evidence for Amorites using yahwi- for gods, but he argues that it mirrors other theophoric names and that yahwi- , or more accurately yawi , derives from

7504-507: The liturgy commission to deal with many proposed amendments. This schema from the preparatory theological commission took the conservative position on all questions currently being discussed by theologians. Reformers were particularly opposed to two claims: that there were revealed truths in Tradition that were not contained in Scripture and that every assertion in the Bible was free of error. The debate lasted six days. The dramatic vote on acceptance in principle came on November 20. The question

7616-506: The media. There was little interest in pursuing the discussion. On November 27, the council decided the schema should contain only essential principles, leaving detailed practical matters to be dealt with after the council. The schema was accepted in principle and returned to its commission to be abridged. Jahweh Yahweh was an ancient Levantine deity who was venerated in Israel and Judah . Though no consensus exists regarding his origins, scholars generally contend that he

7728-408: The modern world and set off in a new direction towards a renewed theology of the Church and of the laity, ecumenism and the reform of the liturgy. The council was officially summoned by the apostolic constitution Humanae Salutis on 25 December 1961. Preparation for the council took over three years, from the summer of 1959 to the autumn of 1962. The first year was known officially as

7840-418: The monarchic period: to quote one study, "[a]n early aniconism, de facto or otherwise, is purely a projection of the post-exilic imagination". Other scholars argue that there is no certain evidence of any anthropomorphic representation of Yahweh during the pre-exilic period. Yahweh is frequently invoked in Graeco-Roman magical texts dating from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE, most notably in

7952-439: The name Jahweh . The reactions to the failure of the joint translation were varied. The Catholic side reacted with incomprehension. The chairman of the Bishops' Conference at the time, Karl Lehmann , spoke of a "considerable burden" for the ecumenism and suddenly put the blame on the EKD representatives without clarification. The EKD also regretted the development, but explained that it "made every imaginable effort to avoid

8064-532: The national god. Yahweh filled the role of national god in the kingdom of Israel (Samaria) , which emerged in the 10th century BCE; and also in Judah , which may have emerged a century later (no "God of Judah" is mentioned anywhere in the Bible). During the reign of Ahab , and particularly following his marriage to Jezebel , Baal may have briefly replaced Yahweh as the national god of Israel (but not Judah). In

8176-508: The newly elected commission members had not been on any preparatory commission. This was a first success for renewal. On 22 October, the first schema to be discussed was the one from the very reform-minded preparatory commission for liturgy. It had 8 chapters: It proposed many reforms, including active participation of the congregation, communal singing, a partial replacement of Latin by vernacular languages, communion under both kinds, concelebration, adaptation of liturgy to local cultures and

8288-750: The papacy and the relationship of faith and reason , while the theology of the episcopate and of the laity were left unaddressed. The role of the Second Vatican Council in continuing and completing the work of the first was noted by Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter Ecclesiam Suam (1964). At the same time, the world's bishops were facing challenges driven by political, social, economic, and technological change. Some of these bishops were seeking new ways of addressing those challenges. John XXIII gave notice of his intention to convene an ecumenical council on 25 January 1959, less than three months after his election in October 1958. His announcement in

8400-516: The participants that there were two "tendencies" among the Council Fathers, those who were supporters of aggiornamento and renewal, and those who were not. The two tendencies had already appeared in the deliberations of the Central Preparatory Commission before the opening of the council. In addition to popes John XXIII and Paul VI , these were the prominent actors at the council: Prominent Conservative Bishops at

8512-473: The preparatory commission for theology, dominated by officials of the Holy Office (the curial department for theological orthodoxy) showed no signs of aggiornamento at all. The two notable exceptions were the preparatory commission for liturgy and the Secretariat for Christian unity, whose schemas were very much in the spirit of renewal. In addition to these specialist commissions and secretariats, there

8624-465: The preparatory period, continued to exist under its president Cardinal Augustin Bea throughout the 4 years of the council, with the same powers as a commission. The commissions were tasked with revising the schemas as Council Fathers submitted amendments. They met in the afternoons or evenings. Procedure was more informal than in the general assemblies: there was spontaneous debate, sometimes heated, and Latin

8736-538: The preparatory period, they were 10 in number, each covering the same area of Church life as a particular curial department and chaired by the cardinal who headed that department: Each commission included 25 Council Fathers (16 elected by the council and 9 appointed by the Pope) as well as consultors (official periti appointed by the pope). In addition, the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity , appointed during

8848-401: The press and television, and the Pope was present. There were 10 public sessions in the course of the council: the opening day of each of the council's four periods, 5 days when the Pope promulgated Council documents, and the final day of the council. Commissions (§5–6, 64–70). Much of the detailed work of the council was done in these commissions. Like the preparatory commissions during

8960-444: The principal deity to whom "one owed the powers of blessing the land" appear in the teachings of the prophet Elijah in the 9th century BCE. This form of worship was likely well established by the time of the prophet Hosea in the 8th century BCE, in reference to disputes between Yahweh and Baal. The early supporters of this faction are widely regarded as being monolatrists rather than true monotheists ; they did not believe Yahweh

9072-625: The proceedings of the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council. What is needed, and what everyone imbued with a truly Christian, Catholic and apostolic spirit craves today, is that this doctrine shall be more widely known, more deeply understood, and more penetrating in its effects on men's moral lives. What is needed is that this certain and immutable doctrine, to which the faithful owe obedience, be studied afresh and reformulated in contemporary terms. For this deposit of faith, or truths which are contained in our time-honored teaching

9184-445: The public. Council Fathers were under an obligation not to reveal anything that went on in the daily sittings (§26). Secrecy soon broke down, and much information about the daily General Congregations was leaked to the press. The Pope did not attend General Congregations, but followed the deliberations on closed-circuit television. Public Sessions (§2, 44–51). These were similar to General Congregations, except that they were open to

9296-494: The purpose of the council. One is about opening the windows of the Church to let in some fresh air; the other about shaking off the imperial dust accumulated on the throne of St. Peter. The source for the second statement is Cardinal Léger of Montréal, as reported by Congar. The first statement has been repeated so many times as to be extremely difficult to verify. Once the officials of the Curia had recovered from their shock at

9408-513: The right to speak and vote. Their number was about 2,900, though some 500 of them would be unable to attend, either for reasons of health or old age, or because the Communist authorities of their country would not let them travel. The Council Fathers in attendance represented 79 countries: 38% were from Europe, 31% from the Americas, 20% from Asia & Oceania, and 10% from Africa. (At Vatican I

9520-442: The root hwy in pa'al, which means "he will be". One scholarly theory is that "Yahweh" originated in a shortened form of ˀel ḏū yahwī ṣabaˀôt , "El who creates the hosts", which Cross considered to be one of the cultic names of El. However, this phrase is nowhere attested either inside or outside the Bible, and the two gods are in any case quite dissimilar, with El being elderly and paternal and lacking Yahweh's association with

9632-701: The sacred books". The preeminence of the Latin Vulgate in the Roman Catholic church up to that point was abandoned. That gave the catholic theologians the challenge of translating from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek into German, instead of the usual practice of translating the Latin Bible into German. The Roman Catholic Church thus solved one of the conflicts of the Reformation that demanded

9744-414: The same area of responsibility as one of the main departments of the Curia and was chaired by the cardinal who headed that department. From the 9,438 proposals, a list of topics was created, and these topics were parcelled out to these commissions according to their area of competence. Some commissions prepared a separate schema for each topic they were asked to treat, others a single schema encompassing all

9856-576: The same deity in the text, based on contextual analysis. The late Iron Age saw the emergence of nation states associated with specific national gods : Chemosh was the god of the Moabites, Milcom the god of the Ammonites, Qōs the god of the Edomites, and Yahweh the god of the Israelites. In each kingdom the king was also the head of the national religion and thus the viceroy on Earth of

9968-466: The scriptures were translated into Greek by the Jews of the Egyptian diaspora . Greek translations of the Hebrew scriptures render both the tetragrammaton and adonai as kyrios (κύριος), meaning "Lord". The period of Persian rule saw the development of expectation in a future human king who would rule purified Israel as Yahweh's representative at the end of time —a messiah . The first to mention this were Haggai and Zechariah , both prophets of

10080-525: The semantic equivalent of the Akkadian ibašši- DN; though Frank Moore Cross emphasized that the Amorite verbal form is of interest only in attempting to reconstruct the verbal root of the name "Yahweh", and that attempts to take yahwi- as a divine epithet should be "vigorously" argued against. In addition, J. Philip Hyatt believes it is more likely that yahwi- refers to a god creating and sustaining

10192-532: The sky also dropped.     Yes, the clouds dropped water. The mountains quaked at Yahweh's presence,     even Sinai at the presence of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ... From the sky the stars fought.     From their courses, they fought against Sisera . ( Book of Judges 5:4–5, 20, WEB World English Bible , the Song of Deborah .) Alternatively, parts of

10304-429: The spirit of aggiornamento , asking for reforms and new ways of doing things. The next two years (known officially as the "preparatory period") were occupied with preparing the drafts, called schemas , that would be submitted to the bishops for discussion at the council. On 5 June 1960, ten Preparatory Commissions were created, to which a total of 871 bishops and experts were appointed. Each preparatory commission had

10416-433: The storm and battles. Even if the above issues are resolved, Yahweh is generally agreed to have a non-causative etymology because otherwise, YHWH would be translated as YHYH. It also raises the question of why the Israelites would want to shorten the epithet. One possible reason includes the co-existence of religious modernism and conservatism being the norm in all religions. The oldest plausible occurrence of Yahweh's name

10528-460: The storm god imagery could derive from Baal. From the perspective of the Kenite hypothesis , it has also been suggested that the Edomite deity Qōs might have been one and the same as Yahweh, rather than a separate deity, with its name a title of the latter. Aside from their common territorial origins, various common characteristics between the Yahwist cult and the Edomite cult of Qōs hint at

10640-575: The term. Rabbinic sources suggest that, by the Second Temple period , the name of God was officially pronounced only once a year, by the High Priest , on the Day of Atonement . After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE , the original pronunciation of the name was forgotten entirely. Philip King and Lawrence Stager place the history of Yahweh into the following periods: Other academic terms often used include First Temple period, from

10752-573: The text: When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,  when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples,  according to the number of the heavenly assembly. For the Lord's allotment is his people,   Jacob is his special possession. ( Book of Deuteronomy 32:8-9, New English Translation , Song of Moses ) Nonetheless, some scholars argue that El Elyon ("the Most High") and Yahweh are theonyms for

10864-603: The time of the Jewish–Roman wars —namely following the Roman siege of Jerusalem and the concomitant destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE—the original pronunciation of Yahweh's name was forgotten entirely. Additionally, Yahweh is invoked in the Aramaic -language Papyrus Amherst 63 from ancient Egypt , and also in Jewish or Jewish-influenced Greco-Egyptian magical texts from the 1st to 5th centuries CE. The god's name

10976-431: The topics they were handed. These were the preparatory commissions and the number of schemas they prepared: Two secretariats – one the offshoot of an existing Vatican office, the other a new body – also had a part in drafting schemas: The total number of schemas was 70. As most of these preparatory bodies were predominantly conservative, the schemas they produced showed only modest signs of updating. The schemas drafted by

11088-516: The writing of second Isaiah , Yahweh was no longer seen as exclusive to Israel, but as extending his promise to all who would keep the sabbath and observe his covenant. In 539 BCE Babylon in turn fell to the Persian conqueror Cyrus the Great , the exiles were given permission to return (although only a minority did so), and by about 500 BCE the Second Temple was built. Towards the end of

11200-400: Was a Central Preparatory Commission , to which all the schemas had to be submitted for final approval. It was a large body of 108 members from 57 countries, including two thirds of the cardinals. As a result of its work, 22 schemas were eliminated from the conciliar agenda, mainly because they could be dealt with during a planned revision of the 1917 Code of Canon Law after the council, and

11312-579: Was a final vote on a document. This was followed some days later by a public session where the Pope promulgated the document as the official teaching of the council, following another, ceremonial, vote of the Council Fathers. There was an unwritten rule that, in order to be considered official Church teaching, a document had to receive an overwhelming majority of votes, somewhere in the area of 90%. This led to many compromises, as well as formulations that were broad enough to be acceptable by people on either side of an issue. All General Congregations were closed to

11424-421: Was about 2,200. Stands with tiers of seats for all the Council Fathers had been built on both sides of the central nave of St. Peter's. During the first session, a council of presidents, of 10 cardinals, was responsible for presiding over the general assemblies, its members taking turns chairing each day's sitting (§4). During the later sessions, this task belonged to a council of 4 Moderators. All votes required

11536-448: Was from the southern region associated with Seir , Edom, Paran and Teman . There is considerable although not universal support for this view, but it raises the question of how Yahweh made his way to the north. An answer many scholars consider plausible is the Kenite hypothesis , which holds that traders brought Yahweh to Israel along the caravan routes between Egypt and Canaan . This ties together various points of data, such as

11648-507: Was generally understood that the encyclical was directly against the nouvelle théologie as well as developments in ecumenism and Bible studies. Some of these works were placed on the Index of Prohibited Books , and some of the authors were forbidden to teach or to publish. Those who suffered most were the Henri de Lubac SJ and Yves Congar OP , who were unable to teach or publish until

11760-544: Was no distinction in language or material culture between Canaanites and Israelites. Scholars accordingly define Israelite culture as a subset of Canaanite culture. In this view, the Israelite religion consisted of Canaanite gods such as El, the ruler of the pantheon , Asherah , his consort, and Baal . However, Israel Knohl argues that there is no evidence of any anthropomorphic figurines or cultic statues in Israel during this period, suggesting monotheistic practice. In

11872-406: Was not the only language used. Like the General Congregations, they were closed to the public and subject to the same rules of secrecy. Official Periti (§9–10). These experts in theology, canon law and other areas were appointed by the Pope to advise the Council Fathers, and were assigned as consultors to the commissions, where they played an important part in re-writing the council documents. At

11984-728: Was officially requested to work on the translation of the Psalms and the New Testament . In 1970, the Bishops' Conference and the EKD entered a contract for the joint work on the Einheitsübersetzung, which was a major breakthrough of ecumenism in Germany. Since 1980, the Einheitsübersetzung has also been approved for use in Protestant churches and is especially used with the Luther Translation for ecumenical events. In

12096-432: Was phrased in terms of rejection: Should the schema be rejected? Yes: 1,360. No: 822. This was 102 votes short of the two-thirds majority required by Council regulations, and so the council would have to continue discussing a schema that 62% of the participants rejected. Resolution of the impasse came the next day (November 21): Pope John announced the schema would be revised by a special joint commission made up of members of

12208-691: Was rooted in the indigenous culture of the Kingdom of Israel and was promoted in the Kingdom of Judah by the Omrides . Frevel suggests that Hazael 's conquests in the Kingdom of Israel forced the two kingdoms to cooperate, which spread YHWH worship among Judean commoners. Previously, YHWH was viewed as the patron god of the Judean state . In the Early Iron Age, the modern consensus is that there

12320-413: Was supposed to become the uniform Bible of all German-speaking Roman Catholic dioceses. The name "Einheitsübersetzung" reflects this goal. Contrary to a widely spread misunderstanding, the name does not mean that a common translation of the Bible by the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches should be created. Protestant theologians were indeed involved since the beginning of the work, but a replacement for

12432-412: Was the only god in existence, but instead believed that he was the only god which the people of Israel should worship. Finally, in the national crisis of the Babylonian exile , the followers of Yahweh went a step further and outright denied that the other deities aside from Yahweh even existed, thus marking the transition from monolatrism to true monotheism. The notion that Yahweh is to be worshipped as

12544-532: Was written in paleo-Hebrew as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 ( יהוה ‎ in block script ), transliterated as YHWH ; modern scholarship has reached consensus to transcribe this as "Yahweh". The shortened forms Yeho -, Yahu -, Yah - and Yo - appear in personal names and in phrases such as " Hallelu jah !" The sacrality of the name, as well as the Commandment against " taking the name 'in vain'  ", led to increasingly strict prohibitions on speaking or writing

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