“Aerial View of Crudités Wreckage,” oil on cardboard, 10 x 11 in. (JMN 2024).
The cross-referencing contained in scripture reminds me of the infinite scrolling feature that afflicts social media. In the scriptures it doesn’t have pernicious intent, but can lead, nevertheless, to addictive chasing after the satisfaction of curiosity if one isn’t careful. It’s harder to go in a straight line with a train of thought that you’re trying to put into words. Rabbit holes beckon!
In my Arabic reading practice I’ve reached Quran 4:156, which says this:
My English for the verse is this: “And with (or ‘for’) their unbelief and their saying about Mary a great slander”
The Spanish translation of the Quran I keep at hand is the edition of my teacher Julio Cortés (Editora Nacional, Madrid, 1979). He translates the verse thus (the ellipsis is his): … por su incredulidad, por haber proferido contra María una enorme calumnia*,
Cortés notes:
María fue acusada de fornicación. Según una leyenda judía, Jesús habría nacido de la unión extraconyugal con un soldado romano llamado Pandera. Quizá Jn8:41 aluda a esa leyenda — entendiendo el pronombre ‘nosotros’ enfáticamente y la frase como una ironía —, si es que se refiere a una prostitución física y no moral (Os1:2). En el Talmud y en la literatura talmúdica se le llama a Jesús ‘hijo de Pandera’. V. ActPil2.3 y Orígenes Contra Celsum 1.28. C 19.27. El islam, en el pasado, ha visto en el Corán un reconocimiento del nacimiento virginal de Jesús. Algunos modernistas niegan que el Corán lo reconozca. (“Mary was accused of fornication. According to the Jewish legend, Jesus would have been born of the extramarital union with a Roman soldier named Pandera. Perhaps John 8:41 alludes to that legend — understanding the pronoun ‘we’ to be emphatic and the sentence as irony—, if what’s referred to is a physical prostitution and not a moral one (Hosea 1:2). In the Talmud and in talmudic literature Jesus is called ‘son of Pandera.’ See The Acts of Pilate [Gospel of Nicodemus] 2.3 and Origen Contra Celsum [Against Celsus] 1.28. [Also] Quran 19.27. Islam, in the past, has seen in the Quran a recognition of the virgin birth of Jesus. Some modernists deny that the Quran recognizes it.”)
In my translation of the note, I’ve bolded the cross-references to emphasize that there are five (!) of them. I’ll expand only the first two here.
The note’s first reference, John 8:41, says this (the bolded words are attributed to Jesus): Ye do the deeds of your father. Then they said to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. (In the margin is a pointer to Isaiah 63:16.) This, of course, is the possible allusion to Mary’s alleged affair with the Roman soldier, condemned as calumny in the Quran.
The note’s second reference, Hosea 1:2, says this: The beginning of the word of the Lord by Ho-se’a. And the Lord said to Ho-se’a, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. (In the margin are pointers to Deuteronomy 31:16, Jeremiah 2:13 and Hosea 3:1.) This verse illustrates the possibility of the people’s breaking of their covenant with the Lord being symbolized as a “moral prostitution” — a consorting with false gods.
Traditions treating certain speech as divine illustrate how consequential it is to understand and clarify grammatical structures. A useful online resource for Quranic text analysis was developed by the late Dr. Kais Dukes at the University of Leeds, England. A 2010 interview with Dr. Dukes is here.
I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.
EthicalDative 
Infinite Scroll on the Scripture Front
The cross-referencing contained in scripture reminds me of the infinite scrolling feature that afflicts social media. In the scriptures it doesn’t have pernicious intent, but can lead, nevertheless, to addictive chasing after the satisfaction of curiosity if one isn’t careful. It’s harder to go in a straight line with a train of thought that you’re trying to put into words. Rabbit holes beckon!
In my Arabic reading practice I’ve reached Quran 4:156, which says this:
وَبِكُفْرِهِمْ وَقَوْلِهِمْ عَلَىٰ مَرْيَمَ بُهْتَـٰنًا عَظِيمًۭا ١٥٦
My English for the verse is this: “And with (or ‘for’) their unbelief and their saying about Mary a great slander”
The Spanish translation of the Quran I keep at hand is the edition of my teacher Julio Cortés (Editora Nacional, Madrid, 1979). He translates the verse thus (the ellipsis is his): … por su incredulidad, por haber proferido contra María una enorme calumnia*,
Cortés notes:
María fue acusada de fornicación. Según una leyenda judía, Jesús habría nacido de la unión extraconyugal con un soldado romano llamado Pandera. Quizá Jn8:41 aluda a esa leyenda — entendiendo el pronombre ‘nosotros’ enfáticamente y la frase como una ironía —, si es que se refiere a una prostitución física y no moral (Os1:2). En el Talmud y en la literatura talmúdica se le llama a Jesús ‘hijo de Pandera’. V. ActPil2.3 y Orígenes Contra Celsum 1.28. C 19.27. El islam, en el pasado, ha visto en el Corán un reconocimiento del nacimiento virginal de Jesús. Algunos modernistas niegan que el Corán lo reconozca.
(“Mary was accused of fornication. According to the Jewish legend, Jesus would have been born of the extramarital union with a Roman soldier named Pandera. Perhaps John 8:41 alludes to that legend — understanding the pronoun ‘we’ to be emphatic and the sentence as irony—, if what’s referred to is a physical prostitution and not a moral one (Hosea 1:2). In the Talmud and in talmudic literature Jesus is called ‘son of Pandera.’ See The Acts of Pilate [Gospel of Nicodemus] 2.3 and Origen Contra Celsum [Against Celsus] 1.28. [Also] Quran 19.27. Islam, in the past, has seen in the Quran a recognition of the virgin birth of Jesus. Some modernists deny that the Quran recognizes it.”)
In my translation of the note, I’ve bolded the cross-references to emphasize that there are five (!) of them. I’ll expand only the first two here.
The note’s first reference, John 8:41, says this (the bolded words are attributed to Jesus): Ye do the deeds of your father. Then they said to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. (In the margin is a pointer to Isaiah 63:16.) This, of course, is the possible allusion to Mary’s alleged affair with the Roman soldier, condemned as calumny in the Quran.
The note’s second reference, Hosea 1:2, says this: The beginning of the word of the Lord by Ho-se’a. And the Lord said to Ho-se’a, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord. (In the margin are pointers to Deuteronomy 31:16, Jeremiah 2:13 and Hosea 3:1.) This verse illustrates the possibility of the people’s breaking of their covenant with the Lord being symbolized as a “moral prostitution” — a consorting with false gods.
Traditions treating certain speech as divine illustrate how consequential it is to understand and clarify grammatical structures. A useful online resource for Quranic text analysis was developed by the late Dr. Kais Dukes at the University of Leeds, England. A 2010 interview with Dr. Dukes is here.
(c) 2024 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved
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About JMN
I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.