I was raised Protestant (Congregational); in the Lord's Prayer, we said, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Believe it or not, it never entered my mind that this might be literal. Later in life, I learned that Catholics say, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that tresspass against us." So now, when I say the Lord's Prayer, I tend to say the Catholic version, assuming it is the more authentic. But now I am very curious about the history of this difference. I naively always thought, or was told, that the Protestants were just simplifying all those syllables! Also, I am just beginning your writing; however, I want to mention a book I am reading called, "How to Profit from the Next Great Depression." The title is unfortunate, in my opinion, but the author is right in line with you and I highly recommend his writing to you. Melodie
Hi there, Melodie, thank you for your comment! I'll add "How to Profit from the Next Great Depression" to my reading list. I reviewed the description on Amazon and it does indeed sound like it's right my wheelhouse.
Interesting! I might be wrong-I read this in Michael Hudson's book. I'd love to know if it's a mistake. Let me ask you this question: if I bump into you and say "entschuldigung" what does that translate to? It must mean something like "my fault", no?
"German Schuld can mean guilt or sin, and by extension, any debt or obligation." (p.101), he is very much talking about the Christian association with moral failure. From an etymology perspective ,"Sünde" (sin) is very much a separate word from "Schuld" (debt, fault, guilt) and also used as such in modern language.
"Entschuldigung" can both mean "apology" or "excuse", and quite literally is the removal of "Schuld". So you'd be asking for forgiveness and debt removal.
Hi Nathan,
I was raised Protestant (Congregational); in the Lord's Prayer, we said, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Believe it or not, it never entered my mind that this might be literal. Later in life, I learned that Catholics say, "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that tresspass against us." So now, when I say the Lord's Prayer, I tend to say the Catholic version, assuming it is the more authentic. But now I am very curious about the history of this difference. I naively always thought, or was told, that the Protestants were just simplifying all those syllables! Also, I am just beginning your writing; however, I want to mention a book I am reading called, "How to Profit from the Next Great Depression." The title is unfortunate, in my opinion, but the author is right in line with you and I highly recommend his writing to you. Melodie
Hi there, Melodie, thank you for your comment! I'll add "How to Profit from the Next Great Depression" to my reading list. I reviewed the description on Amazon and it does indeed sound like it's right my wheelhouse.
Hey Nathan,
Thanks so much for this write-up, I love reading about lessons from Rome because they're so prescient, especially in light of system collapse.
I did notice you wrote:
"In many languages, like Hebrew and German, there aren't separate words for “sin” and “debt”."
In German, we do have different words for these:
• Sin = Sünde
• Debt = Schuld
So I'm a little confused by what you were referring to?
Many thanks again for writing this 🙏
Interesting! I might be wrong-I read this in Michael Hudson's book. I'd love to know if it's a mistake. Let me ask you this question: if I bump into you and say "entschuldigung" what does that translate to? It must mean something like "my fault", no?
I think when Hudson says:
"German Schuld can mean guilt or sin, and by extension, any debt or obligation." (p.101), he is very much talking about the Christian association with moral failure. From an etymology perspective ,"Sünde" (sin) is very much a separate word from "Schuld" (debt, fault, guilt) and also used as such in modern language.
"Entschuldigung" can both mean "apology" or "excuse", and quite literally is the removal of "Schuld". So you'd be asking for forgiveness and debt removal.
Hope this helps 🙏
I learned something new! Danke schon für den Kommentar