Generic Man
We should re-examine the whole generic man issue. �Son of Man� and �Behold the man!� have resisted all paraphrase and stand as the evidence of the continuing validity of the generic sense. The attempt to eliminate the generic sense of man over the last twenty-five years has not succeeded. (Do we really need catechesis to explain that the word man has two distinct meanings?) There are numerous places where faithfulness to the original Greek would strongly endorse the return of man in our English texts.
The new Compendium in English proves that generic man is still very much alive.
Further, Pope Benedict�s first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, also supports this claim. In this encyclical, the word man is used generically some fifty-seven times. Instances of the use of the gender-neutral he (him, his, himself) are also scattered throughout the encyclical. Are we to say that a word that is legitimate, valid and has been consistently used in the English version of the latest papal encyclical is not valid for the translation of the original Greek of the Word of God?
Excellent! Most excellent!
Let us pray that the bishops will recall the Revised Divine Liturgy and revisit it to fix the myriad problems.
We do not want agendas of translators.
We want accuracy and authenticity.
