Daily Devotion for Tuesday 29th September 2026
Tuesday 29th September Can We Trust the Sources?
This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
Reflection
The medieval Church bought an organisational ability to bear on the problem of heresy. Written records of Inquisitorial examinations give historians a treasure trove which can be fascinating glimpses into everyday life and everyday heresy. The records, however, are not without their problems.
Questions and answers were given in the vernacular – Occitan in the case of many of those asked about their Cathar or Waldensian sympathies – yet the records were written in Latin. The Inquisitors expected certain answers and could steer examinations to those answers. Those being questioned had good reason to be fearful and, if they were not that committed to their suspected heresy, could give answers they knew the Inquisitors wanted to hear. Add into the mix the prejudice that lay folk were considered more susceptible to heretical messages than the ordained – meaning less was expected of them (!) – and you’ve got some very questionable evidence.
Examining and evaluating written sources is the prime task of the historian. Like people, sources can be mistaken, biased, or unreliable. What then might we make of the sources of our faith? We deal with ancient texts that have gone through millennia of transmission, reception, editing, and translation. Tricky words from the ancient world have to be rendered into something intelligible now – an obvious example is the decision to use the word “homosexual” in the 1946 Revised Standard Version for the Greek words malakoi and arsenokoitai – a heavily disputed choice now with accusations of heresy thrown around between those with different theologies on human sexuality.
As we explore our sacred texts we need to remember the differing cultural contexts, explore the editing, wrestle with the trickiness of translation, and examine the theologies presented to us as we seek to understand different meanings the Church has discerned over the years alongside the realisation God gave us reason. All these factors are thrown into the complicated business of discerning, what our Gospel writer believed to be, truth.
Prayer
Lord let our testimony be true,
our writing be accurate,
and our understanding of our contexts be clear,
but when these things are muddled and muddied,
complicated and contested,
debated and disputed,
guide us to Your truth,
discerned together,
and always with more on offer
than we could ask or imagine.
Amen.