Last Sunday I went to
a performance of Bach’s Magnificat and I thought it a good idea pay some
attention to the Magnificat in this blog. As I am not only a classicist, but
also a theologian, though in practise a historian of religions, it is a good
opportunity to recall my seminars in New Testament exegesis. And above all, it
is good excuse for posting the link to Ton Koopman’s performance of the
Magnificat by Bach!
The Magnificat is only
found in the gospel of Luke 1:46-55 and belongs to the so-called Sondergut, a
German term denoting material that is not found in Matthew. What is only found
in Matthew, but not in Luke is the Sondergut of Matthew.
The gospels of
Matthew, Mark and Luke share many common elements and are therefore called the
synoptic gospels. The gospel of John does not play a role in this, as it is by
far the latest, maybe even later than 100 AD and has a theology of its own.
Luke and Matthew have incorporated Mark in their gospels. The gospel of Mark is
the oldest and has no nativity story. What Luke and Matthew have in common is
called source Q, from German Quelle `source’. In case you wonder why I use German terms, it
is because New Testament studies were dominated by German scholars in the first
half of the last century with Rudolph Bultmann at the top. A theologian and
scholar influenced by existentialism, who saw the New Testament as a kind of
mythology, but found its ethical message of eternal value. He tried to
demythologize the New Testament in order to make it understandable for the
modern world:
„Man kann
nicht elektrisches Licht und Radioapparat benutzen, in Krankheitsfällen moderne
medizinische und klinische Mittel in Anspruch nehmen und gleichzeitig an die
Geister- und Wunderwelt des Neuen Testaments glauben”
(One cannot use electric
light and radio, use modern medical and clinical means when ill and believe at
the same time in the world of spirits and miracles of the New Testament)
I am afraid that
evangelicals, conservative Christians, pentacostals and so on of today’s world
have proved him wrong…
Bultmann, who did not
believe in a life eternal after death, died in 1976 at the age of 92, which is
also a kind of eternity.
Back to Q, It is what
Luke and Matthew have in common, but which is not in Mark. It is believed to be
an early kind of gospel of which the status is unknown as there are no
manuscripts. This makes it a rather tricky hypothesis, but it is plausible. As
this is not a post about the problems of primitive Christianity but about the
Magnificat, I won’t delve into this further. Besides, I am not qualified as I
am not a New Testament Scholar, because I turned to history of religions, with
specialisation early Hinduism, in my master theology.
The Magnificat
resembles in many aspects the Song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2.1-10, but it is also
reminiscent of the Psalms and the prophets. For primitive Christianity the
Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, was the only sacred text
as there was no New Testament at that moment.
It belongs to the
oldest hymns of the Christian church and must have been used in the liturgy in
some Christian circles at a very early age. The author is unknown, but
certainly not Maria. For if she was the author it is unexplainable why it is
not in Matthew and the very fact that Mark has no nativity story at all, proves
that this story was unknown amongst some Christian groups.
In the narrative of
Luke, Mary, being pregnant, visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant of
John the Baptist. Elizabeth praises Maria and in her turn Maria exults in this
song:
Magnificat
anima mea Dominum.
Et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari
meo.
Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae.
Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes
generationes.
Quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens est
et sanctum nomen eius.
Et misericordia eius, a progenie et
progenies
timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam in brachio suo,
dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.
Deposuit potentes de sede:
et exaltavit humiles.
Esurientes implevit bonis:
et divites dimisit inanes.
Suscepit Israel puerum suum:
recordatus misericordiae suae.
Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros:
Abraham, et semini eius in saecula.
salutari meo:
dative of purpose (salutare, -is
(n): salvation. The word is late Latin)
ancila:
maid-servant
ex hoc:
refers to the previous sentence
brachium:
arm
dispergo dispersi
dispersum: to scatter, disperge
superbus:
proud
mente cordis sui:
in Hebrew thinking the heart was the seat of thoughts
esurio:
to be hungry
dives –itis:
wealthy, rich
inanes:
empty-handed
suscipio –cepi –ceptum:
to lift up, receive
Israel
acc. Hebrew names and words are often not declined in Latin
recordor:
to remember (in classical Latin mostly with the acc., but in later Latin, like
here, with the gen.)
loquor lucutus sum:
to speak. It is used her with two constructions: loquor ad and loquor + dat., so
Abraham is dative, as is also evident from the original Greek τῷ Αβραὰμ.
semen, -inis
(n): seed, offspring
saeculum:
generation, time, age (it is from the root se,
the same root as in se-men, so the
original meaning must have been generation)
More
about the Magnificat and translations:
About
Bultmann, but go to the German site if you can read German:
And finally the link where it is all
about:
Sandro
Botticelli - Madonna of the Magnificat (Madonna del Magnificat) ca. 1483.
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