CloakofStars9
February 10th, 2004, 12:18 PM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=857&e=7&u=/nm/oukoe_religion_magi
LONDON (Reuters) - The Three Wise Men who followed the star to Bethlehem bearing gifts for the baby Jesus may not have been all that wise -- or even men.
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040210/t/ra2616328875.jpg (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040210/ids_photos_wl/ra2616328875.jpg)
Reuters Photo (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/040210/ids_photos_wl/ra2616328875.jpg)
The traditional infant Nativity play scene could be in for a drastic rewrite after the Church of England indulged in some academic gender-swapping over the three Magi at its General Synod in London this week.
A committee revising the latest prayer book said the term "Magi" was a transliteration of the name used by officials at the Persian court, and that they could well have been women.
"Magi is a word which discloses nothing about numbers, wisdom or gender embodied in the term," a Synod spokesman said on Tuesday after the revision was agreed by the Church of England's parliament which meets twice a year.
In the authorised 17th century King James bible used by up to 70 million worshippers in Anglican churches around the world, the gift-bearing visitors are referred to as "The Three Wise Men."
Now they are to be called just "Magi" and no longer gender-specific in the Anglican prayer book.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=817&e=8&u=/ap/britain_wise_men
LONDON (Reuters) - The Three Wise Men who followed the star to Bethlehem bearing gifts for the baby Jesus may not have been all that wise -- or even men.
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040210/t/ra2616328875.jpg (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040210/ids_photos_wl/ra2616328875.jpg)
Reuters Photo (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/040210/ids_photos_wl/ra2616328875.jpg)
The traditional infant Nativity play scene could be in for a drastic rewrite after the Church of England indulged in some academic gender-swapping over the three Magi at its General Synod in London this week.
A committee revising the latest prayer book said the term "Magi" was a transliteration of the name used by officials at the Persian court, and that they could well have been women.
"Magi is a word which discloses nothing about numbers, wisdom or gender embodied in the term," a Synod spokesman said on Tuesday after the revision was agreed by the Church of England's parliament which meets twice a year.
In the authorised 17th century King James bible used by up to 70 million worshippers in Anglican churches around the world, the gift-bearing visitors are referred to as "The Three Wise Men."
Now they are to be called just "Magi" and no longer gender-specific in the Anglican prayer book.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=817&e=8&u=/ap/britain_wise_men