Saturday, April 13, 2024
Members
Augustine, Sermons 148-183, tr. Edmund Hill (New Rochelle: New City Press, 1992), p. 144, n. 2 (translator's note on sermon 161.1):
Newer› ‹Older
Calling us, or our bodies, "members of Christ" is really very unsatisfactory as a translation of membra, because in current English the word is confined to its secondary sense, signifying belonging to some club, society, or organization. But to find an alternative is difficult; "limbs" is too narrow, since it doesn't include most of our organs, like eyes and ears and so on; in fact we only have four limbs. "Organs" is too medical, "parts" too mechanical. So I think we are stuck with "members," but every now and again need to amplify it with one of these other words.
