Biblical Commentary in TMQ

I enjoy Gregg Easterbrook’s writing.  I read his NFC preview this morning, but the AFC preview will have to wait.  I did peek at the Chiefs preview.  Easterbrook had this to say:

Scripture note: The apostle Paul’s Letter to the Romans notes at 14:2, “Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.” Obviously Paul never played flag football with [Tony] Gonzalez, one of the NFL’s few vegetarians. The translation is from the New Revised Standard Version, endorsed by most biblical scholars. The New International Version, favored by evangelicals, renders the passage as, “One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.” Evangelical translators want being a vegetarian to sound wimpy!

Interestingly enough, in the past six months I’ve read numerous allusions to biblical passages in sports writing and news reporting, and have wondered just what percentage of people in our culture are familiar enough with some of the basic components of the Old and New Testaments to get it.  My guess: that number is fairly low.  E.D. Hirsch might agree.

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