Corrections...

I haven't been writing because I had a sore throat. Sounds lame, I know. I'm feeling great today. So great, in fact, that now I want to fake an illness about once a month to score some more cortisone shots.

I hate it when people distort historical facts. So, I need to clean up my mess before I move on.

I made a mistake in the entry about the 110 CONSIDERATIONS... of Valdés and left a wrong impression on another point.

1. Juan de Valdés wrote entirely in Spanish. The copies of the first edition of his "Hundred and Ten Considerations" were suppressed by the Inquisition. It appeared later translated into various languages. Wiffen's "Life and Writings of Juan de Valdés", 1865, incorporates a 19th Century translation from an Italian edition to English. Point being, there was a reason for it having been so widely disseminated.
2. Further down, in my attempt to highlight how so much was accomplished by so few, I make it sound like there was not much else happening outside of two pockets of believers at one point in time in two cities in Spain. Nothing could be further from the truth. For starters, Juan de Valdés, and more his twin brother Alfonso, had been a presence in the Spanish royal house and traveled with them. Both maintained an active correspondence with people like Erasmus and Melancthon.

Of little interest to most people, I am sure... but since I am considering posting some of the "Considerations", I want to be precise, as well as honest.

And a bit more hype about the 110 Considerations: in all but about a dozen of them, the last words are, "Jesus Christ our Lord" or "our Lord Jesus Christ". Most of the rest end with something like, "to whom be glory everlasting. Amen."

You get the idea.

And a disclaimer: I love reading 16th century Spanish (The Golden Century). So, I find Valdés' words more deeply moving in the original. I hope modern readers will not feel like something got lost in translation.

Bottom line, again: In spite of the murkiness that surrounds and incessantly strives to pollute it, I never get over how the Gospel of Jesus Christ shines, pristine and bright, in every age. 

It feels dark today. But isn't darkness merely the absence of light?

“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (Joh 8:12)

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