WFT- hagiography

17 December 2012

Today’s Word of the Day from Merriam-Webster is hagiography.

It means (1) a biography of saints or venerated persons; (2) an idealizing or idolizing biography.

Their “Did You Know” section on the word caught my eye:

Like "biography" and "autograph," the word "hagiography" has to do with the written word.  The combining form "-graphy" comes from Greek "graphein," meaning "to write."  "Hagio-" comes from a Greek word that means "saintly" or "holy."  This origin is seen in "Hagiographa," the Greek designation of the Ketuvim, the third division of the Hebrew Bible.  Our English word "hagiography," though it can refer to biography of actual saints, is these days more often applied to biography that treats ordinary human subjects as if they were saints.

 

The Ketuvim is labeled Hagiographa in Greek but it also means a biography of saints (or holy ones).

Who knew?

When we consider the whole of Scripture as "The Word" and the Word is G-d (John 1:1) then Scripture is His story: the story of the Messiah, the Word made flesh, and His creation of and interaction with humanity.

All of Scripture is a "biography" of sorts of the truly Holy One.

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Torah Portion

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or view this week's triennial cycle reading.

Today is

Yom Chamishi, 10 Nisan, 5784

Thursday, April 18, 2024

 

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