When the Homily is about Immunology

Hermeneutics and the Tao


While on my way to a cheap Sushi restaurant for lunch today with a coworker, I noticed a Bible in her car. And interestingly enough, it was a Chinese translation. Now remembering back from reading Christ the Eternal Tao, I wondered if my boss (who knows Chinese quite well and was sitting in the back), might confirm that the Greek “logos” is often translated as “Tao” in Chinese…as opposed to simply the Chinese term for “word.” Indeed, after much searching she read the first couple of verses in St. John’s Gospel and she confirmed it was Tao.

In the beginning was the Tao...

Now consider this for a moment: I wonder if the Chinese (because of the fact that they have a cultural, lingual, and religious context which has some familiarity with the Greek idea of "logos" ), have a much fuller understanding of the Word (logos) of God than we westerners who still, upon mention of the term, think first of the Bible.