One of my batchmates on the postgraduate English Literature course at the university campus in Jaipur was an ordained priest named K.J. Kuruvilla. St. Xavier’s School Jaipur, where he was a teacher, had sponsored his study to enhance his proficiency in English.Visiting the teachers’ hostel in the St. Xavier’s School premises where he stayed, I once met Reverend Father Wilzbacher, an American Jesuit priest of German descent. Old timers from St. Xavier’s Jaipur (I am not one) still remember Father Wilzbacher, with his larger-than-life personality, who would never fail to inspire anyone who was meeting him even for the first time. His foremost concern was the future of his students which endeared him to everyone.He had made Jaipur his home where he lived for nearly forty years till his last. One would often see him cycling to the poorer quarters of the city for charity work. It was also a lesson in selfdiscipline to see Father Wilzbacher in his study. One never saw him idle. It was also a joy to listen to him speak on whatever subject you chose to get his opinion on, whether it was democracy or ethics or the poetry of T. S. Eliot.He, at my request, gave me a copy of the Authorised Version of the Bible. During the many discussions I had with him, however, he never talked about Christianity, let alone try to influence my views on religion. But what Father Wilzbacher did not do, the Authorised Version of the Bible given by him did. It converted me to Christianity if that is what it means to have been enchanted by the poetic beauty of its language and to be influenced by its content.As a student of English Literature, one could not but admire its simple and lucid style. It is worth noting that the Bible does not use exclamation mark, the question mark or the quotation mark. It also uses the comma and the full stop to the minimum.Bertrand Russell, who otherwise did not believe in the divinity of Jesus as one gathers from his essay, Why I am not a Christian, commended the style of the Bible. ‘Nothing could better in style’, he says in the essay How I Write, ‘than the Prayer Book and the Authorised Version of the Bible’. George Orwell too lavished praise on the style of the Bible. Bernard Shaw, the great iconoclast of the 20th century, used the first verse from the Gospel according to Saint John, to say, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Shaw, and the Word was Shaw’ replacing the word God with his own name, an indirect tribute to the beauty of the original verse.Not many people are also aware that phrases like clear as crystal, still small voice, arose as one man, sweat of the brow, broken reed, lick the dust and many more we use come from the Bible.Just as the style of the Bible refined one’s literary sensibilities, its content had a positive influence. Much of it was practical wisdom one would follow for one’s own good.From the vast depository of sublime thought contained in its pages, it is difficult to select the best passages. However, a few memorable verses stand out in my memory. One gives a matter-of-fact advice on plain speaking while another cautions you not to bank upon mere prayers to expect any good to come your way:
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