{"id":2981,"date":"2008-08-16T23:11:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-16T23:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/yahweh-and-dan-schutte-the-story-behind-you-are-near.html"},"modified":"2008-08-16T23:11:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-16T23:11:00","slug":"yahweh-and-dan-schutte-the-story-behind-you-are-near","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/yahweh-and-dan-schutte-the-story-behind-you-are-near.html","title":{"rendered":"Yahweh and Dan Schutte: the story behind “You Are Near”"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the head-scratching and hand-wringing continues over the “Ixnay Yahweh”<\/a> decision, composer Dan Schutte is talking about what led him to write “You Are Near,”<\/a> and reveals that he’s revising it. <\/p>\n

H\/T to Catholic Sensibility<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Here’s what Schutte had to say: <\/p>\n

There certainly has been a flurry of discussion arising from the recent directive from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. And, as is evident on your website, much of it has been centered around my song, \u201cYou Are Near.\u201d I suppose I should receive that as a compliment.<\/p>\n

I wrote this piece in 1970, as a very young man. I\u2019m afraid there\u2019s no special story behind it. I do remember beginning it while on retreat and working on it for several months before I was satisfied. When I entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1966, the Jerusalem Bible had just been published. It was the long-awaited project of some of the world\u2019s most respected scripture scholars. The translation was modern, in the best sense of that word, and attempted to be true to the poetic character of the Biblical songs, especially the Psalms. I first learned to pray the Psalms from the Jerusalem Bible. And, like you, I turned to the JB translation in considering Biblical texts my compositions.<\/p>\n

The JB team of translators decided to use the name \u201cYahweh\u201d whenever the tetragrammaton YHWH appeared in the original Hebrew text. It was certainly not a frivolous decision on their part. It might be interesting for your bloggers to read what the Editor\u2019s Forward in the JB says about their decision:<\/p>\n

It is in the Psalms especially that the use of the divine name Yahweh may seem unacceptable \u2013 though indeed the still stranger form Yah is in constant use in the acclamation Hallelu-Yah (Praise Yah!). It is not without hesitation that this accurate form has been used, and no doubt those who may care to use this translation of the Psalms can substitute the traditional \u201cthe Lord\u201d. On the other hand, this would be to lose much of the flavor and meaning of the originals.<\/span><\/p>\n

As our communal, and my own personal, sensitivity grew in the years after the writing of \u201cYou Are Near,\u201d we came to understand that speaking the name \u201cYahweh\u201d out loud was not in keeping with our long Christian tradition, and was, in fact, offensive to Jewish sisters and brothers. So after 1973 I\u2019ve not used the name \u201cYahweh\u201d in my compositions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m presently working to revise the lyric of \u201cYou Are Near.\u201d I suppose that won\u2019t keep people from singing it the way they have for 37 years, but I feel I need to provide an \u201cofficial\u201d revised text for use at liturgy. Of course, those who make musical decisions for worship could simply choose not to sing it. There are many beautiful, well-crafted settings of Psalm 139. But, as several of your bloggers attest, \u201cYou Are Near\u201d is a beloved favorite of many people. I can tell you that over the years I\u2019ve received more messages about \u201cYou Are Near\u201d \u2014 people telling me how it helped them to pray when they couldn\u2019t, or sustained them through particularly difficult times, or helped them in their grieving \u2013 than any other of my songs. I feel privileged and humbled to be a vehicle of music that brings people to God in this way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the head-scratching and hand-wringing continues over the “Ixnay Yahweh” decision, composer Dan Schutte is talking about what led him to write “You Are Near,” and reveals that he’s revising it. H\/T to Catholic Sensibility. Here’s what Schutte had to say: There certainly has been a flurry of discussion arising from the recent directive from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links-r-us","category-liturgy"],"yoast_head":"\nYahweh and Dan Schutte: the story behind "You Are Near" - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/yahweh-and-dan-schutte-the-story-behind-you-are-near.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yahweh and Dan Schutte: the story behind "You Are Near" - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While the head-scratching and hand-wringing continues over the “Ixnay Yahweh” decision, composer Dan Schutte is talking about what led him to write “You Are Near,” and reveals that he’s revising it. 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). 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