6.22.2006

Looking for Some "-ese"y Answers

As I was working today, I found myself on a particularly nondescript piece of highway with a lot of time to think, so think I did. As I was thinking, I came up with a question (actually two questions) to which I had no real answer, so I thought that I'd throw them out there...


The questions of today are: What exactly is "Christianese" and what can we do about it?

First question: What exactly is "Christianese"?

In my past experience, I have had two different encounters where this coined term was used and they shaped how I think about this word.

The first was in a class in which I was taught about how to witness to other people who did not know Christ. In this evangelism class, we were told in no uncertain terms to not use any Christianese when speaking to non-Christians about our faith. Theological terms such as "sin", "salvation" and "redemption" are not usually ones that are in an average person's vocabulary and if they are, they rarely have the meaning or the weight that we want to imbue them with. So, the first time that I heard the term Christianese used, it was to refer to words that would confuse people and present to them a stumbling block in accepting the gospel.

The second experience that I had that shaped the way in which I view the concept of Christianese was within a chapel service at college (sorry for all you out there who are keeping score, I can't remember who spoke that message) and talked about the way in which we, as college students need to avoid the use of Christianese with other people outside the college in reference to the concepts and things that we were learning. To them, they would sound irrelevant and uninteresting and like a foreign language that they could not understand. It was no longer the words that sounded like Christianese, but the depth behind them that was to be avoided.

However, I can add a third phenomenon to this list, although it is ongoing and I cannot really nail down one piviotal event as of yet, so I will provide two.

Lately, this term has been used to describe things that are "air" within our Christian lingo. Terms such as "a double portion of blessing", "putting on the armor of God" or "sowing financially" that many Christians use in situations just to fill time when in actuality they have forgotten the origin, power and context of these sayings (if they even knew them in the first place). In these settings, Christianese is used to describe the "smoke screen" tactics that some places seem to use in order to sound spiritual and say little, if anything, at all.

Other times, this term of "Christianese" has been used to describe preaching and teaching that is "dumbed down" (not that we even know what the speaker's intent, or education level, is in saying these things) and using this term in a deragatory manner to describe what may have been a simple presentation of the gospel. It almost seems as if simple understanding is no longer a basis for higher contemplation and deeper reflection.

So, maybe a better question should be: Is there no longer a "golden mean" in Christianity where the basics of the faith can be preached upon and considered deeply without being labeled as "shallow" or "a smoke screen"?

I enjoy a good debate as much as the next intellectual guy and authors like C.S. Lewis, Dante Alehgehri, Lee Strobel and Issac Asimov (and I am looking to expand my author/genre list) all stimulate and encourage me. I enjoy looking back into history and reading opinions and theologies by the church fathers (something I miss about being out of college) and meditating on what they had to say. I just wonder if sometimes we go too far in our criticsm of the "mother's milk" that we have left behind, as if our joy regarding consumption of Biblical solid food is the equivalent of children who brag about finally having all their teeth.

I am not insulting the deeper contemplation of God's word, just our attitude towards those that are still in that stage (and may never leave...either by choice or education) and shamefully enough, the way we deal with the basics of the Christian faith.

Which brings me to question two...which I'm hoping y'all can help with.

Second Question: What can we do about [Christianese]?

- Is there a way in which to allow intellectual and new (or non-intellectual) Christians to co-exist in the same church with the same pastor and have them both feel fed and nurtured instead of ignored or starving?

- How do we avoid falling into "mere Christianese" ourselves?




Note: I *have* been to Leif's site lately (June 22, 2006) in which he deals with an issue similar to this. However, since I was already going to address this topic before I read his post, I am writing this anyways; maybe I can put a new spin on the issue at hand.

6.20.2006

Some Unfinished Business...

Wow...it's been a while...PSA's comin' at ya...

theDING would like to take time out to pay tribute to one of my inspirations for starting into the world of blogging in the first place who has just gone into retirement. Lady Raeh, I will miss your inspiring comments and spontaneous poetry and I wish you well. For some reason, I don't think that your retirement will be as long as you think right now, but no matter what happens, I will accept it. I'm keeping your link up for people to reflect on the content and as a "candle in the window"...waiting for you to return.

On the other end of the spectrum, I am glad to finally have tracked down the blog of one of my comrades and am now posting a link to his site post-haste. Leif is a guy that is always challenging to whomever he speaks to and is willing to speak whatever is necessary for the truth to get out because, along with openness and honesty, truth is a priority in what he does.


But alas, it is getting late and my post will have to wait...I've been dropping comments on others sites tonight...

6.08.2006

Reflections on Nomenclature

It's been more than a month since I graduated from FGBI/FGBC, or Eston College as we must now call it (according to doxasky's blog - entry from June 7, 2006). That's right; the school's name change finally came about, which means that the wait is over and the rumors have all finally been dispelled.

However, the way in which it was discussed and bantered about for so long, I expected something that would be a bit more original and creative than "Eston College", which simply names the place in which the college resides. I can see how the name would be less imposing and offensive on a transcript or resume when people are trying to get into a restricted access country for missions purposes (which was one of the reasons to change the name), but this name seems so bland - even to the point of seeming sterile and lifeless - something that is totally uncharacteristic of the FGBI that I have come to know and love.

But really, to borrow a phrase, "What's in a name?"

Despite the possibility that we could start calling red, thorny flowers by the term "dilapidated encephalitis", each one would still look the same and smell the same as they did when we called them roses. (With a name that long and hard to spell, we would probably go back to calling them roses pretty quickly anyways.) Dogs would still smell wierd, water would still be wet and arsenic would still kill you, no matter how hard we called them "perfume", "sawdust" and "Al's Herbal Life Boosters".

OK, so that works for flowers and other inanimate objects, but how does the name for a group of people affect the dynamics of those are called by its name or associated with it?

As a case in point, the names of sports teams. Usually, they are a reference to something powerful for the purpose of psychologically pumping up the players and the fans. Names like the Flames, Roughnecks, Storm, Cowboys and the Nemesi are all classic examples of this. Other times, name of a team will refer to something or someone inspiring. Examples of this are "the 76ers" (named after the American Revolution in 1776) or the myriad of European soccer teams that are named after political movements or events (go to the March 9th entry).

It's just not that often that you hear of a guy's rugby team that is called "the exfoliating sponges" or a hockey team calling itself "the shower heads". There's just something missing about those names.

Heck, we even call ourselves "Christians", which according to what I remember from New Testament Survey class literally means "little anointed ones" (or more loosely translated, followers or children of the anointed one, referring to Jesus Christ). Knowing that whenever we call ourselves Christians, we know and identify ourselves as followers of Christ (even if those that we talk to do not understand what that really means) definitely has an impact on the way in which we view ourselves and conduct our lives. Once we give meaning to what it means to be a Christian (or, more specifically, when we begin to understand what the Bible tells us what it means to be a Christian) the name means something to us.

So, I think that the name Eston College has accomplished what it set out to do in the area of giving the college a name that is less forward in proclaiming itself as Christian, instead hoping that the people will be the difference. However, I think that by merely referring to the college as "Eston College", people will immediately ask "What's an Eston?" or "Where's that?" and at that very point in time the first words out of the mouth of the person on the recieving end of the conversation will shape how the perception unfolds. Most people are not a big fan of small towns (heck, even Nathanael asked if anything good could come from one in John 1:46) and that alone will make a world of difference because they may automatically think that the school lacks any credibility whatsoever. By reducing the name to a place, there is less control and stability about what is projected by the school because it now becomes a reflection of the town.

I think that the new name of the school should have been tied to something that is a bit more unchanging and consistent (not saying that the "Full Gospel" moniker always did us a lot of favors either...) instead of tying ourselves to another group of people. It may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it will be interesting to see what time does to Eston.

Either way, I still support the school because I know what it is like and will continue to recommend it to others. However, there is definitely a a lot of PR work and vision casting that needs to be done in order for any of this to fly because, in my opinion, this change just stumbles out of the gate.

And we will see what happens...

I hope that I am wrong about all this, but only time will tell.