Comments on The Best Dog In The World: Christian-ese

Your post is a great reminder! Often a person woul...

2007-09-11T01:44:00.000-07:00

Your post is a great reminder!
Often a person would have to speak slowly and carefully if they want to avoid using lingo, even when every word is sincere. Try saying some of your workplace technical wording in laymen's terms and it might be a laborious exercise.
Still, especially around anyone who can't be expected to understand lingo, the time and thought should be given to make communication clear and no matter how it's said, our words should always be heartfelt or authentic.
Shame on Christians, when we lack authenticity--insincerity is a lie, plain and simple; and truth is a hallmark of Christianity.

hey :)thanks for blogging - loved it. I s'pose I u...

2007-05-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

hey :)

thanks for blogging - loved it. I s'pose I use Christianese often enough when I cannot find my own words because others' similar experiences have validated the use of the term. Sometimes old terms are hard to rephrase because they're well put... But I can well imagine it puts off some people.

As a linguist, I know jargon comes with the job. And maybe it is slightly similar here - but since we're not really given the option of being an exclusive highly skilled band of Christians (;O) I agree that Christianese can be a block to the openness that the gospel (ah there it is again? lol) must have.

David, I received your feedback on my "Christiane...

2006-10-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

David,

I received your feedback on my "Christianese" article (http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/6362-baker.htm)via Dr. Carol Percy.

Thanks for taking the time to read and commment. I agree with your stance and I actually considered the problem as I wrote. Ultimately, however, as I was writing for linguists rather than Christians, I could not afford what would have been a tangential explanation of the problem of the term "Christianese" to the Christian.

That being said, you are absolutely right and now I'm thinking that a footnote would perhaps have been useful. Again, thanks for your interest.

Best,
Amanda Baker

Love this post..and your blog. Thanks for your hon...

2006-02-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

Love this post..and your blog. Thanks for your honesty and humor.

I loved this post. Christian-ese can also be a for...

2005-06-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

I loved this post. Christian-ese can also be a form of manipulating people into conformity. Funny how Jesus spoke mostly against the religious leaders and their babble... and spoke frankly, directly and compassionately to the people that he came for.

David, I like your essay. I grew up a pastor's so...

2005-05-14T05:32:00.000-07:00

David, I like your essay.

I grew up a pastor's son and found that much of the time, I seemed to be on the outside of acceptance of Christians at our Evangelical church. I called it as I saw it. Honesty got me nowhere. I continue to stand on the outside of the acceptable when it comes to Christianese and relationships in my current church. While my wife and I are the worship leaders, I still get some strange looks and find people not understanding my honesty. I like to be honest and expect others to be honest in the hope that we can "bear one anothers burdens".

Much of the time burdens get buried under a mountain of culturally correct language. We are never allowed to have a problem or need to deal with something more than once. Christianese is a detriment to the proper workings of the caring Church as Christ intended.

I will continue on the outside of the circle of acceptability because it is here I find the friendship and genuine relationship with a few others who count honesty and a relationship with God as more important than the approval of men.

anonymous, thanks for your feedback. I added the ...

2005-04-01T15:36:00.000-08:00

anonymous, thanks for your feedback. I added the following paragraph under (it undermines our individuality) for clarification.

"I absolutely do not doubt that some who use the lingo mean it well with the utmost sincerity. The main problem is that people who do use it sound just like everybody else who uses it, which makes it exponentially difficult for me to get to know them as individuals especially considering the fact that I see my felllow church goers only once or twice a week."

I mean it when I say I don't doubt some people's sincerity, but my point about individuality still stands.

well, it's nicely written... and i can appreciate ...

2005-04-01T09:29:00.000-08:00

well, it's nicely written... and i can appreciate your view of "christianese" out there and the tendency for some to misuse the lingo. while at first it confused me and caused me to cock my head to the side (when i was a new believer), i am now a user of much of the christianese... and a genuine user, at that. as you are frustrated with those who over use it, it's a little disconcerting that you would be narrow minded enough to believe that all christians who use this "lingo" would be as insincere as you make us all out to be. i USE it and i say what i mean & mean what i say.

while i can appreciate your view of overused, insincere christianese, i don't see any room for the exception (which would be genuine users such as myself).

Dave, this was a really, really, really great post...

2005-02-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

Dave, this was a really, really, really great post. I agree--I hate Christianese and I try not to use it, mostly because it never makes sense to me (since I consider myself not to have grown up in the church, I didn't learn this from a young age).

Also, Christianese is frequently spoken with meaningless intent, which I think is what makes it particularly aggrevating. I think this is precisely the difference between your nerd speak (that part of your essay was HILARIOUS to me--you are not invited to the next game night :)) and Christianese. Often, I think industry-specific terminology is used because that most clearly identifies with specificity what you're talking about, and it rarely seems dead (if you're in the industry) because chances are you're talking about those things with reason and love. I think Christianese seems dead because it is easy to say those things and be devoid of meaning and reason, other than it's just something to say.

Thanks for the comment. I am not so worried about...

2005-02-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the comment.

I am not so worried about technical terms which are inevitable when one metaphores are employed to describe things that laymen can't relate to.

I am talking more about canned cliches, platitudes, buzz words that really do not have a lot of substance other than sounding good. So technical terms used in your industry as well as mine really do not belong in the same category as cliches do.

The industry which I currently work has an entirel...

2005-02-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

The industry which I currently work has an entirely different vocabulary. When I began years ago it was almost as good as learning a foreign language. I sometimes forget and when people ask me questions, they get this look on their face that immediately tells me that I forgot to switch into the language which they understand (translation is vital).

I also came to realize that religion is a foreign language. It wasn't until about 6th grade while talking to a friend that didn't have the same religious background as I that it occurred to me that she wasn't understanding what I was saying. It was almost like a child that was raised speaking English and Spanish in their home realizing that everyone else didn't speak Spanish.

I loved this post!