Growing up in the United States has had it’s advantages. One of those advantages is being a native American English speaker. American English may be one of the most difficult languages to master. From the plethora of different sounds that ough can make (ie: rough, plough, through, though, thorough, and cough). Then there are the homophones that make American English confusing to non-native speakers (ie: “The students are with their teacher, but I’m not sure how long they’re going to stay there.”) As a native speaker, I take for granted the ease in which I can decipher my first language.
In high school I studied Spanish for two years. Ironically, one of my Spanish teachers had spent time in Spain, and the second teacher had spent time in Venezuela. So, after learning Spanish with a Spain-bent, some (maybe much?) of the second year of Spanish class was spent “correcting” our Spanish to match what the second teacher felt was correct.
American English isn’t the only language I learned from the time I was a toddler. I was also raised to speak a dialect ofAmerican-fundamentalist/Evangelical Christianity that I will call Christianese. Those that were born into these dialects, and yes there are more than one, have little difficulty navigating the Christianese equivalent of the “oughs”. After all we’ve heard the nuances from the cradle.
This last week I was at a funeral from my brother-in-law. At the funeral multiple different pastors spoke about how Ron believed having a relationship with Jesus was the most important thing in life. Words like gospel, redemption, sacrifice, relationship and many others were used time and time again to try and relay the message that the pastors believe Ron would want those in attendance to hear.
I have sat through such homilies countless times in my life. After the funeral, I heard many well-intentioned individuals express how it was great to have such a “clear gospel presentation” given to for the benefit of those in attendance who were not “Christians.” But I believe there is a problem, a language problem, with both this style of presentation of the religious beliefs shared as well as the statements about how “clear” the presentations were. There is a minimum level of Christianese literacy necessary for someone to understand the “clear” message that was presented.
Over the past 15 years or so I have navigated my way outside the Fundamentalist/Evangelical circles where I spent the first three decades of my life. My first venture outside my inherited religious camp was in a middle-of-the-road Anabaptist church. While attending, and later pastoring this church for a season, I learned that some of the same words I grew up hearing in my F/E churches were used, but at times they carried slightly different meanings. More recently, I have been active in a predominantly African-American church, and the same is true there. All three camps use similar words, but at times these words mean different things to the different camps.
Returning to the “clear” message presented at the funeral this past week, I sat in my pew listening to all three pastors talk about Ron’s faith, a faith they believe is necessary for all to have. But, even as one who has similar religious beliefs to what my brother-in-law had, I found the messages presented to be so interwoven with Christianese that anyone who had not mastered the Christianese dialect being used would find the message near impossible to understand. I know many of those speaking about how grateful they were that there was a clear message given, really do believe the homily was a clear presentation of their belief system. They believe this because they have mastered the dialect. And I know the pastors who gave the homilies truly believe they gave clear presentations of their belief system, because they have mastered the dialect. In the past I’ve sat in the church pews and believed a presentation was clear, and I’ve also stood up front and delivered a homily I believed to be clear. I no longer even know what a clear message looks like.
When I communicate with my wife or sons I use certain terms and phrases on a regular basis. These terms and phrases are used often enough that we understand each other. The same is true about people I work with, fans of the same sports I enjoy, people of similar political leanings, and so forth. Each different circle I may occupy may have a sub-language that is “clearly” understood to most in that circle, but is paramount to a foreign language to those outside our circle. And if we wish to communicate something to someone outside our circle, we need to ditch the vernacular that is commonly accepted by insiders.
The question I have at the moment is, what would a “clear” message presenting my belief system look like? It’s easy to point out at times how other people’s presentations are as clear as mud, but to just point out how others do it poorly doesn’t help much. How can I rethink my communication so as to have less confusion, and more clarity, when I talk to people from outside of any of the circles I occupy? At this point, I have more questions than answers.
