Wednesday, January 23, 2019

Is Christian language to blame for falling church attendance?

From The Church Times-

CHRISTIANS talk in code. They are not alone: the same is true of chemists, chiropractors, and cricket commentators. Code is a handy shorthand for those who can decrypt it. It can even be reassuring. Dot, dash, dot-dot-dash. If someone replies in the same code, we know we are being understood.

But, simultaneously, the code excludes those who cannot read the secret language. Perhaps that is the intention, or perhaps we simply cannot admit that, while we think we are speaking with clarity, in fact we’re talking gibberish.

And code also quickly descends into cliché: a language we automatically tune out of. When the cricketing pundit Geoffrey Boycott first used the term “the corridor of uncertainty” to describe the passage of a fast ball whistling close to the off stump, it was refreshing, even poetic. Now it’s a dreary Test Match Special mantra.

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/18-january/features/features/is-christian-language-to-blame-for-falling-church-attendance?fbclid=IwAR3DUh0hOHja1eP0Tlmt3PBuh-KCwLnANdIQ4RKEqIcEFFqrWBTzxHYtnr8

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