On Logophilia and Faith

As the header of my blog suggests, offering reflections on "words" (along with God, life, faith, love, and spirituality) is a raison d'etre for terra incognita. And the "words" part wasn't included just so the header would scan; as a Christian I'm quite convinced that the words we speak are of profound spiritual weight and deep theological significance. Don't believe me? Just read Colossians 4:6, or Ephesians 4:29, or Proverbs 16:24, or Proverbs 10:11, or the grand-daddy of them all, Matthew 12:36.


As Jaques Ellul says, "Since the beginning of time, human beings have felt a pressing need to frame for themselves something different from the verifiable universe, and we have formed it through language. This universe is what we call truth” and "Truth assails me and circumvents me with mystery. Everything seems to depend on evidence; reality is evident; sight, naturally, gives me evidence. But the truth is never evident” and "the word is the creator, founder and producer of truth” and “nothing besides language can reach or establish the order of truth.” (from The Humiliation of the Word).

So I'm reflecting on words today. Just words. I've written before about the brilliant website Word Spy a website that tracks the emergence of new words in our culture. I'd recommend it to any logophiles like myself who take the Good Book to heart, when it says that "Pleasant words are honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones"; or to any Colossians 4:6 Christians out there looking for a little salt for the shaker.


Here are a few examples from Word Spy's top 100 entries, especially chosen and included here because they challenge me to think a bit more deeply about intersections between faith and culture. Like, for example, how does Christianity speak a word to the problem of "nature-deficit disorder" or challenge us to re-evaluate our "joy-to-stuff ratio" ruthlessly? Or: how does our faith offer a real solution to the longing to declare "reputation bankruptcy" or the malaise of "apocalypse fatigue"? Or (if we could replace "skills" with something more specific to the Christian life-- grace, hope, love, perhaps?) is the Spirit's goal in the Christian community to create disciples that are spiritually "T-shaped"?

Just wondering out loud, or, as they say in guitar playing, just "noodling."

nature-deficit disorder: n. A yearning for nature, or an ignorance of the natural world, caused by a lack of time spent outdoors, particularly in rural settings. Also: nature deficit disorder.

reputation bankruptcy: n. A theoretical system that would give a person a fresh start on the web by deleting all of that person's online text, photos, and other data.

apocalypse fatigue: n. Reduced interest in current or potential environmental problems due to frequent dire warnings about those problems.

joy-to-stuff ratio: (joy-too-STUFF ray.shee.oh) n. The time a person has to enjoy life versus the time a person spends accumulating material goods.

T-shaped: (TEE-shaypt) adj. Having skills and knowledge that are both deep and broad.