A great article by Jonathan Merritt in the New York Times this past Sunday: It’s Getting Harder to Talk About God.  This is the kind of article I really enjoy reading.

After growing  up in his faith and receiving higher education at religious institutions, the author moved to New York City (a detail which I love) to observe and lament the general “decline in our spiritual vocabulary.” He believes people are increasingly uncomfortable talking about spirituality and faith. We seem to have lost both their willingness and ability to do so.

This topic is such a tangled web that you could write a book about it.  And, indeed, Jonathan Merritt has done just that.  Learning to Speak God From Scratch:  Why Sacred Words Are Vanishing – And How We Can Revive Them describes how we lost our ability to speak “God Talk.” He proposes a revival.

I haven’t yet purchased and read the book (it’s only Monday as I write this,) but my take is going to be predictable to anyone who follows this column.  Yup.  It’s definitely a problem, especially among certain influential groups and institutions and in certain geographic regions. I can personally witness that the vocabulary of faith is clearly in disfavor and being abandoned in big business and technology where a narrow definition of rationalism is triumphant. I hope that the author proposes that any revival begin with reading the Gospel aloud.  Nothing will give you back your vocabulary – what the author calls God Talk — more quickly and with more authority.

What’s wrong with us?

I agree that we avoid talking about faith outside of an ever-shrinking geography and demography. We’re losing our ability to speak with confidence and conviction about matters of faith. A few observations of my own:

• We’re more mindful today of the impact of words and so, wary of giving offense or opening ourselves up to censure, we guard against what are sure to be “trigger words”… AND
• The words most commonly associated with spirituality and faith have been trivialized and rendered meaningless – or at best banal — by both people of faith and people of no faith. An almost comic book version and understanding of God has been first promoted and then easily attacked by critics and reflexively defended by apologists…AND
• Words of faith are losing their power. Especially as science and technology substitute for faith. “Data-driven” wields much more power and influence today than “faith-based.” The language of faith is heretical to the new religion of Scientism, WHERE THE JOBS ARE, and has consequently been devalued, debased and made disqualifying…AND
• As religion today is (and has always been?) highly politicized, the language we use to describe our religious experience has become weaponized. We’ve replaced thoughtful and courageous religious leadership with callow and self-serving politicians to be the advocates for faith in the public square, with disastrous results.

This is serious. The author notes that research has revealed, “…our linguistic landscape both reflects and affects our views…”  A loss of this vocabulary and an ability to speak diminishes our ability to think.

Philosophy isn’t just for college freshmen who aren’t STEM majors

Discussions about religion and philosophy aren’t just snacks to go with late night beers in college.  I was lucky enough to have some early exposure to the study of religion beyond the usual Sunday School instruction. I attended a private school my junior year in high school that offered an elective religious studies course in which Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be, Martin Buber’s I And Thou, and Mircea Eliades’ The Sacred and the Profane were assigned reading. This was followed by a comparative religion course my freshman year in college. I was exposed to a rich vocabulary and critical thinking at a relatively influential age.  That, I think, combined with a continuing recreational interest in the history of religion has given me a respect for faith in general and strengthened my own faith in particular.

I have no problem with anyone challenging any of the particulars of my faith, I’m only mildly annoyed with the parochialism of those challenging my having any faith at all.

It’s fun and invigorating to talk about the spirituality and religion with those who have some understanding of the faith experience – even if no formal education — in an open minded and inquiring way. Not with the Mr. Gradgrinds of the world (facts, facts, nothing but facts.)  The ability to quote and borrow language from the KJV is like the ability to quote Shakespeare or Plato. It transports us to a higher plane of experience and “affects our views.”

God of the kitchen sink

But in today’s increasingly affluent and secular society it’s easy for critics to make a caricature of “defenders of the faith” as defenders of the Christmas holiday shopping season; who see sin as a second piece of chocolate cake; who ask God what color curtains should be put in the kitchen window; where “I’m so blessed” means look what I found on sale; and where God is a minor and highly localized deity that lives in and around the kitchen sink, dutifully helping the faithful solve everyday problems and, like our accountant, magically finding ways to deliver us unto further prosperity. They have recreated God in our own image. The language of God is made small. God Talk becomes small talk like chat consigned religious talk shows.

It’s small wonder that this definition of God Talk – and as collateral damage, all God Talk — is increasingly rejected.

Speaking with distinction and conviction

Read the Bible aloud with others. Put the words in your mouth. It will allow you to access an expansive vocabulary and give you the language to express a depth of experience that transcends our dull daily existence.  Some words will shock you. Some passages will confound you. But they will invite you into a presence of mind and a presence of being that is distinctly bold.