Words: Whoever Controls the Definition, Controls the Conversation
John 5:47, If you don’t believe Moses’ words, how will you believe me?
This week’s Idea #8 is a very basic language component: the label we give to ideas, things, people, or places that give meaning or sense to an object.
SO WHAT? Getting attention, interest, “buy in”
“Cultural appropriation” is a phrase describing how a dominant culture (think “secular” or “pagan”) uses items belonging to a minority in that culture (think “Christian”), ascribing new meaning to that cultural item. In the case of words, American culture remakes the original meaning to conform to its own goals. Find a 3-minute overview of how the American culture appropriates Christian ideas for its own ends, giving different definitions in the latest Truth in Two video here.
WHO CARES? Relation to student, potential applications
Have student look up the phrase “cultural appropriation” giving examples of how a dominant culture remakes the clothing, heritage, language, food, or concepts found in a minority group. Examples may include European youth copying the hair styles of African persons, or musical rhythms found in church music adapted to tunes within unbelieving settings (or visa versa).
Words matter to dictators. See video #12 in “Old Testament Overview” about “Prophets.”
For example, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the famed author of The Gulag Archipelago ended his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in literature by quoting the Russian proverb tyrannical types hate: “One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world.” [Quoted in Edward E. Ericson, Jr. & Alexis Klimoff. 2008. The Soul and Barbed Wire: An Introduction to Solzhenitsyn. (ISI Books): 189.]
Words matter in prophecy. See video #2 in “Minor Prophets.” For example:
False Prophets = False Words Jeremiah 23
- Lifestyle of lying (13-14)
- Crowd pleasing (16-17)
- Human prophesying (25-26)
- Distortion of God’s Word (30-36)
Words matter for wisdom. See video #3 in “Wisdom.” Proverbs functions as a mirror.
WHY SHOULD I? Reasons for investing time, thought
Caring for words means caring for others. If we misappropriate a term, giving the word new meaning, then we remove the essence of an idea created by another. In writing we call that plagiarism or in business the concern might be for copyright. If the idea of cultural appropriation matters in the workplace it should matter everyplace.
Youth may simply say “you’re a copycat.” Teachers may say, “I stole that idea.” Appropriating someone else’s work in any field, in any endeavor, without attribution (giving credit), is at best, laziness, at worst, stealing.
Caring for others’ cultures matters for both believers and unbelievers. See video #5 in “Old Testament Overview” about people’s cultural mindset, how they understand words. Hearing people in their own language, in their own culture, matters. For example:
- I need to thoughtfully, carefully use words, being sensitive to how they are used in my cultural context.
- I need to appreciate logic since God built His world to work with consistency.
- The power of words to break or build another’s spirit should be carefully considered.
- God created through words; I need to respect words as primary over images.
Malcom Muggeridge The 20th century English journalist gave this warning, “Polluted air makes us suffocate, polluted water and food make us sick, but polluted words deliver us over to the worst of all fates: to be imprisoned by fantasy. There is hope that the polluted air and water and food may sometimes be purified, but once words are polluted they are lost forever.” (Malcolm Muggeridge. “Time and Eternity,” First Things Jan 2011, p. 71.)
What Words Do. Words are first shaped by our thinking. Next, words shape the way we think. Words are then necessary to interpret what we see. Words finally express our interpretation of the world. Words, ultimately, are pregnant with meaning.
HOW DO I? Ways to be involved
Writing. See my review of Cultivating Virtue through our Words.
Serving. “Doing good” in culture is crucial to our Christian testimony. See video #3 in the series “Thoughtful Christians in Culture.”
Interpreting. BONUS videos from my teaching at IUPUI on the importance of “charity” and “humility” when it comes to understanding what someone means when they speak.
Storytelling. Learning how to tell stories connects with people where they are. BONUS video from my teaching at IUPUI on how to tell a story.
WHO SAYS? Authority, standard, influence
Critical thinking (or better, synthetic thinking based on Colossians 1.17 “by Jesus are all things held together”) leads to the ability to use words in a way that persuades people of a point of view (Acts 17:22-34). Assessment begins when the person has researched herself (Acts 17:11). Examples of rhetoric abound in Scripture: God’s law (Deut 4:5-8), Solomon (1 Kings 9-10, Apollos (Acts 18:24-28), and of course Jesus (always frustrating the Jewish leaders, i.e., Mark 12:28-34). Christians are called to practice persuasion through both life and lips (Titus 2:1-10, Col 4:5-6, 1 Thess 4:11-12).
Developing the habits of a Christian thinker begins with understanding all knowledge begins with “the fear of the Lord” (Prov 1:7; 9:11). The person who “heeds instruction is on the path to life” (Prov 10:17). The word-based, logic-organized, rhetorically-equipped Hebraic-Christian thinker will drink up Proverbial wisdom (Prov 20:15).
Ideas are captive to words. The creation was perfect; everything was “very good” (Gen 1:31). God’s words were fitted with exact intention (Ps 12:6). Frustration arises when we “know what we mean but can’t put it into words.” We should focus on exactitude and clarity in our rhetoric, avoiding error. We should say what we mean and mean what we say.
The first thing people see (headlines in a news article) is often what they believe. Always the first and often the only reading some accomplish is the bold print introducing an article. Words must be chosen carefully in every context, especially in places where conceptions are shaped. [Deut 19.18-21, Prov 10.21, 12.17-19, 16.30]
Editorial policy should be written so that truth and fairness walk hand in hand. Any news source should be constantly cognizant of and willing to apply the following principles of “word power”: integrity, honesty, painstaking accuracy, understanding the potential good and harm, guarded, substantiated, and opinion based on fact. Though there may be limited impact on direct action, words can be the compelling means by which to encourage righteousness in the populace. [Prov 2:3, 4; 6:16-19; 10:14; 15:1, 23, 28; 16:27, 28; 18:13, 17; 24:12, 24-26; 25:15; 26:23-28; 29:19]