My friend Tim likes to says that “words make worlds,” and they do, words are powerful. I just heard my friend Sparrow say, “all transformation is linguistic.” The way we – and those around us – use language makes some things more probable and other things less probable. And it appears that possibly no one person, group, previously held definition(s), or systems can control the meaning of words and language over time… check out this ].
Language is a living thing. We can feel it changing. Parts of it become old: they drop off and are forgotten. New pieces bud out, spread into leaves, and become big branches, proliferating.
Dr. Gilbert Highet
A couple of weeks ago (February 26, 2024), associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, Dr. Ryan Burge, published a short article titled, “The Rise of the Non-CHristian Evangelical: Some Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists are Identifying as Evangelicals – Why?” If you have ever identified as “Evangelical” or wondered about its meaning, this is worth your time.
Ryan Burge concludes his piece by saying:
Maybe all these graphs I produced are the result of nothing more than simple survey error. Or maybe the data is suggesting that the word evangelical doesn’t mean what it used to mean.
Dr. Ryan Burge . www.graphsaboutreligion.com
It appears the data is in! “Evangelical” means something else. BTW – Anne Curzan’s TEDtalk on words and language evolution is fabulous.
Peace, dwight
