Image via WikipediaOne issue we have in communicating to the world is our use of “religious speak”, “church speak”, or jargon. In the past, many people in this country possessed a familiarity with religious jargon through school, church, and everyday life. Today that is not the case and we must now learn to communicate with terms that do not confuse.

Christianity is not unique in the use of jargon. Most groups that have a common interest develop short cuts to concepts that they use. On occasion that jargon rises to a level of familiarity with the public. Today, computer terms such as “RAM” or “CPU” have a “relative familiarity” to most people even if the details of the technology are not understood. That “relative familiarity” with many words we use in “church speak” has been reduced over time to the notion that it has something to do with religion. In a similar, way once high tech jargon such as “vacuum tube” and “cathode ray tube” has moved into the realm of “old technology” that we know had something to do with radios, televisions, and computers but even the “relative familiarity” has faded.

We are then faced with several issues. The first issue is that most people will only have at best a “relative familiarity” with our jargon. They may have heard the terms we use but they have very little clue about what they mean. Since exposure to sources that provide familiarity has diminished the second problem becomes that of “old jargon”. For instance, an outsider may know that grace has a relationship to religion but that is about the extent.

We live in a sound byte society which often breeds an atmosphere of “relative familiarity” on any topic. Next time we will look at the problem of “relative familiarity” within the church family.

Related articles

• Where is this tech jargon joke? (ask.metafilter.com)
• Council urges staff to ditch jargon (telegraph.co.uk)