Christian jargon (sometimes known as “Christianese”) continues to change due to trends in the culture and the church. While some terms that smack of old revivalism, fundamentalism or kitsch are fading into non-use, one trend of Christian jargon is becoming more and more popular. This trend isn’t a word. It’s a punctuation mark: the hyphen.
When you read visionary blogs or books that speak about an overarching philosophy of ministry for the future, you’ve no doubt seen a few hyphens (e.g. “Christ-centered” or “Gospel-driven”). So many visions are -based, -grounded, -driven, -centered, and -empowered while leaders are re-ing and pre-ing everything as well. If one could make hyphens for a living, people would dash to fill out an application.
How did it start? Some say with the popularity of “faith-based” initiatives in Washington early in George W. Bush’s term. Others point to popular books (that are actually inconsistent with their use of the hyphen) such as Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life or C.J. Mahaney’s Cross Centered Life.
So, is this phenomenon of the frequent use of hyphens in Christian jargon only a grammatical fad, loved by some and annoying to others? Or is the hyphen doing well in an attempt to replicate the complicated compound words and terms explained well by Koine Greek conjugations, participles, etc. in the epistles of the New Testament?
Only usage in context and time will tell, folks.
1 comment:
It's a question of grammar. Compound adjectives should generally be hyphenated when they appear before a noun. Hence, Rick Warren's book (a theologically shaky one, BTW) should have been more properly titled "The Purpose-Driven Life." (See the Chicago Manual of Style for more examples of this principle at work.)
I don't see a trend toward more hyphenation. Rather, I see a nation that has become lax when it comes to the rules and general guidelines of grammar, thus leading to examples such as Warren's book. When people do get it right, these examples tend to jump out at us.
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