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Christianese (or Christianeze) refers to the contained terms and jargon used within many of the branches and denominations of Christianity as a functional system of religious terminology.[1] It is characterized by the use in everyday conversation of certain words, theological terms, puns and catchphrases, in ways that may be only comprehensible within the context of a particular Christian sect or denomination.[2] The terms used do not necessarily come from the Bible itself.[3] They may have come into use through discussions about doctrine, through the social history of the Christian church at large, or in the unique history of a specific denomination or movement.
In the developed Christian context, particular terms like God and Christ (or Jesus) as well as more common terms such as faith, truth and spirit have a rich history of meaning to refer to concepts in spirituality, which Christians may consider to be particular to Christianity, and not available to dissimilar or distantly foreign belief systems. While particular terms may have some functional translatability to concepts in other systems, such translations may typically be controversial outside of the forum of comparative religion. Because terms interoperate in a closed system, Christians may consider the use of such terms outside of Christianity or their particular branch (or denomination) as a distortion.[citation needed]
The term Christianese is an informal and sometimes pejorative reference to the language of terms used in Christianity as contained and, in some cases, deliberately or effectively uncooperative with secular and foreign terms. Certain denominations—contemporary Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism for example—may be more widely considered as users of distinctly localised variants of Christianese.
- ^ Aremo, Felix (28 February 2023). "'Have you been washed in the blood of the lamb, brother?' 5 ways to avoid Christianese in your evangelism". Premier Christianity. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
- ^ Howard, Barry (22 February 2018). "17 Phrases That Indicate You're Fluent in Christianese". Good Faith Media. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
- ^ "How NOT to Speak Christianese". Evangelism. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023.