Interfaith Learning as Foreign Language Acquisition (Languages of God, V)

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The previous post in this series on using linguistic analogies to understand religious differences talked about the idea of language games. You may have noticed that in that post I only talked about differences within a particular religion, and not differences between religions. This was intentional.  While intellectually speaking, engaging with a completely different belief … Continue reading Interfaith Learning as Foreign Language Acquisition (Languages of God, V)

Anguagelay Amesgay (Languages of God, Part IV)

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The previous post in this series talked about typology. One typological system that’s been influential in theological circles over the past few decades has been George Lindbeck’s model of how doctrine and dogma function (see The Nature of Doctrine (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1984).). This typology distinguishes communities based on the attitudes of adherents … Continue reading Anguagelay Amesgay (Languages of God, Part IV)

Languages and Dialects of Faith

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[This post is part of a series that looks at religion and faith using concepts and tools gained from linguistics. Part I of the series is available here.] No two people share the same way of talking. Even within the same family, our pronunciations vary a little, we have different vocabularies, and prefer certain sentence … Continue reading Languages and Dialects of Faith

Two Ways of Thinking about Religion (Languages of God, Part I)

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A friend of mine tells a story that has stuck with me for twenty years now. A kindly older gentleman came into the store where she worked during her summer vacations in university and asked after a certain product. Unfortunately for my friend, her customer spoke with a thick Scottish brogue and she couldn’t understand … Continue reading Two Ways of Thinking about Religion (Languages of God, Part I)