Friday, April 12, 2013
Why does language matter?
Life got away from me and it has been more than a few days...but let us get started.
I stumbled headlong into this subject a week or so ago. The power of words, the power of naming things. It came up as part of a discussion around a Seder dinner that my husband and I were invited to. The Haggadah (script if you will) for the Seder dinner had been developed and written by two of the dinner guests. During a particularly tricky part of translation, the authors asserted, that they had tried to be mindful of gender bias. Wherever possible they had adjusted the language to be more inclusive. That discussion and their perspective as observant Jews wrestling with their own convictions and what language to use when talking about God was fascinating.
Words are powerful things. They have the power to exalt and praise, just as they have the power to demean and destroy. But generally, we as the speaker do not give the words we choose much thought. Stop and consider for a moment the words you love to hear or say, how they make you feel. Do they make you feel powerful? Right? Just? Loved? Now take another moment and consider the words you do not like to hear. How do those make you feel? Do they make you feel weak? Wrong? Unloved? Hang on to those thoughts for a minute and consider this...
There is a whole different category of words, you have used them a myriad of times in a wide variety of contexts. They are gender words. While they may appear to be innocuous, they are not. Within the construct of religious scripture, practice and sermons they have the power to exalt or demean one half of the human population.
Why does this matter? Language is the essential building matter of communication. It is used not only to convey emotion, but also to explain important information such as concepts, descriptions, and structure. Therefore, when gender language is used to define ultimate concepts such as God or the Divine, they imbue all like gendered individuals with a degree of power and authority simply by association.
So, at this point you may be wondering where I am going with this...After all I just published an edition of this blog discussing language anomalies within Hebrew translation. What is this mini-lecture about how language justifies prejudice and marginalization, and how does this tie in?
Religious scholar an feminist theologian, Elizabeth A. Johnson contends,
"The symbol of God functions as the primary symbol of the whole religious system, the ultimate point of reference for understanding experience, life, and the world. Hence the way in which a faith community shapes language about God implicitly represents what it takes to be the highest good, the profoundest truth, the most appealing beauty. Such speaking in turn, powerfully molds the corporate identity of the community and directs its praxis. A religion, for example, that would speak about a warlike god and extol the way he smashes his enemies to bits would promote aggressive group behavior. A community that would acclaim God as an arbitrary tyrant would inspire its members to acts of impatience and disrespect towards their fellow creatures. On the other hand, speech about a beneficent and loving God who forgives offenses would turn the faith community toward care for the neighbor and mutual forgiveness" (She Who Is, 1995).
I contend that Ms. Johnson is correct, however, her assertion is not merely limited to religious communities. Instead becomes the pervasive valuation paradigm for the whole community regardless of variances within actual faith practice. What I mean by that is that a community comprised of disparate faiths or denominations (Baptist, Protestant, Presbyterian, Catholic, Mormon, Jewish, and even Muslim) will and do construct their highest and best around their understanding of the ultimate - of God. This becomes problematic when related to gender. I have used Mary Daly's quote before, but here it bears repeating. Ms. Daly states, "If God is Male, then Male is God," (Beyond God the Father, Beacon, 1973). The consequences of this are that anything that is not male is other, as such it is less, inferior and those things become marginalized not only in value but in voice. And in so doing, it is viewed as completely acceptable - dare I say ordained by God.
It is more than time for this to change. In a culture where a very serious recommendation within halls of higher learner was to offer a course on "How not to rape," as if that should even need to be a topic. Why should it be acceptable for a woman to make 77 cents on the dollar for the same job as her male counterpart is doing for full salary? The answer is it shouldn't. However, until we are a culture are unified and decided that gender, and by extension marginalization of anyone is unacceptable, the paradigm won't shift. To wrap up my point, I'm sharing the post below which came to me via upworthy.com. Read it over, give it some thought...then change how you walk and speak in the world.
I stumbled headlong into this subject a week or so ago. The power of words, the power of naming things. It came up as part of a discussion around a Seder dinner that my husband and I were invited to. The Haggadah (script if you will) for the Seder dinner had been developed and written by two of the dinner guests. During a particularly tricky part of translation, the authors asserted, that they had tried to be mindful of gender bias. Wherever possible they had adjusted the language to be more inclusive. That discussion and their perspective as observant Jews wrestling with their own convictions and what language to use when talking about God was fascinating.
Words are powerful things. They have the power to exalt and praise, just as they have the power to demean and destroy. But generally, we as the speaker do not give the words we choose much thought. Stop and consider for a moment the words you love to hear or say, how they make you feel. Do they make you feel powerful? Right? Just? Loved? Now take another moment and consider the words you do not like to hear. How do those make you feel? Do they make you feel weak? Wrong? Unloved? Hang on to those thoughts for a minute and consider this...
There is a whole different category of words, you have used them a myriad of times in a wide variety of contexts. They are gender words. While they may appear to be innocuous, they are not. Within the construct of religious scripture, practice and sermons they have the power to exalt or demean one half of the human population.
Why does this matter? Language is the essential building matter of communication. It is used not only to convey emotion, but also to explain important information such as concepts, descriptions, and structure. Therefore, when gender language is used to define ultimate concepts such as God or the Divine, they imbue all like gendered individuals with a degree of power and authority simply by association.
So, at this point you may be wondering where I am going with this...After all I just published an edition of this blog discussing language anomalies within Hebrew translation. What is this mini-lecture about how language justifies prejudice and marginalization, and how does this tie in?
Religious scholar an feminist theologian, Elizabeth A. Johnson contends,
"The symbol of God functions as the primary symbol of the whole religious system, the ultimate point of reference for understanding experience, life, and the world. Hence the way in which a faith community shapes language about God implicitly represents what it takes to be the highest good, the profoundest truth, the most appealing beauty. Such speaking in turn, powerfully molds the corporate identity of the community and directs its praxis. A religion, for example, that would speak about a warlike god and extol the way he smashes his enemies to bits would promote aggressive group behavior. A community that would acclaim God as an arbitrary tyrant would inspire its members to acts of impatience and disrespect towards their fellow creatures. On the other hand, speech about a beneficent and loving God who forgives offenses would turn the faith community toward care for the neighbor and mutual forgiveness" (She Who Is, 1995).
I contend that Ms. Johnson is correct, however, her assertion is not merely limited to religious communities. Instead becomes the pervasive valuation paradigm for the whole community regardless of variances within actual faith practice. What I mean by that is that a community comprised of disparate faiths or denominations (Baptist, Protestant, Presbyterian, Catholic, Mormon, Jewish, and even Muslim) will and do construct their highest and best around their understanding of the ultimate - of God. This becomes problematic when related to gender. I have used Mary Daly's quote before, but here it bears repeating. Ms. Daly states, "If God is Male, then Male is God," (Beyond God the Father, Beacon, 1973). The consequences of this are that anything that is not male is other, as such it is less, inferior and those things become marginalized not only in value but in voice. And in so doing, it is viewed as completely acceptable - dare I say ordained by God.
It is more than time for this to change. In a culture where a very serious recommendation within halls of higher learner was to offer a course on "How not to rape," as if that should even need to be a topic. Why should it be acceptable for a woman to make 77 cents on the dollar for the same job as her male counterpart is doing for full salary? The answer is it shouldn't. However, until we are a culture are unified and decided that gender, and by extension marginalization of anyone is unacceptable, the paradigm won't shift. To wrap up my point, I'm sharing the post below which came to me via upworthy.com. Read it over, give it some thought...then change how you walk and speak in the world.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)