Christianese

English

Etymology

From Christian +‎ -ese.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Christ‧ian‧ese

Proper noun

Christianese

1. (Christianity, informal, slang) The terms, catchphrases and theological jargon used by some Christians, commonly from Christian theology and influenced by popular translations of the Bible.
   • 2003, Helen K[atharine] Bond, Seth D[aniel] Kunin, Francesca Aran Murphy, editors, Religious Studies and Theology: An Introduction, New York, N.Y.: New York University Press, →ISBN, page 500:

     Anthony answered, 'Talking Christianese is being the Church. Don't you think Church matters?' Fred said, 'Not when you define the Church as a group having Christian experiences. You need someone to tell you what Christianity is before you can define a group's experiences as Christian.'

   • 2007, Dan C. Gilliam, “Friendship: A Superhero Faith”, in God Touches: Finding Faith in the Cracks and Spaces of Life, Cincinnati, Oh.: Standard Publishing, →ISBN, page 180:

     I often ran them off with my self-righteous attitude or scared them away with Christianese language […]

   • 2007, Mike Minter, A Western Jesus: The Wayward Americanization of Christ and the Church, Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 8:

     Reasons for departure were simply expressed in "Christianese": "The Lord is leading us to fellowship elsewhere," "The Spirit is moving us on," and so on.

Synonyms

• Bible-speak

Further reading

• Glossary of Christian terms on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Paul McFedries (2001 June 21) “Christianese”, in Word Spy, Logophilia Limited, retrieved 4 June 2017.
• Mark I. Pinsky (2001) The Gospel According to the Simpsons, Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press.