"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"(John 1:1)
What do the words we use say about the society we live in?
This is the question I have been pondering since I found out about Google's new tool Ngrams. It is a great little thing that uses the huge corpus of writings in the English language which has been digitized on Google books and compares how often any given word, as a percentage, is used.
For example, if we look how the words war and peace were used in the 20th Century we see a direct correlation with the events of history with spikes around the two world wars:
Similarly we can see trends in phraseology so if we compare the usage of Rhodesia and Zimbabwe we can see the relationship you would expect with the latter overtaking the former in recognition of the change in name:
Now, whilst I am tentative about using these data and assuming any form of causation (I am grateful to Mrs Stone, my A-level stats teacher who taught me well) we can, at the very least, view some interesting trends in the words used around Christianity.
If we look at this three way plot between Jesus, Christianity and religion there are some interesting trends beginning to emerge.
Whilst it appears that Christianity and religion are terms used less often now than they were in 1900 what excites me is the recent explosion in the usage of 'Jesus'. I fervently hope that this indicates that the Church has realised that its purpose is to proclaim "Jesus Christ, and him crucified"(1Cor 2:2). If it does and it means that Christians are beginning to refocus upon the gospel and moving past the trappings of tradition and religion to a greater understanding of faith (a word which is also enjoying a renaissance in usage in the 21st Century) then surely that is nothing but exciting! For anyone who, like me, is passionate about the gospel and sees Jesus as the central figure therein upon whose resurrection the entirety of the faith stands or falls then this (hopefully) indicates that this message is getting out!
It might, of course, be for a completely different reason but it is at least interesting to see such a pronounced increase in talking about Jesus in our culture and whether this increase is explicitly linked to a growing movement of evangelism (yet another word enjoying an upwards usage trend) but in any case it shows us that the figure of Jesus is enjoying increased prominence and attention from our society which can only be a good thing. Nothing yet has accounted for his continued relevance more than the concept that what Jesus says is true. As Christian's we should welcome any sort of investigation into Jesus' authenticity because either He is the Christ, the eternal son of the living God and we are right to worship Him and the evidence will continue to support this or, if the converse was to occur we should equally rejoice to have had our mistake realised because: "If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied."(1Cor 15:19). We must hold to the literal truth of the Gospel and its promise of eternal life, if we don't then we are merely deluding ourselves. Thankfully, though, the account of the New Testament, in my mind at least, resounds with a unique truth about a unique God who came to find us while we were still sinners and to whom we will one day be united!
What, though, does this renewed interest of the central figure of Christianity mean for the make up of our society overall? It has been suggested that we are now in a post-secular society where conceptions of a wholly secular state have been dissolved and that historical theorists have realised that religion (and especially Christianity), will not go away. It is an observation often made that the Church thrives under persecution: Christianity cannot be stamped out because all the arguments which have ever been placed before it crumble in the face of our glorious Saviour and the amazing personal relationship he has invited us into. I have no idea if we are in a post-secular world or not but I am excited by the apparent resurgence of interest in Jesus. And I do know that, one day, "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth"(Phil 2:10).
It might, of course, be for a completely different reason but it is at least interesting to see such a pronounced increase in talking about Jesus in our culture and whether this increase is explicitly linked to a growing movement of evangelism (yet another word enjoying an upwards usage trend) but in any case it shows us that the figure of Jesus is enjoying increased prominence and attention from our society which can only be a good thing. Nothing yet has accounted for his continued relevance more than the concept that what Jesus says is true. As Christian's we should welcome any sort of investigation into Jesus' authenticity because either He is the Christ, the eternal son of the living God and we are right to worship Him and the evidence will continue to support this or, if the converse was to occur we should equally rejoice to have had our mistake realised because: "If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied."(1Cor 15:19). We must hold to the literal truth of the Gospel and its promise of eternal life, if we don't then we are merely deluding ourselves. Thankfully, though, the account of the New Testament, in my mind at least, resounds with a unique truth about a unique God who came to find us while we were still sinners and to whom we will one day be united!
What, though, does this renewed interest of the central figure of Christianity mean for the make up of our society overall? It has been suggested that we are now in a post-secular society where conceptions of a wholly secular state have been dissolved and that historical theorists have realised that religion (and especially Christianity), will not go away. It is an observation often made that the Church thrives under persecution: Christianity cannot be stamped out because all the arguments which have ever been placed before it crumble in the face of our glorious Saviour and the amazing personal relationship he has invited us into. I have no idea if we are in a post-secular world or not but I am excited by the apparent resurgence of interest in Jesus. And I do know that, one day, "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth"(Phil 2:10).
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