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Inclusive Language Why not more inclusive language in worship at Trinity Church? The words we use in prayer are a statement of what we believe. The content of the words we use in prayer influences what we believe. Therefore, the language and content of prayer must receive very careful consideration and be subject to critical examination in the light of historic Christian doctrine. So-called "inclusive language" is, in a literal sense, exclusive, because it excludes the theological language of the Bible and the Early Church and substitutes terms derived from modern secular thought. This often uninformed word substitution can unintentionally lead us into forms of thought which have been definitively defined as deviating from the Christian spiritual path. For example, substituting the Biblical terms by which we denote the Holy Trinity of God, "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," with the words, "creator, redeemer, sustainer," reduces God from a personal being to an impersonal set of functions. By doing this we can inadvertently fall into seeing God in terms of what is called the heresy of modalism. The ancient Ecumenical Councils warned all Christians against Modalism because it leads people away from a personal relationship with God, which is the key to a healthy spiritual life. It also erases the direct words of Jesus in his command to us to call God our Father. The words we choose for use in worship must be easily understood by ordinary people. They must encourage a spirit of praise and worship which fosters reverence and gratitude in the face of God's glory. The language of these texts should, therefore, not be meant to be directed primarily at the feelings of the people attending the service, but rather toward God, who sees and hears all we do, and is the only object of our worship. Because worship services are also times of spiritual and doctrinal teaching, both liturgical compositions and preaching should take care to emphasize the authority of Scripture, the uniqueness of the union of the divine and human natures in the person of Jesus Christ, classical Christian doctrine, and God's continued leading of his people through the Holy Spirit. Liturgy must be free from a dependence on temporarily fashionable modes of expression. However, both modern and archaic forms of speech are often appropriate to the liturgical vocabulary of worship in speech or hymnody. In accord with our faith's ethical standards, the language of worship must never condone nor promote attitudes which deny the intrinsic dignity of any human being. However, it is equally inappropriate for changes to be made in liturgy which diminish the fullness of the Faith with the objective of making it more palatable to those who might hold heterodox viewpoints. Therefore, at Trinity Church, traditional Biblical and theological language will be retained. Only a tenth of the US population favors so-called "inclusive language." In the case of Trinity Parish, having the objective of reaching out to the greatest number of people in the community, it is not fitting that terms of theological import should be abandoned under pressure from revisionist criticism which derives from fashionable secular ideology. The English language contains nouns and pronouns capable of referring to both the masculine and the feminine in a single term. Their loss would diminish crucial theological understandings, such as that which the collective term "Man." This term conveys a unitary, inclusive, and corporate, yet truly personal being. This is expressed, for example, by the Hebrew term adam, the Greek anthropos, or the Latin homo. Similarly, "inclusivity" should not be achieved by arbitrary changes in grammatical number, by the creation of pairs of masculine and feminine terms, or by the creation of artificial words, such as "humankind." For the sake of retaining fidelity to classical Christian doctrine the traditional grammatical gender of the persons of the Holy Trinity must be maintained. Expressions such as Son of Man and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are to be used with exactitude wherever found in biblical or liturgical texts. As another example, the feminine gender should be retained in referring to the Church. Kinship terms and the grammatical gender of angels, demons and pagan deities should be true to the language from which they are translated, and their gender retained, in light of the primary text and historic usage in English parlance. Liturgical texts and sermons are essential aspects of the Church's teaching. In all cases everything written for liturgy or spoken by any participant in services of the Church must be in accord with the Statement of Basic Principles adopted by the Vestry in 1998. Prepared in accordance with Title III Canon 14.1 of the Canons of the Episcopal Church and Canon 37.1 of the Canons of the Diocese of Northern California. |