From: harling@miki.pictel.com (Dan Harling)
Subject: Re: TANGENT: "Christian" as an adjective
Organization: PictureTel Corporation
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 16:57:31 GMT

In article <1992Nov17.181650.26989@kronos.arc.nasa.gov> iba@kronos.arc.nasa.gov (Wayne Iba) writes:
>I just wanted to ammend what I said yesterday about "christian" as
>an adjective.
>
>I see one situation where it can correctly be used as such -- when
>describing a particular group of people who are christians.  That is,
>a church made up of christians is a "christian church", a bridge club
>made up of christians could be a "christian bridge club", or a band
>consisting of christian musicians could be a "christian band".

As we have seen, this results in ambiguity: is the church, club, or
band "christian", or is it just the members?  Is there something else
that might make a club or band "christian": some attribute that
qualifies it for the name, apart from the individual members?


>Importantly, these descriptions may not be appropriate or useful in
>certain cases.  For example, I know of a "christian bicycle racing
>club" that is _primarily_ made up of christians.  The purpose of the
>club is evangelism.  Therefore, I feel that the title "christian
>bicycle club" is counter productive.  In fact, I have a hard time
>imagining situations where a title of this sort would be useful.
>
>However it is technically correct in such cases, as opposed to talking
>about christian chairs, pencils, and music.

"Christian" as an adjective can indeed be applied to collective nouns,
but I would contend that it is misleading and counterproductive to do
so, because of the ambiguity mentioned above.  This is analogous to
calling a band of musicians who are white (caucasian) as a "white
band".  Here, "white" is being used to distinguish this *band* from
other *bands*, when it really refers to the members of the band.  The
adjective "white" really has nothing to do with the band at all.

Likewise, "Christian band" uses the word "Christian" to distinguish
this band from other bands, when it really refers to the members of the
band.  As for "Christian music," who has to be a Christian in order for
this adjective to be appropriate: the songwriter, the performer, the
recording engineer, the producer, the record label owner, or some
combination?  Can we call it "Christian" because it has certain
characteristics, perhaps certain lyrics?  Could we not therefore also
call a person a Christian based on his behavior?

Unfortunately, people have generally bought into this method of
categorizing music, with the result that many people believe that the
adjective "Christian" really *does* apply to the band or to the music
itself, not just to the people behind it.  Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy!  :-)

I would be quite happy if "Christian" were never again used as a
qualifier for something that has certain characteristics, but only to
refer to people who follow Christ.  Will I be surprised or disappointed
when it doesn't happen?  Probably not.  I just thought I'd clarify my
position (to myself as well as others) and maybe provoke some more
thought on the subject.  Personally, I think the use of "Christian" as
an adjective has done a lot to diminish its meaning, reducing it from
faith in the Living God to a set of behavioral standards.  It kind of
misses the point.
____________________________________________________________________________
Daniel A. Harling                        (harling@pictel.com)
PictureTel Corp.             Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of
Peabody, MA  01960                    PictureTel Corp. (so there)