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Escaping the thee’s and thou’s

Explore the transition from archaic language in Protestant worship to contemporary expressions, impacting prayer practices. From King James Version to modern translations, witness the evolution through liturgical examples. Discover the broader impact on worship music and prayer practices in various art forms in this linguistic revolution.

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Escaping the thee’s and thou’s

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  1. Escaping the thee’s and thou’s Language as the First Domino to Fall in the March to Contemporaneity in Worship

  2. Think about it: • Since the early 1600s the liturgical language for all English-speaking Protestants had been shaped by the King James Version of the Bible. • That was true for either text-based or extemporaneous liturgical traditions. • That was true even as day-to-day spoken forms of English in almost any sphere of life were evolving. • But in less than a generation this linguistic conservatism has almost all been lost.

  3. An Example of Linguistic Liturgical Conservatism: The RSV Bible Revelation 5:9-10 (RSV) John 21:16 (RSV) “He (Peter) said to him (Jesus), ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you’.” “Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals,for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God,and they shall reign on earth.”

  4. In the RSV, Even the Whore of BabylonGets Archaic English! • Revelation 18:10: “Alas! alas! thou great city, thou mighty city, Babylon! In one hour has thy judgment come.”

  5. An Estimate on the Extent • Wilson, Kenneth L. ”Help! I’m a Prisoner of the Wasts and Dosts.” Christian Herald (June 1966): 24-5. • Author estimates 98% of Protestant churches on a Sunday morning use archaic language. • Author notes that when he is not in a public setting he switches to current colloquial English to pray. • Author suggests that the reluctance to pray publicly doesn’t come from not having to say but from the difficulty in praying in what amounts to a “foreign tongue.” • Author notes that people are being encouraged to translate their faith into everyday concerns and deed and that there has been multiple translations of the Bible in modern English, but that prayers have not yet been translated.

  6. No One Bats an Eye (Ear?) AnymoreHearing Archaic English Ungrammatically Used Grammatically correct archaic English: (I) Made thee look!

  7. Monty Python as Preservers of Liturgical Practice • Early Monty Python: Archaic liturgical English • Later Monty Python: Updated English but vacuousness of content

  8. Other evidence indicates shift from same time period: late 1960s to early 1980s. • True for text-based or extemporaneous traditions. • Especially true for mainline denominations experimenting in “contemporary” worship

  9. “Most people who talk about new forms of worship think immediately of changes in the words used in worship. They often equate experimentation with the modernizing of the vocabulary of a worship service. If nothing else, this common identification of contemporary worship with updating the language shows us just how verbal our fixation has been.” James F. White, New Forms of Worship (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1971).

  10. Connection to New Bible Translations

  11. The Estimated “Flood” • From 1526 to 1900 about 1,500 translations of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English. • From 1900 to 2003 about 1,500 translations more translations into English. • Much of the “flood” has come since 1945, especially in the 1960s and afterward. David Daniell, The Bible in English: Its History and Influence (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003).

  12. “The fresh new vocabulary of today’s language in modern versions had made truths which once were hidden or unappealing come alive as though God had spoken to us just today! The same thing needs to happen in our worship services.” Heth H. Corl, Continuity in Contemporary Worship (Lima: C.S.S. Publishing, 1975).

  13. Archaic Language in Most Popular Songs • Pre-1984: “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus,” “How Great Thou Art,” “Thy Lovingkindness,” “Ah Lord God,” “Arise and Sing,” “As the Deer,” “Glorify Thy Name,” “I Exalt Thee,” “I Will Call Upon the Lord,” “Our God Reigns,” “Seek Ye First,” This is the Day,” and “Thou Art Worthy (1963)” • (Jack Hayford’s “Majesty” (1981) is also possible if one considers the word “unto” as archaic.) • Post-1984: “Days of Elijah”

  14. The Broader Impact Intelligibility of Language Relevance A Key Recurring Quality of Contemporary Worship

  15. So Many “Languages” Art Music Images Graphic Design Electronic Multi-Media

  16. The Linguistic Shift’s Impact on Prayer Practices is as Dramatic as the Shifts in Worship Music

  17. In 1965 this parody is not even possible

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