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January 16, 2003

Inclusive language

Madeleine L'Engle, a writer I greatly respect even when I disagree with her, has this to say:
"One of the most pusillanimous things we of the female sex have done throughout the centuries is to have allowed the male sex to assume that mankind is masculine. In The Irrational Season she goes on to insist," It is not. It takes both male and female to make the image of God."
I heartily concur. See Genesis 1:27.
In Penguins and Golden Calves: Icons and Idols L'Engle goes on to say:
"...our attempts at inclusive language (which thus far) have been inconclusive and unsuccessful...In language, as in life, male and female need to love each other...We need more poets, more artists who understand how to express in metaphor and icon that which cannot be expressed in finite words."
Totally ignoring (for now) the very real theological errors brought in by the inclusive language movement, far too many of the changes it has wrought have been downright ugly. Asexual language is bleak and deprived.

Posted by alicia at January 16, 2003 11:07 AM