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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: How about a SoF glossary?
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anteater
Ship's pest-controller
# 11435
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Posted
You have probably noticed that many threads are about definition of terms (e.g. the recent one on conservatism and orthodoxy plus many many more of the What is a Christian /liberal/ whatever. What does freewill mean etc etc ad nauseam.
Does anyone think a glossary would be possible, so I could, for example, ask if Freewill(SoF) is compatible with God's sovereignity(SoF)?
Or would it spoil the fun?
Someone I know aimed to stop all arguments over predestination vs freewill by forcing the debating parties to define terms. Once that was done (if indeed it was!) there was usually nothing more to argue about. Is it possible (as Wittgenstein maintained) that most arguments are about definitions?
If we had clear definitions would all threads cease?
Of course, some terms are more like brand names which people desperately want to preserve. Christian is one of these. So maybe we should have:
Christian#1: A member in good standing in a denomination recognised as christian by the WCC (or SoF).
Christian#2: Anybody who self-identifies as Christian.
Christian #3: Someone who has been redeemed by Christ.
etc.
People could be free to suggest definitions in a post and a hostly panel could decide, after the learned discussion thrown up in the post, which go into the Glossary, and then they can be used as SoF defined terms.
Could that fly? Should it?
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Schnuffle schnuffle.
Posts: 2538 | From: UK | Registered: May 2006
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HCH
Shipmate
# 14313
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Posted
I believe there have been (rather long) threads in the past listing vocabulary including slang terms and acronyms. I don't think they included terms as difficult to define as "Christian". I don't think it is practical do do so. Some terms are moving targets; it is not clear that "Christian" has the same meaning now as it did 1200 years back or even 200 years back.
I certainly understand the desire to have fewer nit-picking acrimonious arguments that resolve nothing.
Posts: 1540 | From: Illinois, USA | Registered: Nov 2008
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
I certainly understand the desire to have fewer nit-picking acrimonious arguments that resolve nothing.
I think a lot of these arguments are precisely about exploring the range of usages and definitions of the terms in question. They're terms that are understood not by use of a fixed definition but by ideal cases. So instead of asking 'does X meet the definition of Y', one's often thinking, 'what do I think Y is if X does or doesn't fit.'
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Desert Daughter
Shipmate
# 13635
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Posted
A glossary might be impractical for above reasons. But how about a search function that would allow us to scan previous posts in a precise manner?
Posts: 733 | Registered: Apr 2008
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Desert Daughter:
A glossary might be impractical for above reasons. But how about a search function that would allow us to scan previous posts in a precise manner?
Given our antiquated software, that's probably not possible.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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HughWillRidmee
Shipmate
# 15614
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by anteater:
If we had clear definitions would all threads cease?
Of course, some terms are more like brand names which people desperately want to preserve. Christian is one of these. So maybe we should have:
Christian#1: A member in good standing in a denomination recognised as christian by the WCC (or SoF).
Christian#2: Anybody who self-identifies as Christian.
Christian #3: Someone who has been redeemed by Christ.
etc.
I like the idea but doubt its practicality.
As I recall it the consensual outcome of a thread attempting to define Christian was
Christian#7659: anyone God thinks is a Christian - which didn't really advance matters an awful lot.
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The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things.. but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them...
W. K. Clifford, "The Ethics of Belief" (1877)
Posts: 894 | From: Middle England | Registered: Apr 2010
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malik3000
Shipmate
# 11437
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Posted
I, too, don't think a SoF glossary would be practical.
However some individual threads would probably be helped out by there being some sort of consensus on the meaning of some of the terms being used within that thread.
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God = love.
Otherwise, things are not just black or white.
Posts: 3149 | From: North America | Registered: May 2006
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