THE LANGUAGE OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND SOME SELECTED PENTECOSTAL DENOMINATIONS
ABSTRACT
This study is an examination of the language of Christian religion with particular reference to the Roman Catholic Church and Pentecostal denominations. Chapter one embodies the introduction to the study, the objective of the work, its scope and delimitation, a brief origin of Christian religion, and that of the two denominations. Chapter two is a brief review of the related literature. Chapter three brings out the features of the language of Christian religion; the lexical, grammatical, metaphorical, typographical and graphological features. Chapter four is a further analysis of the sermons, rituals, liturgies and sacred text of the two denominations. The final chapter includes a comparative summary analysis of the two denominations, a brief conclusion of the work and recommendation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page——————————————————————————————- i
Approval Page ———————————————————————————— ii
Dedication —————————————————————————————– iii
Acknowledgment ——————————————————————————— v
Abstract ——————————————————————————————– vi
Table of Contents ——————————————————————————– vii
Definition of Terms——————————————————————————-viii
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction ———————————————————————————– 1
1.1 Background of the Study ——————————————————————– 3
1.2 Statement of Research Problem ———————————————————— 7
1.3 Aim and Objective of the Study ————————————————————7
1.4 Significance of the Study———————————————————————7
1.5 Scope and Delimitation ———————————————————————–8
1.6 Research Methodology ———————————————————————–8
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Review of Related Literature—————————————————————-10
2.1 Sources of Literature ————————————————————————–10
2.2 Review of the of Language of Christian Religion—————————————-14
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Features of Language of Christian Religion ———————————————–17
3.1 Grammar of the Langue of Christian Religion———————————————18
3.2 Lexis of the language of Christian Religion ———————————————–20
3.3 Metaphorical Language of Christian Religion———————————————22
3.4 Typographical Features of Language of Christian Religion—————————–23
3.5 Graphlogical Features of Language of Christian Religion——————————–24
CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 Liturgies of the language of Roman Catholic Church ———————————–25
4.2 Sermon of the Roman Catholic Church —————————————————-27
4.3 The Sacred Test of Roman Catholic Church ———————————————-31
4.4 The Sermon of Pentecostal Denominations ———————————————–35
4.5 Sacred Text of Pentecostal Denominations ————————————————37
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Comparative Summary————————————————————————40
5.2 Conclusion ————————————————————————————–41
5.3 Recommendation ——————————————————————————43
Works Cited ——————————————————————————–43
Appendices ———————————————————————————46
DEFINITION OF TERMS
SERMON: It is a moral statement whose aim is to dictate a certain kind of behaviors through series of examples.
LITURGIES: It can be invocations, petitions and they can be written to be read or sung.
THEOLOGICAL TEST: It is a discursive document with a moral purpose written by a biblical scholar, theologians or clergy
RITUALS: It is a specific ceremony to mark baptisms and funerals.
OMNIPOTENT: Having total power, able to do something.
SUPERNATURAL: Events forces or powers that cannot be explained by he laws of science and seem to involve gods or magic.
BENEDICTIONS: A blessing pronounced at the end of church service.
CARNALITY: A state of being unspiritual.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The major objective of language is communication but the manner in which language communicates appears to be interlinked with individual experiences in terms of linguistic attitude, cultural influences and personal perception. Register is a term that is used to describe variations in language according to use. For instance, Thorne says that lawyers use a legal register, doctors a medical register and the priests a religious register ( 95).
The language of Christian religion will be examined by analysing the spoken and written forms of the language of Roman Catholic Church and the selected Pentecostal denominations. Christian religion is the most widely distributed of the world religions. In the 1990s its total membership exceeded up to 1.9 billion people (Probert Microsoft Encarta).There are other systems of beliefs and values such as Platonism, Marxism, Freudianism or Democracy. Christianity is in many ways comprehensible only to those who share its benefits and strive to live by its values.
Wilken points out that Jerusalem is the center of Christian religion, at least until its destruction by the Roman armies in A.D 70. From it Christianity radiated to other cities and towns in Palestine and beyond. At first, its approval was large although it was not completely confined to the adherents of Judaism to which it was presented as new but not a brand new religion (820).
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