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Logos
I referred to the amazing Greek word “logos” in a recent podcast, summarizing that logos indicates that words have meaning. Translated into English as “word,” logos began as a counting term, used for the solidity of reality described by words much as numbers describe the reality of sets of things. In my study, I pointed out that the Greek thinkers especially used logos in contrast to mythos. Mythos may contain truth, but myth is malleable – developed by successive readers’ understanding. Logos is altogether different, based on reality – whether that reality is clearly understood by the reader or not. [See Plato’s Republic book III for what may be the best statement on this.]
In response, I received a great deal of mail showing the widespread absurdity of postmodern “thinking,” where all is treated as mythos. To hold forth any logos is viewed as a threat. Particularly heart-wrenching were the accounts of people castigated for what their “woke” persecutors called “worship of word meanings.” Here’s one example from an educator at a Christian school:
Will never forget the headmaster telling me that I and others like me tend to “worship the Bible.” He warned that we need to be careful not to do that lest we neglect “alternative lived experiences.” We have long known that materialist philosophy rejects the possibility of language communicating objective truth—but to hear a Christian man/church elder/Christian school administrator speaking against logos was (and still is) hard to believe. Evidently, it’s now part of the school association training.[1]
Materialist philosophers feel threatened by the possibility that language does communicate truth and that truth is compelling. Why else would they feel such a desperation to censor our speech?
Good point! My brilliant friend goes on with a call to action:
We need to be praying for Christians and non-Christians who are coming under persecution for speaking truth. The pressure to capitulate, as we learned, is very strong.
God bless,
Wayne