OF WORDS AND SYMBOLS: A THEOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO THE CBCN COMMUNIQUE ON THE KILLINGS IN MAKURDI DIOCESE

Abstract

The intellectual faculty is said to be one of the most distinguishing qualities that separates the human community from the rest of the animal kingdom. It is not only that human beings possess the rational faculty but are conscious that they possess it. But another most distinguishing faculty in man/woman is the faculty of speech. Though distinct from the faculty of the intellect, it is intrinsically connected to the intellectual faculty. Hence, speech is more than an articulation of sounds. It is an intelligent articulation of intelligible sounds. These intelligible sounds are called words which are nothing but vehicles of thoughts. Words are carriers of thoughts, ideas, and meanings.
Though completely non-tactile and imperceptible, words are nonetheless very powerful. They can set off a series of chain reaction of unimaginable proportion of which the effects or consequence, either beneficial or harmful, often outlive the author of those words. The power of words not only lie in the one who utters them, but sometimes even more in the very ideas or thoughts they convey. To understand the Greek concept of logos and the Hebrew concept of dabar, is to grasp the power of words or speech. It is, therefore, of little wonder that the concept of Logos was employed by early Christians and Patristic writers to capture the mystery of Christ Jesus. And so, no one with sound theological education can underrate the power of speech or word either in its ordinary day to day usage or its theological context or usage.