Language and Religion

Abstract

In many civilisations there has been a tendency for a special form of language to develop for religious use. It is sometimes an entirely different language from that used in everyday life, as in those churches which use Latin in religious services, or it may be one register of the vernacular. In recent years there have been many attempts to lessen the divergence between the language of religion and that of everyday life. Instances of this tendency are the replacement of Latin by English in services in the Roman Catholic Church, the proposals for the revision of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and the numerous new translations of the Bible into English that have appeared in recent years.