Highly Sensitive People, Christian Culture, & a Lost Language of Intimacy with God

When we read the esteemed old translations of scripture, when we sing those beautiful centuries-old hymns, and occasionally when we pray, English-speaking Christians use the old personal pronouns “Thou”, “Thee”, “Thine”, and “Thy” to address God. For example, as in the prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done… For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever.”

For many of us in certain Christian cultures, such wording carries a sense of formality and respect towards this great and mighty God to whom we pray.

And we like these feelings. They’re familiar and comforting, and they feel like how we’re supposed to interact with God, and how those who’ve gone before us have honored Him.

Or so we tend to believe.

A Shocking Little Lesson in Language

Long ago and far away in my first years of college I studied German under a demanding, colorful, and delightful professor, a Berliner whom we called Herr B. And I learned that the German language has two entirely different flavors of the word “you”.

• One form of the German “you” is a polite and formal word that is used to address:
  • authority figures
  • acquaintances
  • strangers
  • bosses
  • teachers, etc.
• The other form has a more familiar, intimate tone reserved for:
  • family
  • friends
  • peers
  • loved ones.

It was when we were learning these concepts that Herr B taught one of the most important lessons I ever learned in his classes. English, he explained, just like German, formerly had two different forms of second person pronouns: “you, your, yours” and “thou, thee, thine, and thy”.

To my utter shock, he explained that:

• “you, your, yours” were of the formal, respectful category.
• “thou, thee, thine, and thy” were intimate, familiar words reserved only for close friends and family.

Yes, you read right. “Thou, thee, thine, and thy” were the words used for those who were closest to a person, most familiar, and dearest to their heart.

But don’t take my word or even Herr B’s for this. You can verify it yourself by a quick perusal of Shakespearean literature. (Shakespeare, by the way, was alive and writing at the time the King James Version was translated). Or do an internet search of “thou”, “thou meaning” or “archaic English pronouns” or some such search phrase.

Getting the “Thou” Meaning All Backwards & Some Astounding Implications

To Herr B, it was just a bit of language trivia. But to me it was an explosive and confusing revelation. This was completely backwards to my experiences in the church. It was mind-boggling to me how this could be.

You see, I had grown up with the King James version of the Bible, with all its Thou’s and Thee’s and Thine’s. Throughout my childhood we sang old Christian hymns using those pronouns. And the more dignified and elevated of our church people even prayed to God in such language.

It was a language that conveyed to my child heart the sense of a formal, solemn God who was somewhere out there watching over us and listening to our prayers.

And now, to think that when these old hymns were written, and when the King James Bible was translated, the “thou, thee, thy, and thine” words were understood to be words reserved for those who were close and dear to someone.

The implications astounded me. So much of what I understood as the right way to relate to God had been based on how those words were used. Their solemn weightiness modeled for me how I was to interact with God.

I found myself needing to reevaluate my entire set of assumptions about God and what a relationship with Him was to be like.

Turned On Its Head

Isn’t it amazing how time can turn everything on its head and send a completely different message? The culture changes, the language changes, and what used to mean one thing comes to mean the complete opposite.

And so words that were once soft and intimate become laced with formality and reserve, and the original message they communicated is obscured.

The reality is that many English-speaking believers today have been directly affected by the misunderstanding of these King James English pronouns. But even those who’ve never read or heard the old King James English have been influenced by this, because they’ve been influenced by other believers who’ve misinterpreted the old speech and have incorporated their misinterpretations into their attitudes about God. And who knows how many other peoples and cultures have been impacted by the English-speaking world’s mistaken thinking about God derived from this one simple alteration in inference?

Unfortunately, this is not some simple little thing in its implications. The formality or intimacy of our foundational religious speech in addressing God affects everything we conceptualize and feel about our relationship with God. It shapes:

• how comfortable we are approaching God
• how near God feels to our heart
• who we believe God is for us
• how our heart connects, or doesn’t connect, with Him.

Just one little backwards implication of a pronoun.

Imagine

Imagine a Christian culture when they were singing these hymns centuries ago, filled with Thou’s and Thee’s, and comprehending the intimacy of these words.

Imagine a time when English speakers understood the closeness with God that was implied each time the scriptures were read.

Imagine them speaking to God, exalting Him as great and mighty, yet in language that defined Him as familiar and in their inner circle of relationships.

The Cost To Highly Sensitive People

If we look today at highly sensitive people, Christian culture, and the effects of this misrepresentation of old language, I suggest it is the highly sensitive population that’s been most severely affected by this shift.

I believe highly sensitive people require an intimate, friendly, heart-based relationship with God in order to thrive spiritually.

A church culture without a familiar friendship with a glorious and loving God violates the very created design of most highly sensitive people.

Restoring Closeness

So how do we address this loss? I’m not sure, but I’m certainly not suggesting you fight a language war in the church.

I do encourage you to persistently seek out the mindset of the intimate heart relationship with God that was available to our forefathers and foremothers through their language.

You might even want to go back and revisit those old Christian hymns and read those King James scriptures with new eyes.

Blessings!
Gail Ruth