In the Beginning Was the Word: Language—A God-Centered Approach

by Vern Sheridan Poythress

Language is not only the centerpiece of our everyday lives, but it gives significance to all that we do. It also reflects and reveals our all-sustaining Creator, whose providential governance extends to the intricacies of language. Writes Vern Poythress, "God controls and specifies the meaning of each word-not only in English but in Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Italian, and every other language. When, in our modernism or postmodernism, we drop him from our account of language, our words suddenly become a prison that keeps us from the truth rather than opening doors to the truth. But we will use our words more wisely if we come to know God and understand him in relation to our language."

It is such biblically informed insights that make In the Beginning Was the Word especially valuable. Words are important to us all, and this book-written at a level that presupposes no knowledge of linguistics-develops a positive, God-centered view of language. In his interaction with multiple disciplines Poythress offers plenty of application, not just for scholars and church leaders but for any Christian thinking carefully about his speech.

Genres: Theology, Linguistics, Philosophy, Christian, Nonfiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2009

About the author

Vern Sheridan Poythress was born in 1946 in Madera, California, where he lived with his parents Ransom H. Poythress and Carola N. Poythress and his older brother Kenneth R. Poythress. After teaching mathematics for a year at Fresno State College (now California State University at Fresno), he became a student at Westminster Theological Seminary, where he earned an M.Div. (1974) and a Th.M. in apologetics (1974). He received an M.Litt. in New Testament from University of Cambridge (1977) and a Th.D. in New Testament from the University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa (1981).

He has been teaching in New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia since 1976. In 1981 he was ordained as a teaching elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod, which has now merged with the Presbyterian Church in America.

More information about his teaching at Westminster can be found at the Westminster Seminary website.

Dr. Poythress studied linguistics and Bible translation at the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Norman Oklahoma in 1971 and 1972, and taught linguistics at the Summer Institute of Linguistics in the summers of 1974, 1975, and 1977. He has published books on Christian philosophy of science, theological method, dispensationalism, biblical law, hermeneutics, Bible translation, and Revelation. A list of publications is found on this website.

Dr. Poythress married his wife Diane in 1983, and they have two children, Ransom and Justin. He has side interests in science fiction, string figures, volleyball, and computers.

The family lived on a farm until he was five years old. When he was nine years old he made a public commitment to Christ and was baptized in Chowchilla First Baptist Church, Chowchilla, California. The family later moved to Fresno, California, and he graduated from Bullard High School in Fresno.

He earned a B.S. in mathematics from California Institute of Technology (1966) and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University (1970).

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not exactly know what I was expecting when I picked up Vern Poythress’ new book In the Beginning was the Word. Anybody who has read Poythress before, whether it be a journal article, chapter contribution, or book learn to expect creativity and clarity from him. I have read him on topics ranging from gender, science, and exegesis and I have always found him profoundly insightful. Everything is written in light of how it relates to God as our Creator and us as his creatures, made in his image. Poythress thinks deeply about God, applying it to a range of topics.

This book is no different. However, I was taken back at the breadth of knowledge and insight Poythress seemed to contribute to the topic of language. Throughout each chapter, he proceeds with his topic with such savvy, interacting with issues as critical as linguistic theories to basic communication among spouses.

This book deserves a great deal of attention among seminary students and pastors. Pastors should read this book to enrich their own communication in preaching and evangelization. Pastors who are training young men to be faithful Gospel-centered preachers should get them this book to inform how they use and think about language to communicate the Gospel. Language, communication, and words are important and Vern Poythress relates them up - all the way up - to God. It is a God-centered approach, indeed.

[Mark Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little abstruse at times, even though I should have been primed to follow it by my other reading in Frame and Poythress.

The big point that stuck with me out of this book, the one that helped me get from where I was to one step closer to where I needed to be was this: Usage may determine meaning, but God determines usage. He’s the one who guarantees that words have meaning and that we can understand one another at all.

[Elias C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the smartest book I've ever read. It's also the most nichely Elias book I've ever read. Perfect for what it is

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to language and linguistics from a God-centered perspective. Very thought provoking.

[Charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

An ambitious project poorly executed. The author's lack of overall design and bizarre proliferation of appendices make this work more like the background research for a coherent book than a published scholarly volume.

[Todd Whitford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently finished reading this book. I should note, that I got bogged down part-way through the appendices, and so didn't make it *all* the way through. The meat of the book, however, is a journey through the study of language (linguistics) from a consistently Christian worldview. Poythress begins with the eternal intra-communication of the Trinity as the foundation for the whole of language. In the light of this fundamental truth taught in Scripture, he proceeds to consider the various elements that make up any given language, from the tiniest bits of sound (phoneme) and words (morpheme), to the complex sentences of everyday life.

Although not necessary, it might be a good idea to first go through a primer on linguistic studies and terminology, as he doesn't dwell too much on a systematic, technical perspective of the field. I wouldn't consider the book deficient, but rather of a different, theologically-centered study of linguistics, rather than the state-of-the-science focus of your typical college textbook.

The content of the book was at times beyond my level of comprehension. But the structure of the book was very accessible. Each chapter is divided into short sub-chapter nuggets that are rather easily digestible. Over all, I'd highly recommend it, even if you don't make it through all the appendices! :)

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with most of my dad's books, it can be heady and thick to get through in parts. It is full of great Trinitarian analogies, and offers a thinking about the very core of human language that you simply won't find anywhere else. Language itself is necessary as a created imitation of God, who doesn't merely speak, or direct inspired writings as random selection. We find structure, variety, unified forms, context, all of which weave together to display God's Trinitarian nature. Meaning, control, and presence, display Father, Son, and Spirit in words.

There are also some really good appendices on other philosophies approach to language or rather deconstruction of language as yet another culturally imposed system we need to get beyond.

[Tori Whitacre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poythress is very clear and biblical throughout! Excellent on the origin and structure of language. Highly recommend for anyone in a linguistics class, logic class, or, in fact, everyone. The only small suggestion I would make to Poythress is that, by the latter half of the book, he was beginning to say the same things over again, and though, of course, repetitio mater studiorem, there is a point at which I believe brevity is a skill and, though of course it may be a problem with me and not his writing, I believed his argument lost some its potency in its redundancy. Besides that, a very good book.

[Robert Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps this book stands fine on its own merit, but I can't help being colored by my expectations. I thought I was headed into a Christian understanding of language, of linguistics. Instead, this book is more like "the Redemptive-Historical context in which language (defined as broadly as possible) takes place." That's not a bad thing to write about – in fact, I rather appreciate that – but it is not what I had anticipated. In short, this book is for theologians, not linguists, and if someone is both (me), they might need to forget about the linguistics part while reading this.

[Reid Williamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Secondary text for Logic. Here Poythress brings triperspectivalism to linguistics which I found helpful in tandem with Kreeft's Logic text as the outworking in language of right thinking. Out of the abundance of the heart, with a transformed mind for testing according to God's Word, the mouth speaks.

[Dan O’Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read. In 36 chapters, Poythress went very in depth into the nature of language, yet covers the tip of the iceberg when it comes to language reflecting the intra-trinitarian nature of the Godhead in creation. A study that will keep us occupied for all eternity.

[Peter Hofstra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Poythress is, as always, comprehensive and focused in the development of his consideration of language as God’s own, and how a sinful world can twist this gift.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vern Poythress is one of the most significant contemporary contributors we have today for helping us understand the world, because he has written extensively on the presuppositional nature of all knowledge. He affirms that we can only know about the world because of our knowledge of God. He, like all presuppositionalists, understands that we can only know, because God knows and God reveals.

In this volume, Poythress lends this framework to understanding language. He goes on to show that pursuing wisdom apart from the knowledge of God in Christ, will lead one astray. He writes, "Approaches that conceive of language only with reference to human beings are accordingly reductionistic." He also writes, "God has impressed his Trinitarian character on language. Whenever we use language, we rely on what he has given us."

He rejects the notion that language is somehow limited in its power, instead, arguing that, "Language is supremely capable of doing what God himself designed it to do," and "We do not need to be a god—to have exhaustive, infinite, and perfect understanding—in order to have genuine understanding." He later adds, "Language is not a permanent barrier, blocking access to truth and to reality, but rather is a means that provides such access. God created human beings in his image, and that commonality guarantees that the languages of the world can all serve as a means to truth."

He borrows extensively from John Frame's perspectivalism in understanding language. He writes, "we have three distinct perspectives on language, namely, the particle, wave, and field perspectives. These three perspectives are an image of the Trinity. The particle perspective is closely related to stability, which is established by the unchanging stability of the plan of the Father. The wave perspective is closely related to the controlling work of the Son, who brings about action in history: “he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb. 1:3). The field perspective is closely related to the Spirit’s presence. Whenever we relate two pieces of language to one another, we conceive of them as simultaneously present in mind, and often even as simultaneously present in space, as we lay them side by side in a pattern. The Spirit, as present to us, and indwelling us who are believers in Christ (Rom. 8:9–11), expresses God’s relation to us. Accordingly, the three perspectives on language—particle, wave, and field—are coinherent."

Poythress applies these ideas to many other aspects of language, and the result is a solid, insightful work on language. Its primary weakness is the verbosity of the material for those not well versed in linguistics. This is likely only a barrier to the uninitiated. But this is an important work, and is a good example of how ones presuppositions taint ones conclusions.

The appendices are very useful, and also very long. The advanced reader will find great material in there.

[A. Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author gets 5 stars for intention and purpose, 4 for finishing the book and 2 stars from me for content. With a topic this abstract and multi-faceted, writing on language in a God-centered approach is a mammoth and complicated task. The book might have been more interesting for me had it explored such mysteries as explored self-referentialism, language universals, and the creativity and malleabilty of language. (If the book is difficult for non-linguists there might be too much jargon in it.)
It looks like Poythress has researched his material, but he comes up short on his bias (he is a Pike fan). In general, linguists avoid a one-to-one comparison of structural lingusitics with theoretical lingusitics. Obviously, theoretical is a working model (of how the mind understands langugage) and as such is an academic exercise which is useful for examining language systems globally. Meanwhile, structural lingustics has been used for (some) field work, and theoreticians find structural linguistics as useful only ocassionally.
Poythress seems to prefer the complexity and concreteness which structural linguistics brings. He seems to believe, if I understand him correctly that theoretical linguistics is too simplistic. I suspect his real objection is that theories are bound by logical steps and so must be used in theoretical systems. Theoretical systems needn't connect with the real world of language, they need only be sound. Of course, logical procedures are not failsafe, but they are markedly more reliable than conjecture based on observation. By this standard computational linguists would also likely be judged as too simplistic. I understand that he would not find theoretical linguistics a particularly useful tool. But, I think it has an important role in making any generalization about languages. To examine anything this complex one needs theoretical linguistics: as it has the capacity to proceed and to contain with both comprehensiveness and simple "elegance."
The book's title engaged me, but the topic is probably an out-sized one--we may not yet have the meta-language to write a book on this theme. Indeed, perhaps we can only see the glancing reflection shimmering off the tip of the iceberg on this topic.

[Nate Claiborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The style in the main body of the book is more directed to a lay audience, while the appendices have a slightly smaller print and interact more extensively with current trends in linguistics. This formatting makes the book more accessible to the average reader, but may make the main text seem slow moving and repetitive to more advanced readers. The pervasive use of triads throughout the book will be welcome to those familiar with the work of John Frame, while it may make some of the concepts harder to grasp to those who are not. The same may be said for Kenneth Pike. Those unfamiliar with Pike’s work will sometimes lack a context for Poythress’s engagement with his ideas. Poythress connects Pike’s work in linguistics with Frame’s work in theology to provide a Trinitarian approach to studying language. Overall, this book should be a welcome addition to the library of the theologian and biblical scholar alike, since a sound philosophy of language is a necessity given the privilege of place the written text of Scripture is given in both disciplines.

To read a full review, visit my blog

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do you get when you cross the linguistic analysis of Chomsky and Pike with in-depth analysis of the relation of language to the Triune God? This amazing text is very technical, but shopped up into small enough bits that the educated reader can understand without a background in advanced linguistics. Poythress demonstrates powerfully that the links between language as it actually functions and meaning, action, and control of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not only direct, but a concrete testament to that very meaning, action and control.

The audience for Poythress's work will likely be small, as the subject matter only appeals to those who are invested in communication and theology at a level beyond the typical pastor or layperson. However, if you feel up embracing the challenge of a technically and philosophically challenging treatment, you'll find it's well worth it.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly academic. That's not a critic, but it definitely is not something one just picks up and reads for fun, unless one is quite nerdy, or loves words--I qualify for both, and still struggled a bit wading through all of the nuances presented by Poythress.

However, it made me think a bit differently about language, and that's a good thing. I did not always agree with his conclusions--but probably more because I couldn't always follow his line of reasoning.

All in all, though, it was quite interesting and worth the time to plow through it. There is a plethora of appendices at the end of the book that I have yet to explore; I'll save that for another time. But I read the main body, so it counts.

[Joel]

I've only skimmed this book, but I can't figure out what the heck is going on. His description of language doesn't engage with any of the theory I've read, and I'm lost. God "controls" the meanings of words? Is this a mainstream religious point of view, even in conservative evangelicalism? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

[Mark Gring · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is almost the book I wish I had written. This is the closest definitive text that gives a thorough theologically-based view of a theory of applied semantics and language. Poythress applies the theological ideas from John Frame and from a semiotician (whose name I forget at the moment) and shows how language reflects a trinitarian perspective of the world.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lawdy. What a doozie. I'm not invested in linguistics enough to determine how much of the sheer detail and nuances are actually helpful (I admit, sometimes it felt gimmicky and cutesy), but the whole message most certainly is (helpful). God gives language, formed it to function, and provides its foundation. Meaning is determined by usage but he determines usage. Etc.

[Pierce Hibbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book on language I've ever read. Slow down when you read it. It looks simple, but if you understand what it's saying about the structure of the world and the nature of God, it's mind-blowing.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of this book was superb, and some of it made my eyes glaze over in boredom. Still the book is worth reading.

[James Boling]

This wasn't quite what I expected. Hanging onto the book... will have to restart if I ever pick it up again.