Meanings
- informalslangChristianityThe terms, catchphrases and theological jargon used by some Christians, commonly from Christian theology and influenced by popular translations of the Bible.
I often ran them off with my self-righteous attitude or scared them away with Christianese language […]
2007, Dan C. Gilliam, “Friendship: A Superhero Faith”, in God Touches: Finding Faith in the Cracks and Spaces of Life, Cincinnati, Oh.: Standard Publishing, →ISBN, page 1802 more examples
Anthony answered, 'Talking Christianese is being the Church. Don't you think Church matters?' Fred said, 'Not when you define the Church as a group having Christian experiences. You need someone to tell you what Christianity is before you can define a group's experiences as Christian.'
2003, Helen K[atharine] Bond, Seth D[aniel] Kunin, Francesca Aran Murphy, editors, Religious Studies and Theology: An Introduction, New York, N.Y.: New York University Press, →ISBN, page 500Reasons for departure were simply expressed in "Christianese": "The Lord is leading us to fellowship elsewhere," "The Spirit is moving us on," and so on.
2007, Mike Minter, A Western Jesus: The Wayward Americanization of Christ and the Church, Nashville, Tenn.: B&H Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 8Synonyms: Bible-speak
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounThe terms, catchphrases and theological jargon used by some Christians, commonly from Christian theology and influenced by popular translations of the Bible.
Origin
Cite this entry
Christianese. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Christianese
“Christianese.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Christianese. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Christianese,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Christianese.
Source: Christianese on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.