Re: THEORY: third-person imperatives

"Raymond A. Brown" wrote:
> Nik's reference to church language (which in my experience in the last 10 -
> 20 years has been that it strives to ape the informal, contemporary style
> ;)
Well, at least in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), the
only "aping the informal" I've noticed (at least in the liturgy) is a
strong tendency to lose "thou/thee/thy/thine" (altho most congregations
continue to use the traditional "Our father who art in heaven ..." form
of the Lord's Prayer).  I still hear forms like "Let us pray", which in
my idiolect, at any rate, would normally mean "permit us to pray".

> Theology may not be my strongest point, but I was under the impression that
> God had never put any hinderance in the way of us honoring His name; I
> thought the problem was rather among us humans (assuming one believes in
> God and sees a problem here).
Well, as I've understood it, it's more like "may thy name be hallowed",
that is, "may thy name be honored among humans" or something to that
effect.

--
"It's bad manners to talk about ropes in the house of a man whose father
was hanged." - Irish proverb
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