Authors on liturgical theology often observe that doxology — the language of praise or acclamation — is the primary form of human language. Praise, they conclude, is more fundamental than any other human act.<\/p>\n
When it is supported, this statement is usually supported by some anthropological argument; even when these are convincing, I find them uninspiring. But the inspiring and compelling evidence for me comes from my children.<\/p>\n
My daughter Juliana is now 15 months old. She is now learning about one word a day, and is totally thrilled by the ability to communicate and be understood. And the excitement is totally mutual. A few months ago it was dada:<\/p>\n
“Da-da!” (points)<\/p>\n
“Yes, that is daddy!”<\/p>\n
Now it’s “dog,” “too-toot,” “bruh-duh.” Notice that none of these are her basic physical needs. She is just starting to say “muh” (more), but much of her language acquisition is — dare I say it — doxological. She identifies the thing out of love, out of her childlike wonder, and she names it so that we, too, will rejoice in it with her.<\/p>\n
In other words, she names something not so that she can have it, but so that she can share its wonder with others. And that, in a nutshell, is the language of worship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My daughter Juliana is now 15 months old. She is now learning about one word a day, and is totally thrilled by the ability to communicate and be understood. Much of her language acquisition is — dare I say it — doxological…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[255,17,31],"tags":[317],"class_list":["post-2468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-children","category-liturgical-spirituality","category-sacramental-theology","tag-doxology"],"yoast_head":"\n