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Religion is an important part of human ideology, giving us insight into the members of that culture. It explains those notions about life and death, the creation of the universe, the relationship of individuals and groups to one another and relation of humankind to nature. Different religion is the manifestation of different culture. Religion as a worldview originates in a culture. Language also has a close ties with religion. In modern English, there’re lots of words and idioms which originate in religion, especially in Christianity.
The British has been predominantly Christian since Saxon times. Christianity influenced people in many ways, such as, social life, behaviors, ideology and language. Some English words and idioms originate in Christianity cannot be understood without reference to Christian doctrines. One can find a number of allusions to characters or events in Christianity’s sacred book, the Bible. The Bible is a collection of ancient writings including both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The following are some examples to illustrate it.
The writing on the wall—— the origin of the idiom are a story of the Bible * Old Testaments * Daniel, 5. As the Bible tells it, a mysterious hand suddenly appeared before King Belshazzar while he was busy feasting and drinking in one of the palace rooms. The hand wrote four strange words on the wall of the banquet room. Only the prophet Daniel understood the meaning of the words. He told the king it meant that he faced disaster. And the word soon came true. King Belshazzar was defeated and killed. Today, the idiom means “clear signs that warn of failure, disaster or defeat”.
a kiss of death—— An act of affection or good-will on the surface, but which precedes or is itself an act of malice; From Judas Iscariot’s kissing of Jesus in his betrayal.
beat the air—— This expression comes from the sentence in[Bible, New Testament , 1 Corinthians.9:26]
the apple of one’s eyes—— This expression is thousands of year old, going back to the ancient Israelites. In [the Old Testament, Psalms, 17:8] “keep me as the apple of the eye”. Today people use this idiom to express the person or thing that is loved more than any other.
Cast pearls before swine—— It was very familiar to us, but perhaps we have not all heard how it came into existence. Let’s again open the Bible to look it up. [New Testament, Matthew, 7:6](The Sermon on the Mount) “Give not that which is holy unto the dogss, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” Here, the Lord admonishes people “don’t offer beautiful or valuable things to people who cannot appreciate them.”
These idioms above were only a part of the expressions which originate in the Bible. We take them as examples to illustrate the influence of religion on language.
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