Evangelise; dehumanise?

If ‘isms’ are dangerous, verbs ending in ‘ise’ or ‘ize’ are ominous.  Where did all the ‘ise’ words come from?  There are hundreds of them:  patronise, cauterize, immunise, terrorise, categorise, idolise, immobilise, infantilise, evangelise….

Where the verb has a human subject and a human object, the verb nearly always conveys the idea that the subject exerts power over the object:  ‘The doctor anaesthetised her.’  One person is powerful and active, the other is passive and apparently submissive, too.  It’s not clear how much choice the object of the verb has to resist the action of the subject.  Can you stop someone idolising you, or categorizing you?

Many of these words also incorporate the idea of taking away your humanity.  If you satirise someone, or lionise them, or bastardise them, the verb form ending in ‘ise’ suggests you have taken away their unique individuality, and their human freedom, and their power over how they are treated.  Which is why it’s a good idea to avoid the word ‘evangelise’…  because while it might be a word that incorporates the possibility of good things such as talking about Jesus, people who use it might unconsciously do it in a way that doesn’t wholly respect the humanity, freedom and individuality of the ‘other’.

Our freedom is highly prized by God and immensely important to him – so important it cost the death of Jesus on the cross.  God could have witheld our freedom in which case we wouldn’t have needed a saviour.  So we have to assume he wouldn’t want us to share the gospel in a way that has the potential to rob others of their full humanity, freedom and individuality.