Adventist Shibboleths
by David Geelan | 9 November 2023 |
I love learning new words, don’t you? I most often pick them up from context in something I’m reading, which means I usually don’t know how they should be pronounced, and don’t know the dictionary definition, but I still love them. And, quite often, I go on to use them myself… and then have a moment of self-doubt and go to check the dictionary to be sure I’ve used them correctly.
“Shibboleth” was one of those words for me.
I always tell my students off if they start their assignments with the somewhat-hackneyed “The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines {target word of the assignment} as.…” I think there are better ways to start a discussion. But this time I’m going to do exactly that, because I suspect “shibboleth” is as unfamiliar to you as it was to me.
I’ll use the Oxford English Dictionary instead, though, because I’m posh like that. The OED defines “shibboleth” as “A custom, habit, mode of dress, or the like, which distinguishes a particular class or set of persons.” Other definitions also include the idea that the term is often used when the custom or thing is considered outmoded in some sense – “oh, that old shibboleth” – even by other members of the group.
The derivation of the word is fascinating, if somewhat gruesome, and comes from Judges 12:4-6. There was a war between Gilead and Ephraim, and the soldiers of Gilead captured the fords in the river. If someone wanted to cross, they were told, “Say ‘shibboleth’”—the Hebrew word for “stream.” In the dialect used by the Ephraimites, the “sh” sound was more like “s,” so if a soldier said “sibboleth,” he was immediately executed. So, the term started out as a description of a feature of language that distinguished a certain group, and then was transferred to other features that were distinctive in some way.
Traditions & shibboleths
Adventists have a number of such distinctive features. Mark Gutman’s piece in Adventist Today from 3 August, “Have You Examined Your Own Traditions?”, explores a few of the things that are distinctive to Adventists and identify us – and that are sometimes considered outmoded by some group members (possibly for good reason).
Some of the ones Mark talks about are not Adventist-specific. I suspect there are other Christians who will say a public grace over their meal at a restaurant (or feel ashamed for not doing so!) – but there are others that are pretty specific.
I’d argue that haystacks, especially if they’re called “haystacks” and not something like “taco salad,” are an Adventist shibboleth: where you find haystacks, you will find Adventists or ex-Adventists.
Some of the others have become much more regional than universal: there are still areas where Adventists eschew all jewelry aside from perhaps a wedding band (women only) and a watch, but in other areas this particular identifier has faded.
There might be some quite subtle shibboleths for sub-groups of Adventists: sure, there are the Sabbath swimmers and non-swimmers, but I suspect there are groups where the precise level on the leg where wading on a Sabbath afternoon walk slips over into swimming is an identifying feature.
I wonder whether the idea of a shibboleth ties in with that other interesting term, “a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9). Perhaps Adventists are peculiar in the modern sense, sometimes, but this is one of those times when a word has shifted its meaning over time. At the time of the King James version, where this phrase is used, “peculiar” didn’t mean odd or weird; its meaning was much more about specificity. Like “shibboleth,” a peculiar people had particular characteristics that applied only and specifically to them, and not to everyone else. They were people who stood out, but not necessarily in an undesirable way. This text is about being set aside for service to others, and we could all stand to be more peculiar in that sense!
Being different is okay
Speaking of words’ shifting their meanings, I’m a teacher and have been most of my life, and I’ve now been teaching teachers for about 30 years. Teaching is a vocation and a profession, and it’s influential and can be wonderful. But it’s also tough, challenging, and disheartening sometimes. (Don’t get me started on waning resourcing and heavier workloads and obsessions with standardized testing and all the things that making teaching less fulfilling over time!) So when, in 1872, Ellen White wrote, “It is the nicest work ever assumed by men and women to deal with youthful minds,” it sounds lovely!
But “nice,” at the time, didn’t really mean “pleasant, enjoyable.” Rather, it meant “precise, exacting.” Teaching is the nicest work because it requires the greatest knowledge, understanding, empathy, reflection, and connection with developing minds. It requires precision.
Coming back around to shibboleths, the questions I have are similar to some of the ones Mark asked in his article: Are they necessary? What or whom do they serve? Whom do they harm? Are they needed?
Being different from “the world” is okay: I think all of us would accept that conformity to the world around us can be a straitjacket. But so can conformity to the specific features – clothes, language, food, habits, and what is embraced and avoided – of a small group. Whether that group is all Adventism or a sub-group or region, it’s worth reflecting on our own motivations for the things we do and don’t do, in terms of their influence in the world and for others, much more than in terms of our own self-image.
Dr. David Geelan is Sue’s husband and Cassie and Alexandra’s dad. He started out at Avondale College, and is currently Professor and National Head of the School of Education, within the faculty of Education, Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame in Sydney, Australia.
