Carsonisms

Over a year ago now (Wow! It sure doesn't seem that long ago!) I read Don Carson's book "A Call To Spiritual Reformation". It's an exegetical (yet readable) study of several of Paul's prayers in the New Testament. I've blogged about it before here.

One of the extra perks of reading this book was finding what I call "Carsonisms". Carsonisms are interesting and colorful phrases used by Dr. Carson throughout his book. His vocabulary is amazing and the way he groups his words together in clever phrases is remarkable, as you'll soon see.

I'm not sure how I determined what qualified a true Carsonism. But a couple of things that I'd look for were unusual words and/or interesting combinations of rarely used words.

Below are 11 Carsonisms I found in the book, along with two honorable mentions. Now, if you want to understand the context of each of these phrases, you'll have to buy the book! But I think you'll find that the Carsonisms are amusing enough by themselves. it helps a bit to remember that the book is about prayer.

1. "liberally larded with cliches", p. 17

 2. "wretched bastardization", p. 57

3. "sentimental twaddle", p. 65

4. "a superficial froth regurgitated in all directions", p. 86

5. "cheap religious cant", p. 88

6. "mere jingoism", p. 88

7. "debilitated by the virus of indifferentism", p. 106

8. "stupidity and ham-fistedness", p. 126

9. "cheap sentimentality and myopic nostalgia", p. 126

10. "mawkish sentimentality", p. 126

11. "the blind rigidities of inexorable fate", p. 165

Honorable Mentions:

1. "shame squirrels behind a masking foliage of pleasantries", p. 120

 2. "the death of entrenched mediocrity", p. 126