Blame for this situation lies in the fact that the Church lacks a mastery of her own language. Other languages have filled the vacuum, languages of therapy and marketing, languages of natural law and human rights.
-Peter Leithart, Against Christianity, 55.
John Schwandt says
I suppose this all turns on how one defines the church. If Israel was the church at any time then are we talking about Hebrew? Or what are our thoughts on the Eastern side of the church that developed along with the west? Are we talking Greek, Coptic et. al.? Given the current advance of the Gospel in Africa and Korea should we call the language of the Church French or Korean? Or are we simply linking the church to the dominant Roman west from our default western perspective? Is this even a legitimate normative category? I would want to say the language of the church is love. And practically speaking I think it would take us much further in any linguistic application.