“Brokenness,” a word commonly spoken in chapel, classes, and general conversation, tends to be overused and vague, according to some students.
“They use it as like a blanket statement to cover for more specific things like envy, greed, jealousy, and things that are undesirable,” said Caleb Hawks ’ 29 of BlackWatch.
Other students shared Hawks’ concerns, believing that the word “brokenness” can be used as a cop-out for sin.
“They’re trying to get across the point that we are all affected by the fall in ways beyond just our personal sin,” said Corban Tolle ’ 27 of Ekklesia. “However, I think that a lot of times it’s used to just make light of our own sin and just place it on the general brokenness of creation.”
Tolle suggested other possible ways to describe humanity’s fallen condition, such as the language of sin and misery referenced by the Heidelberg Catechism.
While most students did not feel like the word should be removed from Covenant’s vocabulary as a whole, they did say that the college community should avoid being careless with language.
“It is a good word, but you can overuse it,” said Emma Thrasher ’ 27. “We tend to default to brokenness just because it’s our particular flavor of ‘Christianese,’ and not because it’s the word that best describes what we’re trying to talk about.”
Thrasher went on to explain how even though the use of the word “brokenness” can accurately describe the effects of the Fall that are beyond our control, she also believes that Christians should use stronger words such as “evil” when describing people’s malicious and voluntary choices.
Students generally agreed that a word used in such a way should always be a reminder that God does not call people to dwell or stay in their brokenness.
“Brokenness indicates that it can be fixed,” said Hawks. “Christ started the process, or enabled the process of us to be fixed when we go to Him.”
According to members of the faculty, the word’s purpose is to remind us of the limits of human institutions in a fallen world, reminding us even further that brokenness does not mean we are unable to make a positive difference in the world.
“Some people might emphasize the brokenness part at the expense of really cool things we get to do in service of God,” said Dr. Philip Bunn, a social science professor. “There are things we are doing as faithful stewards that can actually make a difference.”