Isms abound. They’re everywhere. According to the website Phrontistery.info (Gk, “a thinking place”), there are hundreds of isms in the English language. Most of us probably never have heard of pyrrhonism (total or radical skepticism), titanism (spirit of revolt or defiance against social conventions) or adamitism (nakedness for religious reasons, though I think I would have called this Davidism).
Often isms are defined as doctrines, beliefs or practices, such modalism (belief in unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit) or intuitionism (belief that the perception of truth is by intuition).
Some isms describe important historical doctrines of the church and are good and helpful such as monotheism (belief in only one God). More often, however, they describe a doctrine or belief that is off track—sometimes a little off (bonism, the doctrine that the world is good but not perfect), sometimes a lot (dualism, doctrine that the universe is controlled by one good and one evil force).
What is common among isms is that each was hammered out through time by people who were wrestling with concepts to explain our world. These concepts didn’t pop up from nowhere. There is a context that drove new thoughts, then a lengthy period of debate and argumentation refined each idea. Finally, a group gathered together to protect and proclaim the truth of a doctrine or belief.
Because our world is filled with conflicting, screaming voices vying for attention, a big part of our job in youth ministry is to help our kids recognize and hold fast to what God has revealed are His isms while being aware yet wary of the others.
(By the way, remember some heretical isms, such as perfectionism, came from Christians who struggled to interpret the Bible and church doctrine. That’s why every ministry lifer needs to go to seminary. Some Christian isms are subtle and potent.)
Our prayer for this issue is that youth workers of all stripes—church, parachurch and youth organization folks—will take seriously Paul’s charge to his “son in the faith,” Timothy: “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save yourself and your hearers” (
