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Why do some seem to prefer the term “heterodox” to “unorthodox” when when describing their orientation toward the Mormon belief system? I always describe myself as unorthodox rather than heterodox, partly because people seem to understand the term unorthodox better than the heterodox term. Maybe cis-dox should be if your beliefs match what you were born into. I like to think of myself as a poly-transdoxual-questioning male. A PTQA+, if you will. It is, of course, better to be precise in what you mean or how you are feeling. But if people don’t understand what you mean, it’s a sign of bad communication. If I don’t know how to interact with you, we’re not going to have much of a relationship. I think “unorthodox” will usually do just fine. Heterodox and Unorthodox are synonyms. However I believe that some may find less negative baggage and pushback with the term heterodox.
Perhaps heterodox sounds more scholarly and intellectual.
Without looking up the actual definitions, I think of “heterodox” as believing some orthodox things but not some others. “Unorthodox” seems more like most or all beliefs don’t fit the mold. Maybe we should use a 50% cutoff. If more than half of my belief systems fits the LDS framework, I’m heterodox. Less than half and I’m unorthodox. Exactly 50% and I’m hemidox.
:lolno: What about anti-dox? I get the feeling most are interested in 2 categories or terms for LDS faith: 1) orthodox
2) anything else, call it what you will, it isn’t orthodox
Heber13 wrote:
I get the feeling most are interested in 2 categories or terms for LDS faith:1) orthodox
2) anything else, call it what you will, it isn’t orthodox
I mentioned this in a different post, but I do think it’s very strange/ineffective to group things into catagories based on what they’re not. At a restaraunt, If you order a salmon dinner, you generally know what you’ll be getting. If you order an “unorthodox” salmon dinner, it’s anyone’s guess.
What about para-dox?
Like dande48 said, I prefer to describe myself in terms of who I am – not in terms of who I am not. I don’t live in opposition to most orthodox beliefs – and “un” can be seen as “anti”. I simply have different beliefs or, often, different interpretations of the same beliefs. Some of my beliefs are quite orthodox; others are heterodox. The combination makes me heterodox.
Heterodox describes me in what I consider to be a positive, stand-alone way – in a way that is not automatically, grammatically, a statement of opposition – like “un”orthodox.
hawkgrrrl wrote:
Maybe cis-dox should be if your beliefs match what you were born into.
:lolno: Maybe I’m bi-dox since I keep the Word of Wisdom, but don’t tithe properly; wear my garments a lot but hate suits…
Roy wrote:
Heterodox and Unorthodox are synonyms.However I believe that some may find less negative baggage and pushback with the term heterodox.
Perhaps heterodox sounds more scholarly and intellectual.
Not quite…
Hetero- means “other”
Un- means “not”.
There is a subtle distinction here. Both are opposites/antonyms of “orthodox”, but not quite synonyms.
Heterodox means practising a different kind of belief from the main, but unorthodox means not being orthodox.
The first word suggests an independence of thought, the second more a case of going against something.
Sam just said the same thing I did in much simpler terms and in less than half the words. 😳 Old Timer wrote:
Sam just said the same thing I did in much simpler terms and in less than half the words.😳
😆 😆 Quote:Heterodox means practising a different kind of belief from the main, but unorthodox means not being orthodox.
The first word suggests an independence of thought, the second more a case of going against something.
I think I I like heterdox semantically, but I’m afraid people won’t know what it means. Unorthodox is at least understood, and I think people would read heterodox meaning into unorthodox. Bit of a quandry…
Look at the historical usage of the word Heterodox over time in this dictionary/historical usage chart.
https://www.google.com/search?q=heterodox+meaning&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS755US755&oq=heterodox+meaning&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2706j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Then look at the word Unorthodox and its usage.
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS755US755&q=orthodox+meaning&oq=orthodox+meaning&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i67k1l4.74330.76230.0.76591.16.12.0.0.0.0.317.1810.0j6j2j1.9.0..2..0…1.1.64.psy-ab..7.9.1805…0j35i39k1j0i131k1j0i20k1.XEdMx0kG5cw What conclusions do you draw about both words?
SilentDawning wrote:
I think I I like heterdox semantically, but I’m afraid people won’t know what it means.
honestly most won’t, and that is important to speak the language others are thinking in if you care about what they think.
Throwing around multiple terms and using semantics can add confusion rather than clarify.
Although they are great for forums like this as we split hairs and seek deeper meaning.
Not everyone else is interested in that.
Most want to know if you have a testimony or you don’t.
It’s easy for me to say that I do. Even if my testimony varies greatly from others and I don’t consider it orthodox. Just the term “orthodox” isn’t used much in our church…it seems more a catholic thing to mormons. Most mormons think in terms of testimony or not, faith in the church or not.
Trying to get them to speak a language different than that is bound to raise more questions than to clarify. So, I am honest with what I mean, but use their words.
I have to say that generally I say heterodox – even if I have to explain what the means – than unorthodox for the reasons others have stated. I sometimes just say my beliefs might be somewhat different than the norm but I do believe.
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