THE CHIEF OBJECTION TO THE TERM ERADICATION

A -- OUTLINE

Introduction

The chief objection to the term eradication is that it has a materialistic meaning from the standpoint of its etymology, or origin. Because of this objection, a very careful study of the connotation of the word will be made, both from the standpoint of its dictionary definitions and from its present-day usage.

I. The Dictionary Meanings

In dealing with the word eradicate Webster's New International Dictionary illustrates its meaning by referring to the destruction of a disease, which is surely not something that has roots in the literal sense. Then it mentions abolish, destroy, and annihilate as synonyms of eradicate; and not one of these signifies a thing which is plucked up by the roots. Finally, after comparing it with two other synonyms -- exterminate and extirpate -- it informs us that eradicate is now commonly figurative; and the example given is the eradication of a fault, which is neither a thing nor an outgrowth of or development from a root.

Funk and Wagnalls' New Standard Dictionary starts out in its first definition by declaring that to eradicate is "to pull out by the roots or root out." That this is the etymological meaning of the term eradicate, no one denies; but that this word has largely moved away from this significance is evidenced even in this first definition, when the dictionary continues thus: "hence to destroy thoroughly, extirpate; as to eradicate error." But since error is psychical and not materialistic, it could not have roots. This means that eradicate is used figuratively, and not literally. Then this dictionary's discussion of the term concludes thus: "We speak of eradicating a disease, of extirpating a cancer, or exterminating wild beasts or hostile tribes; we seek to eradicate or extirpate all vices and evils." Vices and evils do not have roots, and they are not physical things or psychical entities -- they are psychical qualities, conditions, or states.

Crabb's English Synonyms, although written many years ago, has this to say about eradicate and extirpate: "These words are seldomer used in the physical than in the moral sense; where the former is applied to such objects as are conceived to be plucked up by the roots, as habits, vices, abuses, evils .... " In those early days, they were evidently talking about the eradication of psychical traits, which were, of course, rootless in character.

The earliest use of the term eradicate, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, was figurative, and not in accord with the literal or etymological meaning of the term. This was in 1436 and even before the word was spelled as it is today. It refers to the absence or destruction of the peace of Christ in this world; and peace is psychical, and not physical. The remainder of the extended study of the development of the word as given by this authority substantiates this use of it.

Again, the New Winston Dictionary says: "Eradicate, though still applied literally to plants in numbers, is now commonly employed in the figurative sense; we eradicate evils, faults, or offensive mannerisms."

Thus, all of the authorities which we have consulted point to but one conclusion, and that is that eradication has two fundamental meanings -- the literal, or etymological, and the figurative.

Further, almost from the first, the primary connotation of the term has been figurative; and what change has taken place has been in this direction. All of this indicates that when one speaks of the eradication of anything he simply means that it is completely destroyed, and that this term is now generally used in this sense.

II. Present-day Usage

More important than dictionary definitions is the way a word is actually being used; for dictionaries are built on usage, and not usage on dictionaries. The evidence here is certainly very striking. It indicates that while we may be inclined to give up the term eradicate in our theology because we are afraid of its materialistic implications, leaders in other walks of life are not at all troubled about this. Illustrations are given of its use in the following fields: mechanics, health and medicine, politics and sociology, education and psychology, and religion in general. Many of these examples are taken from the statements of learned men in various walks of life; and they should certainly know the true meaning of words. Someone may ask what eradicate signifies as it is used in these different fields, and the answer is, to destroy completely.

Conclusion

We conclude this outline with a quotation from Davidson's Old Testament Theology, one of the most famous books ever written in its field. Here are the significant words: "Etymology is rarely a safe guide to the real meaning of words. Language, as we have it in any literature, has already drifted away from the primary sense of its words. Usage is the only safe guide. When usage is ascertained, then we may inquire into derivation and radical signification. Hence the concordance is a safer companion than the lexicon."

B -- MAIN BODY TEXT

In any discussion of "eradication," the first point at issue is the meaning of the term. All who discuss this subject seem to be very much aware of its etymological or literal connotation. Especially is this the case with those who are not sure as to the wisdom of employing it in connection with the doctrine of entire sanctification. In fact, many of those who deal with eradication from the standpoint of holiness fail to mention any other meaning. In view of this situation we shall seek to discover what the dictionaries and usage indicate as to the import of this word.

Webster's New International Dictionary (the latest unabridged edition) defines "eradicate" thus: "To pluck up by the roots; to root up or out; hence, to extirpate; as to eradicate disease." Here we have disease eradicated; and certainly a disease does not have roots. This dictionary goes on to give three synonyms: abolish, destroy, and annihilate. Please note that not one of these synonyms signifies plucking up by the roots. The dictionary also tells the investigator to see "exterminate."

When we turn to "exterminate" we find some interesting information. The first definition which is given for exterminate is "to drive out or away, to expel." This is obsolete. The second meaning for exterminate is "to destroy utterly, to cut off, to extirpate; to annihilate; to root out; as to exterminate vermin." Then we are informed that exterminate, extirpate, and eradicate are synonyms which are to be differentiated as follows: "To exterminate (originally to banish) is, in modern usage, to destroy utterly or bring in any way to extinction; to extirpate implies a violent and intentional rooting out, whether literal or figurative; eradicate (now commonly figurative) implies a less violent rooting up than extirpate; as, to exterminate (or extirpate) a species (of birds, animals, etc.); to exterminate (or extirpate) a heresy, a vice; to eradicate a fault." In this connection, as you see, we are informed that eradicate is now commonly figurative; and the example given is the eradication of a fault, which is neither a thing nor an outgrowth of or development from a root.

Funk and Wagnalls' New Standard Dictionary agrees with Webster essentially. It first defines eradicate according to its etymology as follows: "To pull up by the roots or root out." That this is the literal meaning of the word no one who is informed can question. However, that it is not now the primary purport of the term will be implied again and again as we proceed with this discussion. In fact, we shall discover that the figurative meaning, completely or utterly destroy, is with but few exceptions the only connotation today. Even in giving this first definition of pulling out by the roots or rooting out, Funk and Wagnalls continues thus: "hence to destroy thoroughly, extirpate; as, to eradicate error." In so many words, it is informing us that the true significance of eradicate is now figurative and not literal. Error is psychical and does not have roots. Thus it is not a material thing. Neither is it a psychical entity. (We use entity here in the sense of real being. This is the first definition which is ascribed to it in Runes' Dictionary of Philosophy. Thus, when we state that error is psychical and yet not a psychical entity, we mean that it is only a psychical quality, state, condition, or principle.)

But let us go on and give the whole picture from Funk and Wagnalls. Under "exterminate" it tells us that "eradicate is always applied to numbers and groups of plants which it is desired to remove effectually from the soil; a single tree may be uprooted, but it is not said to be eradicated; we labor to eradicate or root out noxious weeds." (Thus the only leftover from the literal content of the word eradicate is its reference to a group of things -- trees or plants -- which have roots; but in this case, even, the emphasis is upon removing rather than uprooting the things. Further, in actual usage we shall find it difficult to secure examples which illustrate this implication.) "To extirpate is not only to destroy the individuals of any race of plants or animals, but the very stock, so that the race can never be restored." (Thus, from the literal standpoint extirpate is a more radical term than eradicate and is also more involved in materialism. Nevertheless, there are those who freely use extirpate while at the same time rejecting eradication on the basis of its materialism.)

Next Funk and Wagnalls gives a final comparison of these three words from the standpoint of their usage. This is as follows: "We speak of eradicating a disease, of extirpating a cancer, of exterminating wild beasts or hostile tribes; we seek to eradicate or extirpate all vices and evils." Vices and evils do not have roots and they are not things or entities. Still, they are eradicated.

Crabb's English Synonyms starts out by giving the literal significance of eradicate and extirpate. Then it proceeds with the following explanation: "These words are seldomer used in the physical than in the moral sense; where the former is applied to such objects as are conceived to be plucked up by the roots, as habits, vices, abuses, evils; and the latter to whatever is united or supposed to be united into a race or family, and is destroyed root and branch. Youth is the season when vicious habits may be thoroughly eradicated; by the universal deluge the whole human family was extirpated, with the exception of Noah and his family." Then Crabb gives the following quotation from Blair to illustrate the use of eradicate: "It must be every man's care to begin by eradicating those corruptions which, at different times, have tempted him to violate conscience." Thus we perceive that eradicate was largely figurative in meaning when Crabb's Synonyms was published, and that was some years ago.

Murray's (now the Oxford) English dictionary traces the word eradicate and its kindred forms from the time of their entrance into the English language. Let us notice what it has to say. First, we shall consider some irregular forms of this term which are also among the earliest. Irradicable is one of these and was once used as an equivalent of ineradicable. At another time irradicate was employed as a synonym of eradicate. Murray gives a quotation from a poem in which irradicate stands for eradicate. It reads as follows: "He [Christ] . . . mote gefe us pease so well irradicate here in this worlde, that after all this feste we mowe have pease in the londe of Bhyeste." The date of this poem was 1436. This is the earliest appearance of any form of the word to which Murray calls our attention. He gives us another example of this use of irradicate which is dated 1656. Here are the words of it: "to irradicate all vertue from out of his subjects souls." There is no reference in either of these quotations to the etymological or physical meaning of eradicate. Peace and virtue are psychical in character but are not psychical entities.

The next instance which we shall cite from Murray is one of the earliest and is also irregular. Its date is 1533 and it is a quotation from Henry VIII. It is the term eradicate but it is used for eradicated. This meaning is easily evident when one reads the sentence which is as follows: "Heresie, shulde . . . utterly be abhorred, detested, and eradicate [eradicated]." Heresy is not a physical thing either with or without roots. As a nonorthodox belief it is psychical, but it is not a psychical entity. Another illustration of the use of eradicate as eradicated is found in the following quotation, which Murray dates as 1556: "And zour succession they shall be eradicate [eradicated] from zour ryngs [reigns, or kingdoms]." There is no reference in this case to that which has roots or is an entity, either physical or psychical.

Thus far in our consideration of Murray's discussion we have dealt with irradicate as eradicate, and eradicate as eradicated; now we shall have to do with eradicative with its somewhat limited significance. It is defined by Murray as "tending or having the power to root out or expel (disease, etc.). Eradicative cure: originally the 'curative treatment of disease as opposed to palliative.'" The following example, which is dated as 1543, is given: "We wyll speake of his cure as well eradicature as palliature." This reading is rather unusual for us, but it connects one form of our term with disease, which is physical but does not have roots and is not an entity. The same may be said as to the three other uses of the term eradicative which Murray gives us. They sound more familiar and are more in line with present-day usage. These and their dates are as follows: 1684 -- "eradicative of the whole disease," 1691 -- "eradicative of morbific matter," and "eradicative cure of this distemper."

The writer is inclined to think that one of the important factors which prompted the choice of the term eradication by the holiness movement was this relation which it had to disease through the word eradicative. The sin nature has perhaps been more often described as a moral and spiritual disease than in any other way. This being the case it was easy to seize on the term eradication to indicate the cure or destruction of this disease, since it had already, in one of its forms, often been used to signify the cure or destruction of various physical ills.

After dealing with these earlier and somewhat irregular forms, let us take up eradication as Murray sets it before us. He explains two general connotations of the word. One is the etymological -- "To pull or tear up by the roots; to root out (a tree, plant, or anything that is spoken of as having roots)." Several illustrations are presented in this connection, with the date of each as follows: 1564 -- "eradicate roots of carbuncle," 1635 -- "Okes [oaks] eradicated by a prodigious whirlwind," 1725 -- "eradicate weeds," 1860 -- "eradicating trees," 1871 (from Darwin's Descent of Man) "the Indians of Paraguay eradicate their eyebrows and eyelashes." The second and final general meaning of eradicate is stated thus: "to remove entirely, extirpate, get rid of."

This, of course, is the figurative signification of the term. Most of the examples which appear above in connection with the irregular and earlier forms of the word are of this type. However, Murray calls our attention to several other examples which are in this class (we shall give them in chronological order): 1628 -- "eradicating reformation," 1647 -- "seeds of discord eradicated," 1658 -- "blood eradicated from body," 1659 -- "Sihon is eradicator, that evil spirit that endeavors to root up all of the plants of righteousness," 1660 -- "eradicating other enemies of God," 1667 -- "eradicating judgments," 1748 -- "that man should eradicate his fellowman," 1751 -"the eradication of envy from the human heart," 1788 -- "desires and fears eradicated," 1801 -"unfeelingly eradicatory of the domestic charities," 1825 -- (Thomas Jefferson's autobiography) "this stopped the increase of the evil by importation, leaving to future efforts its final eradication," 1857 -- "eradicating the incorrigible," 1865 -- "even rage and hate . . . are eradicable, as most systems of ethics have assumed," and 1869 -- "eradicating mendicancy."

We have completed a study of three dictionaries and one book of synonyms. These are all recognized authorities and they have a standing which is unquestionable. The result of this investigation leads to but one conclusion, and that is that eradication has two fundamental meanings, the literal or etymological and the figurative. This has been true of the term since it first entered the English language back in the first half of the fifteenth century. Further, the figurative meaning, which is nothing more nor less than to completely destroy, has been the primary connotation of the word practically from the first. And what change there has been across the years has been so definitely in the direction of the figurative meaning that we can state the situation as it is today in the words of the New Winston Dictionary: "Eradicate, though still applied literally to plants in numbers, is now commonly employed in the figurative sense; we eradicate evils, faults, or offensive mannerisms.

But somebody may tell us that dictionaries only report usage and sometimes they do not do this accurately, that is, they may fail at times to keep up with usage. This is very true; and, therefore, our next task will be to make a study of present-day usage.

Young men in the Nazarene Theological Seminary gathered many quotations where the word eradication or eradicate is used. Some of the exponents of holiness may be afraid to use this term in connection with entire sanctification, but there are plenty of people in other walks of life who do not hesitate to employ it in its figurative sense. They do not seem to worry about being thought of as speaking crudely or materialistically. These quotations range all of the way from things without any semblance of roots to the highest concepts of religion. Let us now present some of them. An advertisement in a small-town paper offers expert body and fender repair with the assurance that all dents will be completely eradicated. "The Douglas Company urged all users of the 4-engined planes to ground them until the causes of recent fires aboard 'have been established and eradicated.'"

Next we move into the field of health and medicine. A pamphlet from the United States Public Health Service referred to certain diseases "which may be controlled and eventually eradicated by general measures undertaken by the community in which the individual citizen is seldom called upon to take a part." The former editor of the Christian Advocate, Roy L. Smith, headed one of his editorials thus: "In My Opinion Alcoholism Can Be Eradicated." A Farmer's Bulletin from the United States Department of Agriculture states its subject in the following words: "The Sheep Tick and Its Eradication by Dipping." The W.C.T.U., in its National Convention, adopted as its aim the eradication of the self-inflicted disease of drunkenness. The United States Department of Agriculture, in a broadcast, discussed the hoof-and-mouth disease eradication program. An article appeared in the January 20, 1948, Kansas City Star which emphasized the fact that at least some cancers can be eradicated. The Methodist church puts out a tract on drink which tells us that "the American people have gladly given multiplied millions of dollars for the eradication of this disease which preys upon our children."

The fields of politics and sociology provide us with illustrations of the use of this term. We begin with a news-heading which declares that the Taft-Hartley Labor Law does not eradicate the closed shop. Another newspaper informs us of the fact that the eradication of the Taft-Hartley Act supporters in Congress is the goal of the AFL. Bishop Oxnam asserts that to defeat Russia in a war world not eradicate her philosophy of materialism, solve her economic problems, nor end her atheism. Juan Peron, of Argentina, offers this suggestion: "The work to be carried out . . . must consist in the eradication of capitalistic and totalitarian extremism." Professor Sorokin, the famous sociologist of Harvard University, in The Crisis of Our Age, writes in more than one place of the eradication of social evils such as poverty, war, tyranny, and exploitation, and also of social diseases.

Next, we turn to the field of education and psychology. One writer, speaking of the self-centeredness of some children, gives us these words: "This is seen even in infants and seems not to be eradicated in all adults." Goddard, in his book on Juvenile Delinquency, entitles one chapter thus: "The Eradication of Delinquency." In Christian Religious Education, by De Blois and Gorham, we are told that certain powerful tendencies toward evil in the work of the Church should be eradicated. Five quotations from Stolz's Pastoral Psychology employ the term eradicate as follows: Certain social urges should express themselves in a readiness to submerge or eradicate the self for the welfare of the group, and in participation in the activities of the group." Speaking of certain fundamental human functions and drives, Stolz says that they "should be neither suppressed nor eradicated but disciplined and directed in accordance with the precepts of Christianity." In regard to mental hygiene he asserts that it "strives to correct or eradicate pernicious habits or attitudes in their early stages and before they have done irreparable harm." In another section of his book he declares that sex difficulties are so complex that "rare insights, patience, and skill are the preconditions of their relief or eradication." And in the last quotation from him we are given to understand that some evils perish with confession while "others require prayer for their complete eradication or for their transmutation into activities of higher ethical value."

When we come to what may loosely be called religion, we find that the word eradicate is used in many ways. We read about man's ineradicable sense of right and wrong. We are exhorted as preachers "to eradicate and eschew all meaningless mannerisms," and are told that one of the aims of Jeremiah's prophecy was to eradicate certain prevalent misconceptions. We read that the Protestant world has inherited a prejudice against the Middle Ages which historians have found it difficult to eradicate; that Kant posited a radical evil (not original sin) which cannot be eradicated; and that Augustine affirmed that after the fall the will, although helplessly bound, was not eradicated. A Jewish leader has paraphrased Ezek. 36:26 as follows: "And God said 'In this world because the evil impulse exists in you 'ye have sinned against me; but in the world to come I will eradicate it with you.'" We are told that "America can never seek the re-establishment of Christianity as it was in the Reformation because she can never eradicate the marks left upon her by the Great Revival of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries," and that the Communists believe that, "after the complete eradication of the exploitation of capitalism, there will be no more frustration and hence there will be no more need of religion." We learn further that "the preacher shortage in the Upper Midwest of the United States is now being eased, and may soon be eradicated."

These quotations could be multiplied almost without limit. Also, please bear in mind the fact that not one of these references is connected with a material thing which has roots. Every one of them, without exception, nothing more nor less than complete or thorough destruction of that to which it refers, whether it be a physical thing, a psychical attitude or trait, or a spiritual condition. Regardless of what we are talking about, we have the right to use some form of the word eradicate if we wish to assert its complete destruction. This holds good for physical things, for that which is in the realm of health and medicine, sociology and politics, education and psychology, philosophy, religion, or any other field of human study or existence.

Thus, usage points even more definitely to the figurative meaning of this term eradicate than did the definitions in the dictionaries -- and, in the last analysis, usage is the final criterion. In line with this, and as a fitting close to the discussion, permit us to quote a few lines from Davidson's Old Testament Theology. They are as follows: "Etymology is rarely a safe guide to the real meaning of words. Language, as we have it in any literature, has already drifted away far from the primary sense of its words. Usage is the only safe guide. When usage is ascertained, then we may inquire into derivation and radical signification. Hence the concordance is always a safer companion than the lexicon."