"I first started thinking about edifying after a conversation on my podcast, Fifty Words for Snow, where my co-host Emily and I talk with guests about words from different cultures and subcultures. We interviewed pastor and philosopher Cedric Lundy about "wise church words," and he said that in the Black church, edify was used for all kinds of things: "If I'm gonna teach you something, you're about to receive some edification." It wasn't just about being educated; it was about being elevated."
"And that, I realized, is a word we still need. In secular life, we don't really ask if something is edifying. We ask if it's "good," or "worth our time." But edifying is different. It asks how something leaves you. Are you more whole, more generous, more aligned with your better nature? Or are you emptier, smaller, or vaguely anxious afterward?"
Heavy church words like penitent, reverent, and edifying name states that ask something of a person. In the Black church, edify encompasses teaching that elevates, combining the spirit of God with truth to build people from the inside out. Edifying experiences leave a person more whole, generous, and aligned with better nature rather than empty or anxious. Secular language often reduces value to "good" or "worth our time" instead of asking how something changes a person. Teen slang "brain rot" captures the numbing effect of doom-scrolling or binge-watching, which can momentarily entertain but risks leaving one foggy and hollow.
Read at Psychology Today
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