I have been writing a blog for several years now. It is time to separate some of the information into another blog. I will continue with 'Norman's Demesne' and my blog on Adopt-A-Highway activities in Minnesota. Now I want to focus attention on things Lutheran.
This weekend I came across a sign on a building at 21st and Chicago in Minneapolis that said simply 'Lutheran Colportage.' I had no idea what 'colportage' might mean and I wondered why it would be 'Lutheran' colportage. I thought that colportage might have something to do with trucking. I was wrong.
Wikipedia provided me with the answer. Colportage is the distribution of religious publications, books, tracts, etc., by carriers called colporteurs.
The term is an alteration of French comporter, "to peddle" as a portmanteau or pun with the word col (Latin collum, "neck"), with the resulting meaning "to carry on one's neck". Porter, is from Latin portare, "to carry."
The American Bible Society and the American Tract Society were among the largest organizations involved in colportage in the United States.
The term may also be seen referring to any kind of book peddling, not only the religious ones.
I fancy myself as a peddler of ideas and opinions.
So, I will call my new blog 'Lutheran Colportage.'
No comments:
Post a Comment