#572: Devouring Tongues

Once more on slanders.

The third chapter of James introduces two metaphors for the tongue that, while not strictly incompatible, oriented us toward diametrically opposed aspects of its power. On the one hand, James compares the tongue to a rudder of the ship: as it steers the boat wherever the pilot is inclined to go, so the “tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boa…