BORN-AGAIN

adjective (People and Society) Full of the enthusiastic zeal of one recently converted or reconverted to a cause; vigorously campaigning. Also, getting a second chance to do something. Etymology: A figurative application of the adjective, which originally developed from the verbal phrase to be born again (after the story of Jesus and Nicodemus in St John's Gospel, chapter 3) and was properly used to apply to an evangelical Christian who had had a conversion experience of new life in Christ and made this experience the basis for all later actions. History and Usage: The adjective born-again has been used to refer to fundamentalist or evangelical Christians (especially in the Southern States of the US) since at least the sixties. Probably the most influential factor leading to the development of a figurative sense was the election of Jimmy Carter to the Presidency of the United States in 1977; the connection between his born-again Baptist background and the policies that he put forward was made much of in the press at the time, as were the hopes of fundamentalist 'Bible Belt' Christians for his Presidency. Another (quite separate) influence was the rise of fundamentalism within the Islamic world during the early eighties and the zeal with which it was presented to the West. By the end of the eighties, the figurative use was well established and could be applied to virtually any convert to a cause, however trivial; it had also started to be used to describe anyone who had been given a second chance to do something (another 'life' in the language of games). Duncan and Jeremy are born-again northerners. They saw the northern light last year, when they turned their backs on London. Sunday Express Magazine 9 Aug. 1987, p. 23 In March 1988 I was a born-again student, having got my PPL in 1954...then having to let the licence go at the end of 1956 when marriage came along. Pilot Nov. 1988, p. 26