What Christians Believe

The Story of God and People in Minimal English

Anna Wierzbicka

Takes a radically novel approach to the task of communicating "what Christians believe" to the widest possible audience
The Story of God and People, which is at the heart of the book, is the first story written entirely in "Minimal English", a version of English which is not only simple but also universally cross-translatable
Accessible to anyone, even those with no familiarity with Christianity or Christian vocabulary

What Christians Believe

The Story of God and People in Minimal English

Anna Wierzbicka

Description

Many people today, both Christians and non-Christians, are confused about or unaware of the essentials of Christian faith. In this book, Anna Wierzbicka takes a radically new approach to the task of communicating "what Christians believe" to the widest possible audience. The Story of God and People, the heart of the book, sets out the core tenets of Christian faith in narrative form using simple language that is accessible to anyone, even those with no familiarity with Christianity or Christian vocabulary. The Story is not only simple but also universal: though written in English, it is not phrased in full English — English as we know it today, shaped by history, culture, and tradition — but in "Minimal English". Minimal English contains only those 400 or so English words that can be translated into any other language; essentially, it corresponds to the shared core of all languages.

In the introduction to the book, Wierzbicka explains Minimal English and minimal languages in general, and in The Story of God and People that follows, she demonstrates the effectiveness of Minimal English as a tool for global understanding. At the same time, the use of Minimal English allows her not only to retell the Christian story in a strikingly new way, but also to rethink its meaning, bringing into relief its internal cohesion, logic and beauty.

What Christians Believe

The Story of God and People in Minimal English

Anna Wierzbicka

Preface
PART I: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
Chapter 1. Who are 'Christians'?
Chapter 2. God and cross-cultural communication
Chapter 3. God and language
Chapter 4. Minimal English
PART II: THE STORY OF GOD AND PEOPLE
PART III: BRIEF COMMENTARIES ON THE CHAPTERS OF PART II
APPENDICES
A. On the word "forgiveness"
B. On the word "love"
References

What Christians Believe

The Story of God and People in Minimal English

Anna Wierzbicka

Author Information

Anna Wierzbicka, Professor of Linguistics, Australian National University

Anna Wierzbicka is Professor Emerita at Australian National University, Canberra. Her work spans several disciplines, including linguistics, anthropology and religious studies.

What Christians Believe

The Story of God and People in Minimal English

Anna Wierzbicka

Reviews and Awards

"A fascinating linguistic undertaking." - CHOICE

"Anna Wierzbicka presents the Scriptures in a way that has never been done before — in 'minimal English', 'words which have exact equivalents in nearly all languages'. It does not presume any familiarity with the Scriptures or the Christian story. It will be an invaluable addition to the spread of the faith in many languages." - Father Bob Wild, Madonna House Community, Ontario, and author of A Catholic Reading Guide to Universalism (Wipf and Stock, 2015)

"Full of rich imagery and symbolism, religious varieties of language are some of the most demanding to interpret. There are local uses and meanings to explore, ancient traditions to address, and of course deep forms of practice attached to each. Anna Wierzbicka's use of her Natural Semantic Meta-language in What Christians Believe demonstrates a way of placing religious lessons into simple terms, easily accessible in any language. The reader is challenged to discern whether the afforded formulations aid in religious understanding. Many readers will benefit from this book, not least students of the Bible, anthropologists, communication scholars, linguists, and semanticists, among many others." - Donal Carbaugh, Professor of Communication, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

"In this wonderful book, well-known linguist Anna Wierzbicka draws mainly on sixty-five words common to all languages to describe what Christians believe. The result overcomes the distortions arising from vernacular renditions to present Christianity in a universally accessible and startlingly refreshing light. Reading it is delightful and profoundly perspective-altering." - Douglas Porpora, Professor of Communication, Drexel University, and author of Landscapes of the Soul: The Loss of Moral Meaning in American Life (Oxford University Press, 2011)