Church and English

The English language has had a historical development, and there are educated prognoses for its future development (for example, fuller vowels, standardis[z]ation of spelling, stricter syntax, auxiliary verb changes). OBSERVATION: In all of this, one wonders what the Church is doing to the English language. In many Churches, a kind of “trade English” has arisen, where English needs to be simplified a great deal for the sake of mixed congregations. This has been the case in my own ministr(ies). In fact, under my one ministry English became a minority language. There has been a growing trend, too, to translate the Bible into simplified English (for example, the Easy English Bible), and to simplify theological language (for example, the South African Theological Seminary). I myself, of necessity, speak a much simpler, less nuanced English than I did in younger years.