This course begins with an overview, and not with a technique. That is on purpose. The first pages of the textbook say, “This is not a book of techniques. It is a book of fundamentals.”

You will read about God as the first communicator, about how communication was broken, and about how it is restored in Christ. Then you will see a map of nineteen principles. You do not need to remember all of this now. Read it as you would read the first page of a travel guide. The principles later in the course will keep pointing back to it.

If some of the ideas feel large or abstract, that is normal. Hold on to one question as you read:

Before you know any of the 19 principles, why does the author think you first need to know where communication came from and what broke it?

Think first (H5P)

[H5P type: Guess the Answer. Learner thinks, then clicks to reveal.]

Instructor Interview

Culture, Assumptions and Communication

This interview covers the same ground you have just read, in conversation. Julisa Rowe asks Dr. Smith about culture, assumptions, and communication.

Look at the three ideas below. As you watch, notice how Dr. Smith explains each one:

All communication is cross-cultural.
Assumptions are learned before we have words.
We may be “rushing to progress backwards.”

Reading Guide

Dr. Smith says assumptions are hard to examine because we learned them before we had words. Name one assumption you hold about people or communication that you cannot remember ever being taught. How would you test whether it is true?

[H5P type: Quiz on Video Lessons]

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