The Art of Dialogue: Religion, Communication and Global Media Culture
Top Insights
Berlin: Lit (2007), 398 pp.
Contains bibliogr. pp. 345-380, index
Series: Religion and Biography, 15
ISBN 978-3-8258-0050-5
Other editions: Amsterdam University, Doctoral Thesis 2006
Signature commbox: 10-Religion-E 2007
"Media involve religious dimensions and have become the religious "iconofiers" of our world. People increasingly use media for shaping their - religious - identity and their search with respect to questions of ultimate meaning. The author first provides a succinct overview of the context and implications of media culture and the recent changes in communication theory. Then, by analyzing the contents of a broad range of Church documents from the Catholic as well as the Protestant Churches and Ecumenical Organizations, she reflects on Christian policy views and identifies the main problems and opportunities in relating to media culture. Finally she stresses the urgency of genuine "art of dialogue" between Christian religion and media culture, based on a thorough analysis of the trends of the global media context as well as recent insights from audience research. She also argues a theological paradigm shift and the importance of ethical involvement by religions in the public sphere. This is a thoroughly researched, major contribution to religious commmunication theory." (CAMECO Update 4-2008)
"The first chapter of this volume focuses on media structures and technological developments, media trends -like digitization, globalization, privatization and commercialization-, new media, patterns of communication and the concept of interactivity. We will also identify the social cultural role of media in defining social reality and expressing the shared cultural environment and shared identity. Related to this is the role of the media as a central hermeneutic key of culture, their ‘religious’ dimension and the media use by people as part of their everyday symbolic interaction and religious meaning making. We will also analyze how media culture affects a social institute like the church.
In the second chapter we turn to recent insights in communication studies with respect to the perception of audiences. We will briefly describe the historical shifts in communication research that can be summarized by a shift in emphasis from sender to audience. This leads us to the audience research tradition, which includes structural, behavioral and cultural reception analysis. Then we turn to recent interpretative rethinking in audience research. Finally we discuss how the choice of paradigm matters not only to corresponding communication models, but also involves implications for churches’ attitudes in communication.
The third chapter brings to the stage the policy statements on communication and media, published by the mainstream churches, their world organizations and related communication institutes in the last 15 years. We will explore the views of the Church of England (UK), the Roman Catholic Church (UK, Germany), the Lutheran Church (Sweden, Finland) and the Protestant Church (Germany), the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the Vatican, the World Association of Christian Communication (WACC) and the World Catholic Association for Communication (Signis), -unifying since 2001 Roman Catholic media and communication institutes UNDA (radio and television) and OCIC (cinema and audio visual). Particular attention is paid to: the way Churches -and their related institutes- look upon the context and impact of media developments and churches’ social and ethical responsibilities in this matter; the relationship between media, religion and culture; theologial reflection on communication and awareness of paradigm choices; Churches’ involvement in public communication and the role of theological presuppositions in it; the challenges and priorities set by the ‘information era’ as considered by the churches. This leads us to an inventory of main problems in the statements regarding communication context, the outlook on the audience, communication models, ecclesiological identity and implementation and praxis.
In the fourth chapter dialogical communication -and public space as its prerequisite- will be the central issue. We will clarify the perspective of dialogue which we would like to suggest related to religious communication. Social responsibilities and media ethics, inherent to public space and dialogical communication, will be discussed under the same heading. Furthermore insights are given as we relate the art of dialogue to our findings on media culture, audience perceptions, on identity and theology. With respect to the latter we will also discuss the concept of communication theology.
In the final chapter, we try to analyze beyond the problems and, in retrospect, come to concluding considerations. We will go into the challenges (and misunderstandings) of genuine dialogue in a digital mass media context and the importance and relevance of religious involvement in public communication. We will also summarize some of the issues which, to our opinion, merit further reflection, as an invitation to subsequent dialogue. They include the concepts of (Christian) fundamentalism, secularization and religion in relationship to global media and media culture." (Introduction, p.26-27)
In the second chapter we turn to recent insights in communication studies with respect to the perception of audiences. We will briefly describe the historical shifts in communication research that can be summarized by a shift in emphasis from sender to audience. This leads us to the audience research tradition, which includes structural, behavioral and cultural reception analysis. Then we turn to recent interpretative rethinking in audience research. Finally we discuss how the choice of paradigm matters not only to corresponding communication models, but also involves implications for churches’ attitudes in communication.
The third chapter brings to the stage the policy statements on communication and media, published by the mainstream churches, their world organizations and related communication institutes in the last 15 years. We will explore the views of the Church of England (UK), the Roman Catholic Church (UK, Germany), the Lutheran Church (Sweden, Finland) and the Protestant Church (Germany), the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the Vatican, the World Association of Christian Communication (WACC) and the World Catholic Association for Communication (Signis), -unifying since 2001 Roman Catholic media and communication institutes UNDA (radio and television) and OCIC (cinema and audio visual). Particular attention is paid to: the way Churches -and their related institutes- look upon the context and impact of media developments and churches’ social and ethical responsibilities in this matter; the relationship between media, religion and culture; theologial reflection on communication and awareness of paradigm choices; Churches’ involvement in public communication and the role of theological presuppositions in it; the challenges and priorities set by the ‘information era’ as considered by the churches. This leads us to an inventory of main problems in the statements regarding communication context, the outlook on the audience, communication models, ecclesiological identity and implementation and praxis.
In the fourth chapter dialogical communication -and public space as its prerequisite- will be the central issue. We will clarify the perspective of dialogue which we would like to suggest related to religious communication. Social responsibilities and media ethics, inherent to public space and dialogical communication, will be discussed under the same heading. Furthermore insights are given as we relate the art of dialogue to our findings on media culture, audience perceptions, on identity and theology. With respect to the latter we will also discuss the concept of communication theology.
In the final chapter, we try to analyze beyond the problems and, in retrospect, come to concluding considerations. We will go into the challenges (and misunderstandings) of genuine dialogue in a digital mass media context and the importance and relevance of religious involvement in public communication. We will also summarize some of the issues which, to our opinion, merit further reflection, as an invitation to subsequent dialogue. They include the concepts of (Christian) fundamentalism, secularization and religion in relationship to global media and media culture." (Introduction, p.26-27)
