Communication Theology Questions
By Frances Forde Plude
The questions below urge theologians to participate in the decades ahead in a dialogue about how theology and communications intersect -- both in theory and in practice. Theology today is done differently because of the reflections of liberation theologians and feminist theologians. The author here proposes that a similar re-thinking of theology is needed to integrate communication and theological insights in our understanding of God, church, sacrament, and salvation history.
There has been a revolution in communications, just as we have witnessed liberation and feminist revolutions. We now need a serious and systematic dialogue interweaving theology and communications -- both among theologians, and between theologians and communications scholars and practitioners. This could enrich the theory and practice of both disciplines. I believe strongly this will enable us to communicate effectively with the modern world, as Vatican II urged.
My reflections are based on theoretical doctoral studies at Harvard and MIT, two decades of experience in church media administration and production, along with theology studies.
However, here I am not talking about media programs; I am urging serious consideration of communication theories, communication processes, communication codes of meaning. Like theology itself, our communication studies have been enriched in recent decades by insights from anthropology, psychology, systems theory, and other intellectual disciplines. This is not about "the media". This is about theology. It is about how insights within communication studies can inform the theological enterprise. And I trust that our dialogue will continue systematically within CTSA in this decade. This is something to be constructed jointly by theologians and communications scholars and practitioners.
Questions About a Theology/Communication Dialogue
Work already accomplished
Theologians have acknowledged that Jesus Christ is the supreme self-communication of God. Avery Dulles noted in 1971 that "The Church Is Communications" (Catholic Mind, Vol. 69, pp. 6-16; emphasis added). Dulles has suggested that various models of church utilize varying communication approaches (The Reshaping of Catholicism, Chapter 7).
Paul Soukup, SJ, has stated: "For Lonergan, communication has a role as proclamation within theology -- appearing as the last of his eight functional specialties, but not informing the study of theology itself. More to the point ... would be Lonergan's insistence on the function of meaning in forming community." ("Communication Theories for Theologians," Soukup unpublished manuscript). Soukup has authored a review of the literature in Communication and Theology (1983). Hἃring analyzes the impact of mass media in his Free and Faithful in Christ. And the insights of Jurgen Habermas have informed the cultural studies writings in communication, an obvious link to theological reflections.
Several conferences have been held bringing together theologians and communication scholars and practitioners. These were sponsored by the Gregorian University and the Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture in London. Several books are in process, a result of these week-long seminars. One is a study of ecclesiology and communication, for example, edited by Patrick Granfield.
What Needs to be Done
If we imagine theologians and communications personnel are creating a tapestry, it will take varied threads for the totality to be visible. Some of the threads are mentioned above. However, many remain to be constructed.
Here are some questions I would like to pose:
What are the roles of communication processes in the expression of religious truths?
How do these communication processes change in varied communication cultures (oral cultures, print cultures, and the current digital video culture)?
Do modern communication technologies alter human and societal communication modes and, thus, impact the search for religious meaning? (Some of my reflections on this are in my own chapter in the above Granfield book; there I reflect on some connections between interactive communications and communio).
Where do communication concepts lie within the theology of Trinity (the self-communication of God), within sacramental theology (sign and symbol), within scripture studies (the communication of the Word), and other theology specialties?
Should we abandon the study of "theology and communication" or "the theology of communication" and seek, instead, communication realities within theology itself?
What is the role of "public discourse" in theology (explored somewhat by David Tracy and reflected in the church's current documents on communication)?
At a meeting at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago involving, among others, the theologians Robert Schreiter and Hermann Pottmeyer, these questions spurred discussion.
Well, this is a start. There are many other queries, many other threads. It may be one of the greatest challenges (and one of the greatest needs) is to construct such a tapestry to enable us to see, understand, and communicate God's Word as we move into new digital decades.