Communicative Theology: A Brief Introduction

By Frances Forde Plude

Almost 40 years ago, a small Jesuit-sponsored conference outside of Rome asked the question: What kinds of basic questions for theology should communication address? Today, in a global digital media culture, that question is painfully urgent for all churches.

Listed here is a trail of Communication/Theology happenings; conferences are all detailed in Part 5 of this volume.

  • From 1984-1997 eight conferences followed the one mentioned above. The topics were all related to communication: moral theology; ecclesiology; and communication in the U.S. Church, and many more.

  • For a decade (1993-2003), an annual seminar was held at the convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) to allow theologians and communication specialists to dialogue.

  • European Catholic funding supported a small, ecumenical and International Commission on Media, Religion and Culture. This group met annually for a decade in many nations for discussions between religious thinkers and communication specialists. A parallel series of global conferences have reached other academics.

  • The Vatican, U.S. bishops, and other groups, have sponsored annual THEOCOM conferences on Communication and Theology at Santa Clara University in California. This brings a small international group of theology and communication specialists together.

  • I have created a Communication and Theology Resource Kit – a bibliographic “paper trail” of key writings by those involved in thinking-through the communication/theology interface. The document is over 100 pages in length! (See Book 5 on this site).

And yet…

The above study/discussion has not reached people in the pews. Work in CommunicaTIVE Theology in Europe seems to bridge the theoretical and practical in creative ways. Several individuals have led this movement.

Matthias Scharer serves as professor emeritus of practical theology in the fields of catechetics and religious education, University of Innsbruck. Bernd Jochen Hilberath has been professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Tübingen. Working with them has been Brad Hinze, Fordham, and Mary Ann Hinsdale, Boston College – both leading U.S. theologians.

Conferences organized by this CommunicaTIVE Theology group attract hundreds of catechetical leaders and clergy in Europe. This “model” seems to reach people on the ground although it is based on much research. As Hinze notes: [This project is] “experimenting with, and reflecting on, group processes that promote personal and collective discernment and decision-making in the church… they have developed a theologically integrated approach to group communicative practices.”

The theological work of Scharer and Hilberath represents pedagogy, group process and adult faith formation influenced by Theme-Centered Interaction (TCI), developed by Ruth C. Cohn. This is her model.

Vocabulary/Models of Communicative Theology & Theme Centered Interaction 

(Ruth Cohn’s Model)                         (Scharer/Hilberath Communicative Theology)
I =                                                       Individuals with their life and faith history
We =                                                   People in groups/communities, & inter-communication
It (content) =                                     The faith tradition
Globe =                                               The global reality of society and church

Image: The first three are a triangle, enclosed in a circle (Globe)

In 2008, at Fordham University, the above team hosted a conference exploring intercultural communication and Communicative Theology. I believe that such workshops, duplicated widely, could reach people in the pews.