Conversation With Thomas Boomershine
Formerly, United Theological Seminary professor, Dayton, Ohio
Notes by Frances Forde Plude
Development of Theology
Theology is a form of thought distinct to literary culture.
Theology is post-New Testament; it did not exist before then.
Paul prepared the church for it, but did not formulate ideas theologically.
Theology was a response to Israel’s tradition in philosophical categories.
Theology, as a discipline, as a body of literature, relates to literate culture.
A key dimension of theology is its role in evangelization and a literature of apologetics.
Theology is a philosophical form for the discussion of the primary issues of God and all dimensions of thought in the understanding of church.
Thus, theology has been the primary theoretical framework through which the church has articulated and understood itself.
Current Issues for Churches and Theology
Theology has been a central theoretical framework of philosophic thought in a literate world (a print culture).
What do churches do about this in an electronic culture?
Issues/Challenges Related to Communication Theology
A key issue for Communication Theology is how to interpret the Christian tradition in post-literate culture?
Does theology’s relationship, as a discipline, to literate culture, mean that theology is problematic as a theoretical framework for Christianity in an electronic culture?
Boomershine Convictions
There is a need for a framework for a culturalist theology in relationship to the distinctiveness of an electronic culture.
Communication Theology – as a cultural theology – can explore the issue of what are the basic orientations of thought/meaning in an electronic culture?
A worthwhile issue is, what is the relationship between theology and theory?
One way of understanding Communication Theology is that it is exploring a theory of Christian communication and culture in an electronic culture.
This could be narrative theory; it is conceptualization, but, for an electronic culture, there are significant ways in which it is different from conceptualization and theology to date.
In a theology of Christian communication, one could adopt the church’s critical language it uses to critique methods of communication.
One of the ironies of this Communication Theology critique is that it might well conclude that theology – as a defining discipline – would need to recognize the need for a new system of thought – of interests, of the local church, etc. (that theology, as we know it, is inextricably linked to a print culture, and, therefore, limited in dealing with electronic culture).
In his thinking and writing, Boomershine attempts to describe a systemic approach to understanding the presence of the risen Christ in an electronic culture, i.e. what, as a system, this would look like?
There are two justice issues where the church has differed somewhat from the state:
The sacralization of the present system (whose symbol is the book).
The transformation of society through literacy (democratization through the power of writing).
At present the bible needs to be re-conceived for an electronic culture (through image, story). Part of the problem is that the role of the theory of Christian communication, in an electronic culture, needs, at least in part, to be located outside of the academy (which is so wedded to print).
Concerning Oppressed Groups
Boomershine believes the most under-recognized issue of justice is the oppression created by the way in which electronic communication is being developed – that those who are participants of the communication system are primarily for-profit corporations, with very few alternative communication systems. This injustice is not necessarily a felt need of humanity, but it is a real need. Communication Theology’s task could be to search for and articulate a framework of thought and institutional formation to deal with this injustice.
Churches as Liberators of Oppression in Literate Culture
In the light of the above, contrast the church’s significant role in the development of literacy:
transference from oral to written culture
development of scripture
role of early church in teaching slave women to read
printing facilitates individual bible study
establishment of schools, monastery libraries, universities
educational institutions in missions
It is a largely unrecognized dimension of theology and religious institutions – that churches have empowered individuals by teaching them to read.
Key Questions
Can the church now empower/liberate, through a reformulation of its communication and theology?
Is a “communication theology” movement an appropriate and effective method of accomplishing this task?