Communicating for Life, Quentin J. Schultze, foreword by Martin E. Marty. Integratio Press (ISBN: 9781959685098) 2024.

Summary: An introductory text in communication grounded in a theology of communication and a vision of faithful stewardship.

Communication. It may be argued that we spend the greater parts of our day in some form of communication. Conversation with family. Scrolling through our newsfeeds, posting and commenting. Listening to podcasts. Sending texts and emails. Writing a proposal or report. Teaching a class or giving a presentation. I could go on. Our unique human capacity to convey meaning, however imperfectly is constantly employed.

Followers of Christ are people who want to please him in all we say and do. Matthew 12:36 is sobering: “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken” (NIV). That strikes me as a lot of accounting. And it motivates me to want to do this well, in ways that honor the one I follow.

Quentin Schultze has given a great deal of thought to this matter as a professor of communication. Communicating for Life is a product of a life of reflection and teaching. While meant to serve as an introductory text for communication courses in a Christian setting, it offers great insight to any of us engaged extensively in communication. Which is all of us. While he discusses various theories and media, the focus of his work is to help us think about communication in light of our faith, with thought of how then we should live.

He begins with creation and understands communication as a way we “co-create” culture in our relationships with God, our neighbors, our world, and ourselves. Our ability to name makes us symbolic stewards in defining what things are. Done under God’s grace, communication fosters the shalom of flourishing in community in all the relationships just mentioned. One of the most powerful aspects of our symbolic stewardship is the ability to identify with other communicators through listening well and conveying our sense of connection–that we understand something of each other’s world.

Hence, Schultze thinks our theories ought to reflect our call to servant stewardship with symbols. Thus, he takes issue with transmission models of communication, which reduce communication to sending and receiving messages. Not only does this miss the creative aspects of communication but it may foster manipulation and control. In contrast, he proposes a cultural view of communication, emphasizing co-creating culture.

But theory alone does not account for what goes on in our communication. Instead, human rebellion through the Fall results in misunderstanding, arrogance, and presumption. Consequently, there is confusion and hurt. However, there is hope in Christ’s incarnated loving work. He both exemplifies to us and empowers in us the use of communication to serve and love others and to advocate for the marginalized.

Then Schultze turns to an analysis of the role of mass media. He notes how much is shaped by love for earthly wealth and power and functions as a form of religious storytelling, occasionally challenging the status quo but more often supporting it. He also deals with how powerfully it may be used to demonize those who don’t fit in.

From here, Schultze turns to ethics. He affirms our responsibility before God. We are to tell the truth, and live authentic lives. Most of all, he challenges us to think of our communication as part of Christian discipleship, seeing all our communication in terms of both service and worship to God.

My sense is that the chapters closely reflect the 2000 edition of this book. That means he wrote prior to social media and the new forms of online-based media that arose since that time. For all that, I found him remarkably prescient in his analysis of mass media and spot on in his ethics. However because of the changes in both media and his discipline, he invited a team of scholars to respond, one for each chapter, to his work.

On one hand these essays often complemented his content well. For example, in response to Schultze’s shalom focus as a goal for our communication, Bill Strom proposes covenantal communication as a means to that end. Others enhanced his ideas with their own research. But I felt that the book lost some sense of continuity as a result. This may be remedied by reading all the chapters first, then the responses. One nice addition are reflection questions at the end of each response.

In conclusion, I’m glad to see Schultze’s work updated. The theology of communication he elaborates is timeless, and the communication virtues he advocates are, if anything, even more timely. And he models co-creating in community with a new generation of communication scholars to carry forward his work. And the relevance of this work isn’t just communication in the classroom. It is, indeed, communicating for life.

_____________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.