Table of Contents
Volume 1 Issue #2 of CSCC Newsletter
Abstract
Whatever happened to the churches? To whom are they speaking these day?
Christianity and other major religious traditions developed their symbolic language and their patterns of communication in a pre-industrial world and in the largely oral culture of rural villages. Christianity did adapt rather remarkably to the possibilities of the print media. But now the urban pattern of life, the technical-scientific mode of thought and the electronic media are· influencing radically the pattern of human life.
Sociologists of religion conclude that religious aspirations are as strong as ever, but that people increasingly do not find the expression of their religion in the "main-line" churches. Can Christianity and other religious traditions contribute to a greater understanding of the meaning of human life and human destiny in urban society? The answer to that may depend very much on how the churches adapt their language and their pattern of communications in an urban world.
This CSCC NEWSLETTER surveys current research on religious communication and especially recent studies of religious symbolism, the most characteristic thought-language mode of religious communication. In the REVIEW ARTICLE, we examine recent studies of religious communication and of symbolism from the point of view of four different disciplines: sociology of religion, David Martin, specialist in the process of secularisation; communication -- the visionary and innovative thought of Pierre Babin and Marshal McLuhan; theology, a pioneering book on the theology of symbolism by Charles Bernard; and anthropology, Victor Turner, an authority on religious symbolism in his field today.
One of the most important areas of research for religious communication is that of religious symbolism. In the REPORT ON CURRENT RESEARCH we give reports on some of the projects in progress and on major centres where research of this type is being done.
Recommended Citation
(1979)
"Religious Communication in an Urban Society,"
Communication Research Trends: Vol. 0:
No.
2, Article 1.
Available at:
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/crt/vol0/iss2/1