Communication theory provides a compelling way to understand how people of faith can and should work together in today's tumultuous world. In A Communication Perspective on Interfaith Dialogue, fifteen authors present their experiences and analyses of interfaith dialogue, and contextualize interfaith work within the frame of rhetorical and communication studies. While the focus is on the Abrahamic faiths, these essays also include discussion of Hinduism and interracial faith efforts. Each chapter incorporates communication theories that bring clarity to the practices and problems of interfaith communication. Where other interfaith books provide theological, political, or sociological insights, this volume is committed to the perspectives contained in communication scholarship. Interfaith dialogue is best imagined as an organic process, and it does not require theological heavyweights gathered for academic banter. As such, this volume focuses on the processes and means by which interfaith meaning is produced.
Part 1: Fundamentals Chapter 1: Communication Theory Meets Interfaith Dialogue Daniel S. Brown, Jr. Chapter 2: Managing the Anxiety and Uncertainty of Religious Otherness: Interfaith Dialogue as a Problem of Intercultural Communication Mark Ward, Sr. Chapter 3: Humanizing and Dehumanizing Responses Across Four Orientations to Religious Otherness Charles Soukup and James Keaten Chapter 4: Rhetorology and Interfaith Dialogue Adrienne E. Hacker Daniels Part 2: Applications Chapter 5: A Narrative Approach to Interfaith Dialogue: Explanations & Recommendations Kenneth Danielson Chapter 6: St. Francis and the Sultan: Adaptive Structuration Theory Barbara S. Spies, OFS Chapter 7: Hope Analysis: Pathways, Agency, and Interfaith Dialogue Daniel S. Brown, Jr. Chapter 8: The Power of Living Parables for Transformative Interfaith Encounters Elizabeth W. McLaughlin Chapter 9: Memory and Interfaith Dialogue in the Context of Globalization Diana I. Bowen and Paul Fortunato Chapter 10: Speech and Silence as Rhetorical Space: Lessons from an Inter-Racial Church Rose M. Metts Part 3: Challenges Chapter 11: Not in my Sandbox: Organizational Culture, Identity, and Interfaith Collaboration Maria Dixon and Greg G. Armfield Chapter 12: Hindu Interfaith Discourse: Spiral of Silence as a Theological Inevitability Ramesh N. Rao and Padma Kuppa Chapter 13: The "God Problem" In Interfaith Dialogue: Situating Divine Speech in the Seven Traditions of Communication Theory Mark Ward, Sr.
