Book Reviewed: Schultze, Quentin J., Communicating for Life: Christian Stewardship in Community and Media (Pasco, WA. Integratio Press, 2024). (Amazon Associates Link)
Journal of Christian Teaching Practice, Volume 12, 2025 (January – December)
Reviewed by: Klaire Smith
Reviewer Affiliation: East Texas Baptist University
Total Pages: 336
ISBN—13: 978-1-959685-09-8
I was first introduced to Schultze’s book Communicating for Life: Christian Stewardship in Community and Media as an undergraduate student. At that time, as I read each chapter, a new realization of what communication could and should be began to form in my mind. I remember eagerly consuming each page; each one contained satisfying sustenance, a transformative knowledge. To experience this a second time through my reading of the updated and expanded version has been a glorious reminder that God’s truths about human communication stand the test of time. In short, this text is a wealth of knowledge for the communication scholar and the novice alike.
It will be hard to speak generally of Schultze’s book as truly every line deserves to be highlighted, savored, re-read, and shared with others. But I will do my best. To teachers, professors, students, and Christ-followers, echoing the sentiment in Mark Fackler’s response to the introduction of this book, I say this: as you embark on the journey of Communication for Life, have your highlighter ready. Read every word. Savor each one like a delicious meal. The knowledge Schultze provides is nourishment for the soul. Each chapter is a necessary and complementary course in a cohesive dinner. At this dinner party, you will find that some dishes go down easier than others. Schultze does not shy away from the darker realities of human communication. Yet, each course is thoughtfully plated, well-balanced, and made with the most important ingredient: love. And like a good host, Schultze ends with a plate-licking dessert, an invitation to accept the call to bring “a taste of heaven [to] earth” through every communicative interaction (p. 18).
Schultze prefaces the updated version of this text by rightly contending with the feedback he received from the first edition regarding his idea that Christian citizens cocreate culture with God. He concludes that the term sub-creators may more precisely express his sentiment. Admittedly, whether we are cocreators or sub-creators, Schultze curtails any further semantic argument in saying that “every bit of the culture we create—has evangelistic consequences” (xxiii). By the end of his text, the reader understands exactly what Schultze means by this claim.
In chapter one, Schultze establishes his central claim that humans cocreate culture with God, and that we do this through our communication in four types of relationships: with God, with our neighbor, with creation, and with ourselves. He emphasizes that the goal of Christian communication is shalom. To illustrate this idea, Schultze says, “our ability to communicate for shalom is a kind of sacred covenant with God. We have to listen to God in order to faithfully establish communities of shalom. Otherwise, we tend to create a self-destructive culture of death” (11). Chapter two then addresses the role grace plays in human communication. Indeed, Schultze highlights how grace-filled communication allows us to turn entropy into shalom. One practical way we can demonstrate grace in communication is seeking and establishing a common humanity as we engage with others.
In chapter three, Schultze addresses communication theory. This chapter focuses on comparing and contrasting the transmission view of communication with the cultural view of communication. In the process, Schultze guides the reader through the differences between a secular framework of communication and a Christian one. Schultze provides a fair overview of each view and powerfully concludes that “God graciously gives us the capacity to cocreate models of communication so that we might better understand God, others, creation, and ourselves, but any map of communication can lead us astray if we fail to test it, modify it, and hold it up to the light of God’s word” (68). Chapter four then leads the reader through certain limitations of human communication. Schultze explores symbolic ambiguity, the issues with postmodernism, a failure to develop certain God-given gifts, and being forced to bargain between space and time as the leading limitations contributing to poor communication. In chapter five Schultze further expands on poor communication by addressing how our sinful nature affects communication. Schultze concludes that “when we recognize our fallenness, transcend our corrupted communities, reject the urge to dominate others, and stop squandering our gifts, we are on the road to shalom” (112).
After establishing the truth about human communication, chapter six walks the reader through the all-important role of the Spirit in our communication. Here, Schultze charges the reader to consider if their use of communication brings life or death. Throughout this chapter, Schultze argues that the power of God-revealed knowledge is essential for cocreating a culture of shalom. He ends by exploring Spirit-filled charisma in communicative life. In chapter seven, Schultze explains that Spirit-filled communication produces symbolic power. Schultze distinguishes between using symbolic power to exploit community versus using symbolic power to serve our neighbors. Schultze suggests that the calling of the Christian communicator is to practice symbolic generosity and to steward the messages of the symbolically powerless. Here, Schultze even thinks to include keeping “alive the voices of the deceased,” explaining that “culture disappears unless people constantly recreate it through time and across space” (143).
Chapters eight and nine explore the role of media in human communication. Schultze explores media as both a “God-given technology” and the product of “fallen social institutions” (p. 158). Schultze categorizes media communication as “prophetic,” “priestly,” or “demonizing” (p.76). Schultze warns against priestly propaganda and encourages a prophetic approach to media messaging, in which communication reveals “what others do not see so that people might perceive things the way they really are” (186). While these chapters are the most dated in the book, it is no surprise that Schultze’s God-given wisdom still stands the test of time. Though more will be said of the chapter responses later, the responses to these two chapters, written by Kevin Schut and Chase Mitchell respectively, wisely link Schultze’s original claims on media to the current social media landscape. Finally, chapters ten, eleven, and twelve focus on best Christian communication practices. Schultze concludes where he began. Responsible Christian communicators are led by the Spirit as they cocreate culture through their relationships with God, neighbor, creation, and the self.
It pains me to leave out so many of the details Schultze lovingly baked into his work. Indeed, as an exemplar of human communication, it should come as no surprise that one of the greatest strengths of Communicating for Life is Schultze’s inviting and approachable style of writing. Schultze’s command of language and meaning allows him to guide his readers through complex communication concepts in a way that simultaneously challenges the expert and inspires the novice. The author’s preface in this expanded edition is certainly a special treat to readers of the first edition. It reads like a long-awaited conversation with a beloved mentor.
As mentioned above, the new edition of the text also consists of scholarly responses to each chapter. Each response is thoughtfully written and contributes another meaningful voice to the field of communication. Indeed, to have so many Christian voices inside one volume all contributing to the same conversation is encouraging. In this regard, the reader may feel as though they are participating in a communal prayer across time and space. While this is certainly powerful, it does unfortunately mean that the reader must bounce back and forth between Schultze’s user-friendly vernacular and another new, more formal voice. This does somewhat disrupt the flow of reading. If Schultze’s chapters are courses at a dinner party, then each response might be more akin to having to get up and dance with a new partner in between each dish. Furthermore, while the expanded chapter responses attempt to modernize Schultze’s text, a few of the responses already feel dated. While Schultze’s original work was not overtly tied to a particular decade, it is very possible that through the chapter responses, the new edition will be.
Of the chapter responses, I find myself still chewing on Thomas J. Carmody’s response to chapter 3, “We See Through a Glass Darkly,” and Elizabeth W. McLaughlin’s response to chapter 11, “Authentic Communication in the Imago Dei.” Carmody’s response expands Schultze’s teachings on theory in a powerful way. Carmody encourages the Christian academic that “it is okay to disagree with a particular theory or approach as long as you understand it” (71), and he urges that “as the church, we should model gracious disagreement—the ability to understand but not necessarily agree” (72). McLaughlin’s expansion of chapter eleven explores the humility required to authentically imitate the image of God. She explains, “Because communication is the lifeblood of image bearing, we must honor human dignity as a sacred gift bestowed by the God who trusts us with the risk of our choice” (234). McLaughlin then calls readers to drop their masks and pretenses, as dignifying others through our communicative choices is only possible through our complete and sincere surrender of our own sinful flesh to Christ Jesus.
Communicating for Life is more than a good book. It is everything Schultze teaches about communication. It is a life-giving piece of heaven on earth. I recommend this read to anyone even the slightest bit interested in communication. Come one, come all. To the teacher, scholar, student, parent, friend, and human being—I invite you to take a seat at this table Schultze has carefully set. Communication that brings life awaits.