Category Archive

Jesus Christ. . . Documentary Film Maker? Samuel Ebersole, Ph.D., Professor of Communication, Colorado State University, Pueblo (samuel.ebersole@csupueblo.edu) Part I: Cinéma Vérité Cinéma Vérité. Noun: a style of filmmaking characterized by realistic, typically documentary motion pictures that avoid artificiality and artistic effect and are generally made with simple equipment. As a scholar and practitioner who studies media effects and teaches at a state …

Practicing a Theatrical Hermeneutic in Teaching and Performance Paul Patton, Ph.D., Professor of Communication and Media, Spring Arbor University (ppatton@arbor.edu) I left the traditional pastorate at forty years old in 1993. As I began graduate studies in theater and communication, I knew I was no longer getting paid for studying and writing sermons. The time that had been devoted for …

Teaching the “Dark Side” of Communication, Part 3: The How Jeremy Osborn, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Communication, Cornerstone University (jeremy.osborn@cornerstone.edu) In my previous guest blog post, I discussed what the “dark side” of communication is and why it is an important topic for us as Christian Communication Studies scholars and teachers to address.  If you have yet to read that …

Teaching the “Dark Side” of Communication, Part 2: The What and Why Jeremy Osborn, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Communication, Cornerstone University (jeremy.osborn@cornerstone.edu) My “relationship” with the “dark side”[1] of communication began, at least from a pedagogical and scholarly standpoint, in 2007.  I was only three years removed from completing my doctoral program and had spent a great deal of time …

A “Backward Design” Approach to the Integration of Faith and Learning (Part 1) Jeremy Osborn, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Communication, Cornerstone University (jeremy.osborn@cornerstone.edu) When the CCSN first talked to me about the possibility of contributing to the blog, I was both excited and a bit intimidated.  It seems fitting that my posts follow those of Naaman Wood, last month’s guest blogger, …

Analogies: Cultivating a “Thick” Strategy for Thinking Christianly about Communication (Part 4, Final) Naaman Wood, Ph.D., Redeemer University College (nwood@redeemer.ca) My first year in seminary, I was preparing for my Christian theology final, and I discovered a strange possibility within Christian thinking. Almost any Christian doctrine, insight, or practice possessed a transparency or a resonance with many other doctrines, insights, or …

Analogies: Cultivating a “Thick” Strategy for Thinking Christianly about Communication (Part 3) Naaman Wood, Ph.D., Redeemer University College (nwood@redeemer.ca) After my first blog post, a reader wanted some clarity on what I meant by analogy, especially regarding my concerns of redemptive readings of Gran Torino. I paraphrase the reader’s inquiry here: As I understand your argument, Naaman, analogies lead to “good” …

Analogies: Cultivating a “Thick” Strategy for Thinking Christianly about Communication (Part 2) Naaman Wood, Ph.D., Redeemer University College (nwood@redeemer.ca) In my previous post, I named two potential dangers that come from the typical way many of us engage in faith-learning integration: thin readings and unethical readings. In the next few blog posts, I want to offer a bit of detail on …

Analogies: Cultivating a “Thick” Strategy for Thinking Christianly about Communication (Part 1) Naaman Wood, Ph.D., Redeemer University College (nwood@redeemer.ca) In this first post, the CCSN asked me to offer some reflections on faith and learning integration. As someone whose entire post-secondary education has occurred at Christian institutions of higher learning, I have been steeped in the faith-learning tradition. Despite this training, …