Table of Contents

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.

About the Author

Daniel S. Brown, Jr. is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Pennsylvania’s Grove City College.

Reviews

In our culture of ideological division where voices compete for attention as they propagandize and polarize political and religious establishments, this engaging collection calls for authentic dialogue and civility. It also seeks to build-bridges among faith traditions in thoughtful ways that effectively transcend the divide and speak to the wider society.
*Robert H. Woods, Spring Arbor University*

This collection moves from the fundamentals of communication theory and interfaith dialogue to the application and challenges of those principles. Clearly it is not enough to know the doctrinal and cultural differences found in our pluralistic religious environments, one must also understand the obstacles that separate us from the other. A Communication Perspective on Interfaith Dialogue is an important contribution to breaking down the walls that hinder our progress toward peace and understanding.
*Richard K. Eckley, Houghton College*