Changing signs of truth : a Christian introduction to the semiotics of communication / Crystal L. Downing.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Downing, Crystal.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communication--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Communication.

Semiotics--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Semiotics.

Signs and symbols.

Christianity and culture.

Physical Description:

342 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Downers Grove, Ill. : IVP Academic, [2012]

Summary:

The Importance of Signs for communicating truth has been recognized throughout the ages. Crystal Downing traces this awareness from biblical texts, through figures from church history, such as John Wycliffe and William Tyndale, to more recent writers, such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and C. S. Lewis.

Beginning in the nineteenth century the significance of signs has been subject to academic study. Downing tackles the discipline of semiotics with firsthand knowledge of key thinkers such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles Sanders Peirce and Mikhail Bakhtin. Through critical engagement with this field Downing draws out the implications for effective communication of the gospel of Jesus Christ within our shifting postmodern cultural landscape. Her fundamental thesis is that "failure to understand how signs work-as effects of the cultures we seek to affect-inevitably undermines not just our political and moral agendas but, worse, the gospel of Jesus Christ."

Writing with humor, clarity and flair. Downing lucidly explains for non-experts the sophisticated thinking of leaders in semiotics. Of value/to all those interested in communication in any context, this work will be of special interest, to students majoring in communications or English or to students in evangelism and preaching courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. Book jacket.

Contents:

Signs of This Book

Preface to the Problem

Christ, Culture and Communication 13

Introduction to the Solution

(Re)signing Truth 17

Part I Signs of Christ and Culture

1 Signs of the Times

On the Edge of Cultural Change 37

2 Signs of God's Word

Following Jesus 63

Part II How Signs Work

3 Identifying Signs

From Rhetoric to Semiotic 87

4 Under Signs

Structuralism 112

5 Controlling Signs

Ideology and Cultural Studies 135

Part III Changing Signs of Faith

6 Signs of Deconstruction

Maintaining the House of Faith 167

7 A Place for the Coin

Charles Sanders Peirce 198

8 Placing the Coin on Edge

Trinitarian Signs 221

Part IV Communication in a Pluralistic World

9 Si(g)ns of Communication

(In)tolerance Versus the Gift 247

10 Antiseptic Bakhtin

Healing Signs of the Body 274

11 Communication on the Edge

A Conclusion 309.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

ISBN:

0830839666

9780830839667

OCLC:

759909774

Publisher Number:

99949043010