Communication and Christianity

Communication is an interdisciplinary enterprise. It converses with various social sciences, including linguistics, psychology, and sociology--academic domains that span the spectrum of both subjective and objective presuppositions. While Christianity enjoys some compatibility in conversation with these disciplines, the worldviews through which they are taught often challenge traditional church theology. For example, social science leaders like Carl Jung and Jordan Peterson interpret Christianity through worldviews that undermine the foundation on which it stands, subordinating Scripture to science in what seems like a friendly attempt to wed academic discipline to religious heritage. This is common practice among mainline denominations, who readily embrace the spirit of the age with little regard for traditional theology.

This self-defeating approach to Christianity--and epistemology in general--is critiqued by Lewis and Tinder who expose the fallacy of people who borrow from the worldviews they attack in order to justify their own (Epperson and Hall 164; 82). Lewis, in contending with the "subjectivity" of the twentieth century's encroaching post-modernist movement, comments on the futility of asserting nihilistic claims as true from worldviews that assert there is no truth (Epperson and Hall 163-64). Tinder considers this on a societal level, where social cohesion might break down in light of the irreconcilable differences their worldviews present (Epperson and Hall 182). Nevertheless, irrespective of people's difference of opinion and politics, the fact that everybody appeals to some transcendent standard of justice betrays its very existence--of which there is no escape. 

Works Cited

Lewis, C.S. "The Poison of Subjectivism." Encounters: Readings for Advanced Composition. Ed. William Epperson and Mark Hall. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 2013. Print. 163-171.

Tinder, Glenn. “Can We Be Good Without God?” Encounters: Readings for Advanced Composition.  Ed. William Epperson and Mark Hall. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt, 2013. Print. 173-188