“MEDIA ECOLOGY OF THEOLOGY” WEBINAR WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18 7-8 PM EST
Zoom Registration Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvcuqrpzIsEteXrjJD4SqclFmU_Wr6rOHG
Join Paul as he highlights key ideas from his newly published book, A Media of Ecology of Theology (Baylor UP, 2022). With its interdisciplinary focus, this free webinar will be of interest to communication scholars and students, theological scholars/students (primarily those interested in the history of theology or in practical theology), and those with an interest in various media (art, architecture, etc.).
Defining theology broadly as Anselm’s “faith seeking understanding,” Soukup’s book calls attention to how Christians have thought about faith depending on the vehicle of communication used. Over the millennia, their theological reflection has occurred in whatever media they found best suited to their thought, including the spoken word, music, the written word, art (from catacomb images to renaissance painting), architecture, the printed word, film and television, and social media—and probably everything in between.
As Dr. Soukup explains, “Media ecology regards communication not merely as a tool or set of tools, but as an environment. Applied to theology, it reveals each of the communicative modes of theological reflection as an environment that fosters certain kinds of thinking, thus shaping that theology. For instance, the image of the good shepherd expresses the theological understanding of the artist in ways that go beyond the simple proclamation, ‘I am the good shepherd.’ Media ecology asks what a given communication medium allows and what it inhibits—for example, in theological reflection, what oral proclamation allows and what it blocks, what the pages of printed texts do that the inscriptions of manuscripts do not.”
As the book’s introduction notes, “Media ecology . . . suits theological investigation quite well. For theology, too, forms an environment for people.” A Media Ecology of Theology examines the connections between theologies, as “environments for belief,” and a wide array of media forms: oral expression, narrative, educational systems, writing and printing, translation, art, music, architecture, ritual, film, and social media. Dr. Soukup’s webinar will highlight some of these connections.
Learn more about Dr. Soukup here: https://www.scu.edu/cas/communication/faculty-and-staff/paul-soukup-sj/