Brad Rahr Evaluation Argument 12/3/13 The Medium and the Message In dealing with the many sociopolitical

issues rising in our society, the church is attempting to deal with changes of its own. For thousands of years the church has been in debate over certain questions dealing with things like the afterlife, hell, the person of Jesus, the nature of God, and whether or not people should be baptized as babies or as adults. People within the church have as many differing views on as many differing topics as there are stars in the sky. That being said, some new thinkers are asking new questions and answering them with age old solutions and others are asking ancient questions looking for new answers. There are three sources and mediums of communication that I will be addressing in this paper. One is a lecture on a book, another is a printed book, and the third is a documentary. The reason the lecture and printed book are appropriate to differentiate is because when delivering a lecture, a speaker has an opportunity to curb their presentation to the specific audience. While all three sources attempt to reach the same audience as a whole, a lecture differs from a printed book in its delivery. The major question being asked here is whether or not certain theological systems of belief have a place within orthodox Christianity. More specifically, do certain beliefs that differ from the traditionally held systems of thought within the history of the church, once held, exclude a person from identifying as a Christian? This question is of the up most importance today in the church because we are seeing a new birth to a new way of thinking within the

Christian religion. There is a new movement called the Emergent Church that is approaching age old questions and new questions in a uniquely open and humble way. Questions from the nature of hell to the controversial issue of having homosexual pastors are being asked and being approached in a way that seeks to find solutions that echo the love Christianity has preached for millennia. Now that we have defined the question and the exigence/occasion, I want to dive into the audience in hopes to elucidate the effectiveness of each medium in their delivery. The audience for these three mediums is specifically geared to Christians who struggle with questions of orthodoxy of belief systems in the church and/or study the different belief systems in the church and their connectivity with sociopolitical issues that we face today. All of these sources deal with the question above, yet two specifically deal with the nature of hell and the afterlife and Gods plan for all people. These two address a specific topic that is under debate within the church while the other focuses on a larger picture of who God is and what did He intend for His Kingdom here on earth. The audience will be expected to have a working knowledge of certain concepts within Christianity. Now all authors do a very good job about detailing each facet of the debates in a way that someone who has never heard of this particular issue would be able to understand and follow along. The audience will be expected to have certain knowledge of the traditional views in regard to the afterlife, the assumed plan God has for all people, and essentially a Sunday school understanding of the Gospel. That is all the knowledge that will be assumed on the part of the authors and presenters. The purpose for the thinkers in targeting this specific audience is to influence change and a sense of comfort in asking the hard questions. There are far too many people in the Christian

faith today who take whatever they are taught to heart and then refuse to ask questions that may seem uncomfortable or to cause trouble. This is what these men are fighting against in hopes that the people wrestling with the tough questions will influence others to do the same and to bring assurance to the audience that they are not alone in their questions. One important thing to consider about this audience is that they will have an expectation to an honest approach to biblical exegesis and being able to provide proof within scripture itself. Starting with the first medium of communication, the lecture, we will begin to dive into the effectiveness of each medium in reaching their target audience. The first is a lecture presented by Dr. Edward Fudge, author of the popular book The Fire that Consumes. In this presentation Fudge gives a synopsis of his book dealing with the question over Conditional Immortality or better known as Annihilationism. In this debate, Fudge asks whether or not this belief system coincides with biblical doctrine and surrenders to the authority of scripture. He argues that hell is not to be understood as a place of eternal conscious torment, but as an everlasting fire that once someone is thrown into hell, they will be annihilated and to become as if they never existed at all. Fudge does an amazing job at explaining every facet of this debate to his audience. He gives a very detailed synopsis of the history of the debate and the logic behind it in order to reach the people who are unfamiliar with the specifics of the debate. This is important because when this video is posted to YouTube (where I found the lecture) the audience is now broadened to a larger majority who are interested in this topic. If this lecture were presented in a building with no chance of expanding its ability to communicate, then only the people who attended would be able to hear it. Because this was posted to YouTube many people with have access to it and I will

argue that this medium being expanded to the internet greatly increased its effectiveness on reaching its intended audience. While providing a comprehensive overview of the debate, Fudge also gives an overwhelming amount of biblical support for his argument. He deals with the concepts of an afterlife in the Old Testament and then moves into the New Testament providing biblical evidence the entire way. Not only does he present biblical support, but he moves into the other arguments and theories for the afterlife and translates them from the Hebrew and the Greek in order to provide a solid authority on this topic. Fudge brings authority to his argument with his ethos being credible. After receiving his master degree in biblical languages he moved on to be a minister. This gives him credibility because he has an advanced knowledge in the languages used in scripture and also has experience as a minister. Being a minister is the most important example of credibility because that means he dealt firsthand with people struggling with the tough questions. Pastors are consistently confronted with hard questions and the fact that he has experience in that brings a lot of credibility to his presentation. The next medium will be a book authored by Brian D. McLaren titled A New Kind of Christianity. This book asks ten provocative questions in order to give an alternative approach to how we have look controversial questions throughout the history of the church. Some of these include, is God violent? or what is the Gospel? All of these questions are important and many of them have been asked before by many people, but the reason this book is so effective in reaching its audience is that it provides alternative ways at looking at the tough questions. He changes the way we read the Bible from being out of a Greco Roman lens to that of a Jewish

lens. This helps us to see things from a different angle and to maybe find solutions that were hidden from us under the old ways of looking at it. McLaren also refers to many respected thinkers such as N.T. Wright, Marcus Borg, Richard Rohr, and Leanardo Boff. He also talks about many great thinkers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Augustine. This is effective because many people look up to these thinkers so if he can do an effective job at showing he is following in their footsteps, then he can win the trust of the audience. He also provides extensive biblical support from both the Old and the New Testaments. McLaren is also a prominent theologian and pastor so he has experience in dealing with these issues. He has written many books on various theological topics while being published in peer reviewed journals. Just like Fudge above, McLaren has experience in dealing with the questions people have when they come to a pastor. This creates a more comfy sound to his arguments when one knows that he has dealt with this before. Something that could have been done better by McLaren was his interpretations of the scriptures he provided. Yes he provided a lot of biblical support, but he interpreted them in a way that seemed to mold to his thinking instead of an accurate exegesis of the text. I do agree with many things he said, but seeing as biblical exegesis is so important to his audience I would like to have seen some translations or support specifically on this scriptures from more accomplished thinkers. The final medium is the documentary Hellbound produced by Kevin Miller. Kevin Miller is an accomplished producer, creating multiple documentaries within the church. This specific documentary deals with the nature of hell and who goes there. It deals with the

arguments of Universal Reconciliation and Annihilationism as well as the traditional views on the subject. The greatest part of his credibility is that he interviews people from all over the board of beliefs. He talks with influential pastors such as Mark Driscoll, Greg Boyd, and Kevin DeYoung. He interviews well known theologians and authors such as Peter Kreeft, Robin Parry, and Ron Dart. The greatest thing is that he talks to atheists and super fundamental Christians such as Necrobutcher the bassist of the heavy metal band Mayhem and the members of the Westboro Baptist Church. This gives his documentary so much credibility because it provides his audience with an array of great thinkers and people who have a genuine interest in this subject and that have influence in the outcomes of the solutions formulated from the answers. As a producer, Kevin Miller gives an unbiased approach to this question and because of that the audience does not feel threatened by the movie. It has an equal balance from people of many different viewpoints and this would help the audience come to a reasonable conclusion following their viewing of it if not a new outlook on the issue. The one thing that I think Kevin Miller could do better was not focusing specifically on one topic, but bringing other social issues onto the piece. This would help to give to audience a wider outlook on the issues and the importance of asking the correct questions. Overall I think that Edward Fudges lecture was the best medium of communication. Not only did he give us outstanding credibility and a great authority on the subject, but his lecture was uploaded to YouTube which widens the target audience a lot. With the others you would have to purchase the documentary or the book and some people wouldnt be willing to do that, but Fudges is free for all people with internet connection. I also look to his credentials and the

biblical support he provides along with the translations as a huge factor in this medium being the best.