The Vanishing Word: The Veneration of Visual Imagery in the Postmodern World (Focal Point)
Because the cultural back alleys my writing sometimes takes me into, I have to read a lot of books on Christian engagement with culture. That said,The Vanishing Wordis one of the best on this subject I have ever read--it is memorable, prescient, pithy, courageous, wise, and . . . in the hope this word is still legal, right. --Douglas Wilson, Christ Church, Moscow, IdahoReminiscent of Jacques Ellul'sHumiliation of the Word, Hunt provides an excellent exploration of the dangers of image media displacing word media. He offers extensive contemporary application, in terms of postmodern sensibilities, to Ellul's assertion inPropagandathat 'people manipulated by propaganda become increasingly impervious to spiritual realities.' He puts a sharp point on this in his penultimate chapter, 'Formula for a Führer,' revealing his media ecology credentials, by demonstrating that communication media are never neutral. --Gregory Edward Reynolds, pastor of Amoskeag Presbyterian Church in Manchester, NH, author of The Word Is Worth a Thousand Pictures: Preaching in the Electronic Age, and editor of Ordained Servant: A Journal for Church OfficersThis sane, sobering, and penetrating book explains how technologies of communication shape the minds and lives of us all. Professor Hunt is a student of rhetoric and the history of ideas who brings a critical eye to what most people take for granted today: the dominance of images in our postmodern world. His scholarly expertise combined with his theological acumen makes for an arresting read. --Doug Groothuis, Denver Seminary--This text refers to an alternatePaperbackedition.