Connecting with the Religious Other: Communication Theories in Engaging Pluralistic Interfaith Dialogue

• In Event: Religious Communication as Bridge Building in Public and Private Contexts

Abstract

Assumptions of religious others, both in stereotyping and negotiating identity, lead to problems in fully understanding each other. My goal is to explore ways in which we can engage in pluralistic interfaith dialogue by focusing on our encounter with the religious other. This dialogic approach will be grounded in: speech codes, systems theory, and dialectics theory. My hope is that people of different faiths will overcome assumptions they hold in their encounters with religious others.

Author

• Kyle Jonas, Colorado State University