The Role of Prophetic Critique in Clifford Christians's Philosophy of Technology

Abstract

In recent years, scholars have devoted more attention to the “prophetic” critique of mass media. Clifford Christians has served as both an originator and an ongoing contributor to these discussions. Beginning with his doctoral thesis on Jacques Ellul, a concern for the prophetic has been a consistent thread throughout his career. This paper begins by examining Ellul's influence on Christians's approach, with an emphasis on media ecology, ontology, and the concept of technique. I then summarize Christians's critique of Ellul, and explain how his unique vision addresses Ellul's shortcomings. In outlining Christians's unique approach, I highlight the ways in which authenticity serves as an axial value permeating his work. In Christians's work, prophetic witness against technological fetishism is a means of protecting certain universal values such as “cultural continuity” and “authentic Being.” Through a brief examination of media coverage of Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Jim Wallis, and the United Church of Christ, I show how Christians's discussion of authenticity and prophetic critique are not only applicable but uniquely relevant in the emerging new media environment. At this critical juncture in media, Christians's prophetic voice is among the most relevant and necessary that critical scholarship has to offer.

Notes

1. Of course, Christians himself is not immune from this criticism. For example, Christians and his co-authors portray Ozzy Osbourne's song “Suicide Solution” as a nihillistic promotion of suicide (Christians et al., 2005, pp. 241–245). However, Osbourne and his defenders have argued that the song is a grim portrayal of the destructive effects of alcohol abuse, which the artist dealt with himself and witnessed among his friends (Goldstein, 1988).

2. For a critique of Meyrowitz's widely-cited arguments, see Couch (1996, 1995) and Lindlof (1996).

3. For a similar critique of Ellul see Benello (1981).

4. Benhabib (1992) argues that the communitarian critique of the liberal, unencumbered self does not apply to Habermas, since the latter places inter-subjectivity at the core of his reconstruction of Kantian deontological ethics (p. 71).

5. Christians engages authenticity most explicitly in his discussions of truth as authentic disclosure (2004, 2003). His (1994) review of Charles Taylor's The Ethics of Authenticity is also helpful in clarifying his understanding of the concept.

6. For more on this point, see comments about the Wright controversy from United Church of Christ president Rev. John H. Thomas (2008).