(With information from C. M. Paul – Matters India-). In an age of tweets, podcasts, and viral content, can ancient theology still speak? A new book argues that not only can, but communication has always been at its core.
The Communication Theology of Karl Rahner, by Charles Ndhlovu and Peter Gonsalves, SDB, offers a fresh reading of one of Catholicism’s most influential modern thinkers. The 216-page volume, endorsed by leading Jesuit scholars, positions Karl Rahner’s dense philosophical work as surprisingly relevant to today’s hyper-connected world.
Rahner, a German Jesuit who died in 1984, shaped the Second Vatican Council with a radical idea: that God reveals Himself not through static doctrines but through self-communication. For Rahner, every human being—simply by questioning, wondering, yearning—is already in dialogue with the divine.
The new book takes that premise further. Communication, the authors argue, isn’t a tool for theology. It is theology. God speaks. Christ embodies that speech. And the Church’s mission unfolds wherever humans connect—through art, media, dialogue, even the unspoken faith of those who’ve never heard the Gospel.
What sets the book apart is its interdisciplinary reach. The authors bridge Rahner’s abstract transcendental concepts with the concrete insights of communication theorists like Marshall McLuhan and James Carey—the result: a theology that feels less like medieval scholasticism and more like a living conversation.
The book traces three strands of “Communication Theology.” The first treats media as tools for evangelization. The second insists that theology must speak the language of its time. The third—and most radical—sees communication as the very essence of faith, because God Himself communicates.
Whether Rahner’s framework can stretch to encompass TikTok and AI remains an open question. But the book’s core insight endures: to theologize is to communicate, because God spoke first.
Here’s the link to order copies from Delhi.
https://www.christianworldimprints.com/index.php?p=sr&Uc=5733474158897200446