The University of Chicago Communication Ethics in Social Conflict: Nonviolent and Christian Perspectives a Dissertation Submitt
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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO COMMUNICATION ETHICS IN SOCIAL CONFLICT: NONVIOLENT AND CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY RUSSELL P. JOHNSON CHICAGO, ILLINOIS JUNE 2019 © 2019 by Russell Paul Johnson All Rights Reserved Table of Contents Acknowledgments..........................................................................................................................v Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Audiences .................................................................................................................................... 5 Chapter Outline............................................................................................................................ 9 1. The Three Voices in the Ethics of Communication ............................................................. 14 I. The Etiquette of Democracy: Stephen L. Carter on Civility .................................................. 15 II. Realistic Radical: Saul Alinsky on Victory .......................................................................... 20 III. Being Just a Listener: Sally Miller Gearhart on Open-mindedness .................................... 25 IV. The Limits of Open-mindedness ......................................................................................... 30 V. The State of the Debate ......................................................................................................... 39 VI. Knights of the Double Standard: Civility’s Criticism of Victory ....................................... 41 VII. Fighting with One Hand Tied behind Your Back: Victory’s Criticism of Civility ........... 47 VIII. Comparing Civility and Victory ....................................................................................... 55 2. The Rules Are Broken: Dilemmas of Restraint in War and Social Conflict ..................... 62 I. Prescriptive Proceduralism ..................................................................................................... 64 II. The Weakness of Communication Ethics ............................................................................. 67 III. Rules of Engagement ........................................................................................................... 75 IV. Loosening Restraints ........................................................................................................... 80 V. The Parallels with Social Conflict ...................................................................................... 109 VI. The Culture War ................................................................................................................ 112 VII. Reconsidering Prescriptive Proceduralism ...................................................................... 125 VIII. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 131 3. Integral Communication ...................................................................................................... 133 I. Introducing Integral Communication Criticism ................................................................... 133 II. Style is Substance ............................................................................................................... 142 III. “It is Necessary to Trust”: Paulo Freire on Liberating Communication ........................... 144 IV. “All Participate and Lead”: Karlyn Kohrs Campbell on Feminist Communication ......... 153 V. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 159 4. Integral Communication, Part II: Søren Kierkegaard ..................................................... 161 I. Concerned Speech ................................................................................................................ 165 iii II. The Illusions of Christendom .............................................................................................. 170 III. Indirect Communication .................................................................................................... 180 5. “Dynamically Aggressive”: The Rhetorical Force of Nonviolent Direct Action ............. 210 I. Means and Ends Revisited ................................................................................................... 217 II. Two-Handed Communication ............................................................................................. 221 III. The Beloved Community................................................................................................... 231 IV. Implicit Messages .............................................................................................................. 240 6. Sharing the Good News: Integral Communication and Christian Theology .................. 273 I. “You Will Be My Witnesses”: The Ultimate End of Christian Ethics ................................ 276 II. “Good News of Great Joy for All the People”: The Logic of Christian Witness ............... 284 III. Conclusion: Speaking the Truth in Love ........................................................................... 318 iv Acknowledgments This dissertation is about constructive criticism, and it has seen its fair share. I am deeply grateful for the scholars and friends who have helped me over the last four years. My committee—Kevin Hector, Dan Arnold, James F. Conant, and Walter Jost—have been supportive and charitable. My brilliant colleagues Liz Brocius, Olivia Bustion, Jason Cather, Julius Crump, Lisa Hedrick, Hannah Jones, Elsa Marty, Adam Miller, Joe Morrison, and Mahala Rethlake read chapters and provided valuable feedback. As the project was starting to take shape, it benefited from questions and suggestions from Bevin Blaber, Scott Ferguson, Zeke Goggin, Maureen Kelly, Evan Kuehn, Jean-Luc Marion, Anil Mundra, Matt Peterson, Foster Pinkney, Bryce Rich, Hannah Roh, Yuliya Tsutserova, Matthew Vanderpoel, R.L. Watson, and Raúl Zegarra. Participants in the Emerging Scholars Workshop at the University of Virginia gave insightful suggestions. Special thanks are due to Deborah Casewell, Brandy Daniels, Janna Hunter-Bowman, Paul Dafydd Jones, Kyle Lambelet, Charles Mathewes, and Hilary Scarsella. I am likewise indebted to the Lumen Christi Institute reading group, namely Lauren Beversluis, Michael Bradley, Charlie Capps, Michael Le Chevalier, Rob Porwoll, Joseph Simmons, and Austin Walker. I cannot list all the conversations that went into this project, but my thanks go out to Ronald Arnett, Malinda Elizabeth Berry, Stanley Hauerwas, Sonam Kachru, Kris Norris, Myles Werntz, Celia Wolff, and Sameer Yadav for taking time to answer my questions. Koert Verhagen kept me from heresy, Matt Elia kept me grounded, and Lauren Greenspan kept me dialectical. Sara-Jo Swiatek kept me focused, Nathan Hardy kept me distracted, and Cherice Barr kept me alive. v A special word of gratitude is owed to David Barr. He has been my constant companion through the dissertating process, reading each chapter before it was ready to see the light of day and helping me turn frustrations into words. Writing is a team sport, and David has been an ideal teammate. The University of Chicago has been a welcoming home and employer for the last seven years. My thanks to Sara Bigger, Ryan Coyne, Josh Feigelson, Samantha Fenno, Americia Huckabee, Anne Knafl, Teresa Hord Owens, Diane Picio, Lucy Pick, Jim Robinson, Richard Rosengarten, Terren Wein, and Bruce Winkelman, to name just a few. I am also thankful for the ongoing support of Chicago Community Mennonite Church, especially the opportunity to preach parts of this dissertation as a sermon series in 2017. Celeste Groff, Paul Myers, and other participants in our book club have helped me think through many of the books cited here. Years ago, Yaakov Ariel and Randall Styers got me into this mess, and I can never thank them enough for it. I am blessed to have a family that has encouraged me at every stage in this long, strange journey. My parents, siblings, and extended family have all been in my corner since day one. Finally, I am thankful for Charissa Johnson, who proofread my footnotes (and was supportive in other ways, too). vi Introduction In this dissertation, I argue for a dialogical approach to criticism and advocacy that includes careful listening and charitable interpretation even to viewpoints one considers profoundly wrong. On this approach, the critic seeks first and foremost to understand the interlocutor’s views on their own terms, to take seriously the possibility that the interlocutor might have insights that are valuable and truthful, and then to point the way—working simultaneously with-and-against-the interlocutor—toward a different way of thinking and acting. This dialogical criticism is an effort to get beyond zero-sum “us versus them” frameworks and into a collaborative problem-solving framework. Arguments for dialogical criticism as a form of communication in social conflict, I contend, do not need to rest on abstract principles but can be based upon the specific goals and commitments of the participants in those conflicts. Many books and articles exhort readers to engage in dialogue. However, there are a variety of objections and misconceptions that prevent people from engaging