logo
Ponte Academic Journal
Aug 2017, Volume 73, Issue 8

THE FORMS OF COMMUNICATION USED BY THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Author(s): Mike Megrove Reddy

J. Ponte - Aug 2017 - Volume 73 - Issue 8
doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2017.8.13



Abstract:
The Disciples of Christ and the Jews failed to understand His mission because theyanticipated the coming of a political leader. Therefore, when Christ died the disciples becamedemoralised and when they heard that his body was missing, they believed that someone had stolen the body. However, it was the day of Pentecost which brought about a boldness within these followers which instantly transformed them. Initially the primitive community had no fixed order or organisation. Those who were converts of the apostles also communicated the gospel. Initially oral communication was used by the laymen movement. Laymen imply that the preachers of the gospel were men. When the movement was being established as anorganisation, written communication played a vital role in the early Christian church.The aim of the study is to test validity of Klopper’s theory of optimisation of humancommunication (TOHC) in comparison to how human forms of communication developed in the early Christian church from the time they saw themselves as a movement to when they became an established religious organisation. This study was constructed within the framework of Klopper’s theory which is on optimisation of human communication. Within a culture people optimise a variety of forms of communication; in so doing they ensure personal survival and as a long-term survival strategy maintain their culture (Klopper, 2002). Theauthor did a qualitative content analysis of the historical trends in the use of Christian communication. This study confirms the validity of Klopper’s TOHC regarding the establishment of the early Christian church. The author shows how the early Christian church used the basic forms of communication while they were in the movement phase and how they widened the forms of communication when they became an organization.
Download full text:
Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution