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Jonathon Neumann

Dr. Ken Chase

COMM 494 Senior Seminar

10 February 2017

My education at Wheaton College continues to equip me to be an effective citizen of the

kingdom of God as I listen to stories, dialogue with people and texts, and mindfully seek truth in

Gods Word. Additionally, I have developed liturgical practices that enable me to be a better

listener, community member, storyteller, theater artist, theologian, communication critic,

employee, colleague, family member, and friend. The four years I have inhabited various spaces

at Arena Theater, Fischer Hall, and off campus in Chicago as well as Champaign, Illinois have

played a significant part in making me who I am. In these years, I have sought truth and

knowledge to live rightly; I have deeply connected with stories, people, and ideologies; and I

have wrestled with unanswerable questions. In addition, in various seasons I have celebrated

myself and others, studied difficult subjects, shifted communities, questioned life, doubted my

faith, fallen in love, made or lost friends and family, and dealt with depression. The intricate

pieces of college life have molded me into a participant in creating positive change through and

in the name of Jesus.

A primary principle that has been reinforced and encouraged throughout my Wheaton

education is that peoples stories matter. Particularly the stories of those who have been ignored

by the dominant culture: the marginalized today and throughout history. To say that one story

matters more than another shows favoritism to some over others and, thus, opposes biblical

instruction to not do so in James 2:1-12. Numerous narratives dominate the world, such as the

prevailing American cultures that enforce change on Native American life or, for another
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example, the demanding academic and societal norms weighing upon those of us with mental

health issues. Before college I begun this work of listening to people, but I was not aware of the

power that this openness would have on shaping how I see the world. I was not aware how both

chatting with the people who are homeless on Friday nights in Wrigleyville nor how interviewing

Wheaton College students who struggle with mental health issues would play a part in

transforming me into the man exiting this stage of college life and entering the unclear stage

following graduation. Because of these accounts presented to me, systemic racist oppression is

no longer an abstract concept it is embodied in the persons I encountered who faced

employment and housing discrimination on a regular basis. Therefore, stories truly do matter.

With peoples stories in hand, a true Christian communicator must seek the common good

his or her society. At the same time, to help communities facing cultural violence, lack of basic

needs, human rights violations, or other forms of injustice, the community must have a voice in

how this change takes place. The basis for social action that takes on injustice must be based on

creative and collaborative communication as a first step. As a developing theater artist, I have

acquired skills through storytelling workshops, directing class, and other theatrical community

engaging pieces such as my investigation of anxiety and depression last year entitled

Melancholia. I hope to use my engaging skills to learn from communities and help them share

their stories with each other as well as outsiders. As artists and rhetoricians, we can take steps to

lead towards peace during conflict. For example, my junior year a committee encouraging

reconciliation between Fergusons police force and black communities visited Wheatons

campus, and they informed us that one of the first steps they took towards reconciliation was

simply listening to the complaints of those in both communities. This plan started through paying

attention to stories and since then steps have been made to enforce just practices in the police
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department as well as correcting falsehoods about either community. This principle of

empathizing with people and their stories emphasizes a dialogical rhetorical theory.

Dialogical rhetorical theory argues that identities are formed through the means of

various medias and people communicating with one another throughout the course of life. A lot

of this theory is explored in Mikhail Bakhtins Marxism and the Philosophy of Language in

which he argues for a rhetoric of meaning found in two-way conversation: meaning is realized

only in the process of active, responsive understanding (Bakhtin 1226B). Bakhtins emphasis on

human dialogue as a way of knowing truth reflects today in post-modern relativism. Considering

this idea of dialogue: sometimes the world monologues into our lives, sometimes we monologue

to the world; however, the right way to live in this framework is in dialogue with the world and

people around us. And I agree with this belief.

At the same time, writing about this dialogue leads into another major principle of mine:

responsible rhetoricians must be aware of the messages that pour into our lives: the music, the

films, the novels, the news sources, the advertisements, and the people that we interact with

because they might indoctrinate us with deceitful ideologies contrary to the Christian faith. I am

not a relativist, but I am a strongly present person and, I admit, one of my faults is forgetting

what I believe when I adapt to a culture I am immersed in. With such a dangerous way of living,

an individual might become an unreliable source of any knowledge as he transforms into a

person simply spouting opinions within an isolated echo-chamber of those with similar beliefs as

I may have done as a Wheaton in Chicago student. So, a good student must be willing to hold

two opposing ideas in tension even if she believes one over the other. In addition, we must

constantly check our cultural lenses. Everyone has filters that we see the world through, and a

practice I enact when I participate in storytelling is being aware of the filters I carry with me. As
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an actor, director, collaborator, or audience member I need to be aware of these or I might

incorrectly interpret a story different from my own. This is one of the practices I will continue to

develop as I make my way towards graduation.

As obedient Christians, we also must be aware of the practices and liturgies, to borrow

the language of James K. A. Smith, that mold our lives. Smith writes about these life-forming

practices or, as he puts it, vocational liturgies in his book You are What You Love. He argues

that we ought to be intentional about habit-shaping practicesthat can sustain this [love of

God] throughout the week such as Sunday worship or prayer in the morning and evening (Smith

187-188). For example, my recent practice of re-centering myself on God four times each hour

helps me focus on God rather than myself or my schoolwork. We follow our hearts and, as I

wrote previously, what we practice listening to and dialoguing with informs our worship. We

must listen to God to be able to dialogue with the world around us. A human being is a being that

follows her heart.

We are not simply thinking beings, we are embodied, spiritual, feeling beings, and it is

wrong to believe that seeking a Christian mind excuses liturgical embodied practices. Our

embodiment matters especially in an age when academic evangelicals emphasize the importance

of this mind while neglecting mental and physical health. Academia is, inherently, a very head-

heavy subculture, and, as someone with a learning disability, constantly rationalizing and

analyzing is difficult. In the theater department, Mark Lewis emphasizes the importance of

communally working out emotional and spiritual problems through movement and breathing

exercises, and, on the other end of the theater, Michael Stauffer declares the need to critically

examine texts with our minds. Both mind and heart are important as a communicator; I know

how to examine texts because of the various communication, philosophical, and theological
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criticisms I have studied. For example, I might use pentadic criticism to examine a play to

understand the implications that a playwright and theater company have beyond just my

immersive experience as an audience member. Pentadic criticism, a theory developed by

Kenneth Burke, involves using: act, agent, agency, scene, and purpose to evaluate stories and

other forms of communication (Foss 356). With this tool of dramatic criticism, one can avoid

manipulation and, in addition, persuade people through narrative. Therefore, practices of the

mind and heart are necessary to foster students into healthy communicators.

Critical thinking and emotional intelligence matter. I support much of Harry Blamiress

thoughts in his book The Christian Mind because he argues that a Christian life is about: a

persistent and cheerful effort to make all lifes activities and relationships a fit offering to God

(Blamires 89). Yet I am cautious about Blamiress belief that all Christians ought to be primarily

thinkers because this overthrows other aspects of Gods interaction with us as emotional beings.

On the other hand, I agree with his advocacy for critical thinking and liturgical obedience

through faith, an interaction available through faithful study to Gods Word.

As a Christian in the liberal arts, I ought to know how to properly examine Scripture to

correctly apply it to both my life and, if I am a ministry leader, the lives of those in my

community. Too often the only lens used in theological studies is one of reader response

criticism: how does it apply to my life? If one has the privilege to study theology, he ought to

understand the cultural context, literary types, and grammar of the Scriptures in his studies. One

does this by studying not simply translations and interpretations of Scripture she agrees with but

utilizing a variety of sources as well. For example, when I performed exegetical work on John 1,

I had to examine various commentaries approaches on how to properly investigate the Greek

noun into English because the translation Word the term used in most if not all
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English translations loses a good amount of cultural background rooted Greek philosophy and

theology. Thus, contextual and historical analysis are important if a student were to understand

what John the son of Zebedee sought to communicate through his divinely inspired text. The

Spirit illumines the Word of God to all believers, but without listening to scholars, exegetes, and

saints with deeper and vaster perspectives, a Christian reads with cultural blinders and thus may

miss important teachings that help her connect with God.

In conclusion, a liberal arts college graduate ought to be aware of the habits she enforces

as well as the ideologies she believes. His experience in the educational world informs who he is

and where he is going. The work of a college graduate is not to get a well-paying job; that is an

American-dream supported belief that misses the mark on the point of education. The point is to

understand oneself more deeply so one can make a positive impact, whether large or small,

where she is. Though education costs a lot of money, I, most likely, will turn down a well-paying

offer from an apartment company with questionable motives and integrity because I do not wish

to communicate deceitfully. What educated Christians must do is hold our dreams lightly, enact

on what we know to be true, and care for the people around us. Despite what many Christians

may say: dreams do matter, a big dream of mine is to be an actor, something I will pursue even if

it is not my full time profession; however, it is not what matters most to me and that is why I

hold it lightly. This outlook of selflessness also matters if one is a therapist or a pastor: a therapist

must know how to properly interact with people to help them progress in health and a pastor

must have the confidence as well as humility that he can be reliable teacher of the Bible. If part

of my vocation involved therapy, which I think it may, I have studied how to help people

articulate their stories as well as how to deal with the overwhelming monological world

surrounding them, and, if I were a minister, I have a foundational understanding of how to preach
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the Word of God with boldness. Finally, as I have dialogued these past four years, I have used

my mind and heart to bring stories to life, and I hope to, for all the days of my life, present the

Gospel to people through faithful and humble storytelling.

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Works Cited

Bakhtin, Mikhail. Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. Ed. Patricia Bizzell and Bruce

Herzberg. The Rhetorical Tradition: Readings from Classical Times to the Present. Second ed.

Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, 2001. 1210-226. Print.

Blamires, Harry. The Christian Mind: How Should a Christian Think? Vancouver, BC: Regent College,

2005. Print

Foss, Sonja K. "Pentadic Criticism." Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration & Practice. Fourth ed. Long

Grove, IL: Waveland, 2009. 355-65. Print.

Smith, James K. A. You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, a

Division of Baker Group, 2016. Print.