Understanding Intercultural Communication by Ting-Toomey and Leeva Essay (Book Review)

Introduction

Intercultural communication is the basis for a productive dialogue between various races and cultures. People who profess different religions also benefit from the approaches used to create such a dialogue, since true faith is always based on affirmation and love, and not on denial or condemnation. Christianity in the North American and European tradition has a hard-hitting history of Christian colonialism, when the faith was imposed on the inhabitants of the territories of the occupied countries, with the belittling of the significance of local faith, culture, and traditions. This paper aims to discuss how intercultural communication can be applied to the Christian ministry practice.

Critical Review of the Book

The book Understanding Intercultural Communication by Ting-Toomey and Leeva is a comprehensive guide for practitioners of intercultural communication. Chapter 12 is especially interesting, as here the author reveals the intricacies of intercultural communication based on ethical principles. The professionals who require training in intercultural communication may include teachers, preachers, business people who operate globally. For ministers, understanding the types of ethical systems is especially important.

At the beginning of the chapter, the authors define ethics and give examples of ambiguous ethical situations in terms of local justice issues compared to global standard procedures. Then, the examples of clashes between corporate social responsibility and local customary practices are discussed.¹ Finally, the three basic ethical positions are explained in detail – ethical absolutism, ethical relativism, and ethical universalism.² The meta-ethics is then derived, which is more than the intersection of three types of moral positions.³ It is rather the practical, balanced and comprehensive approach to the ethical assessment of situations, based on compassion and ingenuity in overcoming harmful and outdated cultural traditions and practices.

The most interesting element of meta-ethical decision-making is the ability of parallel thinking, which utilizes the tool of replacing more distant and impersonal relationships with closer ones. For example, when an intercultural professional becomes aware of some unethical but culturally acceptable local practice, they should imagine as if the practice was performed by their loved ones, brothers, or sisters.⁴ This approach makes it possible to feel more immediate emotional reactions and returns a person to an absolutist position concerning the equality of all human beings. Noteworthy, this approach has the spirit of dynamic flexibility, and could be the highest manifestation of active compassion in intercultural relations.

Pindi and De La Graza start a timely discussion about how Jesus, by definition, is seen by Europeans as a white person, which demonstrates and reaffirms racial superiority and inequality. Many scholars denounce this approach and view it as a colonial legacy and the basis for acts of micro-aggression. Scholars also emphasize the role of the body of Christ in Christian discourse, since the color of this body can unconsciously and automatically divide groups of believers.

Interestingly, Pindi and De La Graza consider the connection between the physical and spiritual aspects of preaching in this context.⁵ Scholars are calling to end the use of the white Christ as strategic rhetoric. They study the genealogy of the ‘colonial Jesus’ and call on Christians to reconsider historical practices when the Aztec, Mayan, Inca, and African cultures were viewed by Europeans as exclusively barbaric, and only Christians were credited with moral values.⁶ The arguments in the article and the book can in many ways be applied to the ministry practice.

For instance, there is a common tradition among African Americans to have the icon of the black Christ in their homes. This tradition was started by Martin Luther King Jr. and is valued by all African-American believers. There is no specific reference in the Bible to the color of Christ’s skin, although, as a Jew, he was probably white. One should understand that the black Christ is a symbol, not a claim, and 99% of believers who use this symbol perceive it as a sign of respect for their culture and race.

Mihaila discusses the importance of euphemisms in intercultural communication, presenting a lexical analysis of the concept of euphemism and explaining the purposes and examples of the use of such words. For example, euphemisms are used to avoid micro-aggressions within the framework of gender or class inequality. The author notes that the euphemism is translated from ancient Greek as ‘sounding good,’ where ‘eu’ means ‘well’ and ‘pheme’ means ‘speech’.⁷

Interestingly, this word has a common root with words euphoria, euthanasia, prophet, and aphasia, which reminds readers of the long connection and interpenetration of Latin and ancient Greek culture in European and North American cultures. The author also examines the concept of political correctness in a humorous way, noting that no matter how ‘poor’ people are called – poor, needy, deprived, underprivileged, or disadvantaged, this rhetoric does not change the actual state of affairs.⁸ This article can be applied to ministry practice as a reminder of the importance of polite communication and, at the same time, the obvious insufficiency of speeches to save and improve the world.

Barreto discusses intercultural communication in the context of the Brazilian religious landscape. The author notes the importance of intercultural literacy for acquiring general religious literacy. Interestingly, Barreto also recalls the “prison of coloniality” release from which is associated with the correct application of intercultural communication.⁹ He also recalls the history of “religious suppression and resilience among African and indigenous religions in Brazil,” emphasizing the importance of the recently launched “intercultural dialogue between Catholic bishops and the peoples of the Amazon.”¹⁰ Within the scope of the ministry practice, the author introduces the notion of epistemic humility, which is related to the revision of the colonial perspective. Therefore, spiritually enriching Christian ministry is possible only from the standpoint of epistemic humility and respect for all beliefs, Gods, cultures, and races.

Lawless and Chen examined pedagogical approaches to intercultural education in the United States. The authors condemn the tendency for teachers to resist the strengthening of intercultural positions in education.¹¹ The article is well applicable to intercultural ministry practice since sermons have a lot in common with lessons. Therefore, both teachers and preachers can use the ethical approaches, such as the concepts of dynamic flexibility and parallel thinking, to strengthen the intercultural field.

Wasilewski discussed how the hate speech has recently spread within modern society. According to the author, inciting hatred has exacerbated the relevance of intercultural dialogue.¹² It is noteworthy that high-quality cultural dialogue is the goal and product of the activities of ministers, who, therefore, should study the peculiarities of hate speech emergence, its causes, and consequences. Interestingly, hate speech often touches on issues of religion, probably using a ‘divide and conquer’ approach. Therefore, ministers must resist these destructive cross-cultural trends, creating a basis for mutual understanding between people of different races, cultures, ethnic groups, and religions.

Conclusion

Thus, the ways of introducing intercultural communication to the Christian ministry practices were discussed. The chapter regarding intercultural communication was analyzed to improve the understanding of ethical approaches to ministry. Then, this knowledge was applied to analyze the contemporary articles about the problems in intercultural communication. To summarize, the ministers should respect different races and cultures, which require deeper knowledge of their ways of finding the faith.

Bibliography

Barreto, Raimundo C. “Religious Literacy, Racial Literacy, and Latin America’s Overdue Reckoning with Deep Diversity.” In The Routledge Handbook of Religious Literacy, Pluralism, and Global Engagement, pp. 371-384. Routledge, 2021.

Lawless, Brandi, and Yea-Wen Chen. “Still a “Sensitive” Subject? Unpacking Strengths and Struggles of Intercultural Communication Pedagogies.” Howard Journal of Communications 31, no. 2 (2020): 171-186.

Mihaila, Ramona. “Intercultural Communication Language: Euphemisms, Racism, Sexism, and Political Correctness.” “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, (2019): 82-90.

Pindi, Gloria Nziba, and Antonio Tomas De La Garza. “The Colonial Jesus”: Deconstructing White Christianity.” In Interrogating the Communicative Power of Whiteness, pp. 218-238. Routledge, 2018.

Ting-Toomey, Stella, and Leeva C. Chung. Understanding Intercultural Communication. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Wasilewski, Krzysztof. “Hate Speech and Identity Politics. An Intercultural Communication Perspective.” Przegląd Europejski 3, (2019): 175-187.

Footnotes

• 1 Stella Ting-Toomey, and Leeva C. Chung. Understanding Intercultural Communication. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 254.
• 2 Ting-Toomey, and Chung. “Understanding Intercultural Communication,” 257.
• 3 Ting-Toomey, and Chung, 259.
• 4 Ibid, 262.
• 5 Gloria Nziba Pindi, and Antonio Tomas De La Garza. “The Colonial Jesus”: Deconstructing White Christianity.” In Interrogating the Communicative Power of Whiteness. Routledge, 2018, 218.
• 6 Pindi, and De La Graza, “The Colonial Jesus,” 224.
• 7 Ramona Mihaila. “Intercultural Communication Language: Euphemisms, Racism, Sexism, and Political Correctness.” “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, (2019), 85.
• 8 Mihaila, “Intercultural Communication Language,” 84.
• 9 Raimundo C. Barreto. “Religious Literacy, Racial Literacy, and Latin America’s Overdue Reckoning with Deep Diversity.” In The Routledge Handbook of Religious Literacy, Pluralism, and Global Engagement, Routledge, 2021, 371.
• 10 Barreto, “Religious Literacy, Racial Literacy, and Latin America’s Overdue,” 372.
• 11 Brandi Lawless, and Yea-Wen Chen. “Still a “Sensitive” Subject? Unpacking Strengths and Struggles of Intercultural Communication Pedagogies.” Howard Journal of Communications 31, no. 2 (2020), 171.
• 12 Krzysztof Wasilewski. “Hate Speech and Identity Politics. An Intercultural Communication Perspective.” Przegląd Europejski 3, (2019), 175.