Changing Signs of Truth - by Crystal L Downing (Paperback)

About the Book

Crystal Downing brings the postmodern theory of semiotics within reach for today's evangelists. Downing shows you how signs work and how sensitivity to their dynamics can make or break an attempt to communicate truth.

Book Synopsis

Crystal Downing brings the postmodern theory of semiotics within reach for today's evangelists. Following the idea of the sign through Scripture, church history and the academy, Downing shows you how signs work and how sensitivity to their dynamics can make or break an attempt to communicate truth.

Review Quotes

". . . a helpful introduction to a subject that demands serious attention . . ."

". . . a helpful introduction to a subject that demands serious attention . . ."

--Bruce Campbell Moyer, Seminary Studies, Spring 2012

"Changing Signs of Truth is intellectually stunning, with a rich vein of church history, literary exemplars and personal anecdotes illustrating and illuminating key concepts in the study of semiotics. The work introduces readers not only into a world of ideas about signs and communication, but to a real person. It thus practices what it preaches."

"Changing Signs of Truth is intellectually stunning, with a rich vein of church history, literary exemplars and personal anecdotes illustrating and illuminating key concepts in the study of semiotics. The work introduces readers not only into a world of ideas about signs and communication, but to a real person. It thus practices what it preaches."

--Terrance Lindvall, C. S. Lewis Professor of Communication and Christian Thought, Virginia Wesleyan College, Norfolk, Virginia

"Downing's book, Changing Signs of Truth: A Christian Introduction to the Semiotics of Communication, is a lucid, accessible, and often downright enjoyable introduction to this sometimes esoteric field of study. . . . The publication of Changing Signs of Truth is excellent news for professors and students who grapple with how semiotic and postmodern theory fits into robust, orthodox Christian theology; it's also a boon to cultural commentators and laymen who intuit that there's something fundamentally off about the way Christians often discuss culture but can't quite find the language to describe it. . . . Downing has done the academy and the church at large a great service in a highly readable, often winsome argument."

"Downing's book, Changing Signs of Truth: A Christian Introduction to the Semiotics of Communication, is a lucid, accessible, and often downright enjoyable introduction to this sometimes esoteric field of study. . . . The publication of Changing Signs of Truth is excellent news for professors and students who grapple with how semiotic and postmodern theory fits into robust, orthodox Christian theology; it's also a boon to cultural commentators and laymen who intuit that there's something fundamentally off about the way Christians often discuss culture but can't quite find the language to describe it. . . . Downing has done the academy and the church at large a great service in a highly readable, often winsome argument."

--Alissa Wilkinson, Books Culture, January 2013

"If you think that Roman Jakobson, Charles Sanders Peirce, Antonio Gramsci, Mikhail Bakhtin and a host of other esoteric theorists are irrelevant to Christian living in the modern world, Crystal Downing wants you to think again. Her persuasively engaging book explains why semiotics (the science of 'signs') can in fact illuminate Christian faith, Christian approaches to culture and believers' relationships with other believers. Although the material in this book is complex, Downing does a beautiful job conveying her message about the importance of 'signs' and the hopeful possibilities of 're-signing' with winsome simplicity, telling anecdotes and solid Christian wisdom."

"Long story short: This is a helpful book, particularly for those students encountering these topics in their coursework. Through it all, Downing encourages Christians to 'influence the flow of culture by changing their signs of truth, ' but without compromising core doctrines."

"Long story short: This is a helpful book, particularly for those students encountering these topics in their coursework. Through it all, Downing encourages Christians to 'influence the flow of culture by changing their signs of truth, ' but without compromising core doctrines."

--Steve Rabey, YouthWorker Journal, September/October 2012

"Semiotics is not a common concern for most Christians. . . . Yet Downing aims to not only make semiotics accessible for the everyday Christian reader, but pivotal to the '(re) signing of Christian truth' in the postmodern age.' . . . This book can be a valuable tool to those seeking to convey Christian doctrine in a fresh way in the 21st century."

"Semiotics is not a common concern for most Christians. . . . Yet Downing aims to not only make semiotics accessible for the everyday Christian reader, but pivotal to the '(re) signing of Christian truth' in the postmodern age.' . . . This book can be a valuable tool to those seeking to convey Christian doctrine in a fresh way in the 21st century."

--Publishers Weekly, April 2012

"The great contribution of this work is to make some of the most complex and challenging theoretical concepts in communication accessible and even attractive to competent college-level readers within the milieu of struggles over faithfulness in North American evangelical Christian culture."

"This is a splendid book filled with deep Christian wisdom and practical insights for everyday communication. Crystal Downing makes semiotics understandable, interesting and even fun."

"True to her vocation, Downing demonstrates her affinity for linguistic signs and metaphors by coloring her writing with a plethora of puns and double entendre that delightfully intrigue and engage the reader, thereby making a complex scholarly area of study very understandable and enjoyable. It is a significant contribution to our understanding of the signs that govern our Christian lives, how to make them understandable to those embedded in today's culture, and how to live out the command to 'be one' in the midst of our plurality."

"True to her vocation, Downing demonstrates her affinity for linguistic signs and metaphors by coloring her writing with a plethora of puns and double entendre that delightfully intrigue and engage the reader, thereby making a complex scholarly area of study very understandable and enjoyable. It is a significant contribution to our understanding of the signs that govern our Christian lives, how to make them understandable to those embedded in today's culture, and how to live out the command to 'be one' in the midst of our plurality."

--Susan M. Haack, Ethics Medicine, Vol. 30:3, Fall 2014

About the Author

Crystal L. Downing, distinguished professor of English and film studies at Messiah College, has published widely on the relationship between Christianity and culture. She is the author of Writing Performances: The Stages of Dorothy L. Sayers and How Postmodernism Serves (My) Faith.