Customer Reviews

The Vanishing Word: The Veneration of Visual Imagery in the Postmodern World (Focal Point)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Drawing on the work of some of our best social critics (particularly Neil Postman), Mr. Hunt indicts American culture for returning to pagan idolatry--the idolatry of the ever-present visual image. This is closely connected to the cult of celebrity (people "well known for being well known" (Boorstin) not for any discernible achievement) and its accompanying spectacles.

Hunt appropriates some of the insights of C. Paglia that America has returned to a pagan worldview, especially in popular media. As a Christian, however, he refuses to celebrate this, but instead registers a jeremiad--and a very well informed and prophetic one at that. We must return to the Word as our primary way of acquiring and treasuring knowledge. The image, while important in some dimensions, is the easy tool of propaganda and manipulation; it often deceptive, and lacks the conceptual resources available to typography. "In the beginning was the Word," declares the Gospel of John, not "the image."

This book expands on recent articles published in "The Christian Research Journal" and provides a short history of western culture from the vantage point of communications theory (in which the author is trained).

I give the book four stars, not five, only because there is, to my knowledge, very little original material. It is largely derivative; however, Americans seldom fathom the significance of the sources upon which Hunt draws. We should thank him for making them available in this crisp and telling critique.

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D., Denver Seminary

Arthur Hunt's "The Vanishing Word" is a helpful and insightful salvo in the battle to preserve the written word in an age enamored with images. Hunt is currently a professor of speech and communications at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Although he teaches speech and communications, his real expertise is in the fledgling discipline of Media Ecology. Media Ecology was a field pioneered by men like Neil Postman and Marshall McLuhan. "The Vanishing Word" is essentially a work of Media Ecology and in it Hunt examines our cultural environment and finds it polluted with pagan image idolatry.
Hunt's work is particularly helpful because it begins with an historical analysis of the rise of the written word. Hunt condenses the important events of Western history into readable and accessible chapters. He presents this historical information in a lively fashion by including helpful illustrations and examples. Hunt's Christian presuppositions are certainly not hidden in this book. His history of the word begins with God and Moses and not with Aristotle or Gutenburg.
Following the linear unfolding of history, Hunt notes that a major shift occurred in our culture with the rise of electronic mass media. He contends that this "new" development is bringing our culture back to "old" ideas, particularly pagan idolatry. He writes:
"The old system just keeps coming back. Not that long after the Flood's waters had receded, Nimrod stretched forth his hands to receive the astrological charts from atop Babel's tower. The sands of Egypt were still between the toes of Moses when he proceeded down the mountain of thunderings and lightnings, tablets in hand, only to find the Hebrews dancing around a golden calf. The people of God multiplied under the Roman knife, but then the pantheon strangely reappeared over the church altar. The fire of the Reformation pushed the gods back until the icon-making machines of the twentieth century ushered them back again in living color (155-156)."
Hunt's book also provides a helpful analysis of the shift from modernism to post-modernism. He also makes some penetrating comments about the impact of the image culture on the church, particularly in the area of worship.
I highly recommend this book to pastors, Christian educators and anyone interested in understanding and stemming the tide of the image culture.

This book was a fasinating history and exposition of how the image has led to the decline of civilization. Today's almost total reliance on visual communication may be a dark age greater that the olden dark ages. If you don't believe this last statement, you have not read this book or are blinded by images. This book should convince you to read more and cherish black and white print over the alluring visual medium. The trinity of violence, sex and celebrity accompanys the image. The dangers of technology and media in historical perspective awaits you in this book. Neil Postman would second the motions in this book. I'd like to see a college class on the topic.

The author sees the current cultural tendency to exalt visual imagery at the expense of language as a direct assault on Christianity. He warns Christians that the church is being cut off from its word-based heritage, to its great detriment. Superb socio-cultural analysis by a keen-minded Christian scholar, along with a much-needed affirmation that "the Word is everything." Although Professor Hunt builds upon the previous studies of Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, Camille Paglia, and others, his radically different spiritual perspective as a conservative evangelical makes this a highly original work with many entirely fresh insights. Required reading for all thoughtful Christians who would equip themselves better for the "spirit wars" of our time and halt the church's slippage into a mindless paganism.

I'm not a professor or a philosopher. I'm a wife and a mom. This book had a positive impact on my life because the author was courageous enough to tell us the truth...the truth about our culture and the dangers of a subtle overdose of celebrity worship, visual images, and watered-down worship. Thankfully, the book was written with concern rather than harsh judgment. The concepts in this book will be with us for a long time. Hopefully, we'll be able to successfully pass them on to our children.

As a fan of Gene Veith, Neil Postman and Allan Bloom, I noted this book as inspired by the dialogue between Postman and Camille Paglia. It is an excellent book and well worth the read but following the natural urge to find something to disagree with while we walk the same road in the same direction, I would like to engage a few issues that I find especially intriguing even though they are small potatoes in the whole stew.
When AWH critiques or contrasts the Egyptians with the Hebrews by referring to the Egyptians as image based and the Hebrews based, we certainly should agree, but the images of the Egyptians were their alphabet at least at some point. Hieroglyphs apparently came to represent sounds (didn't they?). The feather in a sense becomes a letter? The shift to a phonetic aleph bet was certainly significant but they are still images - images of the letters. Perhaps images of the shape of the mouth (at least symbolically) while making the sounds - think of Greek Theta or just the letter "o". So the contrast between the Egyptians and the Hebrews is certainly there but how sharp a contrast should we think it is? I wonder.... In any case, AWH even remarks that the "Egyptians thought Toth invented writing" (p. 37) so this is certainly a matter of degree. We might also wonder why "advanced civilizations cannot exist without writing" (as AWH quotes Gelb) if this might be because they need a recording system. Would video do? (I imagine reading a book presented as a DVD, for example.) Is video text as the postmodernists might say? In which case, the vanishing word is not vanished at all but more powerful than ever in digital form.

An interesting contrast to this book is Steven Johnson's "Everything Bad is Good for You."

There are very few books I have read that have impressed me like this book. The author writes a clear and interesting history of the necessity of the commanded obedience of faith in what God has said (without a "seen" image or experience) versus the lies of the this world requiring a "seen" image. From the beginning in the Garden of Eden to Egypt to the propaganda used by Germany in the World Wars to the present "idols" used by the Church today (and I don't mean statues, I mean shallow music and "performance-driven" services)to where we are being lead to in the last days.

This book will humble you and inspire you. This is a book for "everyone" to read! It is well-written and an enjoyable read. It is NOT one of the boring intellectual books that you grow tired because you cannot understand it- it will hold you until the end.

I have been so inspired by this book, I have purchased 15 copies over the years to just give to people to read- it is that important for the Christian Church in this present age.