Comparing Dialogue In Phaedrus And Jesus's Synoptic Gospel

Throughout the chapter, Peter elaborates a theory of dialogue and dissemination as two distinct types of communication. Dialogue consists of a love and soul-to soul conversation between mutually present speakers, whereas dissemination involves the indiscriminate scattering of the messages (46). To illustrate the difference between the two conception of communication, Peter compares the communicative style of Socrates in Plato’s Phaedrus and Jesus’s parable of the sower in the synoptic gospel. Socrates serves as a model of dialogue, while Jesus serves as a model of dissemination. Socrates believed that dialogue is the preferred human state of communication where each individual contributes equally to the conversation in an intimate setting of dialectic and ‘reciprocity and interaction’ (33) are central in the exchange of communication. Peter describes Socrates ideal of communication dialogue, as ‘souls

Dissemination can be compared to an encoding and decoding model where messages sent are open for interpretation; the meaning of the message depends on the receiver’s capacity of understanding (51). With dissemination as a communication model messages are broadcasted indiscriminately (46), and can be heard by anyone (51). Jesus model of dissemination is viewed as an inferior communication method that is inefficient and a wasteful scatter of messages (52). Peter argues however that one-way communication is not necessarily bad, comparing it to reciprocity that can become violent, destructive but also fair (56) (Morris, Jan 16). Jesus views dissemination as unbiased towards generosity and kindness where love, or agape, is extensively available to all and not just a few that are accessible to the message (56). Dissemination is non-reciprocal and has no expectations of