Connecting Points (Volume 1)

Orality has gone through definitions and redefinitions. Connecting Points has, perhaps finally, opened up the real essence of orality and broken down the presumed wall between it and literacy. With this book, communication is becoming sweeter, and its process, much more simplified. I am personally excited that this book is out, and I hope everyone who picks it up connects with the authors and begins to communicate like Jesus did.

I don’t usually read a book in one sitting. However, once I started reading Volume 1 of the Connecting Points series, I couldn’t stop reading it! As a fairly recent “convert” to the orality movement, I was fascinated by the book’s contents that focus on story, symbols, rituals, memory, and space—and their role, as the book’s subtitle indicates, in “bridging the orality gap to minds and 💞.” The editors, Charles Madinger and Danyal Qalb, have done a masterful job of presenting the essential elements of orality in such a user-friendly format. The book’s contributors—Steffen, Law, Moon, Dinkins and Mātenga, all experts in their respective areas of orality—make complex concepts easy to grasp. I highly recommend this book for all who are interested in orality and in working with oral and oral-preference peoples and cultures. I look forward to Volumes 2 and 3 with great anticipation!

Connecting Points is a valuable resource as it reminds us of all the things we love about orality. These three volumes creatively blend text, voice, and AI in an engaging narrative around the multifaceted nature of orality. So often, the complex realities of oral communication are oversimplified or overlooked altogether. Connecting Points challenges this oral desensitization by turning our attention to behold afresh the beauty, power, and interconnectivity of key oral communication principles such as story, memory, space, time, or even logic. Drawing from an array of disciplines, the authors provide a robust exploration of each oral trait in its own inherent glory, but then further, they place that theme into the wider oral communication mosaic. Whether an old friend to orality or a new acquaintance, Connecting Points displays orality in full color, stirring an excitement for how oral communication is inherent to what it means to be human.

In 2024, UNESCO surveyed that one billion people worldwide, including adults and children, are unable to read or write, and many more can read and write but struggle to use these skills effectively. This book by Madinger and Qalb addresses today’s Christian missions challenge, offering ways to present the Living Word in understandable and relatable ways.

As we consider the global landscape and future trajectory of theological education, we must continue to elevate orality. An ever-increasing number thrive through oral methods of learning and teaching, and if we are to faithfully serve Christ’s Church in this era, we need works like Connecting Points. I encourage all who are involved in equipping future church leaders to become more aware of the power of orality through the insights and expertise presented by the contributors to this volume.

This volume, and the rest of the series, is a wonderful manifestation of people expressing themselves naturally in ways that make sense in their respective communities. The stories are told by masterful storytellers, relating important truths in narrative that ring true for those they chronicle as well as for literate, academically bound recipients. May a reading of this book and those to follow enable you to experience the truth of orality in the context of your reality and understand, at a visceral level, the value of receiving the “word of the Lord” and God’s presence with you.