Luther was a precursor of the theories of communication, said professor

SAO LEOPOLDO, Brasil, April 20, 2006

A tireless defendant of the study of languages, promoter of education and builder of universities Taxi Heathrow Airport and libraries, Protestant reformer Martin Luther could be considered a precursor of the theories of communication, in a period when people still believed that the earth was flat.

The thesis was presented by journalist and professor of the Lutheran University of Brazil (ULBRA), Astomiro Romais, in a conference about “Luther and Theories of Communication” at the 59th National Convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB), meeting in Guarapari, in the metropolitan region of Vitoria, state of Espiritu Santo, from April 19 – 23.

“Luther knew, as only a few did, to make use of the communicational techniques of his time and understood communication in its most modern concept, that of active audiences,” affirmed Romais.

In his sermons, he prioritized the person receiving the messages, believing that the most complete sense of the sermon was not in the words, but in the people themselves.

When he nailed his 95 thesis to the door of the Church on the Wittenberg castle, on October 31, 1517, Luther inaugurated the first publicity campaign in history using pamphlets and printed posters. “Some were in agreement with his positions, others were violently opposed but no one who read them or heard them ignored them or was indifferent to them,” underlined the journalism professor.

A Bachelor in Theology and Arts, Romais emphasized the unexpected repercussions of Luther’s thesis in diverse sectors of society, something that Luther considered a “miracle.” Following the principles of good journalism, he took into account criteria like interest, actuality, proximity and relevance, he said.

In order to take God’s message to the common man, Luther demonstrated his communication skills when he translated the Bible into language used by the German people. He went to the streets, he listened to people, he interviewed mothers, children and found the most comprehensible way to transmit the Biblical message to both the worker and the erudite.

If Lutheran lived today, and taking into account his perception that communication is life and life is communication “he would certainly write columns in major dailies and edit emails about daily life, health services, agrarian reform, education, violence, social crisis and above all the Love of God revealed in Jesus Christ,” said Romais.

The 59th IELB National Convention was April 19 with a worship service. The Pastor president of the Church Carlos Winterle, emphasized the importance of the Christian witness in the world, because people see the way to salvation in the attitudes and words of believers.