Dialogic Confession: Bonhoeffer’s Rhetoric of Responsibility

In this landmark volume of contemporary communication theory, Ronald C. Arnett applies the metaphor of dialogic confession - which enables historical moments to be addressed from a confessed standpoint and through a communicative lens - to the works of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who pointed to an era of postmodern difference with his notion of
a world come of age.
Arnett’s interpretations of Bonhoeffer’s life and scholarship in contention with Nazi dominance offer implications for a dialogic confession that engages the complexity of postmodern narrative contention. Rooted in classical theory, the field of communication ethics is abstract and arguably outmoded. In Dialogic Confession: Bonhoeffer’s Rhetoric of Responsibility, Arnett locates cross-cultural and comparative anchors that not only bring legitimacy and relevance to the field but also develop a conceptual framework that will advance and inspire future scholarship.