Crystal L. Downing
IVP, 2012, 334 pp., $24
Semiotics (the science of signs) may not be a hot topic at your junior high gathering, but most college students will encounter the topic, along with its heady mix of rhetorical theory and practical insights for those who seek to communicate the Christian faith to others.
Downing (author of How Postmodernism Serves My Faith) in Changing Signs of Truth argues, “any analysis of society has to read cultural signs.” Christians often fail to wrestle with signs and their meanings, with unhappy results. “The less we understand how signs work, the more powerfully they can control us.”
Downing takes readers on a guided tour of major theorists of the past century and a half, as well as their theories. Along the way, she covers everything from the complex meanings of tattoos and the unintended signs some Christians send when they battle in the public square.
Long story short: This is a helpful book, particularly for those students encountering these topics in their coursework. Through it all, Downing encourages Christians to “influence the flow of culture by changing their signs of truth,” but without compromising core doctrines.
