THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATION THEORIES: A Critique Paper

Since the inception of communication as a discipline of knowledge, scholars have come up with many theories related to its components. In fact, the encyclopaedia of communication theories (Littlejohn, 2009) has identified more than 300 relevant theories, a testament that the field is already making a big wave in the academic arena. It has been a product of many minds converging into one vision – to enrich the communication field. However, it was not an easy road for these intellectual minds as they are confronted with issues that still need to be resolved. In this paper I will try to present first the rich beginning of communication theories and in light with this development context follows my presentation on the varied problems confronted the field of communication theories as well my personal views on the matter.

Historical Beginning
There are two insights into how communication theory came into being – the religious view and the philosophical aspect. Although most of communication theories book do not include the religious view, I find it necessary to take into account the dogmatic view to present the variations of its origin. The religious view is demonstrated in the Holy Bible especially in Genesis when God communicated with man and man had the ability to communicate with Him and with each other. It is no wonder then that other writers of Bible theorize about communication. Notably, the Old Testament portrays the usage of communication through figures of speech, especially through metaphors. Metaphors were widely used to intimate deeper meaning in speech and writing. This attribute is well observed in the books of Proverbs and Psalms. As such, the pre-Christian era was well founded in communication through language use and mastery. Aside from the religious views of the communication