ACTA SZEKSZARDIENSIUM - Pécsi Tudományegyetem Illyés Gyula ...

eligious and sacral communities in pécs
civil society and undertaking various social tasks. 9
Traditionally, it is the sociology of religion10 that provides a framework for
analyzing the role of religion and churches in the society. However, altered
social conditions demand the researcher to develop a different attitude and new
frameworks for the research. In the past few years the frameworks for studying
various relationships between religion and communication, and church and social
communication have been developed in national communication research. This may
be interpreted as an attempt at thematization (c.f. Korpics-P. Szilczl 2007, 11), as a
result of the publications and completed studies in the field11 it may be concluded
that the theme is present in the domestic communication research; and other
disciplines also pay attention to the results (c.f. Bognár 2008; Farkas 2009; Lovász
2008; Máté-Tóth 2010; Szabó 2010). The social representation of the church is formed
on the basis of three different communicative manifestations: internal, external and
upper directions. The internal direction equals to institutional communication,
the external direction is present in the communication with the society, and the
upper direction is related to the transcendent quality (c.f. Aczél 2010, 286). The
three directions correspond to the three spheres12 where church communication is
manifested in social communication (c.f. Horányi- Szilczl 2001 83; Korpics 2011).
Beyond communicative manifestations, the church is traditionally studied according
to three different approaches: the church as a social institution, the church as a
community and a group of religious people, and the church as a specific ideological
system (Lukács 1997, 107). The first approach emphasizes the complexity of
church communication; whereas the latest perspective focuses on the specific and
complex features of the church. If we examine the three scenes from the point of
participation in publicity, it can be concluded that communicative acts taking place
in the second and third scenes are hardly represented and do not have a significant
impact on processes of external (societal) publicity, although church communication in
the external publicity is largely determined by the communication in the internal and
9 Religious organizations and associations are classified as civil organizations. (An-Na’im 2004;
Anheimer-Themudo 2004, 274).
10 The entirety of Miklos Tomka’s works, some of Peter Török’s writings and articles by Endre J. Nagy, Özséb
Horányi, Pál Tamás, Károly Varga, János Wildmann. The relationship between religion and health is
analyzed by Bettina Pikó and Mária Kopp.
11 The problem of church-society-communication is regularly discussed at the yearly congress of
Pax Romana Christian Professional Forum. The Division of Sacral Communication within the
Communication Studies Society also works in this area as a number of conferences, workshops and
doctoral dissertations may demonstrate. (Andok 2010; Bokor 2010; Korpics 2008; 2010; 2011; P. Szilczl
2009; 2010; Szentiványi 2008)
12 In the participation theory of communication the concept of scene is not related to physical space but is a
complex term in which elements as space, time and ability (knowledge) are involved. All these elements
contribute to the realization of the communication event. The scene is a context for the communicative
acts. Communication scenes are structured aggregates of agents and abilities where certain institutions
(codes) are valid but others are excluded. The structure of the scene is determined by the agents and by
the accessible abilities.” (Bátori-Hamp-Horányi 2007)
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