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God favors radio

KilowattKat

KilowattKat

As Vatican Radio celebrates 95 years of broadcasting, this article points out something I hadn't thought of before. That the spoken word is the most powerful way to get God's message across, above written and visual.

Is this why radio is an extremely popular medium for religious programming?

www.vaticannews.va

'God favors radio' - Vatican News

The Director of L'Osservatore Romano, Andrea Monda, reflects on the 95th birthday of Vatican Radio as a key tool of Vatican communications, saying, ...
www.vaticannews.va www.vaticannews.va
 
From what I've read it wasn't so much a disapproval of reading in general it was what they were reading, specifically translations of the Bible into any non-Latin vernacular. Those were explicitly forbidden by the church in the middle ages. There was also the Index Librorum Prohibitorum that declared many scientific books to be off limits so the part about not wanting people to read things that contradict the teachings of the church is accurate.
 
Another fact to remember is that the written word such as book publishing was not really a thing before the printing press was invented in the mid 1400's. Pretty much only the Catholic Church had copies of the biblical texts. After the protestant reformation, William Tyndale, Martin Luther and others wrote copies of the Bible in the language of their people because now books had a way to reach them outside of the Churches. Same thing with radio today. While many do, a lot of Christians or Catholics listen to either music or preaching on radio but never attend a Church.
 
almaniac27 said:
From what I've read it wasn't so much a disapproval of reading in general it was what they were reading, specifically translations of the Bible into any non-Latin vernacular. Those were explicitly forbidden by the church in the middle ages. There was also the Index Librorum Prohibitorum that declared many scientific books to be off limits so the part about not wanting people to read things that contradict the teachings of the church is accurate.
Click to expand...
The Index Librorum Prohibitorium gets a shout out in the anime series "A Certain Magical Index". The Index itself is the main character.
 
b-turner said:
Kevtronics, can you offer any historical evidence of this? I think you're just making up stuff.
Click to expand...
Until the 1940s, Catholics were discouraged from reading the Bible, and until the 1960s, Catholic Mass was conducted only in Latin, so most people couldn't understand it.
www.usccb.org

Changes in Catholic Attitudes Toward Bible Readings

By Msgr. Daniel Kutys Average Catholics asked today how often they read the Bible likely would say that they do not read the Bible regularly. However, if a...
www.usccb.org www.usccb.org
 
b-turner said:
Kevtronics, can you offer any historical evidence of this? I think you're just making up stuff.
Click to expand...

I think the subsequent posts, when combined, make it entirely plausible that the religious leaders preferred being "the voice of God" and very likely were dismayed when printed matter started to become more accessible to the masses.

While I doubt any of them came right out and said it, I think it was more likely than you are guessing.
 
Back when I was in Bible College (actually paying more attention to my being payed to play, rather than my studies), I was talking with one of my radio mentors via phone and he brought up an interesting viewpoint, which I haven't thought of in years, 'til reading this thread. He said, the church broadcast, was the first infomercial. He further elaborated, most preachers are more interested in folk hearing their choir, etc, than hearing the message. Unfortunately, he's right in a lot of cases, especially when you take into consideration the time ratio, singing and announcements, verses preaching.
 


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