Our 'seismically broken' world cries out for healing and hope. Margaret M. Mullan gifts us with a vision for a new way of interacting in this 21st-century, communication-saturated world: through communion. Those who care about social justice, poverty, education, democracy, race relations, or gender disparities should read this jewel of a book, which brings existentialism to bear on the contemporary moral issues of the day...and gives a glimpse of a hopeful future.
— Jill Graper Hernandez, Central Washington University
Margaret Mullan offers a lucid and creative assessment and application of Gabriel Marcel's philosophy, with its all-important existential analysis of "the broken world" as a category of human experience. This book is a valuable addition to the growing scholarly literature in communication ethics.
— Michael J. Hyde, Wake Forest University
Margaret Mullan walks with the reader in our brokenness, in our canyons of divide. She brings Gabriel Marcel into our experience, reminding us of the embodied importance of the communion of co-presence. This book is a must-read for those who recognize that this historical moment calls forth our communal engagement with one another, transforming our communicative disappointments into the possibility of joy and relational meaning.
— Ronald C. Arnett, Duquesne University
This is as it should be: in a dialogic encounter with a profound thinker of the past, our present ways of being in a broken world are opened to the chance of being made better. Seeking Communication as Healing Dialogue allows us to see how–in our wayfaring together–we might disclose the sacred, which although ever-attending, has been covered over by our too-poor manner of being with one another. Mullan gives us an interpretation of Marcel’s philosophy, the virtue of which is helping orient our communicative practices toward healing self and other in our technological age.
— Ramsey Eric Ramsey, Author of “Leaving Us to Wonder: An Essay on the Questions Science Can’t Ask,” Arizona State University
Margaret Mullan brilliantly mines Gabriel Marcel’s existential reflections on communication and then builds them into a lucid and inspiring theory of dialogue. Prompted by the many barriers to communication rife in our technologically framed world that undermine our ability to address others in who they are, she develops strategies to awaken us to forms of healing intersubjective dialogue. Her careful research thus reveals profoundly the rich contribution of Marcel’s thought for an incisive contemporary philosophy of communication.
— James Swindal, Duquesne University