How do we communicate with people who disagree with us?In today's polarized world, friends and strangers clash with each other over issues large and small. Coworkers have conflicts in the office. Married couples fight over finances. And online commenters demonize one another's political and religious perspectives. Is there any hope for restoring civil discourse?Communications expert Tim Muehlhoff provides a strategy for having difficult conversations, helping us move from contentious debate to constructive dialogue. By acknowledging and entering into the other person's story, we are more likely to understand where they're coming from and to cultivate common ground. Insights from Scripture and communication theory provide practical ways to manage disagreements and resolve conflicts.We can disagree without being disagreeable. And we can even help another see different points of view and learn from one another. Find out how.
Table of Content
Table of Contents
Foreword by Gregg Ten Elshof
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: Understanding Communication
1. Reclaiming the Power of Words
2. What Causes Verbal Dams to Rupture?
3. Managing and Expressing Emotions in the Midst of Disagreement
4. Spiritual Disciplines: Power to Resolve Conflict
Part II: Organizing a Conversation
5. Question One: What Does this Person Believe?
6. Question Two: Why Does This Person Hold This Belief?
7. Question Three: Where do We Agree?
8. The Rule of Reciprocation: Why Steps One Through Three Work
9. Question Four: Based on All I?ve Learned, How Should I Proceed?
Part III: Putting it into Practice
10. Case Study One: Disagreeing about Finances
11. Case Study Two: Disagreeing over Religion in the Workplace
12. Case Study Three: Teens and Excessive use of Video Games
Epilogue
Notes
Name and Subject Index
Scripture Index
About the author
Tim Muehlhoff (Ph D, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is a professor of communication at Biola University in La Mirada, California, where he teaches classes in family communication, interpersonal communication, persuasion, and gender. He is the author of I Beg to Differ and Marriage Forecasting, and the coauthor of The God Conversation: Using Stories and Illustrations to Explain Your Faith and Authentic Communication: Christian Speech Engaging Culture. Muehlhoff and his wife, Noreen, are frequent speakers at Family Life Marriage Conferences, and Tim also serves as a speaker/author with Biola's Center for Marriage and Relationships.
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