DANIEL MILLER

WRITING

I had a revelation one day in my favorite undergrad communication course. As I dialogued with my professor, it began to become clear to me that one of the characteristics of the Imago Dei - the divine mark on humanity - is symbolic communication. We are the only creatures that give things names, designations that do not necessarily have anything to do with the physical matter for which they represent. Just flip your smart phone over, examine the bumper of your car, or check the tag on your favorite piece of clothing. We're so caught up with brand. Naming is in our DNA - it was the first job that God gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden. And while there are many implications on the idea of how naming affects the named, the point I am making here is that words have the potential to be the clearest line to our heart. It's been this way for many centuries - the next best thing to hearing a person speak was, and still is, to read his or her print.