Jochen Hörisch

To the extent in which postal 'sending,' the successful delivery of messages, dramatically improves since the European eighteenth century, the persuasiveness of the religious sense of mission or 'sending' is fading. This is not surprising. To be reached by a divine call, by a Kerygma, should, indeed must be an exquisite exception of the regularities of everyday life. Many are called but few are chosen (Matthew 22:14). In somewhat enlightened times, the question of the reliability of heavenly sendings cannot be suppressed anymore. Anyone can deny anyone to be the truthful addressee of divine sendings. There are no intersubjectively binding states of transmission between heaven and earth: this higher triviality is predicable and writable since 1750. Complementary to this development, the controllability of terrestrial sendings increases– despite enormous gains in complexity.