New and Upcoming Books on Technology, Media, and Faith
In: Books and Texts
- Words: 652
- Sentences: 22
- Grade level: 14.0-17.2
- Read time: ~3.3 min @ 200WPM
For the past few years, there has been growing interest in thinking about technology and media through a Christian lens. From the churches who are hiring an increasing number of technically-oriented staff to the parents who sits across a digital divide form his child to the business people making technology decisions that will impact customers, employees, and the environment, we all need help thinking well about technology.
Below are some recent and upcoming books on technology that I thought would be helpful to point out. I have not yet read the recent works, but I have read a few of the manuscripts of the forthcoming books. (Note: many are affiliate links to Amazon)
Recent Works
Reboot: Refreshing Your Faith in a High-tech World (Peggy Kendall) – I’ll be posting a review of this book next month, but I thought I’d mention it ahead of time for those that want to check it out.- Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain (William M. Struthers) – Pornography itself is an important subject, but most Christian works focus on the moral aspects rather than the technological itself. Struthers is a neurologist and a believer, and I hope his work is beneficial for the church in helping to understand that the damage pornography does is serious. (See Rhett Smith for more on pornography and adolescents).
Forthcoming Books
Presentation: Technology in the Kingdom, Society, and Your Life
- Words: 151
- Sentences: 6
- Grade level: 13.4-16.7
- Read time: ~0.8 min @ 200WPM
Two weeks ago, I gave a breakout session for the Electronic Gospel conference put on by Dallas Theological Seminary and headlined by Shane Hipps.
You can order the audio of the keynotes and breakout sessions (including Scott McClellan of Collide magazine and Bill Buchanan from Irving Bible Church) from the Center for Christian Leadership resource center, but I’m posting my slides here since I haven’t posted a talk in a while.
Here’s what’s in it:
- 00:00-07:41 – Introduction of me and the topic
- 07:42-22:38 – Technology in the Biblical Story (with a 5 minute audience discussion)
- 22:39-36:50 – Technology in Society, theory from Postman, McLuhan, Ellul, etc.
- 36:51-53:21 – Technology in Your Life
Responding to Constant Images of Mass Suffering: Haiti, Technology, and Repentance
In: Our Technological World| Spiritual Formation
- Words: 772
- Sentences: 34
- Grade level: 11.1-13.8
- Read time: ~3.9 min @ 200WPM
Haiti and Suffering
Since the horrible earthquake in Haiti, it has been encouraging to see the incredible outpouring of support and mobilization using all available resources and technology. The devastation there is so terrible it is impossible to fathom, and it confirms the faith of Haitian Christians as nothing less than miraculous.
These events also bring up one of the difficulties we face in the media age – our inability as humans to deal with suffering on a worldwide scale. It is hard enough to face the horror of our loved ones dying, but no human can withstand multiplying that emotion 250,000 times.
Media ecologists talk about the difficulty this way. In an oral culture, people form a tightly knit community physically and emotional connected to every event that happens within their tribe. In a print culture, individuals are disconnected by the medium of print which allows us to gain knowledge of suffering while alone decoding the characters on a page. Today, in a visual/digital culture, we are re-connected to those around us via the speed of Internet and we are re-engaged emotionally through the power of images. Yet we are also disconnected because the suffering we see is of those unknown to us and with whom we are not physically present. (for another take, see Tim Challies)
The natural response to being bombarded emotionally (through images) and continuously (through electronic speed) with the totality of human suffering is to simply become numb to it. Certainly, many of us give our money, time, and prayers to help those who are in pain, but without being there we cannot fully engage. I can read about what friends like Rhett Smith, Lars Rood, Tim Schmoyer, and others feel on the ground, but I cannot absorb their experience through web pages and YouTube videos. I admire their courage and resolve, but I feel helpless at the same time.
Haiti and Repentance
Thankfully, I believe there is another response other than becoming numb and cynical or languishing in helplessness. First, we can involve ourselves in such pain by “looking after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). Giving money is not the same as being there, but it is better than doing nothing and it does answer Jesus’ call, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat” (Matt 25:35). Read the rest of this entry »
Twitter and Forgiveness, Jetpacks and Change
- Words: 271
- Sentences: 14
- Grade level: 8.4-11.6
- Read time: ~1.4 min @ 200WPM
In case you missed them, I’d like to point you to a few articles I wrote for Collide Magazine over the past few months.
I Will Remember Your Tweets No More
In this article, I looked at what it means to forgive in a world where our computers remember everything we do. Should we just blow people off who annoy us? Probably not. But should we remove all record of wrong from our hard drives either?
For Christians, this means that the Internet’s ability to help us remember rightly is a chance to practice a theologically-informed, true kind of forgiveness. Rather than downplay an incident or cut people off every time they annoy us, we have the chance to look at the past with Google-like accuracy and choose to stop holding those wrongs against those who harmed us. Instead of constantly blocking, de-following, and un-friending, we can choose to see people and their wrong through the blood of Christ.
It’s 2010, Where’s My Jetpack?
In an article that’s quite a bit lighter than the previous one, I attempt to look into the future and imagine what it would really be like when and if we ever get our jetpacks by applying Neil Postman’s Five Things We Need To Know About Technological Change.
What new technology are you considering adding to your life, your family, or your church? It might not be as cool as the mythical jetpack, but it will likely bring some change to your life and the life of those around you. It might be helpful to run your new stuff through these five questions.
Hope you enjoy them!
Billy Graham on Technology as a Pointer to Christ
In: Quotes
- Words: 192
- Sentences: 9
- Grade level: 12.0-14.8
- Read time: ~1.0 min @ 200WPM
Billy Graham is an amazing communicator, and his 1998 TED talk on technology and faith (embedded below) is no exception. In it he is witty, articulate, and convicting.
His basic message is simple: technology brings amazing benefits to humanity, but it’s failure to alleviate the brokenness of the human heart ultimately point us to our need for a Savior.
What I appreciate most about his talk is that Graham did not give it to a church audience who would immediately agree with him. Instead in his audiences are some of the greatest technological minds ever gathered, many of whom are no friends of religion. It’s a classic example of how a speaker can appeal to an audience’s sensibilities, gain a sense of trust, and then finally address the person of Jesus Christ. Read the rest of this entry »
Who’s Your Favorite Online Person You’ve Never Met?
- Words: 697
- Sentences: 40
- Grade level: 6.6-9.3
- Read time: ~3.5 min @ 200WPM
Have you ever had the chance to meet someone in person that you’ve only met online?
If you have, you know that strange feeling of trying to match a person’s picture to the body in front of you. It’s exciting as if you’re meeting a celebrity, and yet terrifying at the same time. Will we be best friends? What if we don’t really hit it off, and we disagree on everything when we actually talk? What if I can’t be my online self or they don’t seem to be theirs?
Most of the time, though, it’s a total blast to share a meal together and spend some quality time in real life with people you only know online. Here’s what happened for me last year:
2009: John & Rhett
In early 2009, I met John Saddington and Rhett Smith in person for the first time. I had corresponded online with John for several years (2005?) and Rhett and I had twittered a bit, but this was the first time we all were able to meet in person (one of Rhett’s goals). Read the rest of this entry »
About this blog
I'm John Dyer a web developer working on sites like Best Commentaries, Bible Web App, Dallas Seminary. I'm also a seminary graduate and teacher at Irving Bible Church.
This blog is about the the role of technology in the redemptive movement from the Garden to the City. I believe technology is an amazing testament to the creativity embedded in the imago dei, but instead of assuming technology is always a neutral tool, I believe it - like culture in general - profoundly influences us.
Upcoming Posts
- The Cornwall Alliance: Technological Theory at Work
- How Coffee Helped Me Understand Technology and Theology
- Learning from Buber: I-Thou and I-It
- Prepackaged Communion and Albert Borgmann’s Device Paradigm
- Technology is Kinda Like Money
- What Can Hard Drives Teach Us about Forgiveness?
- Approaching Technology like We Approach Money
- Aristotle’s Ethics and the Goal of Online Relationships
- Speed and Suffering
- Technology Metaphors in Literature
Categories
- Bible and Theology (12)
- Books and Texts (15)
- Code Commentary (3)
- Media Ecology Experiments (3)
- Our Technological World (32)
- Quotes (6)
- Spiritual Formation (9)
- Tools for Tech Thinking (15)
- Uncategorized (7)
- John Dyer: Adam, thanks for listening! I really like your idea of "reframing the discussion." I find it hel [...]
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- annie: Just found your blog/work [thanks to Justin Taylor]. *Great*stuff. Looking forward to reading the ar [...]
- The New Possibilities in Book Publishing and the Implications of New Media – Justin Taylor: [...] with any new technology, as John Dyer has helpfully laid out, you can ask the following questi [...]
- Understanding the Definition of ‘Technology’ | ChurchCrunch: [...] Saddington on Dec 29, 2009The term “technology” can be tough to define.John Dyer p [...]
- New and Upcoming Books on Technology, Media, and Faith
- Presentation: Technology in the Kingdom, Society, and Your Life
- Responding to Constant Images of Mass Suffering: Haiti, Technology, and Repentance
- Twitter and Forgiveness, Jetpacks and Change
- Billy Graham on Technology as a Pointer to Christ
- Who’s Your Favorite Online Person You’ve Never Met?
- What Does It Mean to “Religiously Self-identify” Online?
- Have You Ever Wished You Had an “I Give Online” Token?
- God Does Not Post to YouTube? Dr. Read Schuchardt on the Morality of Media
- Top 9 Posts of 2009
