BibleTech:2009 – Technology is Not Neutral: How Bible Technology Shapes Our Faith

In: Books and Texts| Tools for Tech Thinking

Commitment:
  • Words: 83
  • Sentences: 3
  • Grade level: 13.8-16.8
  • Read time: ~0.4 min @ 200WPM

8 Apr 2009

The fine folks at Logos have posted the audio and slides of the BibleTech:2009 conference talks. Here is my presentation slides synced with the audio using slideshare.net. (note: the title is a nod to Shane Hipps’ book Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith)

Technology is Not Neutral: How Bible Technology Shapes Our Faith


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16 Responses to BibleTech:2009 – Technology is Not Neutral: How Bible Technology Shapes Our Faith

  1. Avatar

    Joey

    April 9th, 2009 at 7:25 am

    Nice talk, John, I enjoyed it. Sounds like you summed up a lot of what you’re saying on here. Good job on the slides, by the way. Not nearly as cheezy/bad as I expected.

    Hey, I heard this on NPR the other day:

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102518565

    It’s about how language shapes our worldview; very interesting. I was reminded of it during your talk, specifically the questions afterwards about written language.

    Reply

  2. Avatar

    russ

    April 9th, 2009 at 8:09 am

    John, this is great stuff. I’d like to get you up to Horn Creek sometime in the fall or so to speak to our college age interns on this. Many of them will be going into some type of ‘full time ministry.’ We are currently considering materials to discuss this topic as part of our curriculum with them… (Rex Miller is coming in August).

    Reply

  3. Avatar

    Andy Darnell

    April 12th, 2009 at 10:07 pm

    Hi John
    I’ve been really enjoying reading your blog lately. I really like your “upcoming posts” list. I may steal that idea from you for my blog.

    Andy

    Reply

  4. Avatar

    Todd Gorton

    April 13th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    John,

    I recently discovered your blog and will become a regular reader. I love your thinking on medium and message. I recently read USC Religion professor Donald Miller who wrote in discussing a new reformation in the church wrote, “This reformation…is challenging not doctrine, but the medium through which the message of Christianity is articulated.”

    No doubt the journey ahead will be a profound and interesting one. I just hope I don’t have to give up my iPhone like I did my TV.

    Reply

  5. Avatar

    Vy

    April 20th, 2009 at 1:00 am

    I’m not sure if I completely agree with the notion that the message changes with the medium. I think that using different mediums does have different implications and makes room for different interpretations, but to me, the message is the message is the message. It’s always been the same. I think it’s just a matter of how our culture tells us to interpret that message, be it a break-up text message, the Bible, etc.

    Reply

    • Avatar

      John Dyer

      April 23rd, 2009 at 9:53 am

      Vy, I think you’re saying something very similar to what media ecologists are arguing. They are saying that technology and media reshape cultures and those reshaped cultures inform how individuals interpret and understand ideas. So yes, the message of Jesus is the same forever, but the way we understand it and what we choose to emphasize is culturally and technologically informed.

      Reply

  6. Avatar

    James Coder

    June 5th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    YAY! You bring up Theuth & Thamus, this was important in Derrida’s book Dissemination (Plato’s Pharmacy). And you’ve covered the Heidegger in your reading. I’m a fan.

    Reply

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About this blog

John DyerI'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
  • 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
  • I marginalize my father through technology

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Asides

Our brains are designed to more easily be stimulated than satisfied
Fascinating look at the science of the brain’s response to seeking and rewards: http://www.slate.com/id/2224932/ (1)

Roman Catholic Church Expresses Concern Regarding Social Technologies
The head of the British Roman Catholic church says,

“I think there’s a worry that an excessive use, or an almost exclusive use of text and emails means that as a society we’re losing some of the ability to build interpersonal communication that’s necessary for living together and building a community.”
(0)

Internet Fatigue
CNN has a report on the phenomenon of internet fatigue. I wish they would have spent more time on giving suggestions for how to understand why this happens and how to avoid it. (0)

Articles and Tools on Texting
The NYTimes has a new article on the effects of texting on youth which include anxiety, sleep deprivation, and hand injuries. Interestingly, as Andy Crouch points out, the article also mentions that teens send many texts to their parents, meaning that teens are now connected to their parents more often during the day – a time when teenagers of the past were developing independence. LG has also created a new site to help parents decode text messages. (0)

Course Syllabus: Writing for Nonreaders in the Postprint Era
A humorous, but enlightening syllabus for a class on writing in the “postprint” era. Writing for nonreaders in the postprint era: “Students will examine why former generations carried around heavy clumps of bound paper and why they chose to read instead of watching TV or playing Guitar Hero.” (0)

Language Shapes Our Worldview
A psychology professor at Stanford University found that in languages with gender, the gender assigned to an objects tends to shape the way a speaker views that’s object. For example, in Spanish, “bridge” is masculine so Spanish speakers describe bridges as “strong” and “dangerous,” while German speakers for whom bridge is feminine tend to describe bridges as “fragile” and “beautiful.” Perhaps our own understanding of words like redemption, wrath, and adoption are also shaped by unseen factors. (0)

Survey Says Facebook Users Get Lower Grades
A study from educational researches at the Ohio State University found that students who regularly used facebook only study 1-5 hours per week and had GPAs in the 3.0-3.5 range, while non-facebook users study around 11-15 hours per week with GPAs in the 3.5-4.0 range. I wonder how church education compares? (0)

Risk-Reducing Technologies Increase Risk-Taking
The Pope and a Harvard scientist make an interesting argument that AIDS is increasing in Africa precisely because of condom distribution. More... (0)

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