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

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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20 thoughts on “BibleTech:2009 – Technology is Not Neutral: How Bible Technology Shapes Our Faith

  1. 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.

    1. Haha. I’m glad the slides met your expectations. I did hear that story when it ran and I loved it. Thanks for posting the link.

  2. 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).

  3. 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

    1. Please please steal! I am showing everything marked as “draft” where most of the plugins show everything published, but schedule in the future…

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

    1. 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.

  6. 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.

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