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
Presentation: Technology in the Kingdom, Society, and Your Life
Hope you find it helpful! I’d love to hear if you have any opinions about the material.
John –
I had a chance to listen to this. I really enjoyed it. It’s obvious that your immersed in thinking about this. You’ve done a lot of good thinking for those who were in that session. You provide a lot of good concrete examples to help explain and defend these ideas. This is helpful for me because I’m faced with some skeptics who accept and promote technological advancement without thinking through the implications. Among the many interesting things was when you said, “technology is not good, not bad, but not neutral either.” Is there are another set of categories you’re using? Another frame of reference? I feel like thinking about technology is really a matter of reframing a lot of the discussion. Having some of those alternate frames would be helpful.
Thanks for posting this!
Adam, thanks for listening! I really like your idea of “reframing the discussion.”
I find it helpful to start with example that are not related to electronics: “What happens to your body when you repeatedly lift a dumbbell over and over? [your muscles change]” Then move into media: “What happens when you switch from print to repeatedly looking at images? [your mind changes]” If you can establish the idea that the things we do and use repetitively change us (or that our bodies and minds adapt to them), then you can start talking about specific technologies that someone might hold dear.