Adam passed me a link the other day about some great thoughts and discussions happening around the Church online and the Scriptures.
This particular article is very interesting, but not without many concerns (and certainly questions). Go there to download it or here directly.
Mark Brown, the author, is obviously doing a lot of thinking, research, and conversating about the subject and I’ve been reading his blog a lot recently to make sure I’m seeing the full picture.
He has some other great thoughts here on this post about his presentation from the Digital Space Symposium. One particular thing of interest was a possible .org that could help navigate the Church at large with these topics, like whether or not a dragon (yes, a fire-breathing dragon) can lead a church service:
One interesting meta-theme emerged worth mentioning : a continuum between those who saw online ministry as only effective if it resulted in an offline, ‘normal’ experience of church, and those who considered an experience of ministry online in and of itself sufficient.
An example of this is the discussion around identity: how are we represented online? Can a dragon lead a church service? Or do we need to transparently represent ourselves online as we are offline?
Funny, but somewhat serious on the same note. At least the conversation is continuing, right?
Another issue I have is with Brown’s predictions (in the Bible in the Digital Space article), not that they are necessarily bad predictions (they could be right) but rather the danger of having them be true. For example, the “personalized” translations of the bible for individuals; that seems a little “off” to me on a number of different levels.
Give it a read; love to hear your thoughts.
stephenbateman says
He says something to the effect of: "there is a need for more academic and theological thinking on the issue of digital ministry."
There are lots of seminary grads doing online ministry, and many more people with little theological training doing "ministry" which is GREAT. But it's so easy to isolate on the internet, and say things that escape accountability.
human3rror says
definitely…! how'd you get bold on your text there…
stephenbateman says
normal 'strong' HTML tag. 'em' and 'img' also work, the others aren't as useful.
Since this is 'intense debate' I wish it supported ul and ol, to really flesh out ideas, but not yet.
joannamuses says
Personalised translations of the bible aren't a prediction, they already exist. I've seen promotional material for companies that will insert your name hundreds of time in the bible text and then print it up for you. Not a good idea. As if people didn't already tend to have enough trouble with thinking the bible was all about them personally.
human3rror says
hmm. yes. ugh…!
Mark Brown says
Hey Stephen,
Interested when you say, 'There are lots of seminary grads doing online ministry' where can I find out more about the ministry and the people?
stephenbateman says
Indeed. They're kinda scattered. I haven't found the proverbial 'watering hole' of really theologically trained guys, but on an individual level it's like: "oh, you're a pastor, or you went to seminary" or however you define "theological training." So they're there, but not easy to find.
That's the short answer, if you have a minute, hop on to the forum and we'll talk there.
Mark Brown says
Hey Joanna, when I write about personalised translations I am not talking about the persons name being included, I would consider that messing with the text, but of including along side the text, study material that caters specifically for the profile of the individual. In my paper I give the example of the person who struggles with depression, and the study material providing support specific to depression.
I take the view that the Bible is for the individual.. but that individual is part of a community and not in isolation.
Jim says
i preach like a fire breathing dragon with my bad breath