theo|digital

John Piper interviews Rick Warren. I have not tightly followed the conversation here, so I can’t helpfully comment on that. What I notice here is the non-adversarial, warm tone of this conversation. And I appreciate Piper speaking directly to less charitable critique.

I read Purpose Driven Life very carefully – this is 20 pages of notes. And I have read critiques of it and one of my agendas is to do an appreciative critique.  And it will, I think, feel to you–I hope it does–mainly appreciative.

Because, frankly I’m appalled at the kinds of slanders that have been brought against this book by people whose methods of critique, if they were consistently applied to the Bible, would undo it as the Word of God.

I really–I’m one of these Reformed types, and my type tends to get on your case pretty often. And when I read the book, I thought:  “What’s the issue here?”

I’m reading through Media and Formal Cause, a re-release of several 60s and 70s journal articles by Marshall McLuhan on his use of Aristolian formal cause to explain media effects. I love this.

People do not want to know the cause of anything. They do not want to know why radio caused Hitler and Ghandi alike. They do not want to know that print caused anything whatever. as users of these media, they wish merely to get inside, hope perhaps to add another layer to their environment in the manner of “The Chambered Nautilus” of Oliver Wendell Holmes.
…
It does not take long to discover that all of the sciences, physical and social, are interested only in describing and measuring effects while ignoring causation entirely. A connection is not a cause but a hangup… the absence of interest in causation cannot persist in the new age of ecology. Ecology does not seek connections, but patterns.

I had to (maybe rather poorly) explain this methodological approach in my research on McLuhan because I imitated it in pursuing theological understanding of things like Facebook and remix. Excited that this book re-opens the discussion for me to maybe to adopt better descriptive language on the method.

I’ve got a new book review up today over at Jesus Creed.

We’ve got another early blip in the inevitable flurry-to-come of theology meets digital technology. Christian blogger Tim Challies offers The Next Story: Life and Faith in the Digital Explosion, released April 2011 by Zondervan. Challies, a web designer in Ontario, runs on the Reformed side of the track, but generally speaks to a broad evangelical audience. His book feels penned to the same–pastors and thoughtful Christians should find it accessible, thoughtful, personal, and grounded.

Challies frames the book in his own experience living with glowing screens both day and night. “Is it possible that these technologies are changing me?” he wonders. To discern, he invites us to consider our own use of technology and add two additional facets: critical investigation and biblical theology. The triad of experience, theory, and theology carries through the book, even structuring the application points in his helpful chapter summaries and reflection questions.

The Right Questions
Just a brief glance over the table of contents tells me that Challies has spent some time working in my favorite world of media ecology. If the Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman references weren’t an early clue, his chapter categories are consistent with anyone thinking carefully about the digital world we find ourselves in: Mediation/Identity, Distraction, Informationalism, Truth/Authority, Visibility and Privacy. Pastors should jot down the list; Challies is addressing the right questions and we need more to follow his lead.

Continue Reading at Jesus Creed…

This post has no significant enlighting thought. Fair warning.

I just did a Saturday afternoon tour through Best Buy. It was an impulse turn–maybe I’ll just swing in and see if I can touch a Motorola Xoom–but perfectly calculated to entertain that particular slice of my brain which also enjoys Engadget updates and YouTube reviews and Amazon Prime and opening 14 browser tabs at once.

I strolled defiantly past the yellow-polo security guard (dodging the snarky hello) and straight towards…  nothing.  Anything. Best Buy mush. My memory is mush and blue signs and beeps. Does this happen to anyone else? I’m certain this is how Best Buy designs their stores (or maybe security has some sort of 4G brain gun), but I always nearly instantly forget my original idea for heading into a Best Buy.

Instead, I begin a Hansel-and-Gretel-like trek through a digital forest, starting with Tablets.  The breadcrumbs go something like this:

Blackberry Playbook 7-inch. No e-mail? Really? Lame. Samsung  Galaxy Tab. Motorola Xoom–slick.  Heavy. Low on battery. Wireless charging mat. Why don’t I have this? $49 Where would I put it? Can I picture myself with a tablet this in my living room?  I need speakers. 2.1  5.1  Listen Live 7.1. Bose. Subwoofer. But I live in an apartment. Good wireless headphones? Don’t see them near here….  But I see computer monitors.  $129 for a 20-inch. HDMI. Need this for my home-office.  Or this 27-inch Mac. Holy amazing. Love how Apple negotiated 20 square feet of space in Best Buys that look like an Apple store. That woman looks like someone who doesn’t know the difference between Apple and the Toshiba across the isle. 3-D television demo… hold up, that Dyson fan has no blades. How is that possible?  Blu-Ray player. I wonder what the cheapest they have would be? Whoa: wireless music systems. Bet they are lame. Samsung bezel-edge TV is incredible. Huh, no-charge 3D glasses. What was I looking for? No WAY: they have a live demo of Google TV. This one doesn’t work. This one does. Try searching. Try Apps.  Try Netflix. It makes you sign in. Who signs into their netflix account in Best Buy? If they only had wireless HDMI… what’s the name of that new standard? I need a tablet that connects to my TV. Wonder if Android 3.0 will do that soon. I should get a new coffee maker. Or an Xbox 360 if they’re cheap now. Wonder if they could upgrade my Toyota’s Bluetooth. Or a PS3 because I still don’t have a blu-ray player. Whoa: security guy again.

And it’s been like 45 minutes and I find myself needing 15 more things than I remembered I needed when I walked in.

Honestly, despite that I keep up on tech news almost daily, I’m not really too much an early adopter. Why? I’m so indecisive on purchasing things. I run into all the choices and my brain launches into this heat-producing loop on the pros and cons of each (often with accompanying OneNote chart), and then it’s over. I’ve gone numb and don’t have the energy to buy.

Saves me every time.

I thanked God on the way out of Best Buy for: food and shelter and debilitating indecisiveness.