Technologies of Narcissism: The Printing Press to Facebook

Written by Rachel Armamentos. In a 2005 commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, a story of only two sentences in length was told. Although concise and simple, this story and the speech that followed made an impact on the audience in attendance, as well as to audiences today. […]

Media, Journalism, and Communication: A Student’s Guide

Dr. Read Mercer Schuchardt’s latest book, Media, Journalism, and Communication: A Student’s Guide, is available from Crossway and Amazon starting March 31.  

The Technological Church

A version of this paper was published by the Moody Media Lab. Graphics by Ben Neary.   Dear church leader, Please allow me to introduce myself. I’ve never studied Greek or Hebrew, I’ve never preached a sermon or even taught a youth group, and I’ve never led worship. I’ve never had to make difficult decisions […]

The Benedict Option and the Media Ecology of Rod Dreher

Any Benedict Option that fails to deal honestly and forcefully with our relationship to technology and popular culture will fail. —Rod Dreher When Benedict of Nursia left Rome he traveled forty miles south of the city and entered a forest to pray. From there he began to build monasteries: fortresses to preserve Christian culture against […]

God is Not Spectacular

Communication technologies are not neutral channels. Just as the riverbed shapes the path of the river as much as the river does, so too, society’s media shape their organization as much as they do. To take an example, smartphones may ostensibly “connect” us, but everyone knows that what they have actually done is atomize us […]

Media Ecology and Theology

It was many years ago when I heard Robert K. Blechman’s song, “A Model Media Ecologist,” that I began thinking about the relationship between media ecology and theology. In the song, Bleckman writes, “I am a model media ecologist; I also sense the difference between me and a theologist.” What is the difference between a media ecologist and a theologist? I wondered. And, what is the relationship between media ecology and theology? Are these two totally separate domains or is there some overlap between them? If there is a connection, what forms the basis of that connection?

Plasticity and Imagination

The understanding of the brain’s activity conveyed by popular scientific writing misses much of the continuum of thought and consciousness. We are fascinated at the supposed correspondence of anatomy to function shown in the images of radioactive glucose uptake. We are astonished at the ability of a handicapped woman’s brain driven to interact with an […]

A Media Ecology of Theology

Please join the CCSN and Dr. Paul Soukup, S.J, Santa Clara University, for an upcoming webinar titled “A Media Ecology of Theology,” on Tuesday, March 24, 8-9 pm EST. This webinar is free and open to the public. Dr. Soukup has explored the connections between communication and theology since 1982. His many publications include Mass […]

my age of information

in the dream

the headline always holds
the same note

Neil Postman and the Judeo-Christian Worldview

On October 5, 2003 Neil Postman, mass media and cultural critic, my former professor and friend, died. Postman was a Professor at New York University for more than 40 years where he also held positions as the Paulette Goddard Chair of Media Ecology and Chair of the Department of Culture and Communication. He wrote over […]

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