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 […]
J. Ellsworth Kalas’ “Preaching in an Age of Distraction”: A Review
August 11, 2014 By
Preaching in an Age of Distraction, by J. Ellsworth Kalas. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2014. 165 pages. As the title and the chapter on “Naming the Age” indicate, Ellsworth Kalas, who teaches homiletics at Asbury Seminary, regards ours as an age characterized by distraction. Somewhat surprisingly, however, he is eager to indicate that distraction is not new: […]
Did McLuhan’s Deeply Held Roman Catholic Convictions Bias His Scholarship?
March 31, 2014 By
“He was a very religious man and, as a matter of fact, that was the only thing that helped him through the 15 months after his stroke. That was the core of his being – his religious strength. – Corinne McLuhan, Marshall’s wife (McLuhan, C. 1988).” McLuhan’s religious beliefs did not bias his scholarship or […]
Pope Francis’ Message for the 48th World Communications Day
January 29, 2014 By
In commemoration of the feast day for the patron saint of journalists, St. Francis de Sales, on January 24th, Pope Francis released his message for the 48th World Communications Day. Like Pope Benedict XVI before him, Pope Francis focuses on the digital media environment, asking “What is it, then, that helps us, in the digital […]
The Marriage of Religion and Technology: Reading Apple’s Allegorical Advertising
January 27, 2014 By
Steve Jobs invited a number of lofty comparisons during his career. The New York Times likened him to Thomas Edison. Others have called him the Leonardo da Vinci of our generation. Jobs also had a lot in common with the early American philosopher-inventor, Benjamin Franklin. He inherited Franklin’s “Protestant ethic” of mixing morality and capitalism […]
Apple and Technological Fundamentalism
January 21, 2014 By
In a post earlier this year at Re/Code, Walt Mossberg nails his 95 theses to the door of the Church of Apple. Apparently fed up with the amount of criticism he receives from unwavering Apple fans, Mossberg argues that users need to remember that “it’s not a church, it’s just an Apple Store.” As a […]
Born Again Ideology?
January 15, 2014 By
Arthur Kroker, of Ctheory.net, meditates on the connections between religious ideology in the 21st century, the surveillance-security state and the future of technology and religion. If not controversial, it’s at least interesting. What are your thoughts?
McLuhan receives McLuhan Award
November 7, 2013 By
We are pleased to announce that editorial board member Eric McLuhan was awarded with the third annual Medium and the Light award on October 23rd. During a celebration at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, over 50 scholars gathered at the old coach house where Eric’s father Marshall McLuhan had his office and […]
The New Cathedrals: An excerpt from Appletopia
August 12, 2013 By
The following is an excerpt from Brett T. Robinson’s new book Appletopia: Media Technology and the Religious Imagination of Steve Jobs (Baylor University Press), available starting August 15th. In 2011 by one estimate the most photographed landmark in New York City was not Rockefeller Center or Times Square; it was the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. […]
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