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 […]

Presence in the Modern World by Jacques Ellul–A New Translation!

Jacques Ellul’s classic book on the Christian’s role in a technologically mediated society just got a fresh translation, the first in over 50 years. And let me just say, the new cover is so cute, so modern. It hits the hipster aesthetic nail on its bearded, ray-bans wearing head. This book will look great on your coffee table or bookshelf as […]

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?

Captive to Christ, Open to the World: On Doing Christian Ethics in Public

Brian Brock, Captive to Christ, Open to the World: On Doing Christian Ethics in Public, edited by Kenneth Oakes, Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2014, 143 pages, $15.20 Captive to Christ, Open to the World isn’t your typical work of theology. A collection of edited interviews with Brian Brock (Reader in Moral and Practical Theology at […]

Sacrament and Anti-sacrament: On the Media Criticism of Jacques Ellul and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pere Pierre Marie Teilhard de Chardin and Jacques Ellul were two twentieth-century French Christian theologians who happened to integrate theories of mediated communication into their works. They did so in distinctly different ways, from distinctly different perspectives, for distinctly different reasons. It shouldn’t surprise us that they came to distinctly different conclusions, each of which […]

When the Made Remakes the Maker: Theology and Technoculture

Waters, Brent (2014). Christian Moral Theology in the Emerging Technoculture: From Posthuman Back to Human. Burlington, Vermont: Ashgate (260 pages). This piece originally appeared on Marginalia on February 17, 2015. Brent Waters’s Christian Moral Theology in the Emerging Technoculture: From Posthuman to Technoculture extends inquiries pursued over the last fifteen years into the question of what it […]

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 […]

Is Contraception Christian?

There’s no doubt that birth control is being discussed more now than since the Pill was released in the 60s. However, in Christian circles the question of contraception has tended to center around the ends of family planning: is it permissible for Christians to plan how many children to have, or should we simply let […]

Jana Marguerite Bennett’s “Aquinas on the Web?”: A Review

Jana Marguerite Bennett, Aquinas on the Web? Doing Theology in an Internet Age, New York: T&T Clark, 2012, 200 pages, $37.20. Like Jesus’ critics who wondered, “Can anything good come out of Galilee?” I often wonder, “Can anything good come out of Ohio?”  But a recent book, Aquinas on the Web? Doing Theology in an […]

Andrew Byers’ “TheoMedia: The Media of God in a Digital Age”: A Review

Andrew Byers, TheoMedia: The Media of God in a Digital Age, Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2013, 252 pages, $25.20. Andrew Byers serves as the Chaplain at St. Mary’s College, Durham University, England. As a Theological Consultant for Codec Institute at St. John’s College, Durham University, he has explored many of the issues addressed in TheoMedia: The […]

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