What
is significant in online communications for my experience of the theological
community
I believe we are witnessing a fundamental shift in the expectations of
what kinds of places people are looking for person to person contact.
It seems that many computer users are finding new relatedness and human
contact on the Internet that may well have passed them by, and found them
instead widdling their time away before some menial computer task, game,
or perhaps TV, where so many seem to turn to get some sense of vicarious
relationship distraction.
On the Usenet groups and countless other online forums and Live Interactive
channels (IRC) and MUDS, people are finding new people to talk to, and
countless subjects of concern are available at a moment's whim via Search
tools.
How my view of that community may be changing because of this phenomenon.
The idea of revelation and what "Scripture" is
I resist the idea that what I think the church is can change; perhaps
it is the style in which I see it playing out over the next decades
Being heard and getting feedback: I feel more strongly about the inward
journey aspect of the community to which we are called.
Contradiction as definitive of our existence, making MUD personalities
actually therapeutic in some cases (Life p185) "Are these "Virtual
Personae " fragments of real life self?
Many institutions that used to bring people together no longer work
as before (Life p178) (like the church)
Just as I discovered the intimacy of personal communication via journaling,
I discovered a new inter-personal dimension via CMC. The Web introduces
me to a "neural life" akin to the noosphere of DeChardin.
A new scripture? The form of "the book" has traveled 2000
years. Before this , the story, the ritual, 2000 years prior. What of
the next 2000 years?
Books have always "wanted" to be hypertext. The Bible is
such a book
"Real" vs Virtual ("abundant life" as lived in
real life or in virtuality;; where is it easier to occur?)
Most "theological thinking" about the Net is about effective
communication, marketplace presence, Evangelism, and some collaborative
intents.
The opportunity and the experience of "being heard" is more
frequent and more "expected" online; I can just "spew"
and see what places bring the most interaction
Important to devise input mechanisms for reaction/dialogue
Important to point to the work of others
The theology of "The Body"
- The Web is a complex interdependent structure which behaves in Computer
system concepts much like the Church should in a theological sense (wtstruct.html)
The noosphere of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
- The
"Global Brain" article in WIRED
- The "Noosphere" article from CSpirituality
Magazine
What makes it all so exciting to me , is how the World Wide Web has developed
into such a vast, distributed database of ideas, references, and "collector"
of resources related to the subject. It's design is to point to the
work of others in addition to what we may offer from our own pen (or keyboard).
We are naturally urged to offer up other work which complements our own,
or other work upon which our own is based.
It is asked whether or not this medium
is "appropriate" for communication of the kind carried on by
the Church.
I am aware of a wide divergence within the Ecunet community on theological
grounds. And yet in this community I have not experienced the theological
battlegrounds. I expect that this is true in large part because I have
kept mostly to groups which center around the issue of the use of online
resources in the theological community. Conversation centers on issues
of how this medium helps us communicate across geography, enhance daily
interpersonal contact with these geographically separated folks, and how
we can enhance the work of ministry in the church today.
Conspicuously absent are issues of what we believe ABOUT the Bible ,
or what this or that church is doing wrong.
Conspicuously present are conversations filled with expectation and a
desire to deeply understand this communication medium and to understand
the implications for communicating ourselves as well as information.
At Ecunet 95 there was much conversation about the Internet. Workshops
introduced people to the Internet and the World Wide Web, and people asked
what should be the relationship between Ecunet and the Internet. Concern
was voiced on both sides about the wall which stands between Ecunet and
the rest of the world (the "online world", or, the Internet).
Reflections upon the tools of online communication were offered by David
Lochhead, and provided food for reflection on the possibilities and nuances
of the medium of Computer Mediated Communication. Many of these reflections
were drawn from insights in his earlier works such as Theology in a
Digital World and sequel essays. My reflections (some of them based
on insights that were suggested by others such as Lochhead,
Rheingold, December,
etc.) follow in the next section.
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