January 2003 Archives

Executive editor Robert Parham:

"While he reinforced the widespread view that Saddam Hussein is a brutal tyrant, Bush failed to make the case of a just war against Iraq," Parham said. "He fanned the flames for war without showing the American public the 'smoking gun,' which would help to speak to the principle of just cause." Parham also said Bush's speech failed to deal with another criterion for a just war. "The president did not address the principle of reasonable hope of success", Parham said. That is, how the American military's prolonged occupation of Iraq would make America safer from further acts of terrorism. On the contrary, military occupation would likely breed even more terrorism. " 

I thought I'd mention,  in light of my previous two posts,  that I'm going to a Wednesday Night Supper at a Church tonight,  and so off I go.  

Quentin Schultze is not exactly wrong in much of what he writes in Habits of the High Tech Heart. There is certainly a danger to human community in unquestioned adoption of high-tech values.  From where I stand,  I consider my call to be in the area of working toward "redemptive technology".  To use a suggestion Schultze offers on p. 72 (in the Chapter Seeking Wisdom in Tradition):

Ultimately, we should hold all our high-tech endeavors to this test: Do they foster the joy and harmony of shalom,  or do they sustain alienation, conflict, unhappiness,  and injustice?  Seeking shalom helps us to see our informational pursuits as part of a responsible vocation, not merely as instrumental tasks or selfish leisure pursuits.

If only this thought had been expanded and more space devoted to what this might look like.  I guess this is what I had expected to find at least a little of when I saw the subtitle: Living Virtuously in the Information Age,  but the answer which seems to be advanced is to "get offline to find virtue",  because you won't find it online,  and if you do,  it's probably a scam.  The very next paragraph after the above quote returns to the theme of how unfit online technologies are for carrying any semblance,  any sign,  of human community,  and it is this "dark view" that I rail against.  It's not deception on Schultze's part,  it's just not telling the whole story.  Maybe that's the only part he wishes to emphasize.  There's value in that , I suppose,  but it leaves me saying "Yeah, but....  I guess it's up to others (like me?) to do so,  and that is what I've been trying to do for the past 12 years,  back when I was calling my vision "A Compuserve For the Church".

Quentin Schultze is not exactly wrong in much of what he writes in Habits of the High Tech Heart. There is certainly a danger to human community in unquestioned adoption of high-tech values.  From where I stand,  I consider my call to be in the area of working toward "redemptive technology".  To use a suggestion Schultze offers on p. 72 (in the Chapter Seeking Wisdom in Tradition):

Ultimately, we should hold all our high-tech endeavors to this test: Do they foster the joy and harmony of shalom,  or do they sustain alienation, conflict, unhappiness,  and injustice?  Seeking shalom helps us to see our informational pursuits as part of a responsible vocation, not merely as instrumental tasks or selfish leisure pursuits.

If only this thought had been expanded and more space devoted to what this might look like.  I guess this is what I had expected to find at least a little of when I saw the subtitle: Living Virtuously in the Information Age,  but the answer which seems to be advanced is to "get offline to find virtue",  because you won't find it online,  and if you do,  it's probably a scam.  The very next paragraph after the above quote returns to the theme of how unfit online technologies are for carrying any semblance,  any sign,  of human community,  and it is this "dark view" that I rail against.  It's not deception on Schultze's part,  it's just not telling the whole story.  Maybe that's the only part he wishes to emphasize.  There's value in that , I suppose,  but it leaves me saying "Yeah, but....  I guess it's up to others (like me?) to do so,  and that is what I've been trying to do for the past 12 years,  back when I was calling my vision "A Compuserve For the Church".

Since I picked up Practicing Our Faith,  I am now going through two books (the other being Habits of The High Tech Heart) (see "Review of Habits of the High Tech Heart") which represent for me two themes which are in dire need of a bridge between the two.  Habits ,  as you have seen if you've read some of my reviews of various chapters,  is largely a warning about the darker side of technology,  and is practically devoid of any positive examples that the author all too infrequently must concede are possibilities.  Each time he seems to be moving in a direction of giving us permission to "try to do some positive things" for the religious tradition online,  he seems to retreat back into how unfit cyberspace is to handle anything worth exploring. 

Practicing Our Faith is an ecumenical coverage of twelve key Christian practices arrived upon by 12 selected theologians brought together by The Valparasio Project.  These Practices form a set of shared values across Christian traditions,  and also can be found as core values in other religious traditions as well.  As I sit before the authors of Practices and also of Habits,  I find myself in the role of reconciler;  trying to build a bridge from community-based religious practice to legitimate means of "communicating" some of the values of these practices via Websites,  specifically that of Churches.  Much of what I see on Church websites seems to be stuck in "informational" mode rather than seeking to give "voice" to the people of that community.  Church Websites so often lack the flavor and personality of the community which has "posted" the Website.  So many are "brochureware" and very light on "personality". 

Robert Parham points out in this article that there ARE Southern Baptists that ARE AGAINST war with Iraq. Jim Wallis' recent article mentioned that "with the exception of Southern Baptists", "virtually every church body in the that has spoken on the war question has concluded this would not be a ‘just war'  ".  Parham's note is important to those of us who still hold some loyalty to the "Southern Baptist" notion that has prevailed throughout the larger part of its history,  that there is a diversity of theological opinion but that the only true test of legitimacy is allegiance to Christ,  and that pronouncements of selected "denominational reps" do not "Speak for God" or to what our hearts tell us that God would have us say;  at least not all of us.  IN recent years,  there is increased pressure on denominational employees and now missionaries, to subscribe to the most recent "Baptist Faith and Message",  and to do so with the "correct manner" of interpreting it,  which happens to be the interpretation chosen by whoever is using it to challenge the veracity of the theology of the person under question.

Wallis wrote a book a few years ago entitled "Who Speaks For God?"  At that time,  Ralph Reed of the Christian Coalition was the focus since the media often portrayed him as voicing the opinion of the Christians in America.  Southern Baptists have to "endure" the same exposure of spokespersons today,  and to me,  it is particularly troublesome to hear the all-too predictable "towing of the line" toward any and all Republican politics (as if Either,  Republican OR Democrat,  are up to the task of speaking for us).  My point is,  that when Clinton was in office,  all of Washington was evil and opposition filled the rhetoric;  now Washington is on a righeous crusade and the Churches are called to support --- that is,  the majority of Southern Baptist Churches seem to feel obligated to parrot the "assumed" postures,  and its assumed that this is the "Christian stance". 

Once again,  it's encouraging to see in the voices of ethicsDaily.com a separation between denominational spokesmanship and the call to discernment that is at the heart of any Christian ethical stance.

The Weblog phenomenon is like the Church in the following ways:  To "describe it" to someone not doing it is like trying to describe the Church to someone who isn't involved.  It's possible to articulate "something" ,  but it always comes down to "step inside" and "try us".  It was like that with me.  I read of it,  read a few stories about how people were captured by it,  and so I set out to try it.  As I began to write and to link and to "subscribe",  the whole schema strated to click for me. 

Then I began to meet some of the people who were thinking about things like I had been;  about what all this could mean for the Church.  Some of those in my "some favorites" list to the right.  NOw I 'm working on about 3 separate "proposals" to Church related organizations,  one a grant group,  one a Christian-based Social Ministry,  and another an unnamed,  and as of yet unnamed "Community of Churches" who want to take our community out on the Web in order to convince people that theological communities need the involvement of people who feel called to something that makes a difference,  and that there are "desires and gifts and passions" that together awaken us to a sense of call,  and that this call is best nurtured and lived out in community both offline (face to face) and online (what some call "Virtual Community")

Story from Associated Baptist Press (via cbfonline newstand) about dismissal of longtime CHRISTIAN INDEX editor (Georgia) Click link above to read entire story.

Neal, who is a 28-year employee of the state convention, had been under increasing pressure from conservative leadership for several years. The Index, they contended, was not doing enough to advance the cause of the Southern Baptist Convention and of conservatives in Georgia.

In 2001, the paper's board of directors forbade Neal from publishing any announcements, advertisements or editorials relating to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. They also demanded that no mention be made of CBF in the Index except in news items "which the editor believes directly affect Georgia Baptists and/or Southern Baptists." They further required Neal to consult with the convention's executive director or other board members before publishing any item that referenced CBF.

"Cluetrain Theses Number 3" continues my "extraction of theological insights" from the Cluetrain Manifesto that the Church can use to benefit its online strategy

Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.

The best witness for our faith and for theological communities is the stories of its people.  The reasons why they have chosen this particular community of faith are the strongest case for "outsiders" to explore life in a community of faith.  This holds true as well for a Church's attempts to express its mission, purpose, and in ts attempts to "market" itself with descriptions which ring hollow,  no matter how well phrased,  without corresponding "story";  examples of what the words mean.  On the web the Church has many options for "illuminating" words with conversations, individual testimony and reflection,  and ways to "match" the incoming visitor to those things which helped them find us:  it may be a search on a particular issue which presented them with a link to us,  because somewhere amongst our stories we used a phrase or named a topic that they were looking for via a Search Engine.  There are now "Google API's" that allow a site to identify search terms which brought a user to a page -  and this information can be used to provide links to many other things related to that topic or word.  If we play our cards right,  we will have people who have provided content to our site via their sharing a response,  writing a testimonial,  aggregating their own links on a particular issue on which theykeep themselevs up to date,  or through some personal theology/testimony piece they have written for us,  and that kind of material which is rich with the "sound of the human voice" is powerful testimony that our community is a place where people are concerned about issueA or issueB. 

Collection of articles responding to Habits of the High-Tech Heart (to you Radio users,  these are stories)
"Review of the Forward (Habits of the High-Tech Heart)" | "Schultze Preface" | "Intro: Identifying the Techno-Moral Crisis" |  "Discerning Our Informationism" |  "Moderating Our Informational Desires" | "Instantaneous vs Infoglut" |"My problem with anti-Net culture rhetoric" | Legitimate Theological and Sociological Exploration of Online Community |"Speech vs Online Interaction" | "Too Quick to Judge" | "There's Really a 'There' There" | "Good Stewards of Online Community"

Collection of articles responding to Habits of the High-Tech Heart (to you Radio users,  these are stories)
"Review of the Forward (Habits of the High-Tech Heart)" | "Schultze Preface" | "Intro: Identifying the Techno-Moral Crisis" |  "Discerning Our Informationism" |  "Moderating Our Informational Desires" | "Instantaneous vs Infoglut" |"My problem with anti-Net culture rhetoric" | Legitimate Theological and Sociological Exploration of Online Community |"Speech vs Online Interaction" | "Too Quick to Judge" | "There's Really a 'There' There" | "Good Stewards of Online Community"

Habits of The High-Tech Heart is a good read.  A lot of it bothered me. But it asked some worthy questions.  It left us to ponder what, if anything,  we should do as theological communities,  to bring alternatives to online life.  I think we need to be a "prescence" there.  We need to set examples of civility and hospitality,  and to be adept at "telling our story" online,  and using database technology to communicate an "integrated whole" theologically,  which means to constantly relate conversations about issues to resources for further exploration of those issues,  and relate the money in our budgets to the ministries they support (by linking to stories and descriptions and testimonies and conversartions about those programs), and relate sermons that have been preached to issues they raise and ministries we are doing that address those issues,  and on and on and on.  We need to "get geeky" in our thinking about databases and Church websites.  (It takes a geek to even say something like that) 

Therefore,  we need again to reconcile our embellishments of technology with the reality of what it means to be human.  In spite of all  of the changes in human culture and society over the millennia,  human nature remains essentially the same.

In this from the conclusion of the final chapter of the book, Sojourning With Heart,  Schultze here affirms something that reveals a major flaw ,  from my perspective,  in the tone of the book's approach.  It seems to render moot the constant barrage of demonization of nearly all aspects of online communication,  becasue after all,  human beings and human nature haven't changed that much.  For centuries before the Internet,  people were "objectifying" truth and centering "truth" in the pages of a book,   and deifying interpretation rather than inspiration.  We see this in fundamentalism,  such as in the arrogance of Southern Baptist leadership today who have the audacity to "require" particular interpretations of their various agency and institutional leaders.  This is an "instrumentalism" in the guise of virtue.  It's been happening for centuries.

Read on in "Good Stewards of Online Community"

Therefore,  we need again to reconcile our embellishments of technology with the reality of what it means to be human.  In spite of all  of the changes in human culture and society over the millennia,  human nature remains essentially the same.

In this from the conclusion of the final chapter of the book, Sojourning With Heart,  Schultze here affirms something that reveals a major flaw ,  from my perspective,  in the tone of the book's approach.  It seems to render moot the constant barrage of demonization of nearly all aspects of online communication,  becasue after all,  human beings and human nature haven't changed that much.  For centuries before the Internet,  people were "objectifying" truth and centering "truth" in the pages of a book,   and deifying interpretation rather than inspiration.  We see this in fundamentalism,  such as in the arrogance of Southern Baptist leadership today who have the audacity to "require" particular interpretations of their various agency and institutional leaders.  This is an "instrumentalism" in the guise of virtue.  It's been happening for centuries.

Read on in "Good Stewards of Online Community"

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I love this poster

We cannot create such moral bonds out of nothing; invariably, we must grow them in the soil of existing traditions and their extant friendships, such as parishes, congregations, and fellowships (p. 204).

The final Chapter of Habits of the High-Tech Heart  (Sojourning With Heart) holds out very little apparent hope for really doing anything to "redeem" online community,  or even to look to a hope that such can take place.  It seems to me that his own "Informatinism" has delimited his range of vision for what can take place online.  If online realtionships are, by nature, "instrumental",  and all communications "impersonal",  then of course his evaluation of the value of the online world is as "information".  Read on in "There's Really a 'There' There"

Friend: Rose Ready to Admit Gambling. Newsday Jan 21 2003 11:34PM ET [Moreover - Sports: baseball news]

On page 200 (in Habits of the High-Tech Heart),  there is something to which I can say "amen" rather than "now wait a minute".  He writes:

A giving servant seeks to be responsible,  not successful.  A Servant hears the call to responsibility,  listens to those being served,  and then ministers to them....when we divorce our high-tech endeavors from the goal of serving others responsibly,  we become amoral technicians.

It seems that for Christian organizations to be truly serving their "audience" that seeks information and perhaps more,  they must let go of the "success story" and the expectations that online community will happen by itself; and that when it doesn't it isn't scrapped as "impractical" or not  promising enough of "sufficient ROI";   "if we build it,  they will come" isn't a promising strategy.  It takes real istening,  and it takes some searching to identify with what the users of an online system are seeking.  This is true even for Christian or religious groups that seek to sell resources online.  They MUST fight the good fight of building relationship;   to discover the stories of their users so that they can truly "serve the people" by helping them with the very things which attracted them to the possibility of using the resources in the first place.  It's not pushing a Product at them.  It's helping them with the search to find the best resources --- often these resources are not Publications but other people.  Publishers will do well to realize that. 

In Chapter 8,  Sojourning With Heart,  Schultze observes:

Many lonely, rootless individuals seek solace online,  particularly when they cannot find it in person. Although a digital "place" cannot possibly provide the levels of neighborliness and hospitality we need for community,  some of those surfing the cyber-diaspora do find temporary comfort there. (p.191)

So my question is this:  At the very least,  is there not a "call" implied here?  Is there not a ministry in "being there",  at least for the desperate ones?  I am not so condescending toward the cyber-community seeker (as in those "lonely , rootless individuals" who go online because they are some kind of social misfits).  My expererience tells me that these "save havens" that supposedly exist in traditional communities and religious traditions that Schultze holds up as the "solutions"  have failed in so many cases,  and many of the people leaving these failed insititutions have ventured online,  and some find personal contact,  and so me do not.  Online,  failure happens, too.  It's not as simple as "most people who seek online community are lonely , rootless individuals". There's much more to it: Read on in  "Too Quick To Judge"

In Chapter 8,  Sojourning With Heart,  Schultze observes:

Many lonely, rootless individuals seek solace online,  particularly when they cannot find it in person. Although a digital "place" cannot possibly provide the levels of neighborliness and hospitality we need for community,  some of those surfing the cyber-diaspora do find temporary comfort there. (p.191)

So my question is this:  At the very least,  is there not a "call" implied here?  Is there not a ministry in "being there",  at least for the desperate ones?  I am not so condescending toward the cyber-community seeker (as in those "lonely , rootless individuals" who go online because they are some kind of social misfits).  My expererience tells me that these "save havens" that supposedly exist in traditional communities and religious traditions that Schultze holds up as the "solutions"  have failed in so many cases,  and many of the people leaving these failed insititutions have ventured online,  and some find personal contact,  and so me do not.  Online,  failure happens, too.  It's not as simple as "most people who seek online community are lonely , rootless individuals". There's much more to it: Read on in  "Too Quick To Judge"

A defense of Schultze's arguments (from Habits of the High-Tech Heart) without having to agree in "Legitimate Theological and Sociological Exploration of  Online Community" (and then I proceed to say why I don't agree)

A defense of Schultze's arguments (from Habits of the High-Tech Heart) without having to agree in "Legitimate Theological and Sociological Exploration of  Online Community" (and then I proceed to say why I don't agree)

In "Speech vs Online Interaction",  I take issue with the suggestion in Chapter 7 of Habits of the High-Tech Heart that online is not as dialogical,  not as personal,  and not as "communal".  This seems to be the theme of Schultze's discussion of Virtual Community.  Schultze often takes up the phrase "Real Community" and usually in comparison to "Virtual Community",  which is one of my biggest peeves. 

In "Speech vs Online Interaction",  I take issue with the suggestion in Chapter 7 of Habits of the High-Tech Heart that online is not as dialogical,  not as personal,  and not as "communal".  This seems to be the theme of Schultze's discussion of Virtual Community.  Schultze often takes up the phrase "Real Community" and usually in comparison to "Virtual Community",  which is one of my biggest peeves. 

I remember this phrase as being used in some of the "Church Growth" books,  encouraging Churches to use some "marketing" techniques and recognize that organizations grow when they avoid too much "diversity".  In Chapter 7, Nurturing Virtue In Community,  Schultze identifies this as a tendency of cyberspace:

We can talk about cyberspace as a global village, as if it unifies the world into a community,  but our actual use of cyber-technology suggest that we select our online affiliations to maximize our own narrow interests,  not to reach out beyond those interests. (p.173)

Schultze suggests that Cyberspace encourages this,  which it certainly can, but this is NOT a condition of cyberspace.  It is a condition of natural "flocking",  as unhealthy and "provincial" as that may be.  As questionable as the Church Growth statement strikes me as an intentional strategy,  I also recognize that it is the practice of most Churches,  since people tend to gather with "like-minded" folks.  The responsibility to nurture diversity is as much a challenge online as it is in "traditional" gatherings. 

I remember this phrase as being used in some of the "Church Growth" books,  encouraging Churches to use some "marketing" techniques and recognize that organizations grow when they avoid too much "diversity".  In Chapter 7, Nurturing Virtue In Community,  Schultze identifies this as a tendency of cyberspace:

We can talk about cyberspace as a global village, as if it unifies the world into a community,  but our actual use of cyber-technology suggest that we select our online affiliations to maximize our own narrow interests,  not to reach out beyond those interests. (p.173)

Schultze suggests that Cyberspace encourages this,  which it certainly can, but this is NOT a condition of cyberspace.  It is a condition of natural "flocking",  as unhealthy and "provincial" as that may be.  As questionable as the Church Growth statement strikes me as an intentional strategy,  I also recognize that it is the practice of most Churches,  since people tend to gather with "like-minded" folks.  The responsibility to nurture diversity is as much a challenge online as it is in "traditional" gatherings. 

I found a blogger who reacts to Habits of the High-Tech Heart,  and they notice the absence of alternatives as well.

This blogger (Nathan Bierma) noticed the same thing I did about Habits of the High-Tech Heart,  a book to which I have reacted quite a bit over the past week. I recall reading portions of "Dancing in the Dark" several years ago and recall being impressed with it....and so my surprise at finding so much of the "dark side" of technology in Schultze's latest.  I tend to take these kinds of things personally.  It bothers me because this kind of treatment; the almost exclusive attention to how technology and specifically the Internet culture, can lead us astray,  with scarcely any alternatives for the Christian who wishes to do something positive wirth their communication gifts.  The blogger writes:

A book that asks such good questions begs more answers, or at least more suggestions. We’re not going back to an un-wired world, after all; e-mail and the Internet are here to stay. So how do Christians go forward, besides embracing their traditional and moral roots, and faithfully engage new digital technology? In his incisive 1992 book, Redeeming Television, Schultze offers several practical measures Christians can take as citizens, churchgoers, and media professionals in their interaction with the medium of television. A similar prescription, or a discussion of whether one is possible, would have enhanced his latest book.

I must draw a quite different conclusion than Nathan, however. He finishes with:

Nonetheless, Schultze has penned the authoritative theological analysis of digital technology in the new century. It is fitting that he do so; there are few media experts who have the theological depth of Schultze, and likewise few religious scholars who have Schultze’s experience and expertise in the field of communications. This book teaches much about both areas, and, true to its theme, answers the noise of the digital age with a voice of wisdom.

I think that anything considered authoritative would have to be more balanced.  Although I cannot dismiss the warnings Schultze sounds,  they do not give a clear picture.  I got the feeling that Church people reading this book would be discouraged even longer from effectively studying Net Culture.  It's already a difficult nut to crack,  this penchant in the Church for fleeing effective appropriation of technology.  The factions and sub-groups that do tend to "assimilate" much too willingly and uncritically.  The book Schultze has written would have been much more valuable if it had explored more of the alternatives;  to give some examples of how to do "High-tech with Heart".  The book leaves one feeling that there is so much damaging stuff that can happen to a person that it is better to shuck the whole scene.  If we do that (and I won't stand for it),  then we miss an opportunity;  and much of what I mean by that is scattered all over this Weblog.

Schultze says: "There is no virtual equivalent of hospitality,  since [hospitality] occurs in a place". 

He reveals his biases once again.  Of COURSE there is equivalent.  What about the programmer/developer of a Web site online community that does his work and gives his time to provide a place to host discussion and offer ways for users to write weblogs and collect news (a weblog hosting service) and who also does "aggregation  work" that provides a service of collecting "portal-like information" for a variety of issues to a particular Christian community?  This is hospitality in an online form.  This is also expressed in encouraging civil and appropriately balanced and considerate conversations. This is hard work,  and to find a place of welcome, wit, care,  and personality is a true blessing for which I am always thankful and a people to whom I am often drawn back again and again. 

It seems that he hasn't explored very many sites done by Christians,  or been interested in "tallying up" the ways that online technologies can "help" rather than hinder. 

In "My problem with anti-Net culture rhetoric", I state the convictions behind my defense of what Schultze would seem to identify as cyber-utopian faith in technology (from my take on his views as expressed in HABITS OF THE HIGH-TECH HEART. It's not FAITH in technology, but its "envisioning some possibilities" for how the Church can use the technology to "tell its story". There's a difference.

a "hug rather than an e-card".....(but an e-card more than nothing at all)....p.170

show me "neighborhoods" nowadays where people pursue shared interests

"Promiscuous intimacies occurring throughour cyberspace" p. 170

Cyberculture tends to identify us as tourists roving across geographic space rather than as neighborly inhabitants  of a particular place.(p. 171)

cybertechnology makes it easier to move from place to place without knowing the natives (p. 171)  yeah,  but it also allows us to FIND the scattered pilgrims when we would otherwsie never meet....

"diverse friends" in neighborhoods? 

Information technologies can supplement this type of neighborliness, but cannot substitute for it (p. 171).......Wow.  He finally acknowledged what one would never get from the frequency and fervor of the challenges to the values of technology to "supplement";  or what I like to call "extend";  to provide "extensions" to the ftf community.    Now,  this being said,  I do believe they CAN indeed substitiute for those communities wherein there is an absence and even a resistance to authentic knowing of persons.....its what the Cluetrain Manifesto authors call "voice",  and it can be,  and certainly is,  more often than not MISSING from all walks of society and all manner of civic and religious groups......and this "absence" of relationship is most acutely felt in the Church,  for this is where its absence is most egregious;  most "blasphemous";  a "betrayal of the gospel" which is preached (or in most of these cases,  NOT preached,  but avoided or used to prop up a spirtuality which "programs around" the initimate in favor of the massive event. 

We can neither conquer these differences nor eturn to old-fasioned communities that likely are little more than fabrication of oiur nostalgic yearnings.  

Funny,  I would say something very similar about Schultze's constant comparison to "good life" and "virtuous living" and "moral communities".  The void expereinced by so many in our culture,  which seems to be a prime mover of throngs seeking community into the reaches of the Web is testimony to the lack or failure of such "virtuosity" in the "real communities".

 

One sided polemic continues in Chapter 7, Nurturing Virtue in Community

p.167 straw dog "example" of failed telecommute (the manager obviously had no desire to see it work,  so how is this a model?) Hardly a "panacea",  and so Schultze leaps from this conclusion to conclude it can't work. 

Leap to chapter 7 where I see Schultze is not qualified to comment,  since he obviously has a predisposition to reject notions of intimacy or "communion" online.   Churches in general have th is view,  otherwise,  there would be no excuse whatsoever for not utiliziing this technology to try to "get back in touch"

Cliff at ethics daily.com gives a good interview of Quentin Schultze.   I latch onto a couple of the responses and ask some questions ---- I know that the interview wasn't lengthy enough to delve this deeply into speicifics,  but having read half the chapters thouroughly and scanned the points of others, I have some question as to whether Schultze has struck a balance between "informationism" and "virtuosity";  between "cyber-utopian" and "doing the right thing". 

On religious Web sites cultivating faith: The Web seems to be better for pointing people to faith rather than nurturing faith, which happens in local community. Many people are searching for God online, as strange as that seems. When the history of the Web is written I suspect that careful researchers will find that two major quests dominated the medium's early years: the quest for God and the quest for sex. Both involve intimacy. G.K. Chesterton supposedly said, "The man who goes up to the brothel door and knocks is looking for God." I think it is the anonymity of the Web that leads to the religious as well as the sexual searches. Looking for God online is much less intimidating than going through the door of a church.

On community in cyberspace: The richest forms of human community will never exist "online," only in person. Imagine a church community that "lives" only on the Web or via email. Once someone sent me an email to find out how to do the sacraments online. Can you imagine that? Real community, whether religious or not, exists in geographic proximity and is nurtured in relationships, which enable us to see and touch one another. The "passing of the peace" is a venerable Christian tradition in this regard.

I've been reading,  somewhat exasperated at times,  Quentin Schultze's Habits of the High-Tech Heart.  He approaches the subject in much the same contrarian, straw-dog argument and "anti-hype" as I remember in Clifford Stoll's "Silicon Snake Oil" did about 10 years ago. 

For instance:

Contemplative ways of life are not anti-technological as much as pro-community, pro-wisdom, and pro-faithfulness" (p. 197)

and yet I can find nothing but anti-technology as the over-arching theme of the book.  Moving back to the final two chapters and exploring the direction of the arguments reveals more of the same. 

The final paragraph:

To regain a moral footing in contemporary life,  we must dig deeper than information and knowledge, to the traditions that carry virtue from generation to generation.  we will have to invest as much time and energy inthe habits of our hearts as we do inour high-tech practices. Otherwise we will lose track of crucial links to the past that can illuminate the path to goodness. (p. 209)

p.186,  conclusions in chapter7, Nurturing Virtue in Community:

Most of the rhetoric about cyber-community  wrpongly assumes that we can deeply commune with one another  using only the instrumental techniques of communication. 

NOBODY does this.  NOBODY uses only the "instrumental techniques of communication".  Included in every communication that I would consider to be of truly personal nature is the transmission of  some embodiment of that person.  It is NOT something which contains ALL of a person,  for NOTHING is.  Not even our "face-to-face" , "traditional" relationships do that.  I have maintained for years that I have experienced ONLINE relationships that FAR surpass the level of "interpersonal exchange" that I have experienced from 99% of my experience of "face-to-face" , "Traditional" churches,  the kinds which are supposedly transmitting those religious traditions Schultze says are being ignored by the online community efforts.  

I scratch my head when I read statements like :

Online community ultimately lacks a real environment where people can be fully neighborly and hospitable.

High-tech community that exists "out there," on wires and radio waves or on beams of light, is too morally amorphous to sustain virtuous living.

If we sincerely desire to be a grateful and responsible society,  we will have to commit ourselves to renewing local community as much as we do to extending our messaging into the distant reaches of cyberspace.

One by one,  I will be "picking" at these and other generalizations and biases. I've been disappointed in the one-sided treatment ;  that "this book,  subtitled as Living Virtuously in the Information Age" apparently defines such virtuous living as "avoiding the Web as much as possible",  since there isn't much chance of discovering anything truly worthwhile.  If he thinks otherwise,  there is nothing I can find which actually cites positive use (or in Schultze's case, "worthy use" of the Internet in the pusuit of "moral ends".)

As I remember the way that I was "introduced" to Martin Luther King, Jr. by televesion,  and reflect on the new "opportunities" for the Church in "telling a story" on the Web,  I am still reading "Habits of the High-tech heart" and continue to find myself saying "Yeah, but...." at nearly every paragraph through where I have read (page 56).  read on in "Instantaneous vs Infoglut"

As I remember the way that I was "introduced" to Martin Luther King, Jr. by televesion,  and reflect on the new "opportunities" for the Church in "telling a story" on the Web,  I am still reading "Habits of the High-tech heart" and continue to find myself saying "Yeah, but...." at nearly every paragraph through where I have read (page 56).  read on in "Instantaneous vs Infoglut"

I became an attentive study of Dr. King through media.  It began in 1978 when NBC ran a mini-series called "King",  on the 20th anniversary of his assasination.  Read more about my coming to revere Martin Luther King, Jr. in "Morality and Media"

Robert Parham of ethicsdaily.com writes about the King speech where King calls on the story of Rip Van Winkle,  awaking to find that he had missed the American Revolution:

"How can we sleep when the war dogs bark for a clash of cultures? Some in our midst want the American military to crush Islam to advance Christianity. Others want American public schools to provide religious instruction for a generic god. Still others push the American government to do the evangelism of the church. How can we nod off when technology revolutionizes society? In an age of global communications and 24-hour news channels, the primary way Baptists communicate is through weekly newspapers or monthly magazines that carry dated news. Most of our churches and church organizations retain a paper fixation: printed curriculum with lessons written 18 months ago. Many denominational leaders fail to appreciate that playing to their audience for cheap feedback can bring harmful consequences to others abroad. Instead of sleeping through this period of change, we need, as King said, "new mental responses." New situations demand new attitudes, new ways, new resources. "

I vistited Robert and Cliff Vaughn at their office , "The Baptist Center for Ethics" a couple of days ago,  after finding their site the week before while cruising some CBF sites.  They have taken on what I see as two tasks of communication:  One,  to meet the above challenge concerning finding ways to speak intelligently and quickly to issues....not from last month but today.  By the time many people get to an article via the mainstram presses,  opinions have already been molded by various media,  usually television.   Southern Baptists have an addditional problem: deciding what to do with the "official statements" from denominational representatives who all too often communicate a predictable allinace with Republican politics and Christian Right perepectives.  Ethics daily has not been "sucked in" by this massive "falling in line" ,  often "forced" by the denominational leaders upon its various agencies.  They do this without "focusing" on the problems of the SBC,  but by simply continuing to ask discerning questions and covering relevant social issues.  They're doing something extremely valuable for the Theological Community,  and also for people who grew up as Southern Baptist and find themselves shaking their head with the rhetoric and attitudes expressed by their "leaders",  simply by continuing to be faithful to what they think God would have them communicate.

My review of  "Moderating Our Informational Desires" presents a misunderstanding of Metcalfe's Law - the value of a network increases at the rate of the square of people using it --- Schultze lumps this in with the triumphalism of the Tech-utopians as another example of "More and bigger is better",  but this misses the point.

I guesss that underneath all my resistance to the continuing seemingly one-sided negative treatment of online culture is the feeling that this view and analysis of online culture is rampant in the Church,  and that spells even darker days ahead as I search for meaningful work.  Heck,  I don't even have "meaningless work" right now, and now that I'm out of the holiday season where the family festivities provided a kind of emotional cushion against some of the cruel realities of this,  I have been rather gloomy today.   Some of the hopeful prospects I thought I had have seemingly withdrawn into what seems an increasingly gloomy economic "wait and see",  where few have much of anything in the way of resources to invest in growth or to begin to find things into which we need to pump new life. 

It was an exceedingly lonely day.

Observations on Chapter 1 of Habits of the High-Tech Heart: "Discerning Our Informationism"

Christianity Today.com has a feature on Tony Campolo,  one of my favorite people.

STILL have a few things I need to sell.....Theological Reference Books and Resources.....keeping notice at the top of my page

More connection problems with Comcast starting last night around 7pm,  and still slow today.....Same exact thing happened last weekend on Friday night and Saturday morning....

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I picked up Schultze's "Habits of the High-Tech Heart" , and I couldn't even make it past the Forward (NOT written by Schultze, but by Jean Bethke Elshtain) before pausing to rant about it . It had so many common arguments, warnings, and assumptions implied that I had to write "Review of the Forward (Habits of the High-Tech Heart)" This is not a normal kind of review. I am reporting "as I read", in much the same way as students might discuss a book in literature class. I may well be forced to retract assumptions and identify places where I had jumped the gun. This is just as in conversation, when somebody begins to state a case. With a prior understanding that I will hear more as the exploration unfolds, I will also "jump in" and say "now wait a minute", or ask a question, some of which may warrant a "I'm getting to that" reply, and some will be debate of a point that is being driven. Let the chips fall where they may. "Schultze Preface" | "Intro: Identifying the Techno-Moral Crisis"

I have a few things I need to sell.....Theological Reference Books and Resources

 

 

 

For sale from my Theological Library (all hardbacks have very nice, Library-style clear plastic covers over the dust jackets)....only Ideas Library and Barclay Daily Study Bible are paperback

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Synopsis of the Four Gospels - Greek_English Edition Hardback $90 plus shipping (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible 5 volume Set $90 plus shipping (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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SOLD Interpreter's Bible Commentary 12 volume Set $150 plus shipping SOLD SOLD

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SOLDBarclay Daily Study Bible NT Paperback Set - a few highlights -- $75 plus shipping of your choice (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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FF Bruce on 1-2 Thessalonians - Word Biblical Commentary $25 plus shipping (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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Romans (Harper NT Commentary) CK Barrett $20 plus shipping (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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Acts of the Apostles - Ernst Haenchen $30 plus shipping (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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SOLDRevelaton (New Century Bible) Beasely-Murray $25 plus shipping (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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Amos - James Luther Mays (OT Library Series) $25 plus shipping of your choice (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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Hosea - James Luther Mays (OT Library Series) $25 plus shipping of your choice (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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Phillipians - Ralph P. Martin (New Century Bible) $25 plus shipping of your choice (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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Acts - Frank Stagg (Broadman Press) $20 plus shipping of your choice (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

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Youth Specialties Ideas Books Vol. 1-36 (minus Volume 23) $75 plus shipping (Comment to tell me if you're intererested)

New book I've got my eye on:
Habits of the High-tech Heart (Book Bloggin' entry: New book: High Tech Heart)

I picked up a book from a bookstore shelf yesterday by Quentin Schultze, entitled "Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age" (this is a link to the story I have begun writing on the book).

I'll probably end up getting it and hope I won't have to "return it" if something doesn't happen soon on the job front.   I will go through it in more detail as a part of my "calling" to be more of an "evangelist" for the online possibilities we must not neglect as the Church.  My first impressions of the book make it seem likely I will be playing the role of opponent to many of Schultze's theses, if only to open up some alternative points of view into some of the areas where he sounds warnings. But I am also reasonably certain that Schultze will do some evangelizing himself,  since he is no Luddite,  having been a well-balanced and articulate voice for Christian perspectives on the Internet since before....well,  practically anyone.  A review of his book by Cliff Vaughn at ethicsdaily.com says this:

 Schultze’s stated goal is “not so much to discard database and messaging technologies as much as to adapt them to venerable ways of life anchored in age-old virtues.” Furthermore, “dismantling all information technologies is not a realistic or even a good solution.” So to read Schultze as an anti-technology reformer is to put forth a knee-jerk reaction to what is, finally, a well-reasoned case.

I see Schultze's book as promising in a number of ways.  He's an excellent writer.  He is a theologian and a communicator in his own right.  And he deals intelligently with the subject of the Internet.  This will make his book a good basis for dialogue.....some disagreement, some calls for expansion or further comment (which I will happily supply from my side) and some hearty "amens".  So consider this a pre-review or "looks promising" initial review,  and check back for updates to the story/review I have opened at "Habits of the High-Tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age"    

 

Quentin J. Schultze's Home Page  | Buy it or look at info on it at Amazon

This morning I have been making contact,  via my desktop in my office at home.  I got an email from one inquiry I sent out over the weekend,  from a person associated with a web site that I had stumbled across and had attracted my interest.  Just about any Website I come across that deals in matters that interest me are prime candidates for my services and my contributions as a Website planner.  That is because I specialize in an area that has mysteriously been largely ignored by a shocking number of theologically affiliated web sites: Online Community. 

Spiritual Web draws U.S. holiday crowds. Americans flocked to the Web in record numbers during the 2002 holiday season--and it was spiritual needs, not shopping, that pulled most of them in, according to a new survey. [CNET News.com]

Outline experiment

Subscription list added at the right (Didn't notice when I lost that....now it's back, I hope)....now check it out....

Before I went to bed last night (rather,  this morning),  I was reading about the origin of the Mission Groups in the Church of the Saviour journey (in Call to Commitment).   It came down to finding o