Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)One of the most important issues facing the Church today is how to engage with the culture and to bring it the saving message of the gospel - without becoming like the culture. This issue has special relevance with regards to the digital communications that seem to govern and rule our lives.
I can't think of a person better qualified to address the place of the Christian in the midst of this digital explosion than Tim Challies. Challies is both a solid Christian with a Reformed background, as well as someone who is intimately familiar with the effects of the digital world on the lives of Christians. Challies is not only a web designer but also a very popular Christian blogger and book reviewer.
This past year, I've read a large number of books dealing with exactly the issue of how Christians should engage the digital world all around us: "The Next Story" is to date the best book I've read on the issue. There are a number of reasons for this. First, Challies ties what he says back to a theological foundation for what he writes. He brings a distinctly Christian perspective that avoids the extremes of jumping on the digital bandwagon or of being afraid to use the new technologies. Instead, he advocates what he calls "disciplined discernment," a trait that he himself manifests throughout the entire book. Second, Challies deals with a large number of relevant issues. While he provides something of a theological basis for what he says, he also writes about the particular issues that are most relevant to the digital world. In this way, "The Next Story" bridges the gap between theory and practice, between theology and real life. Third, Challies has provided what I think is the best overall discussion of the impact of the various digital technologies on our lives and souls - as well as the best discussion of some of the things that we as Christians must practice if we are not be to distracted and led astray by this omnipresent digital world. Throughout "The Next Story," Challies has read and interacted with the best thinkers in the area of media and its influence in our lives.
Let me be more specific about a few of the issues with which "The Next Story" deals. While the book is a little slow in the beginning, Challies really hits his stride in Part 2 of the book when he shows us how to put the theory into practice. In Chapter 4 on Communication, Challies hits the nail on the proverbial head when he dissects some of the ways in which digital communication can become idolatrous: we have fashioned idols of productivity, significance, and a desire for information.
Chapter 5 is even better, when Challies discusses the nature of the mediated world we live in. He sustains an important discussion of the way that digital technologies are disembodying us or "disincarnating" us. One all too real example is the notion of how in the digital world identity is fluid and something we create for ourselves. We take "avatars" for ourselves, and multiple ones at that. We begin to think of ourselves as something apart from our bodies and as beings we can re-create in any image we desire to. We also pursue "networked individualism," based not on a real community but only on the basis of similar, ephemeral shared interests.
Chapter 6 deals with Distraction, a topic I'm keenly aware of as a father of five children and as a high school teacher. Distraction, Challies argues, leads to shallow thinking, which in turn leads to shallow living. And the truth is that we are all more distracted by our digital technologies than we recognize. Even multi-tasking turns out to be highly overrated as a strategy for dealing with our communication overload.
One of my favorite chapters is Chapter 8, on Truth and Authority. Challies' reflection on the "authority" that Wikipedia has developed for itself is worth the price of the book all by itself. Isn't it a little scary that the number one page that shows up on Google for almost any search is Wikipedia, an encyclopedia which has only relatively poor oversight and which has been known to have inaccuracies? What happens when authority is based on popularity, rather than expertise, tradition, or revelation?
Make sure you read the Epilogue, in which Challies reveals to us some of the ways in which he personally has learned to combat the challenges of the digital world. In so doing, he begins to teach us some of the spiritual disciplines we will all need to undertake if we don't want the digital technologies to distract us from Christ. Challies also provides additional suggestions at the end of each of the chapters in Part 2 of the book.
Highly recommended for any Christian who wants to live more faithfully in this digital world!
Here's an outline of the book so you can better see the flow of Challies' thought:
Part 1
Chapter 1 - Discerning Technology
Chapter 2 - Understanding Technology
Chapter 3 - A Digital History
Part 2
Chapter 4 - Speaking, Truthing, Loving, Living (Communication)
Chapter 5 - Life in the Real World (Mediation/ Identity)
Chapter 6 - Turn Off and Tune In (Distraction)
Chapter 7 - More is Better (Informationism)
Chapter 8 - Here Comes Everybody (Truth/Authority)
Chapter 9 - Seeing and Believing (Visibility and Privacy)
Epilogue- The Next Story and the Next Story after That . . .
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion
Even the least technical among us are being pressed from all sides by advances in digital technology. We rely upon computers, cell phones, and the Internet for communication, commerce, and entertainment. Yet even though we live in this 'instant message' culture, many of us feel disconnected, and we question if all this technology is really good for our souls. In a manner that's accessible, thoughtful, and biblical, author Tim Challies addresses questions such as:*How has life---and faith---changed now that everyone is available all the time through mobile phones?*How does our constant connection to these digital devices affect our families and our church communities? *What does it mean that almost two billion humans are connected by the Internet ... with hundreds of millions more coming online each year?Providing the reader with a framework they can apply to any technology, Tim Challies explains how and why our society has become reliant on digital technology, what it means for our lives, and how it impacts the Christian faith.
Click here for more information about The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion
0 comments:
Post a Comment