Sunday, March 15, 2009
Things are changing...
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...Phyliss Tickle reflection (part 2)...and then some
Phyliss Tickle spends a good amount of her book listing what she calls "peri-Emergence" events, or in other words, events and changes in science, society and religion that are pre-cursors to the great emergence (see prior post here). This past week, I found more and more of these type of events and conversations that led me to continue to think that things in the realm of religion and Christianity really are changing. Here are just a few I tried to remember to put down:
The release of the Kindle 2 got a lot of buzz in the tech world, but this great article passed on to me by @ovpaul shows that the Kindle is more than just a new way to read. It actually changes the way we read, and even the way we understand literature and information. Some quotes:
"...I see in the turning of literal pages—pages bound in literal books—a compelling larger value, and perceive in the move away from the book a move away from a certain kind of cultural understanding...The book is part of a system...and to touch a book is to touch that system, however lightly...For me the significance of this is not whether people end up reading more or less, or even a matter of what they read. At issue is the deep-structure of the activity....we will not simply have replaced one delivery system with another. We will also have modified our imagination of history, our understanding of the causal and associative relationships of ideas and their creators....But we misjudge [the Kindle] if we construe it as just another useful new tool."
On a micro level, specific to just one device and one realm of society, this article accurately points out that as our world changes, we change in deeper and broader ways. It's very difficult to describe and even harder to predict these changes. But as one who was raised in a traditional evangelical and liturgical church, and now working amongst teens from across a wide spectrum of Christianity, I get hints and feel the shift happening as well.
Another example: Studies of religion in America show steady declines, especially in mainline denominations, but more significantly, amongst those who claim to be Christian at all (dropped 11%). For some, this isn't much of a surprise. IMO, the numbers will continue to decrease. Not because the US is necessarily drastically less "Christian" per se, but rather the tools for measuring beliefs will be inadequate. Such studies aren't taking into account changes across college campuses, increased desire amongst Christians to work overseas, more and more local and organic meetings and conversations, not in buildings with church signs and weekly services, but discussions across the blogo/twitter/facebook-sphere. If the world of religion is really changing, then what we were previously looking for no longer exists, and of course it will appear to be in decline.
More examples:
"The world is changed....I feel it in the water....I feel it in the earth....I smell it in the air...much that once was is lost...for none now live that remember it"
...Phyliss Tickle reflection (part 2)...and then some
Phyliss Tickle spends a good amount of her book listing what she calls "peri-Emergence" events, or in other words, events and changes in science, society and religion that are pre-cursors to the great emergence (see prior post here). This past week, I found more and more of these type of events and conversations that led me to continue to think that things in the realm of religion and Christianity really are changing. Here are just a few I tried to remember to put down:
The release of the Kindle 2 got a lot of buzz in the tech world, but this great article passed on to me by @ovpaul shows that the Kindle is more than just a new way to read. It actually changes the way we read, and even the way we understand literature and information. Some quotes:"...I see in the turning of literal pages—pages bound in literal books—a compelling larger value, and perceive in the move away from the book a move away from a certain kind of cultural understanding...The book is part of a system...and to touch a book is to touch that system, however lightly...For me the significance of this is not whether people end up reading more or less, or even a matter of what they read. At issue is the deep-structure of the activity....we will not simply have replaced one delivery system with another. We will also have modified our imagination of history, our understanding of the causal and associative relationships of ideas and their creators....But we misjudge [the Kindle] if we construe it as just another useful new tool."
On a micro level, specific to just one device and one realm of society, this article accurately points out that as our world changes, we change in deeper and broader ways. It's very difficult to describe and even harder to predict these changes. But as one who was raised in a traditional evangelical and liturgical church, and now working amongst teens from across a wide spectrum of Christianity, I get hints and feel the shift happening as well.
Another example: Studies of religion in America show steady declines, especially in mainline denominations, but more significantly, amongst those who claim to be Christian at all (dropped 11%). For some, this isn't much of a surprise. IMO, the numbers will continue to decrease. Not because the US is necessarily drastically less "Christian" per se, but rather the tools for measuring beliefs will be inadequate. Such studies aren't taking into account changes across college campuses, increased desire amongst Christians to work overseas, more and more local and organic meetings and conversations, not in buildings with church signs and weekly services, but discussions across the blogo/twitter/facebook-sphere. If the world of religion is really changing, then what we were previously looking for no longer exists, and of course it will appear to be in decline.
More examples:
- An old friend from college, Eric, campaigning on Facebook for his idea to create high quality family portraits for those who don't have that opportunity.
- The discussion centered around Shane Hipps' claim that virtual community isn't real community. (IMO, it's more a matter of changing what community means - it is a different kind of community)
- At a church-growth conference, Perry Noble made some statements against Emerging/ent, and the blogosphere immediately lit up with responses, discussion, and interaction. While Noble might scoff at the responses, the point is that he can no longer make statements that are secluded to his church sanctuary, but rather they are disseminated, dissected, and re-applied by thousands - the leadership heirarchy has been leveled (so much more could be said about this).
"The world is changed....I feel it in the water....I feel it in the earth....I smell it in the air...much that once was is lost...for none now live that remember it"
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