Nadia Bolz-Weber - "Technology is neutral. The intentionality around its use is what makes it work for good or evil. ... I see me blog as a ministry, a little piece of the Internet for the lunatic fringe of the church." (p. 156)
Cheryl Lawrie - "Only have blogs or podcasts if you have something to say. Technology shouldn't be automatic tool. It isolates and divides communities as much as it brings us together." (p. 158)
Kester Brewin - "Blogging will settle down. There's currently too much noise... too many people talking for it really to be called a conversation."
Isaac Everett - "When the gospel was translated into German and people could read the Bible for themselves, it changed theology and it changed the church. Blogs and podcasts are doing similar things; they're leveling the playing field and allowing anyone to be published. Authority and influence aren't mediated commodities anymore."
What is your take on the role of technology in spreading the gospel?
Are there dangers in using mediums like blogs and podcasts?
Do you see blogs as creating too much noise or as means of leveling the field and letting the marginalized have a voice?
Labels: Book Discussions, Rising from the Ashes
Blogging will settle down. There's currently too much noise... too many people talking for it really to be called a conversation
The flip side of this, though, is a movement in which most of the conversation occurs among WASP-y, heterosexual, middle-aged men...many of whom are pastors. That's a pretty small niche, and it can lead to some pretty skewed ideas.
I don't think the solution to this problem is to prune the number of voice as much as I think it is to have multiple conversations.
I don't know what your families are like, but when my extended family gets together there can be five or six simultaneous, sometimes-overlapping conversations throughout dinner. It's sometimes a little overwhelming, but it's also informative (I learn a lot of family history by listening!) and entertaining.
Do you see blogs as creating too much noise or as means of leveling the field and letting the marginalized have a voice?
The latter.