Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith
Shane Hipps
Zondervan, 2009, 208 pp., $16.99, www.shanehipps.com
Salvation on the Small Screen: 24 Hours of Christian Television
Nadia Bolz-Weber
Seabury Books, 2008, 164 pp., $17.00, www.sarcasticlutheran.com
Understanding Evangelical Media: The Changing Face of Christian Communication
Quentin J. Schultze and Robert H. Woods, editors
IVP Academic, 2008, 347 pp., $22.00, www.academic.ivpress.com
Scientific Mythologies: How Science and Science Fiction Forge New Religious Beliefs
James A. Herrick
IVP Academic, 2008, 288 pp., $23.00, www.academic.ivpress.com
Christian thinkers analyze culture in these four books so believers will be encouraged to be more than consumers by critiquing and creating culture themselves.
I loved Shane Hipps’ 2006 book, The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture, written with Brian McLaren. In the new book, Hipps, a former ad writer turned Mennonite pastor, again channels media guru Marshall McLuhan; this time he does a better job of connecting the dots for his readers. For example, his chapter “Our Nomadic Life” raises questions about virtual community and true intimacy few others seem to be discussing.
If you’ve been consuming culture more, but reflecting on it less, repent and read this provocative book.
Meanwhile, Nadia Bolz-Weber, who works with Denver’s House for All Sinners and Saints community and writes the http://www.sarcasticlutheran.com/ blog, has been watching way too much Christian TV. When I opened this book, I thought: “What can be said that hasn’t already been said plenty of times?” The answer is plenty, as Bolz-Weber and her various friends view and assess the mixed messages spewing forth from TBN.
For decades, Calvin College’s Quentin Schultze has pioneered Christian critical thinking about mass media. A good summary of the recurring theme of this meaty volume on radio, TV, movies, magazines, worship, the Web and more would be that mainstream culture continually develops and exploits all manner of new media. Meanwhile, those Christians who aren’t battling mainstream culture attempt to use these media for their own purposes, with mixed results. While many seek to use media in reaching the unchurched, their parochialism—or lack of professionalism—often mean they merely preach to a narrowly defined religious tribe.
This book is perhaps the most thorough on Schultze’s growing list of thoughtful and thorough studies.
Science fiction and speculative science are a source of “an emerging canon of transcendent stories,” writes James Herrick in Scientific Mythologies. The book is thorough–perhaps too thorough for many readers—but you can hear an excellent interview with Herrick on Vol. 93 of the Mars Hill Audio Journal (visit http://www.marshillaudio.org/ to subscribe), which remains one of the very best resources for examining culture from a Christian perspective.
