The New York Times published an article about the distractions of social media and e-mailing while reading E-books on tablets and readers: “Finding your book interrupted…by the tablet you read on” The article talks about the different distractions waiting just a swipe away from the reader screen: social media, Google searches, e-mails, news feeds, etc. “That adds up to a reading experience that is more like a 21st-century cacophony than a traditional solitary activity. And some of ...
The internet’s jungle of resources can often leave the new adventurer mildly intimidated and a little too timid to leave the outskirts of the wilderness and its safety of familiarity. The intimidation and unfamiliarity with the internet can make the task of keeping up with new web trends and media entirely too daunting to even try. There are many blogs and columns today that take away the scary factor of keeping up with the technological ...
In America, repenting of sins and confessing the name of Jesus Christ does not always come with an expectation of the transformation of the mind and the supernatural process of becoming holy; it tends to come with the expectation of a transformation of cultural taste. Instead of celebrating the kingdom of heaven that she is to inherit and the reality of the Body of Christ that she has been grafted into, the new believer is ...
As we, through this online journal, continue our critiques of mediums and their messages, I wonder what the implications of these critiques may be. We writers and students have been immersing ourselves in courses of theology and biblical studies as well as media and communications classes and projects and fleshing them out here. But I fear that our growth in knowledge and cultural discernment might lead to our carelessly spewing words from our own perceived ...
JabberJury is a cyber courtroom that allows for what they call social justice. Basically members of the site can post their complaints via uploaded videos and allow for other members, or the JabberJurors, to vote and settle presented disputes by choosing a winner of the conflict. This can say a lot about the direction that human relationships have taken in our society. Not only are people continuing to hide behind computer screens, rather than approaching ...
The following article, written for the Student Theological Society of Moody Bible Institute, previously appeared in the April 6, 2010 issue of The Moody Standard. Popular culture reveals the conversation of humans affected by the alienating results of the Fall and their indescribable longing for reconciliation. In the media-driven language of today’s culture we see both the glorious echoes of creation and the tragic cries of Sin. Through internet venues, music, documentaries, ...
A response to Art & Soul My years transitioning into the “Christian sub-culture” may have been more confusing to me than the ones during my parents divorce. I was led to believe that all that I enjoyed was evil and that dancing, acting and singing; spinning rifles, playing cards and going on non mission-trip vacations are worldly and displeasing to God. Though from conversations and personal reading, I was never able to find substantial biblical support ...
Even media and culture expert Brian Kammerzelt did not see this one coming. Gmail motion will surely result in an entirely new language in our culture: [This message will self destruct when April 1 has ended]
What better representation of our modern culture than to award the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize to techno-phenomenon such as these? Read all about it here and here. What do you think this says as a representation to our culture and even our standards? Given that the internet can also be an outlet for ruin and Wikileaks’ Asenge is in a world of legal trouble and personal issues, does this show to be selective, oblivious, dismissive? Or does ...
“Facebook profiles are like belly buttons: Everybody’s got one.” So a Mashable post pointed out in January. They posted the following SocialHype infographic that is just fascinating! I wonder, though, can we even call this an obsession anymore? It seems to be the new norm–like belly buttons.
Hans Rookmaker lived from 1922-1977, dedicating most of his adult life to the study of arts and culture. He wrote numerous articles relating to these studies, incorporating various facets of philosophy and theology. He was aligned with the Neo-Calvinist Dutch Reformed theology, which basically carried out the Calvinist teaching, emphasizing that the Sovereignty of God extends to all aspects of Creation within space and time. In his Modern Art and the Death of Culture, Rookmaker ...
I tell you about the little wonder of Google Trends for two purposes: one, because it is information that could prove beneficial to your internet endeavors for ever and ever and two, because it will show you just how much our culture cares about celebrity hair and that there are some major things that you might also be unfortunately oblivious to.
A writer for HerCampus.com form the Boston College branch posted a very insightful piece for Valentine’s Day: Romantic Comedies…Or Emotional Porn? Here is a little preview: …This is not to say that romantic comedies are porn. They clearly are not. However, one might argue that the two genres of film share one similar effect upon viewers: they set up unrealistic fantasies that leave viewers wanting what they see on screen. While porn does this in ...
Lifechurch.tv encourages visitors to engage in community, worship and discipleship through the website. This method of church has proven to bear much fruit with the the Life Church ministry and continues to grow. They also started the most popular iPhone Bible app YouVersion.