Technology & Reformation Rap
Yesterday, I met with Ken Mueller from Inkling Media at the Chestnut Hill Cafe in Lancaster to discuss the implications of technology, social media and networking (TSMN) on businesses, education, and community. Or, one word covers all: Culture
My general interest with TSMN trends to education; how we as educators can leverage the inherent attraction that students have to TSMN to further their education (their academic and social understanding of the world). My particular focus in education is on college preparation and college transition, a topic that I have been working on professionally since 1989. In 2001, as I entered Temple University's Educational Psychology Ph. D. program, I decided that my concentration was going to be on technology.
I had little clue at the time how prescient that decision was going to be in the dawning of the era of TSMN 24-7. In my dissertation on "College Knowledge" (what students and parents need to know about the college preparation and college transition process), technology is the platter that my work is being served upon. I have platforms and utensils at my disposal that simply did not exist 8 years ago.
We are not going to be able to modify students inherent attraction to TSMN. All we can do is direct it to some degree and leverage the power of TSMN for the student's growth, academic and otherwise. Trying to block out TSMN influence is about as useless as using one's hand to block the sun. The TSMN sun is still going to shine all around us even we ourselves manage to obscure its light. It is a fruitless and foolish task.
When meeting with Ken, a friend of mine from Priority One Men's Ministry David Noll--who I know from Reformed Presbyterian in Ephrata--came in and we got to talking about how our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, has the Reformed theological tradition to embrace culture without being a slave to it. However, a major problem in the PCA's right now is being unable to differentiate the distinctions between theological conservatism (known as Orthodoxy) from what can be more generally called "style" considerations. The discussion kind of jumped tracks from education to church, but many of the same issues exist.
When I say style, I am referring to things such as service structure, musical genre, dress, use of technology, and even the food we serve at our church events. Despite these "things" perhaps having some connection to "moral" issues (i.e. clothes can be immodest, and music can be too loud, and technology can become something that isolates us and makes us more narcissistic and less others-centered, and we can eat too much) most of the time our conservative presumptions and presuppositions on style go beyond the biblical prescription and present a formidable barrier in the PCA to our endeavors in discipleship of those children raised in the PCA and in evangelism to the unchurched. We have made the walls higher than they need to be...the walls of faith are high enough already.
We have extolled and elevated style to the point of obscuring our substance. We might think we are protecting our creeds by the fortress mentality but Jesus said that we are to be the "Light of the World" and I have to think that light might just include our smartphone and computer screens. The long-term implications of not considering these style issues puts the PCA's future at risk. We need to carefully consider how we can employ TSMN without turning it into a idol where we expect it do more than it is intended to do. It is the medium and not the message. Likewise, we need to consider other cultural mediums and do a wiser job of figuring out how to present the Gospel through them. I know that this is a passion for Square Halo Books.
I was heartened to see that Westminster Presbyterian in Lancaster (our flagship PCA Church in the county) hosted a Christian rap artist named Shai Linne. My friend Walt Mueller (yes, he is Ken's older brother) from the Center of Parent/Youth Understanding posted this video from YouTube. Here is Shai Linne rap song Greatest Story Ever Told. Most Christian rap is cornier than Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn and has about the same spiritual nutrition as its snack analogue.
Having a Christian rapper at Westminster, the very definition of the prototypical PCA Church, gives me hope that we are getting it. Ten years ago having a rap performer at Westminster would have been like having Jesse Jackson as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Cato Institute.
With the collapse of the mainstream media and its Liberal propagators, technology is evening the playing field among all parties and persuasions. The Agora is open for business and we need to bring the goods. We used to not be able to get the goods into the market. Now we can. And we must. The invention of the printing press in Europe converged with the theological stirrings of Luther and the Catholic Church, so seriously venal and corrupt, never saw it coming. The world was never the same.
I need to give a closer read to the Cato Institute article posted below on my FB page so I can think through these issues more.
My general interest with TSMN trends to education; how we as educators can leverage the inherent attraction that students have to TSMN to further their education (their academic and social understanding of the world). My particular focus in education is on college preparation and college transition, a topic that I have been working on professionally since 1989. In 2001, as I entered Temple University's Educational Psychology Ph. D. program, I decided that my concentration was going to be on technology.
I had little clue at the time how prescient that decision was going to be in the dawning of the era of TSMN 24-7. In my dissertation on "College Knowledge" (what students and parents need to know about the college preparation and college transition process), technology is the platter that my work is being served upon. I have platforms and utensils at my disposal that simply did not exist 8 years ago.
We are not going to be able to modify students inherent attraction to TSMN. All we can do is direct it to some degree and leverage the power of TSMN for the student's growth, academic and otherwise. Trying to block out TSMN influence is about as useless as using one's hand to block the sun. The TSMN sun is still going to shine all around us even we ourselves manage to obscure its light. It is a fruitless and foolish task.
When meeting with Ken, a friend of mine from Priority One Men's Ministry David Noll--who I know from Reformed Presbyterian in Ephrata--came in and we got to talking about how our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, has the Reformed theological tradition to embrace culture without being a slave to it. However, a major problem in the PCA's right now is being unable to differentiate the distinctions between theological conservatism (known as Orthodoxy) from what can be more generally called "style" considerations. The discussion kind of jumped tracks from education to church, but many of the same issues exist.
When I say style, I am referring to things such as service structure, musical genre, dress, use of technology, and even the food we serve at our church events. Despite these "things" perhaps having some connection to "moral" issues (i.e. clothes can be immodest, and music can be too loud, and technology can become something that isolates us and makes us more narcissistic and less others-centered, and we can eat too much) most of the time our conservative presumptions and presuppositions on style go beyond the biblical prescription and present a formidable barrier in the PCA to our endeavors in discipleship of those children raised in the PCA and in evangelism to the unchurched. We have made the walls higher than they need to be...the walls of faith are high enough already.
We have extolled and elevated style to the point of obscuring our substance. We might think we are protecting our creeds by the fortress mentality but Jesus said that we are to be the "Light of the World" and I have to think that light might just include our smartphone and computer screens. The long-term implications of not considering these style issues puts the PCA's future at risk. We need to carefully consider how we can employ TSMN without turning it into a idol where we expect it do more than it is intended to do. It is the medium and not the message. Likewise, we need to consider other cultural mediums and do a wiser job of figuring out how to present the Gospel through them. I know that this is a passion for Square Halo Books.
I was heartened to see that Westminster Presbyterian in Lancaster (our flagship PCA Church in the county) hosted a Christian rap artist named Shai Linne. My friend Walt Mueller (yes, he is Ken's older brother) from the Center of Parent/Youth Understanding posted this video from YouTube. Here is Shai Linne rap song Greatest Story Ever Told. Most Christian rap is cornier than Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn and has about the same spiritual nutrition as its snack analogue.
Having a Christian rapper at Westminster, the very definition of the prototypical PCA Church, gives me hope that we are getting it. Ten years ago having a rap performer at Westminster would have been like having Jesse Jackson as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Cato Institute.
With the collapse of the mainstream media and its Liberal propagators, technology is evening the playing field among all parties and persuasions. The Agora is open for business and we need to bring the goods. We used to not be able to get the goods into the market. Now we can. And we must. The invention of the printing press in Europe converged with the theological stirrings of Luther and the Catholic Church, so seriously venal and corrupt, never saw it coming. The world was never the same.
I need to give a closer read to the Cato Institute article posted below on my FB page so I can think through these issues more.
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