Mayans, Dead Sea Scrolls, and Google

So it's Saturday, Dec. 22nd. The World is still here (assuming the world didn't actually end, and then was replaced with a replica by the white mice but that's another story.)

There is something about apocalyptic prophecies that fascinate the Western consciousness.  The most recent of course are Harold Camping's end of the world on May 21, 2012 (later amended to October 21st, 2012), and now the Mayan Calendar end on December 21st, 2012.  I would have thought after May 21st online interest would wane but December 21st generated an even higher number of Google searches.

When you start looking at the Canadian search data you note that we paid little attention to the May 21st prophecies unlike our American neighbours, but we were very interested in Googling December 21st. Alberta and New Brunswick folks were searching "The End of the World", Saskatchewan and PEI focused on "Mayan Calendar", and La Belle Province was looking up "Fin du Monde."

This week I also noted Google's new project to digitize the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Israel Museum. This will open up the study of the original texts to a new generation of Bible and Religion scholars.  Yes, we have had transcriptions and translations, but as my Old Testament Professor Gus used to say "Do you understand what the text actually looks like?  Do you see the shape of the manuscript?"  You can see hesitations in the script, erased characters, and even modified texts, that aren't apparent in transcription.  My imagination conjures up images of the ancient scribe as he painstakingly and reverently copied his scroll.  Hopefully, this digital archive will spark new avenues of research.  One popular text is The War Scroll (1QM), popularly known as "The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness."  The scroll builds on Biblical traditions of the End of Days from the Old Testament books of Daniel and Ezekiel.  I don't doubt that this digital publication will also spark a new wave of interest in this text by amateur Biblical scholars and prophets; new fuel for the apocalyptically inclined.

The Internet is a powerful place to share belief, to engage with the faithful, and to ask difficult questions.   Speculation also runs wild here, tapping into our deepest fears.  We want to know what will happen next because we live in uncertain times.  I admit to uncertainties about my own future direction as I weigh life's decisions.  But on the big question "will the world be here tomorrow" that I can at least let go and not concern myself.  My faith puts me at ease that I do know, as the old hymn says, Who holds the future.  But I am fascinated with our quests online; we are hungry to know the unknowable.  Mostly we are going off on our own little pilgrimages, but occasionally our journeys overlap in a big way, as this week when we collectively tried to pull aside the curtain, and take a peek at tomorrow.  What will be the next nexus of faith online?

Photo credit: "Don't Panic", Patrick Hoesly, http://www.flickr.com/photos/zooboing/4637192255/

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Transliteracy: Technical term for "Its all blurry?"

Some people really get into theory. Their eyes light up as they ruminate on the theory of something something something. I'm a little thick and I find theoretical thinking difficult. But it is good for me. Right? Just no more reading Foucault (though maybe a little more Derrida for Louis-Charles.)

I have the privilege of lecturing at the School of Information Management @ Dalhousie.  I teach a course called Managing Information Literacy Instruction.  We explore how to equip people to engage with information: to know when they need it, to find it, to evaluate it, and to use it effectively and ethically.  I have students who are much more intrigued with theory than I.  One concept we have engaged with is Transliteracy defined as "the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks." This is the new dimension to using information.

I've referred a couple of times to Chris Helland's distinction between "religion online" and "online religion."  The former is comprised of religion information accessible on the internet, like most church websites that are not really interactive. The latter are online environments where religion can be practiced. This is not just about virtual worlds, but includes interactive elements like online discussion and prayer groups. Chris developed this useful distinction around 2000.
But religious online engagement has changed: social media is being rapidly embraced, the pulpit is becoming more visual, and on Sunday I'll turn to my Bible app, while the service streams to the world.  When I attended the Conference on Media, Religion and Culture 2 years ago there was already much discussion around whether the distinction between online and offline still holds.  They are bleeding into each other.

Now enter transliteracy.  Does format matter anymore?  Is the medium fluid?  Is text now text+?  In September I was able to attend the #Influence12 Symposium on Measuring Influence of Social Media.  Sessions ranged from "Facebook's Influence on the Egyptian Revolution" and "Data Mining as Social Research."  It was a fascinating yet unsettling symposium.  The online and offline bleed together, and whether we like it or not, new medias (twitter, facebook, pinterest, etc) are transforming how we interact with each other, on personal and global scales.

• The challenge for the symposium was to understand the power of that impact.  
• The challenge for my students is to equip our communities to engage with this new world.  
• The question for me is to understand faith lived out where the online/offline bleed together. 

 The theory hurts my head; the practice...well, I'll get back to you on that.

InfoGraphic http://pinterest.com/pin/176344141629601788/

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The Theology of Information Seeking II

Question: "Do online information sources undermine traditional religious authorities?"

I had the opportunity to present one facet of my doctrinal research in poster form at the most recent APLA conference in beautiful Wolfville, Nova Scotia.  Not my usual kind of venue, but a fun conference.  The Internet is having a negative impact on congregational life and faith building some clergy tell me.  Google et al. bring a cornucopia of ideas and beliefs into our daily lives, that previous generations may never have wrestled with. 

So I explored that a bit through my interviews with church leaders (clergy, ordained or unordained lay leaders).  What sources are they choosing, how do they choose them, and what is the role these sources play in their roles as leaders and in their personal faith building?

I've turned the 48"x36" poster into a prezi for your viewing so the format/fonts are a little wonky.  (You can click the "More" link at the bottom right corner of the prezi to go to full screen mode, and use the arrows to advance the prezi.)  For those with shorter attention spans, my conclusion is below.

 http://prezi.com/4kunszqpfy1i/the-theology-of-information-seeking/

Answer: There appears to be little evidence in church leaders' information seeking that online sources are undermining traditional religious authorities.  This conclusion supports earlier research on religious bloggers who tended to support traditional authorities.  The role of these authorities is changing from key information source for information for religious purposes to a source of discernment of good or useful information.

Implications: If the sources and even the nature of information for faith building are changing, do churches then have an obligation to equip their members to be effective seekers and consumers of information?  Is there a place for information literacy in the local church?

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The Journey Online

The challenge of any helping role is that most of the work you do is invisible. This is the case for pastors, whose jobs involve confidential counselling, mentoring, and simply coming alongside. I remember in my early days as a student pastor having to put up with comments like "nice job, only having to work one day a week." I kept thinking that a regular 9-5 job sounded so nice! So how does one share the fullness of pastoral life without appearing to be an attention seeker?

A friend at the Archdiocese of Ottawa office recently told me about Archbishop Terrence Prendergast's blog "the Journey of a Bishop." Posting nearly everyday, he chronicles events in the life of the church, both local and international. He shares prayers, pastoral thoughts and photos of special events. I understand that even the office staff find it a great source of information about the goings on of the church and the Archbishop. It the counter is accurate, he has had nearly 300,000 visits to his blog since January 2009.

The first thing that strikes me is the man is busy! Obviously there is much more he does than is depicted here, but this is a good outline of public activities. The next thing that strikes me is that this opens a window to the life of the church. This isn't text written by a PR firm, or photos air brushed by marketing. But if I was ever curious what does an Archbishop does, here is a good place to start.

Many pastors have blogs, feeds and websites. Some are current news, some are ancient history. It takes time and effort to blog, and I know pastors who feel there time could be better spent. Pastor John Piper has made a strong argument for pastors blogging, among them interacting, and being known. Interacting is important, and perhaps a weakness of "The Journey of a Bishop" is that it remains one way communication, although I have no way of knowing how many comments and questions are sent. I am just not part of the dialogue. Recently ChurchMag had an interesting post about using Church social media. How do you use social media to create conversations? Ask questions. Scary when you are on the web.

Piper's comment about being known also caught my attention. Piper writes,
"Your people hear you teach a lot; it’s probably the main way that most of them know you. You preach on Sundays, teach on Wednesdays, give messages at weddings, funerals, youth events, retreats, etc. This is good—it’s your job. But it’s not all you are....your people need some access to you as a person. A blog is one way to help them."

This is powerful. I find that much of the religious blogging I encounter is, well frankly, evangelistic and somewhat contrived. You rarely meet the person behind the scripture verses or sermon notes.

Lots to chew on. What is your favourite personal blog? What draws you back to it?

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Our (Virtual) Siberian Visitors

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
H. W. Longfellow

As many of you know I run the video camera during our church's services. The services are streamed live using a service called LiveStream and archived for later viewing. Usually we have only a few viewers for the live stream, and a number more who watch later in the week.

I remember when my siblings and I were young and we were snow bound on Sunday, Dad would sit us down in front of the TV for Rex Humbard or a similar preacher in lieu of church. The streaming service is a different experience; not Rex and the folks in far off Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The stream is our folks worshiping together. I've been home myself with ailing kids or bad weather and we have joined the service online, and even said "Hi!" via chat. There is a personal connection.

A streaming service is also like Longfellow's arrow, who knows where it will land. A few Sunday's ago we had online viewers during the service from a church in Tyumen, Russia. Like ourselves they also stream their services online and popped in for a visit. Two small churches on different sides of the planet stopping by for a friendly visit. (No, I don't understand a word of Russian.) Kinda cool but makes you think.

On rare occasions I still fill the pulpit when the pastor is away. I preached two Sundays ago and the service was streamed as usual. I recalled our Siberian visitors when I was preaching and wondered who else might stop by. Where will my words end up? Preaching is always a serious matter, and the Bible has warnings for those who would be religious teachers. But now in the digital age "i shot a sermon into the air, it fell to earth, I knew not where."

On that note Christianity Today magazine has an article on theological debate in the digital age entitled "Not many of you should presume to be bloggers." Hmm.

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Making Community

I recently bought a copy of Heidi Campbell's new book When Religion Meets New Media. I've just started reading it, but have also gone back to some of her earlier writings. A writer's ideas develop over time, and I find it helps me understand their ideas if I can "go back" and join them on their journey.

I'm re-reading "The Question of Christian Community Online: The Case of the 'Artist World Network.'" I've blogged about Virtual Church before, but this article describes more generally online religious communities. In her earlier research, she identified six key markers of online religious community: space for personal relationships; ability to give and receive support; they value members; intimate communication within the group; strong connection for members; and shared faith.

The debate rages on whether one can have real community online; I think most people who have been part of virtual communities would argue that they can be as authentic as offline communities. Perhaps the crux of the problem is the lack of authentic communities on or offline. Regrettably, this includes many churches where membership requires only token attendance and support. Building community takes time and effort, and grows organically from the participants. Campbell wrote: "...it was the people not the [discussion] boards' creator who 'makes up the community.'" (p. 265) This is important for offline church leaders to notice as well; they can't create community. They can provide a safe space where community can grow, but it is the members who grow community. Another observation Campbell made was that sometimes the community that forms is very different from the community the administrators imagined. This can be scary for leaders, online or offline.

Is authentic community important enough to take the risk?

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Holy Holograms Batman!

Sorry couldn't resist! I've been busy for a while and have neglected my posting but someone pointed this article out and I just had to share. Increasingly larger churches with satellite campuses are turning to linked video conference to share services. Locally Stoneridge Fellowship Church in Sackville, NS is using this technology with its first satellite church in Hubbards, NS and hopes to plant more of these distance campuses. As I understand it, some aspects of the service like worship are local and other parts like preaching as shared experiences.

But looking at a big screen still seems...um..maybe impersonal. But wait technology to the rescue. A recent article in Out of Ur online mag discusses the use of holographic technology to bring the pastor virtually in your midst. Is it realistic? Check out the pic below; one of these pastors is not really there.


We went to Pier21 immigration museum yesterday. For those of you who haven't been there it chronicles the history of immigration to Canada through the experience of this one entry point. There is a multimedia presentation using holograms that is older technology but is still striking. What if it was realtime? What if it were interactive? What if you could manipulate the image so pastor could drop a few pounds? Sorry...the photoshop possibilities are amazing. :)

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Surprise! It's not the internet's fault!

The dictionary definition of faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. It is also defined as a strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion. I like the first definition better because it suggests something more than an intellectual assent. One of the Bible's most notable chapters about faith states "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

But let's go back to the second definition: the belief in the doctrines of the church. Last Thursday I submitted an extended abstract for the Canadian Association for Information Science meetings during the 2010 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. When I started my research planning over eighteen months ago, I expected to find that new communication technologies were undermining religious authority and confusing doctrine. The average parishioner doesn't need to turn to the "expert" (pastor or priest) any longer for theological information; they now have access to significant resources online. The question is whether they have the skills to effectively evaluate and integrate what they find. I thought this would be disruptive to the local church's ability to equip their members. Recently however, I've begun to question that assumption in part due to some recent work by Heidi Campbell (2007, 2010 Forthcoming) on authority online, and a rethink of some of Reg Bibby's work on the the endurance of religious traditions in Canada (2002, 2004). I've lots more thinking (and analyzing) to do but here is where I'm at now.

Maybe online seeking isn't really undermining the teachings of your church. People are trying to make sense of their world the best way they can, looking for answers for faith questions that to that point their church hasn't provided them. I've seen evidence that people are open a better answer from their church, if one was offered. But in the meantime they need something to help make sense of a life situation and find it online. So I guess the ball is in the local church's court: who is teaching your parishioners? They need answers and they might not wait for you to get around to it. Just saying. ;-)

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Preachin' the Net

It was Marshall McLuhan who wrote that "the medium is the message." It is times like this that I realize I need to read more McLuhan (in my copious free time for sure!) I've been thinking again about preaching and the internet. There is an interactive relationship that needs to be explored; muse with me for a few moments....

Let's go back to the Tuesday before. The preacher took Monday off and is now thinking about the next Sunday's message...hypothetically anyway. ;-) Most preachers I know use the internet as an information gathering tool. Email updates from missionaries or the denomination. Online sermon illustration collections and even Christian news and current events. Occasionally I am still asked to preach and I'll admit I'm somewhat of a dinosaur when it comes to sermon preparation. I still prefer the yellow scratch pad, a pencil and my big pile of books. But...I now usually draft my message on my computer and take advantage of online Bible tools such BibleGateway to look up passages, or Theopedia or Wikipedia for a definition. Many preachers go farther and utilize online media which can be integrated into a message.

It used to be you would drive by the church by Thursday and see the sermon title on the sign outfront. I was a church janitor for a bit and that was my Thursday morning task. (Oops, pastor's preaching' on tithing again, lets visit the Anglicans this week.) With email, twitter, facebook and blogs the sermon title can be broadcast to the membership with online access. And since these are social media, there is room for dialogue and discussion around these announced topics. Discussions that may well make their way back into the sermon preparation before Sunday. Now, this isn't entirely new; I regularly bounced sermon ideas off people over tea back in the day. But the dynamic is different somehow; more public perhaps.

It is now Sunday. Now that the sermon is being broadcast via streaming video, a reality in more and more churches, there are new rules. Whatever happens in the pulpit must be translatable to video. The preacher's body language and range of movement must change. The preacher is now also preaching to the net. With chat capabilities it is now possible for the offsite viewer to ask questions and even converse with other offline viewers during the sermon. Preaching is a unique form of communication as it is usually mono-directional; however hard the preacher might rebuke the congregation, they usually sit there politely and take it (you'll hear about at the door later.) Online messages invite immediate response.

There is an interplay developing between new media and preaching; new media is providing content for preaching, preaching is providing content for new media, preaching leaves its mark on the face of the internet, and yes, internet I think is leaving its mark on the face of preaching.

So what will preaching become (and should I hold onto my yellow scratch pad?) ;-)

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AAR...Can pirates dance?

Religious rituals. There are the big rituals (coronations) and little rituals (like a family Bible reading.) Some are very tightly scripted; you don't have much leeway in a funeral or a remembrance service at a cenotaph. Other rituals are more open to interpretation; I have lots of room for innovation in a wedding ceremony like readings, music etc. as long as certain things occur like vows, pronouncement etc. I remember in my wedding the Minister forgot to say "you may kiss the Bride." Now I did eventually get to kiss her and I'll let you in on a secret: I kissed her before the wedding! ;-) But I'll always remember that omission because...well, you are supposed to say that at weddings, right?! Yet rituals are not static and can change over time.

One session I attended discussed how popular media can transform religious traditions. (I'm separating faith and religion here: I believe that faith transcends culture since it finds its source in God; religion on the other hand is one way in which we live out our faith in community.) The premise is that religion is socially constructed (societies create and recreate religious traditions) and media is also socially constructed (societies create media and use it for their purposes). Both interact in culture and they change each other.

Here is one example that Lynn Schofield Clark presented. This wedding video that has gone viral on YouTube. "J and K's Big Day" was a private choreographed moment as part of a wedding processional. The video was posted on YouTube for family and soon was viewed 31 million times. They were invited onto the Today show and it became a much copied hit creating a new wedding tradition almost over night. Now this is hardly a dramatic change but it would have been impossible before the internet. Ritual and tradition can be shaped by the web.

For your viewing pleasure : the Lego version of "J and K's Big Day."

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AAR...Pirates at play

The Monday's session on Religion Media and Culture focused on ritual in contemporary culture and media. Rituals, sociologically speaking, are sets of action with symbolic meaning that we perform usually prescribed by religion or tradition. A wedding ceremony has its rituals (candle lighting, exchange of rings etc.) and so do funerals. What happens when rituals are played out online?

Rachel Wagner has done a lot of research into video games and the ideas of interactivity, play, rules, narrative and conflict. Even in telling a fixed story, there is room for interactivity and "Play". She urged us to think of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. This was a fixed story but viewers gave him room to play with lighting, costuming sets etc. but only to a point. Beyond that we would say "you didn't tell the story." Rachel has been looking at how religion has been brought into video games and the implications of that for storytelling and play. When is the game more than a game? Kerstin Radde-Antweiler spoke about religious rituals played out online. She focused on two stories of a wedding celebrated in SecondLife and a memorial service held online in World of Warcraft (WoW). In the SecondLife story a wedding service was being held with friends online. There are a ton of religious questions here but the focus of the story was that three virtual people (avatars) decided to crash the virtual wedding (flying on brooms). To them it was all a game; but not so for the celebrants. This was important to them and they were upset. Even more so in the WoW story. For those unfamiliar with this, WoW is an online 3D world where players, through their virtual selves (avatars) explore, fight monsters and interact with other players. In the story Kerstin recounted, a member of an online guild (team) had passed away in real life. Her online friends decided to hold a memorial service for her online in WoW, really the only place where most knew her. They advertised the intended service. However, during the service a rival guild attacked the avatars and virtually killed many of the mourners. This initiated a great debate over the appropriateness of the behaviour on both sides. Was it wrong to not respect the memorial service? Was it right to even bring a serious ceremony into a virtual game? When is the game no longer the game and can you draw a line between the two?

I know what pirates would do! What do you think? When is the game no longer the game?

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AAR...Pirates and religious work?

Here I am at the AAR conference in Montreal. This is a BIG conference and the Palais des Congres is a huge facility. I arrived by train at 7:45am and headed right over to the venue for my first session at 9am. Religion and Social Sciences make much more sense when you're sleep deprived! :-)

This session's theme was Velben's Theory of the Leisure Class: Rethinking Religion and Economy if the Age of Crisis. Yeah, I had to look it up too. In a nut shell, Velben was a foundational economist and sociologist who developed the ideas of conspicuous consumption and the ruler class as "the leisure class" because they really did not contribute economically to the survival of the group. Religion he would argue does not contribute to the economy of the tribe and really was a form of waste. One speaker made much of the image of Pope Benedict signing an Encyclical expressing concern for the poor and downtrodden surrounded by the trappings of wealth and separated from manual labour. I took exception to how he presented this but the point is taken. Those who actually know what they are talking about can critique my cartoonish oversimplification of Veblen.

I went to this session because information science research has payed little attention to religious questions because religion has been relegated to "leisure activities" like hobbies etc. and not been considered important for study. What caught my attention were two ideas. First, one speaker Richard Callahan talked about the idea of the "instinct of workmanship" from Veblen: our meaning, purpose and instinct is to work. Competition through War and Sport detracts from this and replaces the goal of work with the seeking of "booty." (See! I told you it would come back to Pirates in the end.) Most defenses of the Church from Veblenian critiques would point out how the church has acted to redistribute wealth thus serving a beneficial purpose in Veblen's economy. But there is more that that here. I thought about the Biblical idea of man and woman created to "tend the garden" and act as stewards over creation. Theologically we were created to work and to enjoy the fruits of our labour. Maybe Veblen had something here, that the church needs to think more about.

The second idea raised by Joerg Rieger was that in the information age we need to begin to rethink the definition of work. Life isn't so easily subdivided anymore into work/non-work. Technology is changing that. Is white collar work the same as blue collar work? Do they both contribute? what about volunteerism and other forms of unpaid work? Do these contribute to the economy? I think they do and there is a role for religion/community service is that new definition. Hmmm...things to think about.

Off to the next session (watch out for pirates)....

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Community Church meets World Wide Web

This morning Fall River Baptist Church streamed its first service via the internet. This is not a large congregation and it doesn't have a big tech budget. It does have a few skilled people, access to basic web technology and the vision to do something different. I was in the sound booth watching as this internet experiment unfolded. Gradually, people started picking up the feed until by service end there were 9 remote observers. Pretty good for first time out! This included former members moved away and friends of the church. There was a chat feature to allow some limited two way communication. This raises interesting questions about the power of technology to help religious communities keep in touch with those who can't always be there. Research has shown that a number of religious groups have explored this technology on larger scales allowing visitors to login to participate in worship by webcam (e.g. The Temple Wall in Jerusalem for Jewish worshipers.) It is no longer mega churches or major religious groups who have this capacity; now little churches with big vision can potentially reach the world!

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Virtual Church Part II

Interestingly, the topic of virtual church came up on Dr. Heidi Campbell's blog (see "There is no virtual ekkelsia (?)". Two Pastors associated with the emerging church movement have argued that there can be no virtual community by the very definition of community. I am somewhat inclined to agree except that there are people in cyberspace who are finding their church needs met online. I recommend Campbell's book "Exploring Religious Community Online" (Peter Lang, 2005) if you are curious about some people's online experiences. Does community require a physical presence? Is the growth of online churches a symptom of the failure of many real life churches to build authentic communities? Could you be satisfied with a spiritual home online? Why not?

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Church in SecondLife?

SecondLife is an online adult simulation that has existed since 2003. Those who haven't explored this virtual world may not realize how popular it is. Mainstream religion is starting to discover the hundreds of thousands of people who frequent this world, and are creating their own places. As I write this, my avatar is sitting in a service of Calvary Chapel SecondLife, a evangelical Scottish virtual congregation. There are about two dozen other avatars here listening to the sermon. It is an interesting experience to participate in this environment. It is a "come as you are place"; no suits here (in fact not everyone here even looks human.) But it is a form of community made up from people around the globe. Am I at Church? Sounds like church...looks alot like church (except comfy chairs not pews). Religion in the digital age will continue to blur the lines. Oh, there is a round of "Amens" as the sermon ends...gotta go, I like this worship song! ;-)

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Religion Online...

Chris Helland is my PhD supervisor and had an opportunity to participate in the Google Techtalks about religion in cyberspace.

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