This issue features a cluster of articles on the topic of technology. Arthur Boers of Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, Canada; Dan Ulrich from Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Indiana; and Shane Hipps, now at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, share perspectives on ways technology impacts our lives. Their articles should deepen our discussions about how we use technology. Other articles cover a variety of topics. Here is a list!
“Technology and Christian Community”
by Arthur Boers
How has technology improved your relationships with others? How has it degraded your relationships?
For further study: more questions for reflection (pdf)*
“Could Theological Education Be Better Online?”
by Dan Ulrich
Dan Ulrich finds some very positive uses of technology in education. What is your experience with learning on the computer,formally and informally? For example, what kinds of things have you learned on the Internet?
For further study: more questions for reflection (pdf)*
“Enough about Me, How Do You Like Me?”
by Shane Hipps
What is it about technology that might contribute to narcissism? In what way could social networks, such as Facebook, have the opposite affect? That is, could social networks actually promote consideration of others? How?
For further study: more questions for reflection (pdf)*
“To Their Own Ends: Women’s Words in the Martyrs Mirror”
by Jean Kilheffer Hess
Hess notes that the culture in the sixteenth century gave women very little power in society, yet the same culture feared the power of Anabaptist women who spoke out about their faith. Who has the least power in our culture—immigrants? minorities? children? others? To what extent are they feared? Why?
For further study: more questions for reflection (pdf)*
“Body Theology in the Love Feast”
by Anna Lisa Gross
What is your “body theology”? That is, how do you think God considers the material world? Is it temporary? Is it the central scene for God’s relationship to humans? Is it the location of the Kingdom? Is it corrupt?
For further study: more questions for reflection (pdf)*
“The Deuteronomistic History”
by W. Robert McFadden
Deuteronomistic history is the story of reform in the Old Testament. Do you see any call for reform in the New Testament and, if so, where? Does Christianity need reform today? What are the signs, if any?
For further study: more questions for reflection (pdf)*
“The Refrigerium: Dining with the Dead”
by Graydon Snyder
Snyder talks about the near universal practice of eating a meal to commemorate the loss of a loved one. When there is a funeral in your community or family, where does food fit in?
For further study: more questions for reflection (pdf)*
“Ministry by the Ear: The Art of Poetic Listening”
by Kenneth Gibble
Take turns reading aloud from the poems Ken Gibble provides. What does the church say to people who are like the characters in the poems? What do you hear when you read these poems?
For further study: more questions for reflection (pdf)*
Green Circle: Bethany invests in 100% renewable energy.