Always On (Theology for the Life of the World)

Williams Gorrell Angela

Description

Many of us are "always on"--scrolling through social media, checking email, or searching the web. New media spaces can be sites and instruments of God's unconditional love, but they can also nurture harmful conditions and become sources of anxiety, jealousy, and despondency. Always On provides useful tools for helping students and congregants understand the world of social media and engage it faithfully, enabling Christian communities to address its use in constructive, pastoral ways. The book includes discussion questions and sample exercises for each chapter.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Media studies

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 21 mai 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781493418022
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Endorsements
“Our increasingly digitized lives provide both profound brokenness and opportunities for our shared humanity to be diminished. However, they also provide glorious possibilities to be more present with those who suffer from the ills and injustices of the world. In this inspiring new work, Angela Gorrell offers a compelling Christian vision of the good life within the landscape of new media. Incisively attentive to malformed visions of the good life offered by various kinds of new media, Gorrell contrasts those visions with the life and ministry of Jesus in ways that equip and empower Christians to engage in intentional practices that align with Christ’s transformative and healing vision for a new social order. Gorrell demonstrates that the new media landscape is neither simply life-negating nor simply life-affirming and that it’s possible to nurture a Christian hybrid existence that reflects God’s nonviolent and compassionate love for creation today and into the future.”
— Deanna Thompson , author of The Virtual Body of Christ in a Suffering World
“In Always On , Angela Gorrell takes us straight into the new media abyss that we all face every day. Using her background as a pastor, theologian, and new media researcher, Gorrell invites us to consider how new media affects every aspect of our lives and how easily we can find ourselves lost in the process. She doesn’t give in to the temptation to blame social media but rather helps us recognize how little attention we give to the ways we allow it to consume us. This is a helpful, practical book on one of the most pressing and real-life struggles we experience today.”
— Chap Clark , pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach, California; author of Hurt 2.0 and Adoptive Church
“ Always On considers how technology and social media impact identity and community formation. Exhibiting theological reflection for our sound-bite culture, Gorrell perceptively explains new media’s ability to malign and abet both hope and harm. More than a simple description of the new landscape, this book examines the narratives that shape us in a way that both acknowledges harmful assumptions and invites interested conversations with those in the widest sphere of influence—virtual and visible conversation partners. Critical of how easily we yield to deficient interactions through new media, Gorrell argues for practices of righteousness, peace, and joy that exist online and in person. Fresh, contemporary, and practical: the language of this book is twenty-first century; the Christian call is first century; the promise of recovering humanity’s capacity to bear the image of God in the world is eternal.”
— Joy J. Moore , ecclesial storyteller and lead pastor, Bethel United Methodist Church, Flint, Michigan
Series Page


Jesus Christ is God come to dwell among humans, to be, to speak, and to act “for the life of the world” (John 6:51). Taking its mandate from the character and mission of God, Christian theology’s task is to discern, articulate, and commend visions of flourishing life in light of God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ. The Theology for the Life of the World series features texts that do just that.
Human life is diverse and multifaceted, and so will be the books in this series. Some will focus on one specific aspect of life. Others will elaborate expansive visions of human persons, social life, or the world in relation to God. All will share the conviction that theology is vital to exploring the character of true life in diverse settings and orienting us toward it. No task is greater than for each of us and all of us together to discern and pursue the flourishing of all in God’s creation. These books are meant as a contribution to that task.
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2019 by Angela Gorrell
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1802-2
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible © 2011 Common English Bible. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Portions of this book appeared in an earlier form in Angela Gorrell, “Spiritual Care in a Social Media Landscape,” Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling 72, no. 3 (September 2018): 221–23, https://doi.org/10.1177/1542305018801477.
Dedication
For my mom, Virginia (Jenny) Grace Douglas
In third grade, I told you I would write a book someday. And you believed me.
Contents
Cover i
Endorsements ii
Series Page iii
Title Page iv
Copyright Page v
Dedication vi
Gratitudes ix
Introduction 1
1. Interested Conversation 11
2. Traversing the New Media Terrain 37
3. Shaping Stories 55
4. Online Jesus 85
5. The Convergence 107
6. Glorious Possibilities 135
Epilogue 159
Bibliography 163
Index 179
Back Cover 184
Gratitudes
M om, this book is in honor of your love for your children and your own passion for writing. From the moment I began writing (at a very early age), you have supported me. You have always shown extraordinary enthusiasm for my work and for me. And you have taught me to believe that anything is possible with God. You modeled and nurtured the work ethic necessary for writing this manuscript. I cannot say enough about what an awesome mom you are, so I’ll just say this: Thank you for everything . I am especially grateful for your and Don Douglas’s faith in Jesus and your encouragement of your children. Special thanks to Don for sending me comic strips to keep me laughing through this process. I love you both.
Paul Gorrell, my amazing husband and best friend, thank you for listening to my musings on new media for the past six years! Thank you for letting me read this book aloud to you and for verbally processing ideas with me. Thanks also for the book’s chapter titles and your poetry and ideas that went into this manuscript. And thank you for your willingness to move to Connecticut with me so I could work at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture. It is impossible to recount the numerous ways you helped me during the writing process. Do you remember when you brought dinner to my office (multiple times) so I could keep typing? Wow. I am so grateful to you for the many delicious, creative meals you made and the extra house duties and responsibilities you took on during especially difficult months. There were many, many days that I did not believe that finishing this book was possible. But you prayed for me and loved me well, and you believed this book was meaningful. I love you to the moon and back.
Jenna and Rob Olney, your love, stories, and humor sustain my life in ways that are difficult to articulate well. I love you both. Stefanie Poulin and Allison Williams, I love you too. I am especially glad us sisters have been able to help each other through the last year and a half. Who would have thought that our texting sister group would bring such comfort and hope? To the rest of my awesome family, thank you for your encouragement.
Writing this book was an emotional and difficult process. Things like care packages, cards, and texts from my amazing family and friends inspired me to finish this manuscript. Molly Galbraith, thank you for the extraordinary number of gifts you sent in the mail to lift my spirits and for your visits. I have been counting on you since ninth grade. Macy Workman, I am grateful for every phone call and prayer and each card and gift you sent to reassure me. Since college, you have been a source of strength. To my LA besties (though some are in other cities now)—Audra Luzell, Beth Chiaravalle McQuitty, Chloe James, Christine Allen, Katie Eischen Nickols, Liz McQuitty, Lyndsey Deane Ratchford, Michaela O’Donnell Long, and Molly Stuckey—seriously, what would I do without you? Thank you for cheering me on and being wonderful friends.
During the spring of 2012, I was the director of children, youth, and family ministry at Pasadena Mennonite Church (PMC) and in my first year of PhD work at Fuller Theological Seminary. I must extend my gratitude to those who nurtured my passion for understanding the relationship between social media and Christianity. Thank you to the youth and youth leaders of PMC. Our conversations in that church basement mean the world to me. You helped me to see God’s presence and love, even in the most difficult moments. Our discussions around the dinner table and on couches are among the most formative of my life. You are fantastic human beings.
From the moment I told Mark Lau Branson, my incredible PhD mentor, that I wanted to write my dissertation on social media, he was supportive. We had numerous conversations where he listened to me verbally process my ideas. It was Mark who, after reading my dissertation, said I should write a book on media literacy. I don’t use this phrase much in this book because it’s esoteric (Mark would probably agree), but this book was written in light of Mark’s inspiration and my desire to help Christian communities develop competencies related to theological new media literacy. Thank you, Mark, for your mentorship, and especially for teaching me to always look for what God is up to and to listen to the Spirit.
Mark introduced me to Fuller professor Ryan Bolger. I emailed Ryan out of the blue one day asking to meet and talk ab