Christianity in the Digital Space
A heads up: this Monday (UK time) the Christianity in the Digital Space Symposium starts at St. John’s, Durham, UK. On Tuesday (the 14th) I am presenting my paper, The Bible in the Digital Space at 9am. I believe it will be streamed on the net (both audio and video) click here to see what time that is where you are.
At the end of my presentation I intend to make my paper available on brownblog for download.
Info about the streaming + notes and commentary will be on the Symposium blog over at http://digitalsymp.blogspot.com/ They have also set up a twitter feed : @digitalsymp and the Twitter hashtags are: #digsymp or #digitalsymp
For info on the Christianity in the Digital Space Symposium click here. Other speakers include Bishop NT Wright, one of the world’s leading theologians, who has published over 40 books, and Andrew Graystone who is Director of the Churches’ Media Council. It is going to be an excellent event.
So wherever you are, you can in some way participate as questions and comments via the blog and Twitter will be communicated to the Symposium.
Looking forward to it!!
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Christianity in the Digital Space
A heads up on a great looking conference being hosted by CODEC (St John’s College, Durham, UK) and the Churches’ Media Council. Sponsored by Bible Society. Called Christianity in the Digital Space it will be from Monday 13th - Wednesday 15th July 2009 @ St John’s College, Durham University, UK.
The official blurb reads,
The Digital Revolution is changing the way we relate, communicate and even think. What are the implications for Christian faith and spirituality? What will the church look like in the digital age? What does it mean to be a disciple in a digital world?
Christianity in the Digital Space will bring together 60 Christians who are working online. We will meet, share experiences and discuss issues, opportunities and challenges that digital technology raises for the Christian faith.
Conversations
At the heart of the conference will be a series of group “conversations” on issues arising for Christians in the digital space. Conversation topics include:
* Is there a distinctive emerging digital spirituality?
* What room for the Bible in the digital environment
* What is the experience of online church and other forms of community?
* What happens to authority in a Wikipedia culture?
* What are the opportunities and risks for Christian mission and evangelism?
…and other topics proposed by the delegates
The ‘Conversation starters‘ are Rt Rev NT Wright (one of the world’s leading theologians, published over 40 books. Bishop of Durham.)
Andrew Graystone (Director of the Churches’ Media Council. Worked for BBC Religion for over a decade, and continues to write and present programmes for BBC Radio 2 and Radio 4.)
And some guy called, Rev Mark Brown. Yes me. I will be speaking on, The Bible in the Digital Space and seriously looking forward to it.
So if this takes your fancy, to register head over the the conference website by clicking here. And let me know you are coming, be great to meet you!
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Christian explosion: what is going on in Africa and China?!
In 1907 this is what the average Christian family looked like:
Whereas in 2007 it is:
According to Todd Johnson over the past 100 years the statistical center of gravity for Christianity has dramatically shifted from Europe to Africa. 100 years ago 80% of Christians were located in Europe. It is predicted that by 2010 this figure will be as low as 40%. This is played out when you consider the top ten Christian Countries in terms of Christian population. In 1900 aside from the USA nearly all the top countries were European. Wheras in 2005 only Germany and Russia is listed. Half of the top countries are african or asian, an incredible statistic given that 30 or so years ago China, Nigeria, Congo-Zaire and India weren’t even on the list. Johnson predicts that 20 or so years from now that only Russia will be represented, and that 50 years from now none of the 10 top countries will be european.
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Conversations from the cutting edge
Over the course of the day I have been attending the Metaverse U Conference in Second Life. In my previous blog post I stated that the key negative of virtual conferences is not being able to network; well I have to somewhat eat my words as I met a couple of very interesting people through the event. Katherine W. Prawl is a founder of one of the most amazing educational experiences in Second Life: the International Space Museum. It has received a huge amount of attention and deservedly so.. it is stunning.
She has also been around Second Life since 2005, and had some great things to share about the emerging new virtual technology. And then through Katherine I met Piet Hut, who is a Professor at the the Institute of Advanced Study. I started by asking Katherine why people would invest their time in Second Life..
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