ChurchMCR was represented by Ben Gibbs at the Christianity and the Digital Space symposium held at St. John's college, Durham on 13th - 15th July. He shares some thoughts about his time there:
The symposium gathered together theologians and prectitioners to look at and debate the issues surround Christian involvement with digital culture. I was great to meet many different people from various efforts to engage with their faith online. Some of the efforts given a platform were the Anglican Cathedral in Second Life, St. Pixels, i-church and i-chaplaincy.
Controversial and interesting discussions were had around Spirituality, the Bible, community and mission in the digital space. I then suggested a follow on discussion about the idea of an online monastic order. 10 people came for that chat with some interesting thoughts surfacing. We decided to keep debating the idea using a Google Group after the conference which I am excited about.
During the symposium many people, including people not attending the conference, were tweeting their thoughts and questions using the hashtag #digisymp. A twitterfall of all tweets using the hashtag was displayed on a screen during each gathering during the symposium which was a very useful and innovative experience. The conference was also streamed live online and the recording can be found on YouTube.
On the first evening a live service from St. Pixels was shown on a screen and on the second evening a live service from the Anglican Cathedral in Second Life was shown. I had never "attended" one of these services but found that those involved regarded them very seriously - the services and connections with other people of faith clearly meant alot to them.
We were privileged to have the results of the National Biblical Literacy Survey announced at the conference by Brian Brown. For more information about the results see here.
There were some major themes which cropped up during the symposium.
- A need for a shift in language from Real/Virtual to Online/Offline since what we do online is still real.
- Online identity and the tension between authenticity and creativity.
- What the open nature of the internet does to authority.
- What evangelism looks like online
- How can the Bible be engaged with online.
Bishop Tom Wright came and spoke on the Wednesday morning and offered some very good wisdom. However, I think he upset a few people in the room by arguing that the sacraments and real community can only happen physically. Quite a few people were involved in either St. Pixels or the Second Life Cathedral and I'm pretty sure they would disagree!
I very much enjoyed my time there and look forward to whatever happens as a result of our time together.
