Review of Christianity and the Digital Space symposium

ChurchMCR <a href="166-churchmcr-at-christianity-in-the-digital-space">was represented by Ben Gibbs</a> at the <a href="http://www.churchesmediacouncil.org.uk/digitalspace/">Christianity and the Digital Space</a> symposium held at St. John's college, Durham on 13th - 15th July. He shares some thoughts about his time there: <img style="float: right;" src="http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:UnEXJ2JiqUCPdM:http://brownblog.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/cath-today.jpg" alt="" width="146" height="100" />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<a href="http://slangcath.wordpress.com/"> Anglican Cathedral in Second Life</a>, <a href="http://www.stpixels.com">St. Pixels</a>, <a href="http://www.i-church.org">i-church </a>and <a href="http://www.ichaplaincy.org.uk/">i-chaplaincy</a>. Controversial and interesting discussions were had around <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhgmjbfm_9hjs7ddcp">Spirituality</a>, <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhgmjbfm_1hcqvskgv">the Bible</a>, <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhgmjbfm_11dzxgw2zw">community</a> and <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhgmjbfm_10hpf6d4d5">mission</a> in the digital space. I then suggested a follow on discussion about the idea of an <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhgmjbfm_12cd8jdzhd">online monastic order</a>. 10 people came for that chat with some interesting thoughts surfacing. We decided to keep debating the idea using a <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/online-monastic-order-discussions">Google Group</a> 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 <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23digisymp">#digisymp</a>. A <a href="http://twitterfall.com/">twitterfall</a> 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 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/digitalsymp">YouTube</a>. 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. <img style="float: right;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4Wfiwav2RXM/SkoQu0UKzgI/AAAAAAAAAA0/uldGRasy1ZU/S1600-R/digitalsymp3.JPG" alt="" width="150" />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 <a href="http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=8234">see here</a>. There were some major themes which cropped up during the symposium.   <ul> <li>A need for a shift in language from Real/Virtual to Online/Offline since what we do online is still real. </li> <li>Online identity and the tension between authenticity and creativity.</li> <li>What the open nature of the internet does to authority.</li> <li>What evangelism looks like online</li> <li>How can the Bible be engaged with online.</li> </ul>   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.

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2009-07-24T09:02:00Z