The Technological Church

Pursuing wholeness, presence, and reality as the people of God

Seminal media critic Marshall McLuhan was “continually amazed at the reluctance, often the downright refusal, of people to pay attention to the effects of media, and at their hostility to him for what he revealed. They included those, clergy and lay, who enthusiastically embrace the latest technologies without regard for their effects. Such people are blindly eager to make the Mass or the sacraments, or the congregation the content of each new gadget or technology that comes along — in the interest of ‘bringing the Church up to date’ and ‘making the Church relevant.’ They are quite innocent of the power of these forms to transform their users — innocent but not guiltless.”

When asked, “As a Christian, have you examined the effects that such a context has on the Church and, more precisely, on faith?” McLuhan answered, “I would prefer that most questions of that sort be dealt with by theologians, but they do not seem to be interested” (McLuhan The Medium and the Light)

We’re interested, sir.

We believe deeply in theologically trained media artists.

The Moody Media Lab’s curriculum is founded on “theologically informed media ecology.” An often untread area of thought that is a distinctive academic expertise of the program. Every student is introduced to concepts that challenge everything they thought they knew about communications, media, and the implications for the Church.

One of the obvious joys of being a professor is introducing new students to the ideas and content most exciting, interesting, and important to you. As new faces enter the program, it is impossible to know how each student will respond and what will become of the ideas you have tried to put in their head.

Eventually, each one will be seated across the desk ready to propose their final project. What begins with the same core academic content every student receives ends in projects as diverse as the number of students in the program. A creative adventure indeed.

One of these students, with a portfolio full of impressive work — from a beautiful documentary film to practical technical expertise to promising academic research — wanted to take on the academic challenges of media ecology.

What started with a reading list transitioned with a question: What if you encapsulated what we teach here in a way local pastors might respond to and benefit from…what if you started, “Dear Pastor…”

That energy resulted in a project called: The Technological Church. An eight-part series addressed to pastors. This essay was accepted into the Media Ecology Association’s national conference — about as high of honor any student in the field could hope to achieve. She also presented this work at Moody’s annual Pastor’s Conference.

Table of Contents

a note from the author: Jessica Huntrods