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Following
"[An] insightful exploration of Christian discipleship in the digital age."-- Publishers Weekly
This book offers theological perspectives on the challenges of discipleship in a digital age, showing how new technologies and the rise of social media affect the way we interact with each other, ourselves, and the world. Written by a Gen X digital immigrant and a Millennial digital native, the book explores a faithful response to today's technology as we celebrate our embodied roles as followers of Christ in a disembodied time.
This book offers theological perspectives on the challenges of discipleship in a digital age, showing how new technologies and the rise of social media affect the way we interact with each other, ourselves, and the world. Written by a Gen X digital immigrant and a Millennial digital native, the book explores a faithful response to today's technology as we celebrate our embodied roles as followers of Christ in a disembodied time.
208 pages, Paperback
Published August 10, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 16, 2021
In the introduction of this book we meet with two heresies of antiquity: Gnosticism and Manicheism. This, of course, is not what one expects to see at the beginning of the book about Twitter. Technology claims eschatological significance, substitutes salvation, and presents qualitative improvements in life as deliverance from evil. The developers of Facebook speak of their creations in religious terms. This pathos gives rise to different approaches to understanding the place of technology in the world: Gnosticism and Manaheism are revived as a combination of technology and religion.
First chapter depicts a sad scene of a depersonalized and anonymous digital community. Construction of a character in Web confronts us with the formulation of identity and personality, just as in the ancient theologians had struggled to define the nature of Christ. The heresies of antiquity were rejected in an attempt to find out Orthodoxy. The same path has to be followed.
The main question in the second chapter is: "Is it worth separating the personal account of a pastor from the work account?" The answer depends largely on what we believe and what the digital medium means to us. Do we accept technology as a panacea or just as an aid in God’s salvation?
A person's humanity is manifested by its particular embodiment and specific characteristics. These are the unique footprint of a person in a digital environment. Pastors shape congregations often by influencing the local culture with their character and perks, connecting congregation members in a personal way. In this chapter, through examples of the personalities of outstanding pastors, the authors try to convey how tightly the preaching, personality, their personal performance, and the liturgy are intertwined. To split such identities into different accounts would be the wrong way to represent the holistic vision of a personality. The authenticity would be compromised.
“Following” moves on into a discussion about the tower of babel, whereby a community was working towards setting up an idolatrous structure devoid of God. A monument bigger than God, moving further away from Him and all He represented. Why do human beings feel the need to build structures and systems glorifying themselves while pushing God away from their ideas and creativity? Throughout history when this is happening, we see strong protestors. Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer anti-nazi theologians, were simply saying “no” to forced systems that were clearly detrimental to the world at that time. Are internet develpments a modern day tower of babel?
At the halfway point of this book the authors bring us to a place of considering “Jesus’ own Family” remembering the words of Jesus as He was building a new way of communication with God “Who are my mother and my brothers?...Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:33-35) Can families survive the digital revolution? Is the word “no” to the screen an important consideration and balance narrative that needs an individualistic consideration to protect family life as we have known it? God’s blessings come through His people to others, availability to others to bless them.
Are our friendships distracted or undistracted in our modern day world? Our digital world enables us to be instantly connected with each other. Communication methods can now give 24/7 availabilty, however research shows that this instant aggressive ability to connect is not a cure for the reality, instead of this being an experience that is causing us as individuals to flourish in relationship, it is in reality having the opposite effect. Loneliness and a deep lack of committment are dominant regardless of instant connection. For individual consideration, Is the status of technology our servant or our master?
Chapter 6: Mission. In Matthew 28 Jesus commands us to go from a known place into unknown places to make disciples. Following draws from church history building a case for the internet to be considered as a real place where at least half the world’s population exists and therefore needs to be reached. Continually positive about online mission the author considers particular cultural issues and challenges in reaching people with the gospel recognising the brokenness of online living from it being a place created to help humanity to a place where helpless humanity look for meaning and transformation. Following questions is the church visible to people online? Quoting Darrell Gruder’s point that “The church of Jesus Christ is, and has always been, clearly visible to the observing eye” Following encourages us to follow God’s missio dei and join in becoming visible.
Chapter 7: Eucharist. Following considers the sacraments of Eucharist and Baptism and whether they can truly be performed online. Recognising that some Christian traditions have more scope to participate in the Eucharist online. However, the author strongly resists this as an option not from a classic high church position but from a place of prophetic resistance to the highly persuasive nature of digital technology to control and manipulate our lives. “It plays to our worst impulses as Protestants to reduce church to individual consumerism and Gnostic ideas in our heads or comfort in our hearts.” This caution anchors the book from straying towards Gnosticism and Manaheism
Chapter 8 focuses on the importance of preaching. Preaching is anything that announces the “resurrection and transfiguration of the cosmos is coming and, in fact, is already here.” Reflecting on preachers such as Wesley and Whitfield preaching outside due to circumstance. The authors suggests that online platforms require good preaching. That is prophetic preaching that points out the Kingdom emerging in new and surprising ways online.
Conclusion
Christianity is a religion that perceives a mediated connection to God through objectification of the essence of God. We see this in the example of the burning bush, the silent wind, the Holy Sacraments, or the water of baptism. Our faith is embodied through such a medium. Without the medium, there is no grace, the authors conclude, and continue: God is endlessly and almost recklessly mediated in the world. Even more so in a digital environment, God invites us to become agents of His grace in a digital world.
First chapter depicts a sad scene of a depersonalized and anonymous digital community. Construction of a character in Web confronts us with the formulation of identity and personality, just as in the ancient theologians had struggled to define the nature of Christ. The heresies of antiquity were rejected in an attempt to find out Orthodoxy. The same path has to be followed.
The main question in the second chapter is: "Is it worth separating the personal account of a pastor from the work account?" The answer depends largely on what we believe and what the digital medium means to us. Do we accept technology as a panacea or just as an aid in God’s salvation?
A person's humanity is manifested by its particular embodiment and specific characteristics. These are the unique footprint of a person in a digital environment. Pastors shape congregations often by influencing the local culture with their character and perks, connecting congregation members in a personal way. In this chapter, through examples of the personalities of outstanding pastors, the authors try to convey how tightly the preaching, personality, their personal performance, and the liturgy are intertwined. To split such identities into different accounts would be the wrong way to represent the holistic vision of a personality. The authenticity would be compromised.
“Following” moves on into a discussion about the tower of babel, whereby a community was working towards setting up an idolatrous structure devoid of God. A monument bigger than God, moving further away from Him and all He represented. Why do human beings feel the need to build structures and systems glorifying themselves while pushing God away from their ideas and creativity? Throughout history when this is happening, we see strong protestors. Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer anti-nazi theologians, were simply saying “no” to forced systems that were clearly detrimental to the world at that time. Are internet develpments a modern day tower of babel?
At the halfway point of this book the authors bring us to a place of considering “Jesus’ own Family” remembering the words of Jesus as He was building a new way of communication with God “Who are my mother and my brothers?...Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:33-35) Can families survive the digital revolution? Is the word “no” to the screen an important consideration and balance narrative that needs an individualistic consideration to protect family life as we have known it? God’s blessings come through His people to others, availability to others to bless them.
Are our friendships distracted or undistracted in our modern day world? Our digital world enables us to be instantly connected with each other. Communication methods can now give 24/7 availabilty, however research shows that this instant aggressive ability to connect is not a cure for the reality, instead of this being an experience that is causing us as individuals to flourish in relationship, it is in reality having the opposite effect. Loneliness and a deep lack of committment are dominant regardless of instant connection. For individual consideration, Is the status of technology our servant or our master?
Chapter 6: Mission. In Matthew 28 Jesus commands us to go from a known place into unknown places to make disciples. Following draws from church history building a case for the internet to be considered as a real place where at least half the world’s population exists and therefore needs to be reached. Continually positive about online mission the author considers particular cultural issues and challenges in reaching people with the gospel recognising the brokenness of online living from it being a place created to help humanity to a place where helpless humanity look for meaning and transformation. Following questions is the church visible to people online? Quoting Darrell Gruder’s point that “The church of Jesus Christ is, and has always been, clearly visible to the observing eye” Following encourages us to follow God’s missio dei and join in becoming visible.
Chapter 7: Eucharist. Following considers the sacraments of Eucharist and Baptism and whether they can truly be performed online. Recognising that some Christian traditions have more scope to participate in the Eucharist online. However, the author strongly resists this as an option not from a classic high church position but from a place of prophetic resistance to the highly persuasive nature of digital technology to control and manipulate our lives. “It plays to our worst impulses as Protestants to reduce church to individual consumerism and Gnostic ideas in our heads or comfort in our hearts.” This caution anchors the book from straying towards Gnosticism and Manaheism
Chapter 8 focuses on the importance of preaching. Preaching is anything that announces the “resurrection and transfiguration of the cosmos is coming and, in fact, is already here.” Reflecting on preachers such as Wesley and Whitfield preaching outside due to circumstance. The authors suggests that online platforms require good preaching. That is prophetic preaching that points out the Kingdom emerging in new and surprising ways online.
Conclusion
Christianity is a religion that perceives a mediated connection to God through objectification of the essence of God. We see this in the example of the burning bush, the silent wind, the Holy Sacraments, or the water of baptism. Our faith is embodied through such a medium. Without the medium, there is no grace, the authors conclude, and continue: God is endlessly and almost recklessly mediated in the world. Even more so in a digital environment, God invites us to become agents of His grace in a digital world.
September 7, 2021
This thought-provoking book tackles the subject of technology in a unique way through its dual authorship. Jason Byassee and Andria Irwin write from their respective experiences as a digital immigrant and a digital native, and they take into account lots of different questions, ethical dilemmas, and issues that pastors face as they make decisions about how to engage in technology as individuals and church leaders. However, even though the authors primarily target this book to fellow pastors, I found it fascinating from a layperson's perspective, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a balanced, well-argued book about how Christians can engage with their embodied faith while also reaching people online.
COVID-19 Realities
The authors originally planned to write this book prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then adjusted their focus to address the sudden reality of everyone doing church online, when the concept of online church had been a controversial, boundary-pushing subject in the past. Both authors share interesting perspectives about the pandemic, and the book includes illustrative stories from how different pastors dealt with the crisis, trying to minister virtually to church members while also training older congregation members in how to use Zoom and dealing with the temptation to compare their services and metrics to what other churches were doing online. Following: Embodied Discipleship in a Digital Age engages well with conceptual theory and practical realities, and the history major in me got excited over how interesting it would be to revisit this book in many years as a primary source reference for how churches pivoted during the pandemic.
Virtual Life
The authors also reflect on common issues that pastors deal with related to social media, as they try to strike the right balance between being themselves and representing the church to their online followers. The book also engages with how technology influences relationships with family members and friends, and Byassee and Irwin are realistic about all of these different issues, pushing back against ideas that would celebrate technology in eschatological terms or dismiss it as inherently wrong and dangerous. They engage graciously with many different views of technology, and as they write with deep nuance and understanding, they also take into account how Christians with different denominational backgrounds experience and think about things differently. This was particularly interesting in the chapter that addressed communion and outlined various views about whether or not it is acceptable to engage in the Eucharist in a virtual gathering.
However, I wish that Andria Irwin had cast a wider net when collecting stories about pastors and their work. She was the primary one sharing detailed narratives, but almost all of these stories were from pastors in very liberal, progressive churches. I am not sure if this was deliberate bias, or if she just relied too much on existing social networks with like-minded people, but the stories that she told were from pastors who shared the same political and social views, regardless of their denominational differences or variances in church practice. Someone might argue that this focus is only natural, since conservative churches are less likely to engage online or have innovative ideas for online ministry, but that is a frequently untrue stereotype that Irwin does nothing to debunk. This book would have been much stronger if she had shared stories from across lines of political and social difference.
Conclusion
This is a fascinating book. The coauthors write in unison about some issues, while having markedly different perspectives on others, and their voices together make this book particularly helpful and interesting. Overall, the book argues that because the Internet is "(kind of) a place," with people we should reach with the gospel and Christian discipleship, we cannot write off online activity as something nonessential to the faith. Although the authors repeatedly note that it is right for some people to choose a more monastic or anti-technological lifestyle, Christians overall need to learn how to engage in ministry online, since it is a part of the human experience that is here for the long-term. I found this book very interesting and helpful, and would recommend it to pastors, Christian organization leaders, and laypeople like me who are interested in issues related to technology.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
COVID-19 Realities
The authors originally planned to write this book prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then adjusted their focus to address the sudden reality of everyone doing church online, when the concept of online church had been a controversial, boundary-pushing subject in the past. Both authors share interesting perspectives about the pandemic, and the book includes illustrative stories from how different pastors dealt with the crisis, trying to minister virtually to church members while also training older congregation members in how to use Zoom and dealing with the temptation to compare their services and metrics to what other churches were doing online. Following: Embodied Discipleship in a Digital Age engages well with conceptual theory and practical realities, and the history major in me got excited over how interesting it would be to revisit this book in many years as a primary source reference for how churches pivoted during the pandemic.
Virtual Life
The authors also reflect on common issues that pastors deal with related to social media, as they try to strike the right balance between being themselves and representing the church to their online followers. The book also engages with how technology influences relationships with family members and friends, and Byassee and Irwin are realistic about all of these different issues, pushing back against ideas that would celebrate technology in eschatological terms or dismiss it as inherently wrong and dangerous. They engage graciously with many different views of technology, and as they write with deep nuance and understanding, they also take into account how Christians with different denominational backgrounds experience and think about things differently. This was particularly interesting in the chapter that addressed communion and outlined various views about whether or not it is acceptable to engage in the Eucharist in a virtual gathering.
However, I wish that Andria Irwin had cast a wider net when collecting stories about pastors and their work. She was the primary one sharing detailed narratives, but almost all of these stories were from pastors in very liberal, progressive churches. I am not sure if this was deliberate bias, or if she just relied too much on existing social networks with like-minded people, but the stories that she told were from pastors who shared the same political and social views, regardless of their denominational differences or variances in church practice. Someone might argue that this focus is only natural, since conservative churches are less likely to engage online or have innovative ideas for online ministry, but that is a frequently untrue stereotype that Irwin does nothing to debunk. This book would have been much stronger if she had shared stories from across lines of political and social difference.
Conclusion
This is a fascinating book. The coauthors write in unison about some issues, while having markedly different perspectives on others, and their voices together make this book particularly helpful and interesting. Overall, the book argues that because the Internet is "(kind of) a place," with people we should reach with the gospel and Christian discipleship, we cannot write off online activity as something nonessential to the faith. Although the authors repeatedly note that it is right for some people to choose a more monastic or anti-technological lifestyle, Christians overall need to learn how to engage in ministry online, since it is a part of the human experience that is here for the long-term. I found this book very interesting and helpful, and would recommend it to pastors, Christian organization leaders, and laypeople like me who are interested in issues related to technology.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
December 13, 2024
A much-needed book in the post-Covid world, as the church and religious institutions struggle to figure out how to faithfully use technology while still embodying an incarnational faith. Honestly, I found this book to be incredibly disorganized--I often didn't really know which of the two co-authors was speaking, and found their main points to flow as more of a stream-of-consciousness rather than a coherent progression of ideas. This critique makes my 4 stars even more meaningful, because despite the need for a more diligent editor, I highlighted SO much of this book and am genuinely left with new and fresh perspectives about God and the ways in which God mediates his presence through our created (including digital!) world.
March 5, 2023
Lots of good and convicting information.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews