People of the Screen traces the history of Bible software development, showing the unique and powerful role evangelical entrepreneurs and coders have played in shaping its functionality and how their choices in turn shape the reading habits of millions of people around the world. Examining advancements in Bible software from the first desktop applications to pioneering Bible websites, and later to mobile apps and virtual experiences, this book argues that evangelical creators have a distinct orientation toward societal change and technology called "Hopeful Entrepreneurial Pragmatism" that uniquely positions them to lead the digital Bible market, imbuing their creations with evangelical ways of understanding the nature and purpose of Scripture.
This book offers a blend of historical research, interviews with developers, and field work among digital and print Bible readers, offering a nuanced look at the interconnected ecosystem of publishers, developers, pastors, institutions, and software companies. Digital Bibles aren't replacing print Bibles, author John Dyer shows. Rather, the future of Bible engagement involves readers using a mix of print, audio, and screens to suit their needs. He shows that sometimes the God of the page seems to say different things than the God of the screen, suggesting that we are still in the early stages of a multimedia approach to scripture.
John Dyer (PhD, Durham University) is VP for enrollment and educational technology and professor of theology and sociology at Dallas Theological Seminary. He has also been a technology creator for more than 20 years, building tools used by Facebook, Google, Apple, Anheuser-Busch, the Department of Defense, and the Digital Bible Society, and his open source code is used on more than 40% of all websites. Dr. Dyer speaks and writes on technology, faith, and education for several publications including Gizmodo, Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and in books such as From the Garden to the City, Ecclesiology for a Digital Church, and People of the Screen.
This is an interesting academic work that dives into the world of digital Bible software. This one is data heavy and scholarly in tone. There’s a lot of fascinating background research into the origin of and characters that created the electronic Bible, as well as revealing sociological data about how evangelicals view and use it. Readers may get bogged down in just how granular the narrative can become, and the book will carry more surprises for people outside evangelical culture than inside it. That being said, the final two chapters stand out as both important and relevant. How does digital affect our attitude toward Scripture, and what are the essential discontinuities between physical Bible reading and digital? The conclusion of the book gives answers to both. Not everyone will enjoy getting there, but it’s interesting for sure.
This was a fascinating and well-written book. His HEP terminology is eye-opening and can be seen everywhere in evangelical circles. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his study results are mixed, but I appreciate the hopeful note he ends on.
This is a crucial book. Are we helping or hindering our formation by encouraging screens in church, in personal devotional life? Should we be putting the text of sermons on a screen while preaching? How important is it to read in a paper Bible? Dyer's research is helpful for these questions and needs to be unpacked, thought about, and responded too.
I was extremely interested in reading this book because it heavily overlaps with my own doctoral work. It overlaps in more than one way: This book reads like a PhD thesis (which makes sense since the author admits that it is mostly his doctoral work). If you are mainly interested in the title's promise of "How [the Digital Bible] Shapes Their Reading of Scripture" then you can skip to the final two chapters (maybe the final three). The book is written more for academics than evangelicals, since its preface includes, "Because of the painful associations of white evangelicalism with some of our nation's worst sins, there have been times where I might want to . . . demit my status as an evangelical." And there's a substantive section that speaks of evangelicalism's compromise because of its alliance with Trump (this is within a chapter that attempts to define evangelicalism--this chapter is longer than the substantive final two chapters I mentioned above). All that said, the book is fine; the author furthers research in areas that should be researched more. I don't regret reading the whole thing and I enjoyed the ending, but I only mark it with two stars ("It was OK") because of the pop-level scale of Goodreads reviews.
John Dyer grew up with technology and in an evangelical church in the USA. He writes about his world where technology and American evangelical Christianity overlap. The title of the book comes from the idea that Christians, known in some parts of the world as People of the Book, are becoming People of the Screen. The book tells the story of these techno-evangelicals. The book is based on a PhD he completed at the University of Durham in England.
The first half of the book overviews the history of the Bible and technology. He documents the shift from scrolls to scrolling. He traces the history of Bible technology from software development, to websites to apps. He explains the role that American evangelicals have had as entrepreneurs and computer software developers, and then how in turn their choices have helped to shape the reading habits of many Christians around the world. He also seeks to define what an “evangelical” is in his American context. He takes an overview of American evangelicalism, and how its traits and characteristics led to the development of these products, with a brief foray into the bizarre world of American politics. He explains that American evangelicals define themselves by doctrine, but are identified by outsiders by their traits. He argues that the evangelical creators of these Bible products hold a common orientation which embraces technology for societal change. He calls this "Hopeful Entrepreneurial Pragmatism". He argues that many evangelical Christians favourite Bible translation is the pragmatic NAB or “Nearest Available Bible”.
He looks in particular at three products: Logos – Bible software, BibleGateway – a website, and YouVersion – a mobile phone app. These reach different but overlapping audiences and have different financial models. Each application had to find a revenue stream. Logos is financed by sales, BibleGateway is financed by advertising and YouVersion financed by donations. These models in turn drive some of the agenda, and arguably lead to some compromises in priority and theology.
The common theology of the developers of these products is that they work as co-creators with God, and they expect God to work through their ministries. They all hold the Bible in high regard, believing it to be inspired, and that God’s Spirit can speak to us through encounters with Scripture. This leads them to try to maximise encounters with Scripture through their products.
He looks at the theological implications of the evangelical worldview on the development of the tools – how they are influenced by evangelical traditions such as their models of authority, and conservative understanding of the nature of the text. The advantages of an evangelical background are a willingness to experiment and a cultural flexibility.
Dyer contracts the instrumentalist view of technology that technology is morally neutral, with the determinist view that technology shapes what we do. John Dyer argues that the theological nature of technology is good, but it is never neutral. He explains that the technology, shaped by the theology of the developers, does shape how the products are used and in fact nudge people to a particular American evangelical engagement with Scripture, which does not reflect other Christian practices such as meditation, lectio divina or Ignatian reflective styles.
The second half of the book is from the perspective of the users, and is largely sociological.
Based on a personal knowledge of that world, and interviews with people from those products he looks at the way decisions are made, and how the people involved think. He also explores how the different financial models affect their development path, and sometimes lead to compromises in priorities. He explains how digital Bibles are not completely replacing print Bibles but believers are often using both in different ways. In fact, the way that they are used means that God comes over less judgemental in the digital Bibles because there is a tendency to share positive verses in a “moralistic therepeutic deism”.
The author explains how these products are aimed at increasing Bible engagement, a term which was frequently used by the users and the developers. According to the author’s interviews, evangelicals use both phone and print, but gravitate towards print for more meaningful situations. As part of his research, the author Dyer did a Bible comprehension assessment using the epistle of Jude, comparing those who used a printed Bible with those using a mobile phone Bible app, and he observed that comprehension was lower amongst the digital users.
A result of some interviews was that there is an irony of Christian mobile phone apps. They are designed to help focus on the Bible, yet being on phones they come amidst all the distractions of social media. Another consequence of the digital products has been an increase use in audio Bibles aligned to a growth in the technology which enables it. He explains how more people are listening to the Bible using their mobile phones and how many find this helpful.
An interesting aspect of the book was a review of how men and women engage with the Bible differently, even though all the products seem be created by men. The book is available in print and in audio from Audible. It is a fascinating and enjoyable romp through the territory of American evangelical technology. The book does not make you want to use these products any less or any more, but it does give a great understanding of the underlying philosophy, cultural and theological frameworks underpinning their creation and development.
I finished wanting to know more about other Christian Bible tools from the non-evangelical world such as Catholic apps, and non-American Bible apps, but to be fair these were not within the scope of the book. I also finished wondering if there is much diversity in the people who make these products? The author comes over as a very nice man who is willing to look into, evaluate and critique his own world, which he does from a largely sociological and a partly theological angle.
Enjoy!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A Thought-Provoking Exploration of Bible Software and Evangelicalism John Dyer’s People of the Screen offers a fascinating, in-depth look at the intersection of technology, evangelicalism, and Bible software. As someone with over two decades of experience using various Bible tools—from early Palm Pilot software to YouVersion and Logos—this book felt personal and relevant, giving me both historical insight and fresh perspectives on a topic I deeply care about.
One of the most compelling parts of the book was Dyer’s analysis of how entrepreneurial thinking has shaped evangelicalism. I resonated with his observations about the benefits and dangers of this mindset. The chapter on evangelicals’ ends-oriented approach stood out, particularly his example of the political alliance with Donald Trump. It’s rare to see a connection like that in a discussion about Bible software, but Dyer makes his case convincingly and without over-simplifying the complexities.
Dyer’s exploration of the history of Bible software was another highlight. Having used Bible Gateway, Logos, and even early mobile tools, I found it fascinating to learn how these platforms evolved and redefined themselves in response to broader technological and cultural shifts. His discussion of how pragmatism drives software development resonated with my experience, both as a user and as someone familiar with product design and localization through my volunteer work with YouVersion.
What I appreciated most about this book was Dyer’s tone. While he maintained a neutral, almost sociological perspective for most of the book, his pastoral conclusion struck a chord with me. It encouraged reflection without prescribing overly simplistic solutions, allowing room for nuanced thought and personal application.
For me, this book prompted some important realizations about how I engage with Bible software. While I’ve found that tools like YouVersion have helped me engage with the Bible more regularly, I also see how phone-based reading can lead to distraction and make it harder to focus compared to reading a physical Bible. After reading this book, I’ve resolved to adjust my approach: • Use a paper Bible for long-form reading and daily quiet times when possible, using YouVersion mainly to track plans or find passages. • Continue using YouVersion to read “together” with friends across the globe. • Turn to Logos for deeper Bible study and sermon preparation when I need to dig into commentaries and resources.
One area where I felt the book could have gone further was its consideration of future trends. In particular, the role of AI in Bible software is an emerging issue with huge implications. While People of the Screen predates some of these developments, AI is already transforming how people engage with biblical tools. With the Bible being the most translated text in the world, AI presents opportunities to advance localization, improve translation comparisons, and explore semantic domains. The integration of technologies like Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), which combines large language models with specific datasets, has the potential to create powerful tools for in-depth Bible study. However, it also raises questions about bias in large language models and how these tools might shape people’s understanding of scripture. As someone who has worked with GPT models for scriptural study, I see immense potential but also significant risks. I can’t help but wonder what a book like People of the Bots might have to say about these developments in the future.
Overall, People of the Screen has challenged me to think more intentionally about my engagement with Bible software. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of faith and technology, especially those who’ve experienced how these tools shape modern spirituality.
This was one of the books I read as an assigned judge for the “Culture and Arts” section of the 2024 CT Book Awards. (More information here.)
I was excited about this topic, and I found much of the history—both of evangelicalism and the various stages of Bible publication—quite engaging. Only a couple chapters felt dry and academic. Nevertheless, this volume suffers from three large problems. For one, it is peppered with grammar, punctuation, and formatting errors—more so than any other traditionally published book I have ever read. More substantially, the findings of the book are based on an incredibly limited sample size: 180 people (from three separate churches near Dallas, TX) participating in a poll, and roughly 600 people in total participating in at least part of the survey. Dyer even acknowledges that “larger study groups of participants would be needed to verify” certain statistical elements of his findings (p. 164), which limits the efficacy and strength of those findings. Finally, Dyer’s conclusions are surprisingly minimal; while he makes a few points worth considering, his “Conclusions” chapter is basically a summary of what he’s already written. With its anemic ending, this book proved rather disappointing.
1) Print and digital Bibles have different optimal use cases, but when we read the bible, we almost always seek out our 'Nearest Available Bible.' If you have a smartphone, your NAB is the Bible app on your phone. I realised that I read the bible on my phone more than I'd like to, and I did some thinking about when I want to use print vs. digital to try to be intentional about it, and not just default to print.
2) As bible software companies continue to implement AI, they will undoubtedly tempt their users to use generative AI for more and more parts of the sermon-writing process. They simply lack the tools to prevent this, unless they re-evaluate their corporate goal of 'efficiency'. Our churches will hear more preaching where the preacher simply has not done the hard work of wrestling with the text and applying it to themself. Of course, I don't say this for every single Logos user! But over time, surely many more ministers will prepare sermons in this way. I worry particularly for those who are being trained for ministry in the next few years, younger Zoomers, who have been using ChatGPT since high school. We will not prepare them to learn to preach well if our go-to ministry tools for sermon preparation are so intertwined with generative AI.
People of the Screen offers a historical outline of some of the most used Bible apps and then presents focus group research on how those apps are used.
I found the history part very useful. Dyer recognizes that evangelicals have an extremely flexible stance when it comes to technology. Suspicious on the one hand, but open if the technology can meet some specific pragmatic goals. By surveying the history, Dyer gives us a good understanding of why the apps work the way they do, what purpose they are supposed to serve, and how users have molded the technology to suit their own needs.
I found most of the focus group conclusions fairly obvious from my own use of these apps and from how I know others use them. But at the same time, there are some really good nuggets in that data and some promising avenues for more research (audio Bible accessibility).
This book was the product of a dissertation and as such it’s very academic and niche. It was quite interesting though! Dyer coins the term "Hopeful Entrepreneurial Pragmatism,” or HEP, to describe the attitude he observed evangelicals having towards technology. It was full stats, observations, and interesting connections. For instance, I never would have seen a connection between evangelicalism and capitalism without this book. It has given me a lot to think about.
Cool sociology, book on the impact of digital technology on Bible reading and production. I found it very informative and interesting from a sociological perspective. It’s definitely not a book for everyone, because it is methodical and technical at times. But for those interested in how our technology shapes how we interact with the Bible, it is an excellent Reed.
Excellent! At times very academic, but that is to be excepted for the product of a PhD dissertation. This book looks at the shaping of technology on religious habits of evangelicals. As a fan of technology and the Bible, this is an area that needs more purposeful thought.
Very interesting. I enjoyed the opening chapters talking to the app developers, but found the later chapters on users were a bit of a slog with all the data and statistics. Also don't know why there was need to weave the pandemic into the book every so oftne in random sentences.
Fascinating scholarly work on the impact of digital screens on our engagement with Scripture. Dyer’s description of evangelical’s “Hopeful Entrepreneurial Pragmatism” when it comes to technology is especially helpful.
This book is written for people who don’t mind detailed definitions of evangelicalism and you should know that it is far more of a work of sociology than theology.
Nevertheless, it is well written with concise chapters, and will help the reader see the positive and negative impacts of reading Scripture on screens.