NextGenKent

Michael Frost shared in an interview* about his book, Incarnate, discussed what the Church can do to counter the "defleshing" character of today's digitized culture. He speaks about the "excarnation" of our disembodied social networking and how it contributes to such things as violence and porn. "My concern is that many people don't think hard enough about the way technology is shaping interpersonal relationships," Frost states, and believes "we need to live fully embodied existence, in community, and in place."    I totally resonate with what Frost is saying not only by observation in the church I worship in but also in my own home. I personally do not believe the worship service is a place where we allow our children to sit next to playing a game or having earbuds in on a device. You might disagree that this is no different than writing, drawing, coloring, but I see a big difference. You can listen to what is being said while doi...

William D. Romanowski, Eyes Wide Open: Looking For God In Pop Culture (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press) 2009. Remarking about the kind of faith informed engagement with popular art and culture, Romanowski states that, “Our aim should be to preserve the best features, improve the weakest parts, and eliminate the worst traits of popular art” (23). This is really what the entire book sets out to show us how to do—practically, emotionally, spiritually, but most of all with great discernment. This really is a very good book! At each turn with the author’s setting up of his point-illustration-principle-vision layout, many times I found myself guessing correctly which movie he was going to be citing next. I found this statement on paradigm shifts needing to happen very interesting: “The change is signified by a remaking of cultural perceptions and the introduction of new questions and standards for acceptable solutions” (p35). With the fast pace of technological advancements and media’s barra...