Five Pillars of Christianity and Technology Taking over the World

February 6, 2009 at 10:50 pm | In church, culture, technology | 10 Comments
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question-markEver consider how the movement of technology is eerily similar to the characteristics of Christianity? Never had I, until Thursday.

Then, in World Christianity class, our prof talked about someone who came up with the five pillars or characteristics of Christianity. These are handy to keep in my for mission, and they’re good to remember because we often think of Christianity in our own neat and tidy way. These pillars are broader claims about CHRISTIANITY, big letters, with an emphasis on Christianity the world over.

First the five pillars, and then how they connect to technology…

Five Pillars/Characteristics of Christianity

  • translability:  there is no one language of Christianity. Latin was once used for theology, but it Christianity is inherently translatable
  • uses people’s idiomatic expressions of the divine:  related to the first, but considers, for instance, how we translate the name of God into different languages
  • biographical: Christianity is both about biography of individuals –one’s self– and the biographies of communities of believers. Primarily, though, it is about the biography of Jesus — which we will expound on in testimonies, or sing in hymns.
  • poly-centric: not one center of Christianity (but centers, perhaps)
  • cross-culturally diffused: loses its cohesiveness in order to interact with the context where it has been received, in that new context gain gains a new cohesiveness

Ok, now think about how new technologies, Web 2.0, and the basic movement of information relates to each pillar of Christianity.

  • Technologies are not in one language. In fact, the internet necessarily breaks down language barriers.
  • Tech stuff isn’t about expressions of the divine, but it is all about idioms, idiomatic expressions of what people claim as important (even sacred?) in their lives — that’s the blogosphere in a nutshell
  • Blogging, facebook, twitter is sooo biographical it’s almost too much for me. They’re all about biography and community, though.
  • Clearly, there’s no one center of the net and that’s what gives it enormous power
  • This last one is tricky, because technology doesn’t really lose its cohesiveness when met with a new environment, but it does become co-opted and gain a stronger cohesiveness when used well in the new setting.

If this were a paper, I’d now have to tie this up with a sweet conclusion. But it’s not. So I won’t. I do think, though, perhaps this means that Christianity — perhaps uniquely — may be spread through the use of technology. This seems like a big jump, perhaps, but I’ll take it for now. Or, on the other hand, I wonder if Christianity might be threatened by technology because they share so many characteristics? Is this why the church is so rapidly declining in Europe and the US, but growing in South America, Africa, and parts of Asia? Probably not.

Any ideas what to make of this?

image by cobrasoft

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  1. Last spring I was reading a history of hip-hop ( Can’t Stop Won’t Stop by Jeff Chang) and found some similarities between Christianity and hip-hop. The five pillars you mention here were similar to the things I was thinking about – ability to translate, to enculturate, to adapt and modify for both individuals and cultures, and that they both began on margins of the broader culture. I think one of the most remarkable things about Christianity is its ability to relate, to be relevant across culture and through time. I haven’t taken a social movements course, but I’m wondering these themes are typical of other encompassing movements, or if there’s something especially protean about Christianity.
    Great stuff!

    Jeff

    Comment by Jeff Foels — February 7, 2009 #

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  2. Thanks Jeff. Curious considerations re the hip hop stuff. Notice that not all world religions have many of the pillars, and Islam, for instance, probably has none. Buddhism has one and two. I’d better stop there before making any huge mistakes–or any others;)

    Comment by adamjcopeland — February 7, 2009 #

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  3. Interesting post!

    Comment by Boaly — February 7, 2009 #

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  4. The first one, I think, is a particularly important distinctive. Christianity is not mediated by a particular race or culture, or by the linguistic constructs of one society. It’s far more universal.

    Comment by David Williams — February 8, 2009 #

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  5. good thoughts on christianity. thanks.

    Comment by andrew — February 11, 2009 #

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  6. The observation I often make is the devotion that is required by the leadership of our technological society. The most advanced discoveries are made on university campuses. In order to get a Ph.D. you need to sacrifice everything and take a vow of poverty (unless you are already independently wealthy). It’s somewhat monk-like. Science has become a religion and technologies are the implements of worship.

    Comment by E. Scott Anderson — March 17, 2009 #

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  7. This is the article I chose to e-mail for my computer aticle.

    THANKS,
    DeAnte Nails

    Comment by Bob Gillham — September 27, 2009 #

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  8. Very interesting comparison, and it makes A LOT of sense. I was partial to the last paragraph it is interesting that Christianity seems to be advancing in what we would call “third world” countries more-so than we see here in the US were our entire world revolves around technology(How many of us have just felt completely out of touch with the world if we left our cellphones at home one day?) Im not sure if that is directly related to technology in itself, or could it be that we as Americans are not necessarily a “starving” culture; were third world countries so-to-speak are starving in almost all senses of the word so they embrace what we bring them and it is a wonderful thing that that is the word of God. This article definitely got me thinking.

    Comment by Nidya — January 26, 2010 #

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  9. What an interesting idea! The part of this article that I most like is about the language, what a true concept!

    Comment by molly — February 1, 2010 #

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  10. This article is very interesting I would have never thought to make a comparison between Christianity and the Internet. After reading this article I really feel like I could utilize the internet more to spread the Gospel. I feel so enlighten right all of a sudden.

    Comment by David Belmar — February 8, 2010 #

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