On Studying Ephemera
- Posted by scott on December 24th, 2006 filed in scholarship, meta
Different scholars face different problems when studying the history of religion.
Most have the advantage of studying a subject that does not move. Though books and articles proposing different interpretations of texts and movements abound, primary sources are few but change little. Plato’s cave is just as he left it, save for the mountain of monographs left waiting for him outside.
But what of us studying contemporary, or perhaps future, religious thought and practice? Technological developments have enabled any and all to “publish themselves” and claim authority validated by democratized-but-professional design using just about any medium for little to no cost. We’ve greater access to more media from more content creators than at any point in history. As Gary Cross argues, popular culture has become a self-referential evolutionary machine that is churning out media at a blistering pace. [1]
Western Christianities have not been immune to this phenomenon. The Christian Book Association, a conglomerate of publishers and retailers, reports $4.2 billion in product sales for 2002, including books, music, apparel, curriculum, videos, greeting cards, and cross-bearing Platinum Plus MasterCards. [2] This does not account for “indie media” or the emerging Christian counter(sub)culture, whose members often shun baptized expressions of consumerism in the form of Ichthus pens or Silver-Plated Shofar horns for 20% off.
From an academic standpoint, is it even possible to study a culture evolving so rapidly and producing more media each month than one individual could consume in a lifetime? And if so, is it productive? The traditional year-long publishing process ensures that any book analyzing emerging Christianities comes off the press as an artifact, or worse, an antique.
This is not a problem, but merely a fact – or better, an opportunity. There’s little hope for developing a unified theory or metanarrative to understand emerging Christianities and net culture – especially over an extended period of time. The sheer profusion of texts invalidates this approach by their number and dissimilarity. Instead, I’ve chosen to analyze the shards of emerging Christianities and Web 2.0 that pass by me. I will chronicle only a few of the many facets of emerging thought, practice, and technologies that bear potential for critical engagement. In the end, I hope to offer a perspective of the emerging movement that is not True of all, but useful for many.
[1] Cross, Gary S. An All-Consuming Century. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. (Amazon)
[2] Christian Book Association. “President Bush Thanks Retailers, Actor Mel Gibson At CBA International Convention.” Accessed 12/24/06.
On Studying Ephemera
- Posted by scott on December 24th, 2006 filed in scholarship, meta
Different scholars face different problems when studying the history of religion.
Most have the advantage of studying a subject that does not move. Though books and articles proposing different interpretations of texts and movements abound, primary sources are few but change little. Plato’s cave is just as he left it, save for the mountain of monographs left waiting for him outside.
But what of us studying contemporary, or perhaps future, religious thought and practice? Technological developments have enabled any and all to “publish themselves” and claim authority validated by democratized-but-professional design using just about any medium for little to no cost. We’ve greater access to more media from more content creators than at any point in history. As Gary Cross argues, popular culture has become a self-referential evolutionary machine that is churning out media at a blistering pace. [1]
Western Christianities have not been immune to this phenomenon. The Christian Book Association, a conglomerate of publishers and retailers, reports $4.2 billion in product sales for 2002, including books, music, apparel, curriculum, videos, greeting cards, and cross-bearing Platinum Plus MasterCards. [2] This does not account for “indie media” or the emerging Christian counter(sub)culture, whose members often shun baptized expressions of consumerism in the form of Ichthus pens or Silver-Plated Shofar horns for 20% off.
From an academic standpoint, is it even possible to study a culture evolving so rapidly and producing more media each month than one individual could consume in a lifetime? And if so, is it productive? The traditional year-long publishing process ensures that any book analyzing emerging Christianities comes off the press as an artifact, or worse, an antique.
This is not a problem, but merely a fact – or better, an opportunity. There’s little hope for developing a unified theory or metanarrative to understand emerging Christianities and net culture – especially over an extended period of time. The sheer profusion of texts invalidates this approach by their number and dissimilarity. Instead, I’ve chosen to analyze the shards of emerging Christianities and Web 2.0 that pass by me. I will chronicle only a few of the many facets of emerging thought, practice, and technologies that bear potential for critical engagement. In the end, I hope to offer a perspective of the emerging movement that is not True of all, but useful for many.
[1] Cross, Gary S. An All-Consuming Century. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. (Amazon)
[2] Christian Book Association. “President Bush Thanks Retailers, Actor Mel Gibson At CBA International Convention.” Accessed 12/24/06.
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