Here are some notes I’ve been working on for several days. I haven’t managed to polish the prose, but hopefully they might set people thinking. ‘Towards A Theology Of … ‘ might sound pretentious, and I recall a college friend taking the mickey with a paper entitled ‘Towards A Theology Of Football’, but I’m really just trying to say that these are provisional thoughts as part of an attempt to work from a conviction that God is interested in all of life, the Web included. So here goes:

There is so much around about the transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0. Web 1.0 was already somewhat postmodern because of GUIs and intuition, also ‘surfing’. But Web 2.0 represents an increasing postmodernisation. It goes from static websites to dynamic ones(rather like going back from a Greek mindset to a Hebrew one). It moves from reading what is provided (sermons – cf. my site) to interaction (which is very postmodern and can be consumerist). Note for example the emphasis on conversation (particularly in blogs with their comments and trackbacks – no wonder the emerging church ‘conversation’ favours not simply the web but web 2.0). Then there is collaboration (online apps – is this a feminising of the web and more so of the church, because it is contrary to competition? Although note that collaborative web apps are being introduced for reasons of empire and competition – Google v Microsoft, etc. So now you can word-process online and use spreadsheets together. Some vendors provide a whole suite of programs.)

So what kind of witness and evangelism is appropriate on the web? In Web 1.0 you listen to the proclamation but in Web 2.0 it must be dialogical. The Web Evangelism Bulletin has long been anti-church websites that are electronic notice sheets and has promoted the ‘bridge strategy’ where a Christian writes about his/her profession or hobby and mentions their faith somewhere in it. That itself can still be static, but if combined with the interactivity of, say, a blog that is well tagged, they may be onto something.

Technorati Tags: theology, Web+1.0, Web+2.0, postmodern, emerging+church, blogs, online+apps, Google, Microsoft, Web+Evangelism+Bulletin, bridge+strategy

I went back to eBible today for the first time since holiday, to do a bit of research for Sunday’s sermon. Upon logging in I discovered I’ve been given a further three invitations to give away for participation in the private beta testing of this site. I’ll give them out on a first-come, first-served basis again. So if you want one you’ll have to be quick, given the way they went last time. Please keep an eye out on the blog for a message when they’ve all gone.

Technorati Tags: eBible

Please note that all my ten invitations for beta testing of eBible have now gone. Five people left requests on the blog, and five others emailed me privately. Good job I was in tonight!

I’ve started to leave a few comments in the forums having started to use it for sermon preparation tonight. My general impression is that at this stage it is well-suited to someone like a home group leader but less suited to someone with formal academic theological qualifications. However it is only a beta, and it sounds like the developers are negotiating licences to add other features. If they manage to do so it could be a very useful tool.

Technorati Tags: eBible, beta

My cup runneth over – not one invitation, but ten to give out! Again, first come first served – send me your email address and I can send you an invitation. (The man to thank at eBible is Mark Sears.)

Technorati Tags: eBible, beta

Further to my earlier post, I have (to my pleasant surprise) been given a speedy invitation to become a beta tester for the eBible search app. I also have one invitation to give out. The first person to send me their email address gets it.

Technorati Tags: eBible, Bible, Web+2.0, app, search

From Brian McLaren’s foreword to Steve Chalke and Anthony Watkis’ book Intelligent Church:

… too often our churches have become human
warehouses, where people are gathered and stored so that they can be delivered
after death to heaven with minimum loss, spoilage, rust, rot or breakage. These
air-conditioned warehouses are equipped with every comfort – from padded seats
to a kind of religious muzak – so that those who enter will be happy and never
want to leave until they are shipped to their final destination.

No wonder we have a sacred-secular divide in church thinking.

Technorati Tags: Brian+McLaren, Steve+Chalke, Anthony+Watkis, Intelligent+Church, sacred+secular

Found this very Web 2.0 Bible search engine. It isn’t complete yet and I’ve signed up for an invitation to be a beta tester. eBible.com Alpha – Get in Line

Link via TechCrunch.

Technorati Tags: eBible, Bible, search, Web+2.0, TechCrunch