Larry has posted reflections on the electronic media, and blogs in particular, and I am sensing a groundswell of thoughts within me around the issues of online dialogue, and how we might help heal the fractured and virulent discourse in America, and in particular, to heal some theological divisions.

Reflecting on Digital Empowerment

The electronic, digital culture has arrived. In addition to traditional (or old) media venues, the national dialogue is taking place now in blogs, e-mail, chat rooms, electronic forums (fora, if you are really traditional) and other Internet-based settings, and they will increasingly become central to the exchange of ideas and information-sharing.

Not the least of the underlying social dynamics: the “availability, in digital , searchable form, conversations that are “seekable” via electronic means.

A couple of years ago, I reacted to Quentin Schultze’s “Habits of the HighTech Heart” with a good amount of “Aw, come on!”, so intent was he on “defending” his take on the “essence of the faith” from the kind of thinking he thrust upon the “high tech world” as dangerous to “spiritual sensibilities”. He pounded this theme home all the way through the book, hardly ever exploring how the medium might actually provide some opportunities for some new forms of human community (not REPLACING it, but AUGMENTING, EXTENDING, and even INTRODUCING people that will seek each other out offline.