Since I picked up Practicing Our Faith,  I am now going through two books (the other being Habits of The High Tech Heart) (see “Review of Habits of the High Tech Heart”) which represent for me two themes which are in dire need of a bridge between the two.  Habits ,  as you have seen if you’ve read some of my reviews of various chapters,  is largely a warning about the darker side of technology,  and is practically devoid of any positive examples that the author all too infrequently must concede are possibilities.  Each time he seems to be moving in a direction of giving us permission to “try to do some positive things” for the religious tradition online,  he seems to retreat back into how unfit cyberspace is to handle anything worth exploring. 

Practicing Our Faith is an ecumenical coverage of twelve key Christian practices arrived upon by 12 selected theologians brought together by The Valparasio Project.  These Practices form a set of shared values across Christian traditions,  and also can be found as core values in other religious traditions as well.  As I sit before the authors of Practices and also of Habits,  I find myself in the role of reconciler;  trying to build a bridge from community-based religious practice to legitimate means of “communicating” some of the values of these practices via Websites,  specifically that of Churches.  Much of what I see on Church websites seems to be stuck in “informational” mode rather than seeking to give “voice” to the people of that community.  Church Websites so often lack the flavor and personality of the community which has “posted” the Website.  So many are “brochureware” and very light on “personality”.