Three Books on the Christian and Digital Technology
We use the technology every day, and we depend on it for huge portions of our life. But perhaps few of us ever consider it in terms of Christian faithfulness. Here are three books that have caught our attention that do just that.
From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology
John Dyer
Kregel, 2011
192 pages
From the Garden to the City traces the history of technology and tool- making from a distinctively Christian point of view; and candidly acknowledges that both human wisdom and folly, both piety and impiety, both humility and pride, have contributed chapters to this complicated history. Neither technophobes nor technophiles will be entirely satisfied with either Dyer’s judicious reasoning or his cautionary encouragements. Each will prefer total, apocalyptic warfare, and each will be uncomfortable with his sniperlike precision. (from the Foreword, p.10)
The Next Story: Faith, Friends, Family, and the Digital World
Tim Challies
Zondervan, 2015
218 pages
I’d like you to join me as we think about “the next story,” a story we are living right now – life after the digital explosion. We’ll explore some suggestions and ideas for how we as Christians can live in this new reality with character, virtue, and wisdom. And we’ll examine how we can respond to these revolutionary changes as followers of Christ in a digital age, learning to live faithfully as the next story unfolds. (p.14)
See our review of this book here.
12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You
Tony Reinke
Crossway, 2017
224 pages
This book about phones could easily grow thicker than a phone book, so to keep it short, I must address only the essentials and navigate with care and brevity. While some writers claim our phones are making us cognitively sharper and relationally deeper,11 others warn that our phones are making us shallow, dumb, and less competent in the real world.12 Both arguments ring true at times, but “social media are largely what we make of them— escapist or transforming depending on what we expect from them and how we use them.”13 The question of this book is simple: What is the best use of my smartphone in the flourishing of my life? (p.20)