So I offer the challenge: that we inhabit this digital space, become part of the culture and learn the language of what Marc Prensky calls the, ‘Digital Natives’. Those of us who have adopted technology later in life he describes as, ‘Digital Immigrants’ and like anyone immigrating to a new country, there is a need to learn.
Mark Brown, CEO of Bible Society New Zealand, outlines some of the cultural shifts that need to be understood in order to encourage Scripture engagement among ‘digital natives’.
At Bible Society New Zealand in response to the appalling Bible engagement rates amongst Christians we wanted to find out, ‘Why don’t people read there Bible more often?’ The overwhelming reason is that people are distracted, their attention drawn to other things as they scan their environment.
To stimulate conversation, the author presents some provocative predictions of how the web might influence the production, understanding and appreciation of the Bible.
The paper was presented at the symposium: Christianity in the Digital Space, at St. John’s College, Durham, UK, July 2009.