Bible Engagement in a Digital Age

In the Jump Into the Word blog, Lawson Murray asks how the digital age will influence Bible engagement.

He makes a list of possible effects:

• “the Bible will be read in multiple formats in an ever emerging variety of forms on a growing range of devices
• availability and access to different Bible versions and translations will continue to increase
• greater access to audio Bibles and podcasts may help us become better “hearers” of the Word
• sharing thoughts and insights about the Bible may increase due to social networks like facebook and Linkedin
• interactive software programs/systems, hypertext, blogs, posts and webinars uniquely facilitate biblical study and reflection
• sharing favourite or meaningful verses will increase due to texting and tweeting
• the individual’s opportunity and capacity to understand and interpret the Scriptures will increase
• missions could prosper because nations closed to the Gospel will find it more difficult to restrict the availability of biblical texts
• the Scriptures are readily available in any language or translation to anyone on earth with a smart phone

• Scripture memorization may decline because Google, Bible Gateway, You Version and such make it easy to look up a passage or text
• people will become significantly less likely to buy printed copies of the Bible
• reading Scripture within a contemplative framework may decline
• sequential reading will decline due to the fact that reading on the web develops inclinations to skip around, dip and dabble, browse or scan information
• tendencies to read the Bible in short fast bursts will increase
• concentration and meditation on the Scriptures will suffer because of what Cory Doctorow has called “an ecosystem of interruption technologies” (animations, hyperlinks, live feeds, pop-ups and so on)
• qualitative depth of reading will be sacrificed for reading geared to a quantitative scope
• e-books may augment a predisposition to uncouple content from form which may lead to tendencies to view the Scriptures as something detached from their incarnational form – the textual equivalent of Cartesian dualism
• the role of the local church in the transmission and interpretation of the Scriptures will decline”

What do you think? Read the full article over at the Jump Into The Word blog and leave your comments.