The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture

The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture:
How Media Shapes Faith, The Gospel and Church

Shane Hipps who had previously worked as what he calls a “consumer anthropologist” came to the conclusion that “the most effective, award winning, and respected advertising is that which convinces consumers that a product or service will meet their spiritual and emotional needs. In this sense, the measure of my success in advertising was to promote a counterfeit gospel.” Out of that he decided to write this book.

Hipps contends that “the forms of media and technology—regardless of their content—cause profound changes in the church and culture.” Hipps argues against the commonly held cultural belief that the medium doesn’t matter.

“THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE”
-Marshall Mcluhan-

CHRISYTIANITY –IN A CENTRALIZED, ADMINISTARTIVE, BEUROCRATIC FORM—IS CERTAINLY IRRELIVANT.”
-Marshall Mcluhan-

The development of all media is the attempt to extend or exemplify the natural functions of our bodies. The natural tendency that Hipps warns against is our aptness to turn our gadgets into idols that create an upside-down relationship between the creator and the created. Hipps says, “ We are oblivious to the ways the medium, regardless of its content, reduces our capacity for abstract thought, makes us prefer intuition and experience over logic and reasoning, and revives tribal experiences in an individualistic culture.” The movies The Matrix is a great metaphor for this book.

The 4 questions we must ask of our media are;
1. What does the media extend?
-A previous body part, a previous medium, or even an emotion?
2. What does the medium make obsolete?
-What older medium has been replaced?
3. What does the medium reverse into?
-If pushed to the extreme what does the medium reverse into against its original intention?
4. What does the medium retrieve?
-What medium from the past is recovered?

“THE PRINTEDD BOOK ADDED MUCH TO THE NEW CULTURE OF INDIVIDUALISM. THE PRIVATE, FIXED POINT OF VIEW BECAME POSSIBLE AND LITERACY CONFERRED THE POWER OF DETACHMENT,
NONINVOLVMENT.”
-Marshall Mcluhan-


Hipps shows how much of postmodernism and modernism can be seen in the language difference between eastern and western cultures and that it is no wonder postmodernism has leaned toward Eastern Orthodoxy. Hipps says, “while a phonetic alphabet (American English) is linear, sequential and abstract, ideographic writing (Chinese Characters) is nonlinear, holistic, and intuitive.” With the development of the Gutenberg printing press the culture and worldview of the west changed. “This newly entrenched worldview was characterized by a strong emphasis on individualism, objectivity. Abstraction and reason, in contrast to the medieval worldview characterized by and emphasis on tribal, mystical and sacramental experiences.”

The Effects of Printing on Christianity
1. Enhances
Printing amplifies the notion of a personal relationship with God built around critical reason and analysis.
2. Obsolescence
Print changes communal faith eroding intuition and our appreciation for mystery.
3. Reverses Into
Print turns the gospel into a gospel for the individual and a set of abstract propositions.
4. Retrieves
Print recovers the Pauline epistles with the highly rational prose of Paul.


“TODAY WE EXPERIENCE IN REVERSE WHAT PRELITERATE MAN FACED WITH THE ADVENT OF WRITING”
-Marshall Mcluhan-

Hipps comes back to the Modern/Postmodern analysis saying that the modern metaphor has been print, which builds its knowledge on scripture, theology and then experience. This foundationalism is a linear sequential line of thinking that was birthed in the Enlightenment. The postmodern metaphor is more of a web of communication claiming knowledge is conditioned both by our experiences and our truth claims. The legitimacy of the web is determined by its coherence. Hipps says the Printed word is propositional, sequential, rational, linear (left brain) and is abstract in dealing with experience. Image is presentational, holistic, intuitive, non-linear (right brain) and deals with experience concretely.

The effects of Electronic Culture
1. Enhances
-A right brain encounter corporate approach to faith.
2. Obsolescence
-Electronic culture obsolescence our belief in a meta-narrative
3. Reverses Into
-Reverse into relativism
4. Retrieves
-Eastern Orthodox and Medieval Catholic spirituality
“Media are make happen agents not make aware agents.”
-Marshall Mcluhan-

Hipps says that the nature of God’s medium is the people of God who are a sign, an instrument and a foretatse of the kingdom who are called to be the body of Christ. He also talks about how the consumer driven church ahs lost God’s medium.

“THE NEW ELECTRONIC INTERDEPENDANCE RECREATES THE WORLD IN THE IMAGE OF A GLOBAL IMAGE.”
-Marshall Mcluhan-

Hipps speaks about the topic of community in the electronic culture and how we have become a tribe of individuals. Media has meant that we no longer need to share geography with other to share community. Our electronic culture creates empathy at a distance and spoils our appetite for the kind of authentic community which scripture calls us to. Hipps says “authentic community involves high degrees of intimacy, permanence and proximity. Authentic community will undoubtedly be marked by conflict, risk, and rejection. At the same time it offers the deepest levels of acceptance, intimacy and support.”

“WE MUST GET RID OF THE HEIRARCHY IN THE CHURCH IF WE WANT PARTICIPATION BUT WE DON’T HAVE TO WISH FOR IT. IT’S HAPPENING.”
-Marshall Mcluhan-

Hipps says, “Authority is often derived from information control. In other words, as access to information increases centralized authority decreases.” One of the things that the Christian community has done in the modern era has been the developing of a “Ready, Fire, Aim” mentality in that they are so quick to adopt the latest method and forget about asking how the method fits in the DNA of the culture and church. Hipps says “when we import prepackaged programs from ‘successful’ mega churches around the country, we assume they have already done the aiming for us.”

“THE NEW PREFFERENCE FOR DEPTH PARTICIPATIO HAS PROMTED IN THE YOUNG A STRONG DRIVE TOWARDS RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE WITH RICH LITURGICAL OVERTONES. THE LITURGICAL REVIVAL OF THE ELECTRONIC AGE AFFECTS EVEN THE MOST AUSTERE PROTESTANT SECTS.”
-Marshall Mcluhan-

Finally, Hipps touches on worship in electronic culture. Hipps creates an awesome illustration that I wont explain here, suffice it to say that he plays with the difference between Mac’s (Postmodern) versus Windows (Modern). Hipps says that the emerging video venues create an illusion of a celebrity spectacle. Hipps says that this new medium “conveys the unspoken belief that no one in the satellite congregation has the authority to speak to their context because preaching requires unique that only a few actually posses. We are called to a holistic understanding of worship that is relevant to the context and community it seeks to create. In closing Hipps calls for an ecology of worship that continues to ask the why questions about our media and how it shapes our faith, the gospel and the church.