Gone Digital: How Digitality Disrupts Theology (First Annual Conference)
The first annual conference by the Global Network for Digital Theology will be held online 14-16 July 2021. For program and registration visit Eventbrite.
Three broad areas will be investigated.
1. How digital theology alters/augments theology
Digital technology is today a major cultural force which has significant bearings on human societies and identities. Theological thought and reflection is always historically situated, inevitably shaped by socio-political and even technological dynamics. Thus, how does digitality change the cultural conditions in which theological thought and texts are constructed, and what are the implications for the content of these?
2. The future of seminaries and theology departments and of theological dissemination
Beyond such contextual consideration, the impact of digital technology on theological dissemination is already being felt. Digital technology not only changes the way that theology is taught and disseminated, it impacts where theological conversations take place and who can participate in them. What effect does this have on traditional theological institutions such as seminaries, theology departments and publishers, and how can they accommodate these changes?
3. Digitality and theological method
At a minimum, the very fact that most theologians write on laptops or desktops evidence the impact of digital technology on theological method. Beyond this, digital technology provides new tools for biblical interpretation, and for the analysis of church and world. How does digitality change the methods of theological enquiry?
ABSTRACT: This paper explores how digitally-mediated theological learning disrupts the theological college, by challenging its educational and formational neighbourhood to be hospitable to ‘elsewhereness’.
This paper proposes to address the simple but complex issue of how digitality changes contemporary methods of theological enquiry. Theology is about experiencing and making meaning in a world where the existence of supernatural reality, God, is taken for granted.
Relying on a theo-phenomenological account of the flesh as understood in light of an analysis of 'wonder' and the 'uncanny,' this paper examines how the digitality of theology reframes our understanding of forgiveness.
The present paper aims to think about two contemporary theological approaches that reflect on the impact of digital culture on the experience of faith and how to do theology today, Cybertheology and Digital Theology, from the perspective of the Brazilian theological experience.
This research investigates the intersection between decoloniality and digital theology, and uses Hong Kong as a case study to illustrate the danger of recolonisation in the digital space.
This paper relates media theory to church history and doctrine; discusses how The Bible Project’s Protestant theology relates to other traditions; and suggests how we might ground digital theology scholarship in Imago Dei.
Even within the concert of theological disciplines, systematic theology seems to be particularly disinclined to engage in the usage of methods stemming from the realm of digital humanities. The paper asks if this hesitation has structural reasons or not.
With the onset of COVID-19, the whole world had stumbled into digital learning. Since then, many seminaries are offering our classes online and asking what opportunities do digital learning pose for theological education? This paper will reflect on the year's developments.
by Srebrenka Kunek, Matt Brain, and Fergus J. King
SK
MB
FK
Published: Jul 02, 2021
Christian theology has long dealt with the questions of "presence" and "absence". Environment has frequently provided material for such engagements. How might a digital environment re-configure practices such as Eucharist and pilgrimage?
Over the last few decades a growing number of theologians have reflected on impact of digitization and its implications for religious faith and practices. They have approached this from different perspectives, using a range of methodologies, covering a multitude of topics. More recently there has been a concerted effort through the Global Network for Digital Theology to bring these scholars together to survey the research to date and to encourage future studies.
These articles, published in Cursor_, are a part of this effort. They expand on a panel titled ‘Defining Digital Theology’ at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion. They are important contributions to digital theology as an emerging discipline, both in defining/discerning the discipline as a whole, and by providing sustained reflection on how theology and digitality intersect and mutually critique each other.
