Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age: Spiritual Growth through Online Education
By Stephen D. Lowe and Mary E. Lowe
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Technological innovation has changed nearly everything about human life, including how we teach and learn. Many Christian professors and institutions have embraced new technologies, especially online education. But as followers of Jesus Christ, we face the same call to grow in our faith. So how should we think about and approach Christian education in light of new technologies? Is it possible for us to grow spiritually through our digital communities? Steve Lowe and Mary Lowe, longtime proponents of online education, trace the motif of spiritual growth through Scripture and consider how students and professors alike might foster digital ecologies in which spiritual growth—even transformation—can take place. IVP Instructor Resources available.
Stephen D. Lowe
Stephen D. Lowe (PhD, Michigan State University) is graduate chair of doctoral programs and professor of Christian education at Rawlings School of Divinity at Liberty University.
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Reviews for Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age
3 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A meandering technical discussion moving primarily toward an exhortation of understanding the faith and Christianity according to an ecological framework and secondarily as an exhortation to explore the potential of online connection in a Christian educational context.The core concept of the book regarding ecology is useful and beneficial. It explores what an ecology is and how Jesus uses ecological imagery to speak of the Kingdom and its function. Its final argument, an attempt to establish ecology as a way of looking at the faith, a host of interconnected, interdependent, symbiotic organisms whose growth and success can only happen in such a community. It is a good antidote to the rampant individualism which defines American ideology and which has overrun the church. The ecological perspective has its merits and ought to be explored.If that had been the focus of the book it would have been excellent, even if the way it is written is overly technical and a bit dry. I say it is "meandering" because one is left to expect more of a conversation about the subheading, spiritual growth in online education. The subject is explored occasionally with anecdotal evidence regarding the benefits experienced by students by participating not only in a class but also online Facebook groups and forums. The book ends with an exhortation to consider the benefits of online education in a Christian context.To this end the book has a bit of cognitive dissonance, since the "ecology of faith" demands a level of fellowship/association which ought to be real and substantive; online association, while a form of connection, is not as "real" or as "ecological." In the absence of other forms of connection, or perhaps as a way to enhance existing relationships, online association can be a good thing. Yet in a world which is becoming ever more superficially connected while losing real and substantive connection and relationship, Christians ought to be wary of uncritical embrace of online models. Understanding the faith in ecological terms has benefit. Some of that benefit would demand casting aspersions on promoting more movement toward the Internet and away from real life.**--galley received as part of early review program
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The authors of Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age elaborate biblical principles on community and interdependency in the current era with teaching and learning matters of faith as a focus area. After Alvin Toffler's Information Age, you may perceive the current decennia as the Digital Age which is essentially an interconnected age. The internet of things and we as humans potentially connected with everyone around, at least within six steps. What does that mean for traditional communities like families, associations, and churches? What difference would that mean for congregations of faithful? Is it harmful that people don't go to church on Sundays but meet fellow believers online instead? In the book, a lot of attention is given to concepts of ecologies, both on macro-level e.g. the universe and planet Earth and micro level, interdependent networks of humans and a holistic view of the human body. The Bible teaches us a lot about these human constructs of ecologies too. The Creation and Fall, Jesus Christ's parables, and the Pauline epistles on the life and practice of both local churches and the worldwide church as the body of Christ present on Earth.And so, it makes sense to enable networks whether they're offline or offline to foster faith and learning. A theological campus could be comprised of social networks on the internet just as a couple of buildings around a plot of grassland. Faithful interacting with the environment, other people to grow personally and as a whole. While the start of the book may give the impression that the authors strive for a theoretical exploration of social networks and their application in learning, basically Ecologies of faith in a digital age explains a lot of biblical insights in the interconnectedness of Christians as the one and only way to become fruitful.