Blogging is not a New Reformation

Blogging is not a "New Reformation."  Whew, glad I got that off my chest.  Why don't you say it with me - "blogging is not a 'New Reformation.'"  Again - "blogging is not a 'New Reformation.'"  There, I feel better, and I hope you do also.

I thought of this reading Tim Challies review of Blog by Hugh Hewitt.  I think I'm more positive about Hugh's book than Tim is, but he does address the whole issue of blogging being a new reformation.  Hugh is so enthusiastic about blogging that he sometimes uses blogging and "new reformation" in the same sentence.  I understand what he is getting at - the changes in communication media today are akin to the changes in communication media during the 15th and 16th centuries.  That is probably a valid comparison.

But the Reformation was not about the printing press, it was about a message.  The printing press was merely a vehicle for a new message that reformed society.  Similarly, blogging is a vehicle, it is a tool, it is a medium for communication.  Blogging could play a part in a new reformation, assuming some type of message develops that can radically alter religion and society at large, as happened during the Reformation of the sixteenth century.  But blogging is not the reformation.

This is worth pointing out because Hugh is not the only one using "blogging" and "new reformation" in the sentence.  Nor is blogging the only thing being promoted as a "new reformation."   Tim mentions other popular candidates for new reformations in recent days:

A couple of weeks ago I was browsing through my pastor’s library and remarking on the number of people who lay claim to "the next Reformation." Over twenty years ago, Robert Schuller told us it would be a Reformation of self-esteem and more recently his protégé Rick Warren that it will be one of purpose. Other books tell us the next Reformation will involve breaking the church body into small groups, essentially giving the church back to the people in the same way that the first Reformation gave the theology back to the people.

Actually, any of the things that Tim mentioned above could potentially be the impetus for a new reformation in the same way that the church of Elvis could ignite a new reformation or a new political party or movement could ignite a reformation.  Reformations are about ideas.  If the a majority of the world embraced Schuller's or Warren's message, or embraced the notion that the institutional church as we know it is unbiblical and should be replaced by the house church, or if everyone suddenly believed in the deity of Elvis, this would constitute a reformation.  Religion would be reshaped, the culture at large would be reshaped, and our daily lives would be reshaped. 

But blogging is not an idea, it is a technology.  Blogging may communicate the next big idea the way the printing press communicated the ideas of the protestant reformation.  But blogging would not be the reformation itself.

It cheapens the idea of "reformation" to equate it with a particular piece of technology.   Luther, Calvin, Knox, Swingli and others weren't printers or bookbinders, they were scholars, theologians, and pastors.  Similarly, any new reformation on the horizon won't come from someone who is an accomplished blogger, it will come from someone who is an accomplished influencer, whether it be cleric, politician, entertainer, or butcher.  They may use blogging effectively to communicate their ideas but it will be the ideas that are formative, not the technology.

On the other hand, I'll cool down my little screed here and acknowledge that there are some big ideas behind blogging.  The chief idea is that communication media is now the domain of the average person, not a member of the elite.  Sure, there are still so-called "elites" but they no longer are the gatekeepers of news and information through which the "common man" has to go.  So, this idea is an important concomitant of blogging, but it is important to distinguish the idea from the technology.

Also, I think it is helpful to point out that blogging is stil in its infancy and we don't know what the future holds for blogging.  Blogging is an important development in communication technology but communication technology may evolve beyond blogging as we now know it.  Blogging is an evolutionary development of the internet, where the blog is replacing the home page.  Yet, the internet may very well evolve beyond blogging.  We already have things like podcasting and videoblogging gaining in popularity. Rob Williams points out all of the things you can do to communicate without a computer, and these are things you used to have to have a computer to do.

Mind you, I love blogging and I sincerely hope it doesn't go away.  As I mentioned a few days ago, blogging is good for your brain.  I think it is a medium that stimulates deep thought and discussion in a way that a more video based or graphic based medium can't.  But my point is that right now, blogging is like that new pretty girl at school.  She's so good looking that everybody is always staring at her and wants to be around her.  But her popularity may only last until a prettier girl arrives.  Or another analogy is that blogging is like other forms of technology.  The Pentium 3 was the hottest thing going until the Pentium 4 came out. 

So, I'm all for using blogging to it's full extent. Right now, blogging is one of the best ways to champion a theology, an ideology, a form of entertainment or a kitty cat.  I love blogging and think you should love it too. But let's not make blogging out to be something its not.  I'm all for a new reformation and would be happy to see blogging be a vehicle for it.  But let's remember, blogging is not the new reformation, blogging is not the new reformation, blogging is not the new reformation, blogging is not th . . . . . .

Comments

[Tim]

Bingo. What Hugh seems to fail to grasp is that while a new Reformation may come via blogging, it cannot be blogging. The medium cannot be the message. While Gutenberg is certainly important in any study of the Reformation, it is the ideas that define the Reformation, not the means they were communicated.

Frankly I don't think there will be another Christian Reformation anywhere near the importance of the first. We will surely continue to see incremental increases in our knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures, but I don't know that we'll see anything the likes of what Christianity witnessed in the sixteenth century. Then again, I doubt anyone in the fifteenth century saw it coming...

[Dr. Andy Jackson]

Great post David. It is featured at SmartChristian. Andy

[Terry]

I'm glad you have finally blogged about cats.

[David Wayne]

Tim - glad we're trackin here.

Andy - thanks for linking me - I appreciate it.

Terry - yes, you have inspired me to join the ranks of cat bloggers.

[Jeff]

I agree with your post ... and we need to recognize the reformation was what it really was.

That said, however, there is a special kind of shift taking place in the spreading of an idea. Blogging changes the rules about how an idea gets spread ... and the speed with which an idea gets spread ... and the reach of an idea. Blogging has made using the web to spread ideas incredibly easy. Most do not realize just how easy it is ... and that it is free.

Having just read the book "Tipping Point", the rise of blogging could be the environmental context needed to spread idea "epidemics" at mind blazing speeds.

Self publishing taps into the same kind of dynamic ... the ability to go past the old gatekeepers (publishers/editors) ... but it lacks the speed to market of a blog. It also lacks the connectivity with a reader that a blog has. A book still has a user friendly format, however, which a computer screen will never have.

If blogging changes the way people consume ideas (from printed media to electronic media), then the impact could be huge.

I agree with the premise of your post ... Hugh may be misinterpreting the reformation for what it was ... but blogging, I think, is on its way to having a significant impact on how ideas are spread.

I am waiting to see if blogging tips beyond political commentary. I am not seeing that on a significant scale ... yet.

[Paula]

Thanks for this. As a former journalist in the "secular" world and now a writing Christian, I take any medium quite seriously. I would not have a blog today if I had not prayed about it first. Any medium can speak any message, but it's the message that makes the difference. Just ask a deaf person who knows the Lord. They very well could have 'heard' about Him in sign language. I know this sounds simplistic, but I believe God likes to keep things simple too.
Pg

[dopderbeck]

I love blogging too, but I think Hewitt misses the boat not only on what constitutes a Reformation (and David I agree with you on that point), but also on the technology itself. The revolution is the Internet, not blogging. What's being done now in blogs was done years ago on the Usenet and proprietary Internet bulletin boards such as The Well and Delphi (I was a Delphi guy back in 1993, before the Web was on anyone's radar screen). Blogs are simply the current generation of technology that allows for easy posting of an individual's thoughts. In a few years, blogs will have morphed into something else -- maybe a combination of today's blogs, web message boards, podcasts, video blogs, and real time voice over IP. All of this is possible because of the ongoing communications revolution made possible by the Internet.