I am scared. Really. During my lifetime media have changed:

>> from being static to being dynamic
>> from being linear to being hyper-linked
>> from being text oriented to being visual
>> from being exclusive, privately owned to open access
>> from being uni-directional to being interactive

I'd feel much safer sitting in my study and writing a conventional mini-dissertation. In fact, that's what I will do, because I am not corageous enough to say: go to http://christ-and-culture.info - there it is...

When I was first introduced to the concept of electronic messaging (what would later be called "e-mail") in 1978, I was fascinated. Today I just use it.

When I first discovered that "there is gold in them thar networks" in the late eighties, I rejoiced in the anarchic spirit of the internet: free software for free people. Today I sigh, sometimes.

When I first logged into a system remotely, using a 300BAUD accoustic coupler, in 1989, I felt the excitement of an advenurer. Meantime I am online around the clock (I hardly remember the high pitched sound of my modem any more). And even from my cell phone I get connection.

When I first opened a webpage in a browser, probably around 1993 or 1994, I was amazed at the world of opportunity opening before me. These days I feel bored, when I type http://www...

For maybe a year now I have been using "facebook" and "youtube", and I do so with fervor. But I start cooling down... What next?

I am scared, really. We used to be able to point at an enciclopedia, a monograph, a newspaper article, a paper in a journal and say: "It is writen..." Who had said what, where and when? All black on white. And we still do that. But less and less so. My kids are more likely to be involved in a chat on MIXT or skype that reading a book (which they also do!) I may find myself communicating with someone via SMS or facebook - who is in the same building, even the same room where I am... Are we controlling technology - or is technology running our lives?

I am scared. But I also do embrace the fascinating potential of innovative ways; ways of communication; ways of entertainment; ways of education; ways of artistic self-expression. Ways unheard of.

ok, so now I have done it. Finally. Here is my new website

http://christ-and-culture.info.

I was thinking how to call it:

>> christ-and-culture
>> faith-and-culture
>> theology-and-culture
>> somethingelese-and-youknowwhat...

But then I decided to go for this one. Not only because of Niebuhr's book title - though I readily admitt that reading it has been a great inspiration to me, about two years ago.
I was also very much drawn to "faith-and-culture", because that stresses my own -human - perspective a man of - sometimes too little, help me Lord! -  faith. Christian faith, that is.
Finally, I also did consider "theology-and-culture" - but it sounds too official, too technical. Indeed, this may be what I will be doing, mostly. And yet, for me theology has got no meaning -apart from faith.
Another possibility would have been "theology-and-film", because that will be, by and large, my starting point. But only the starting point, so why confine myself too much? I can already envisage "theology-and-multimedia" as the next step, and who knows, what will follow...

Now, there are two reasons, why I am doing this:
one: because I always wanted to explore the area of Christian faith and modern (mass)media: their interrelationship, the tensions, issues, opportunities...
two: because in my last year of studies at UNISA (doing Bachelor of Theology, BTh) I need to do a so-called "capstone module"...
[more about all this in a future blog entry]

I will - within a very short time, the next 200 hours or so - dump most of what I have developed in my head, on scaps of paper, in half-finished files, papers etc - to this site, to document some the thoughts, insights and ideas that have become impotant to me, when I think about this question:

"How does my Christian faith motivate and move me to read cultural "statements" like films, videos, webpages, books, magazines and other expressions - and to communicate and express myself in these sorts of media?"