This
term in theology, we looked at implementing the internet into theology. The
first thing we did, was to start a website. This website contained blogs which
we had written. Some of them were reflective of our lives, and the choices we
had made in the last week. We then began a twitter feed which we put a variety
of things on, not just theological things. We also looked at the Diocese of
Oxford website, which gave us help in understanding religion. Ship of
Fools was an experimental website that tried to incorporate humour into
theology. You were able to buy a variety of strange products ranging from
"Pope Soap on a Rope", to "Jesus loves you flip flops".
Finally, we looked at 2nd life, and how we can incorporate religion in to
a video game. We experienced a church service live with a real priest.
The
virtual attempts at accessing religion were mainly flawed for me. The website
worked pretty well, but it was hard to attract any attention to it as there are
many more like it out there. Twitter was more widely seen, as it is more
popular, but people were tweeting more about the weather than about theology.
Ship of Fools was certainly very good with incorporating humour, but I'm not
sure how seriously people will take Christianity when they see a website like this.
The Diocese of Oxford was very helpful, but it's very serious attitude may put
off anyone seeing it. 2nd Life was a decent attempt at trying to have
an international church service, but it was very glitchy and didn't always
work. The technology needs to develop more before the internet can be fully
incorporated in religion.
This term, we have been
investigating and studying Theology on the internet. I found it very boring,
personally, however some have different views. I can see, for example, the
point of view of an immobilised person - they might not have any
other options. For example, it might be impossible for them to go to
church outside - they might only be able to move around their own home.
Theology on the internet therefore, would be a very good solution.
There are various types
of theology on the internet:
Real Life: as an example, we studied second life. This is a virtual reality where
people can make online characters impersonating themselves, and use them
as manikins. There is also a church on there - there are church services held
by real life vicars, and everyone has to act how they would in real life.
In my opinion, I think it's a stupid idea for people who have other
options - they should be able to go out to church and worship properly. Some
people feel they have no other option, however, and for them it is
a relatively good idea.
Online Information
Websites: For example, the Diocese
of Oxford. This is an online collection of over 300 parishes around the Oxford
region. It's a general study of Churches and Chapels in that area, telling the
online community about them and how to get involved with them. In my opinion,
this is a relatively good idea -it lets people know when things are on, and
which events are good ones to go to.
This
term we have been learning about interloping Theology and technology. We
started by looking at the Diocese Of Oxford website and looking at how comdey
koins religion and whether it is appropriate. 'Ship of Fools' is a large part
of that. We also watched Joe Nelms thank the lord for some things of his own
interest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBt2mYnTumQ
Boogity
boogity boogity. Amen!
We
also took photos of things that were related to religion. Then we uploaded
segments explaining these to Twiiter,weebly and blogspot.
Then
we had a lesson on icons and explaining how they relate to everyday lives. Did
you know in Chile and other countries you might find a painted picture of an
icon on the roadside?
Afterwards
we had a online serive using Second Life.
This
term has been rather interesting when it comes to Theology because we are
trying new things and pushing boarders by using technology.
We
have been researching the style of worship. By making our own services and
experimenting we are playing with new points.
At
the beginning of term we thought about how to intergrate Theology with the
internet. The first thing we did was to create a website, each of us wrote our
own reflective paragraphs explaining our live and the choices that we have made
in our lives. Next we made a twitter feed explaining our lives and how religion
fits in. We then looked at other religious websites on the internet such as the
Ship of Fools which tries to incorperate humour into religion, it also sells
some hilareous gift ideas such as Russian Jesus Monopoly. Another website
was the website for the Diocese of Oxford which gave news of the religious
world as well as your local area. The last thing that we looked at was Second
Life which is an online world where you can hold church services.
I
found that virtual attempts to access religion are largely flawed because you
can not fully interact, take twitter as an example, you go on there and there
is just a list of short statements, I just wouldn't be interested in checking
it regularly. The ship of fools is a good attempt because it incorperates
humour which makes it more appealing, also it has short video clips, but it is
still a one way street. The Diocese of Oxford is a more serious version of
the Ship of Fools but is still quite isolating for the reader as they can not
contribute. Second life is a good attempt but only really works if you have a
microphone because it would take so long to have a conversation if you had to
type it all.
This
term we looked at different aspects of theology on the internet.
We looked at the Oxford Diocese, which is a guidance to christiantity on the
internet. It instructs Christians on how to live their life properly and tells
us about the meaning of things from the Bible and explains parables. It also
helps us understand why things happen in everyday life.
We
also looked at 2nd life which is a social sight on the internet where adults
can control what avatars are doing, like in real life exept it is played on a
computer. In 2nd life there is also quite a strong theological element, for
example there are various places of worship for different religions, and you
can hold services with a number of people in the places of worship where
everyone can join in.
We
looked at blogs and twitter and created some ourselves about looking at things
from a theological point of view and describing why we thought of things like
that. By using blogs and twitter we can express what we feel about things which
can help others understand them.
This
term we have done a lot on theology on the intanet, and the pros and cons of
it. We tried blogging, and then came the trickier task writing a
tweet to explain the schools ucarist in only 160 charecters. We also
discusted weather or not you could get the message across in only 160
charecters. I came to the conclusion that it was entirly posable to get an
important message across in a tweet, because it was short, sharp, and you could
only fit in the really important points in the tweet, for this reason it
worked, because the reader was kept intrested and didnt get bored. In the third
lesson we looked and reasearched about the oxford diasice, we all choose a
subject from the diasice and wrote a report on it. We also looked at a video on
youtube of a paster in texas who was preaching and thank God for the Car rally
that was about to take place. One of or final lessons was on second life a
vertual game based very much on real life. On second life we sat through a live
service.
I
think blogging and tweeting to do with theology works very well, because its a
easy way to get a message across and anyone can see it no matter where there
from, so i think its a good step forward for theologins. I also thought that
diasice is a very good idea, anyone can look at it and find a way to get
information on problems or new diffacultys in life. As for second
life and the youtube preching video i dont think they work at all and i dont
think theologins should venture down that path. I really didnt enjoy are online
second life service as it was only talking and it missed out some of the key
elements that i feel should be in a service, like the breaking of the bread and
wine or the peace. I also felt like it was a slightly disrespectful way of
worship, as the worshiper could sit in their own home and didnt really have to
be concentrating on the service, i felt it wasnt the right way to worship.
This
term during Theology we have looked at various means of religion that aren't
the normal service. This has included websites such as the Ship of Fools and
the Diocese of Oxford, we have also created our own website in which we have
contributed blogs and many of us have written twitter posts. We have also
looked at Second Life which is and online virtual world and how service can be
experienced in this. We studied all of these to see how religion can be
expressed in other ways which are widely available and easy to access. It was
to show us how religion is not just and 45min service once a week in which you
are pretending to be listening to and it can actually be something more. All the
things we studied were something different and expressed relgion in a different
way. Ship of Fools was a website which focused less on the meaning of religion
and more of taking the mick out of it. The Diocese of Oxford website is almost
the opposite of this and focuses on the meaning of religion and how it can help
us. It opens up access to help and care as well as accesibility to church
services for those who struggle to make the weekly service. It is also very
useful for finding out information about weddings and other events. The blogs
allowed us to contribute our own views on Theology via the internet and the
twitter posts showed us how to say a lot in only a few words. Second life was
very different from all the others as it wasjust like real life except it was
all pretend. We also experienced an online service through Second Life.
Although
Ship of Fools could be seen as offensive I don't believe it is as it adds
humour into religion and allows it to not get boring it is also a good way to
introduce religion as a fun and enjoyable experience rather than a long
slog and as long as it does not become offensive I think it is a suitable way
to expand on religion. The Diocese of Oxford is also a good way of
expanding religion beyond the church as it is both helpful and useful. Blogs
and twitter posts are also good for informing people about religion but somehow
I don't think it can be expanded beyond that becaouse of the limits. However,
personally I do not feel that Second Life is a good way to expand on religion
as I believe it is not a proper way to contribute and is a lazy way. There is
no personal contribution to the service and and you don't have to believe in it
to participate.
