techne – greek word that is the root of technology today
The first two commandments were to have no other gods and no graven images. Why is that important? It’s because God is not just another idol lost in the sea of idols. He is not an idol at all. He did not have an image for us to worship, but His people were supposed to become His image. 100 years after the resurrection there was a debate whether or not we should still follow that second commandment of creating images. Can we create images of Jesus? They decided we could because it teaches the theology of incarnation which says that God became a man.
People either hate or love technology or are confused and don’t understand it.
5 layers of tech:
- Power – There are many different things you can do with it (much potential).
- Morality – Sexting? Identity theft? The bad side of tech becomes a moral hazard, but everything else can be too, right?
- Physiology – When we use a shovel a lot we develop callouses. We’ve adapted our habits to technology. We search verses like recipes. We don’t really “know” how to cook, but we know where to find the instructions. We react intellectually with just words, but we can react emotionally with picture and video. Physiology + emotions. “The things we make, make us.” – Jeep ad campaign
- Culture – Technology is anything that was invented after you were born. Anything invented in the first 30 years of your life is “cool”, and anything invented after that seems “foreign”. Something that is foreign to one person can be cool or even old news to another person in the same room, family or business. Oral culture Adam – 1500BC. Written 1500BC – 1500AD. Print culture 1500AD-1900AD. Digital 1980AD – present
- Theology – Primary nature of tech is to transform. It’s transforms what we can do, us, cultures, etc.
Creation – Adams job was to till the garden or the earth, and to name the animals. Woodpecker/Bluejay – names for their function/appearance. Names have a powerful capability to guide perception.
Fall – Adam and Eve’s first act after the fall was to create something (fig leave coverings). Their first attempt was creativity apart from God but when He came in He affirmed it by showing them the right way to do it and made animal skin coverings. Cain built a city, which was a place setup to be apart from God.
Redemption – God gave the law to show how they can be effective image bearers of God, but they didn’t do a good job of it. Jesus’ job here was to be a “techne”. That greek word is translated carpenter by probability. In His death and resurrection He redeemed creativity along with our lives.
Restoration – The new Jerusalem (Rev 21) coming down from heaven is a city like Cain first built. Were aren’t going to return to the garden. We are going to live in cities with roads and things that have been made by humans.
Final Thoughts:
- Media is about the kind of connection people make to your content.
- You must constantly perform disruptive media experiments for yourself and with others.
- Just as media and content are inseparable, technology and theology are inseparable.
- Jesus is both the medium and message of salvation
- Evangelism is temporary. Creativity is eternal.
- Things that you create are eternal.
