Christians in a .Com World: Getting Connected Without Being Consumed

by Gene Edward Veith Jr.

In the Internet we are facing the biggest information revolution since the printing press. This technology presents new challenges to our culture as a whole, making it essential that we as Christians be "plugged in." And though millions are online, you, like many, may be simultaneously uneasy about where this new medium is leading us.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1581342187
• ISBN13: 9781581342185
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Crossway Books
• Length: 190 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Book Review: Christians in a .com World

By Joshua Sowin Like it or not, we live in a ".com" world. Everything has a .com-companies, clubs, churches, families-even individuals. Everything "real" seems to require a "virtual" counterpart. Those who do not have a virtual counterpart-for instance, a company-are curtly told to "get with it," and indeed, if they do not, their opportunities and resources to compete are quickly surpassed. This creates a question for the thoughtful person, namely, how can we live in this virtual and image-saturated culture without being consumed by it? And that happens to be one of the reasons I read this book, as its subtitle suggests: "Getting Connected Without Being Consumed." The book begins with a general introduction and an excellent historical overview of computers and the Internet. It separates this history into three chapters-the history of computers, networking, and the world wide web. I have read a number of brief histories on computers and the Internet, but this one tops them all. Concise and well-researched, the overview presented should be simple enough for the "uninitiated" to understand and informative enough for the "geeks" to enjoy. Unfortunately, I did not find the rest of the book as impressive as the historical overview. Perhaps this was due to recently reading Mr. Veith's Reading Between the Lines, and thinking this work would be on par with that excellent book. If I did not have that expectation in mind, my impression of this book might have been quite different. I believe most of my hopes were dashed on the high-tech rocks of technophilia. Veith and Stamper see through much of the hype of the Internet, but not all of it. Although the authors warn against technophilia, the book sometimes struck me as being exactly that. Consider the following excerpts (emphasis mine): "No system for finding the best product at the best price has ever existed before in human history. Such a free economy is working exactly the way Adam Smith thought it would." (p. 10) "Electronic publishing gives anyone a press. The competition for attention will be fierce. The book world will converge with the Web world. When the dust settles, what remains may not be one industry dominated by a handful of Manhattan-based monoliths but a true marketplace of ideas." (p. 92) "On the whole [the Internet] should be good for Christians. The great theologians of the past-many of whom are now unavailable and out of print-can be rediscovered. Christian debate and discourse will not longer have to be filtered through the demands of commercialism. The Church, which often drifts wherever the culture leads, may be able to pull itself back together and recover its own identity as the people of God." (p. 152) "A virtual community is still a kind of community. Modernism fragmented human relationships and undermined communal values, but the Internet, to a certain extent, can put some of them back together." (pp. 170-1) Perhaps this is being too nitpicky. Scatt

Great Summary!

Mr. Veith and Mr. Stamper do an excellent job of summarizing the cyber age and how it affects the Christian. If you haven't read their work in WORLD Magazine or other volumes, you are in for a real treat, as well as a strong challenge on the use of this developing technology for the cause of Christ.