Osler's Razor

One thing that is surprising and good about Minneapolis is that we have not one but three public radio stations-- one specializing in classical music, one playing alternative and new music, and a third with the usual news-and-talk format. On the third of these, they happened to be interviewing William Gibson on Friday, and he said something I have been thinking about for a few days: "We become our technology."

There is some truth in what he says, because so much technology has to do with communications, and it is through communications that we define ourselves to the world. The form of communication, the technology, plays a role in shaping the message itself, as well as the audience. If you write letters, the message will be slow, well considered, and limited to the person you are writing to. If you write on a blog, you may change what you say to make it less personal and more concise, while if you tweet you will carry those attributes up a little.

So what of this and faith? If we become our technology, how does the faith aspect of our identity survive that transition?

My own view is that as technology broadens our audiences while shortening and depersonalizing what we say, faith becomes less a part of what we convey, less a part of the portrait of ourselves we paint for the world... unless we try very hard not to let that happen.

Upon reflection, I find that exactly this happened to me. When I began blogging, there was almost no mention of my faith. In part, I will admit, it did seem too personal a thing to share with whoever might be reading.

Obviously, I changed my mind and began devoting Sundays to faith issues. To have faith survive as part of how I described myself to the world in this new medium, I had to be more intentional about that project. In the end, I think that is the answer: Like so many other things, technological change requires us to be affirmative in making faith a part of what we do.