References

  • Chalmers, David J. Reality+: Virtual Worlds and the Problems of Philosophy. Reprint edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2023. 
    • Secular philosopher. Takes the view that no reality can be claimed as real, and thus virtual reality is probably as real as physical reality. Idealist epistemology. 
    • The central thesis of this book is: Virtual reality is genuine reality. Or at least, virtual realities are genuine realities. Virtual worlds need not be second-class realities. They can be first-class realities. (page xvii) 
    • They’re perfectly real objects that are grounded in a pattern of bits in a computer. When you interact with a virtual sofa, you’re interacting with a pattern of bits. The pattern of bits is entirely real, and so is the virtual sofa. (page 14) 
    • Many people have meaningful relationships and activities in today’s virtual worlds, although much that matters is missing: proper bodies, touch, eating and drinking, birth and death, and more. But many of these limitations will be overcome by the fully immersive VR of the future. In principle, life in VR can be as good or as bad as life in a corresponding nonvirtual reality. (page 16) 
  • Congdon, Kristin G. “EDITORIAL: Attendance.” Studies in Art Education 51, no. 3 (2010): 195–97. 
    • Being attendant means more than simple physical presence. Full attendance means paying attention and being actively involved. (195) 
    • Attendance requires focus, acknowledgment, and action, even if that action is dismissal. Changing our understanding of theory or adding new ideas to its foundations won’t happen on a large scale without attention from community members. 
  • Elwell, J. Sage. “A Deep Dive into Digital Culture.” Edited by Lagerkvist. Religious Studies Review 45, no. 3 (September 1, 2019): 337–40. https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.14102. 
    • No scholars of religion were included among the contributors to Digital Existence. The book does not suffer from this, as it is an outstanding contribution to the field of media studies generally and existential media studies more specifically. However, inasmuch as the volume represent a bridge between existential media studies and digital religion by virtue of the fact that it addresses issues pertinent to scholars of religion, it should serve as a prescient indication of potential future avenues of exploration for religious studies scholars. There are, of course, scholars like Heidi Campbell, Rachel Wagner, Stewart Hoover, Tim Hutchins, and Mia Lövheim who are doing exceptional work in the field of digital religion. However, Lagerkvist’s edited volume lends credence to the call for more religious studies scholars to bring their skills, methods, tools, and techniques to the digital arena where ancient faiths are reimagined and traditional religious practices are shaping their digital counterparts. 
  • Greer, Lainey. “What Is Embodiment?” Lainey Greer, August 11, 2019. https://laineygreer.com/what-is-embodiment/. 
    • Embodiment is the natural form of humanity and involves the constitution of a unified person who is both distinctly immaterial soul and material body. 
    • The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is also involved in the embodied life of a believer. By his indwelling presence, the Spirit confirms the Christian’s body as his temple (1 Corinthians 6:19). Through the Spirit’s divine enabling, regenerated men and women grow in holiness, as they strive by the Spirit’s power to walk according to his desires and not the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-26). So, the believer’s body becomes an avenue to honor God as we walk by the Holy Spirit. 
  • James, Samuel. Digital Liturgies: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age. Crossway, 2023. 
    • Social media/technology definition: the disembodied electronic environment that we enter through connected devices for the purpose of accessing information, relationships, and media that are not available to us in a physical format. (page 12) 
    • Throughout Scripture and throughout human history, fallen, sinful people have used technology to invent an alternative reality for themselves, a reality meant to “liberate” them from fear of the Lord and conformity to his revealed character. (page 24) 
    • It is easy to get the impression of the opposite, that many of us see our embodiment as an obstacle to be overcome, a limitation to be transcended, or even a necessary evil to be suppressed. (page 27) 
    • Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg believes the metaverse—an immersive virtual reality environment where digital renderings of people gather—is an essential step in the human journey toward total freedom to customize our bodies and our environment (page 43) 
  • Alex Heath and Nilay Patel, “Mark Zuckerberg Is Still All-In on Building the Metaverse,” The Verge, October 11, 2022, https://www.theverge.com/. 
    • Our ways of thinking, perceiving, and acting, we now know, are not entirely determined by our genes. Nor are they entirely determined by our childhood experiences. We change them through the way we live—and . . . through the tools we use (page 52) 
  • Nicholas Carr, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains (New York: Norton, 2010), 31. 
    • The web is quickly becoming the foundational medium, the superstructure of nearly every other experience. (page 62). 
    • When everything and everyone is disembodied, structural distinctions between expert and nonexpert tend to mean very little. What is meaningful are experiences….What matters is your story.(page 75) 
    • First, the Bible lays out the wisdom we need to live faithfully and fruitfully before our Creator. Second, the internet is an epistemological and moral habitat that makes such wisdom seem like foolishness. (167) 
  • Just, Bryan. “Embodied Souls and Ensouled Bodies.” Intersections, January 20, 2023. https://www.cbhd.org/intersections/embodied-souls-and-ensouled-bodies. 
    • Our embodied existence is a crucial, though oft-overlooked, aspect of our humanity, and better understanding it should help us better live for and serve God in his world. 
  • Kim, Jay Y., and Scot McKnight. Analog Church: Why We Need Real People, Places, and Things in the Digital Age. IVP, 2020. 
    • We see this same trajectory in the digital age. What was intended for our good and benefit is now leading us down a bleaker path. When it comes to the way we experience community, the very digital technologies that were meant to bring us together are now beginning to push us apart. (page 84) 
    • One of the churches that first pioneered the online movement is now one of the largest “online churches” in theworld, with more than three hundred thousand people watching their content every week. On their webpage, in a brief video explaining the story behind their church, the pastor says, “We thought, what if we could use technology to create an environment online that would bring and gather people together, to have church and to be a church that existed and met online?”12 Again, there is another set of clear assumptions—“gathering,” “coming together,” and “being a church” are all realities that can be experienced online, without actual human presence or physical proximity. (page 92-93) 
    • This is not the language of community; it is the language of commodity. An “online church” is more a product to be consumed than it is a people to be joined. Community isn’t about getting a product out there but about gathering people wherever they are. Yet, so many of our churches continue to push into online spaces and call it community and connection. And in doing so, we are doing tremendous damage to the very communities and connections we so desperately long to see. (page 95) 

  • Mahan, Jeffrey. Church as Network: Christian Life and Connection in Digital Culture. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2021. 

  • Ranjan Ghosh and Ethan Kleinberg. Presence: Philosophy, History, and Cultural Theory for the Twenty-First Century. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=sso&db=e000xna&AN=671435&authtype=sso&custid=s1110018&site=ehost-live&scope=site&custid=s1110018. 

  • Simmerlein, Jonas. “Sacred Meets Synthetic: A Multi-Method Study on the First AI Church Service.” Review of Religious Research, October 7, 2024, 0034673X241282962. https://doi.org/10.1177/0034673X241282962. 
    • Definitely need to use. Complete service conducted by AI. 2D Service. 
  • Team, Engenius. “Should I Count Online Viewers In Our Church Membership?” 95Network (blog), January 15, 2021. https://www.95network.org/online-viewers-church-membership/. 
    • One of the saddest realities I have observed over the years is that we tend to treat those who are unable to attend the “in person experience” as not existing at all. Our obsession with “counting warm bodies” in the pews has inadvertently led us to forget about those who aren’t in attendance. 
    • We must move away from the mentality of “out of sight, out of mind” when it comes to shepherding the flock we’ve been entrusted to lead. 
    • If the answer to all three of these questions is yes, I believe they should be included in the attendance/membership numbers that you track. 
  • “What’s More Important? Physical Attendance or Mental Presence?” August 28, 2023. https://flowace.ai/blog/physical-attendance-or-mental-presence/. 
    • As discussed above, just because someone is physically present doesn’t necessarily mean they’re mentally or emotionally engaged. 
    • What is attendance? 
      • “Attendance.” It’s basically being there physically at a certain place or event. Just showing up, you know? The employers check who’s here using lists, sign-in sheets, or just counting heads. Jobs use attendance to see how on-time, dependable, and dedicated people are. 
    • But, here’s the thing: just being there doesn’t mean you’re really into it or working well. You can be there in body but not really in mind, like when you’re distracted or not really into it. And that’s where “presence” comes in. 
    • So, what is presence? 
      • “Presence” means being really into what’s happening—totally focused and paying attention. It’s not just about being there; it’s about being there with your mind and emotions too. People link presence with mindfulness, being aware, and doing things on purpose. 
  • Wolterstorff, Nicholas. Acting Liturgically: Philosophical Reflections on Religious Practice. OUP Oxford, 2018. 
    • Christians worship God with their bodies, as do the adherents of most other theistic religions. (page 78) 
    • To enact their liturgies Christians assemble on foot and in wheelchairs to worship God with their bodies, not to enact an ascent of the mind to the Supreme Being. (page 81) 
    • In short, though Christian liturgies employ the metaphors of ascent and of leaving behind our earthly cares, they are relentlessly bodily. Rather than leaving their bodies behind as they ascend to the purely intellectual contemplation of God the participants enlist their bodies into their worship of God. (page 82) 
    • Given that it was God who created human beings as personal bodies, and given the Incarnation, how could Christians think the body is inferior? (page 88) 
    • Let’s perform a thought experiment. Imagine an assembly of Christians in which nobody performs any verbal or gestural act that counts as an act of worship, nor any that counts as God saying or doing something. The participants may utter certain words and make certain gestures, and some of those verbal and gestural acts may have count-as significance. But none of them has the count-as significance of the agents thereby worshiping God or of God thereby saying or doing something. The participants do worship God. But their worship is disembodied, purely mental, purely internal. There is a script for them to follow that’s printed out. To get the people to proceed through the script more or less simultaneously the leader indicates when they are to move on to the next liturgical act. What would be lost if worship were disengaged from the body in this way? A lot. For one thing, the people would not be worshipping God together; their worship, though more or less simultaneous, would be individual. Their worship would be no different from what it would be if they were each seated in a separate room and the leader’s voice, indicating when they were to move on to the next liturgical act, was piped in. Indeed, it would be no different from what it would be if they all stayed home and the leader’s voice was piped into their separate living rooms. The communal dimension of liturgical enactments, discussed in Chapter 3, would be entirely missing. (page 89) 
  • Zsupan-Jerome, Daniella. “The Community of the Church: Walking in Step with the Spirit in Digital Culture.” Concilium, April 11, 2020. https://concilium-vatican2.org/en/original/zsupanjerome/.
    • Talks about the power of the Spirit and Pneumatology’s role in the digital sphere. So-so. Do not think anything can come from this. 
  • I am a Church Member Thom Rainer 
    • Six challenges for church members: functioning, unifying, deferential, prayerful, leading of family, and treasuring. 
  • Church Membership by Jonathan Leeman 
    • Eight ways to submit to a local church: publicly, physically/geographically, socially, affectionately, financially, vocationally, ethically, and spiritually. (pages 95-102) 

  • https://www.barna.com/research/in-person-over-online-church/ 

  • https://www.barna.com/research/excerpt-disciplined-digital/ 
    • I have contended for years that the new generations see a merging of the offline and online worlds. They will mix and cohabitate in the same spaces. Perhaps this is a better mentality than thinking in terms of “replacement,” that digital church will supplant the physical church. 
    • Substituting digital for in-person gatherings during a pandemic is smart. It is not a full expression of church community, but it is something. Online ministry should support, not substitute. 
  • https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/06/02/online-religious-services-appeal-to-many-americans-but-going-in-person-remains-more-popular/ 
    • Look at the connection levels. 

  • https://carm.org/tables-and-charts/church-table/ 

  • https://www.barna.com/research/church-attendance-trends-around-country/ 
    • Based on Barna’s most recent data, almost four in 10 (38%) Americans are active churchgoers, slightly more (43%) are unchurched, and around one-third (34%) are dechurched. 
  • Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: Prayerbook of the Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1995), 36. 
  • Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death (New York: Penguin, 1985) 
    • “But what I am claiming here is not that television is entertaining, but that it has made entertainment itself the natural format for all representation of all experience.” (87) 
  • https://communities.springernature.com/posts/is-virtual-reality-bad-for-our-health-studies-point-to-physical-and-mental-impacts-of-vr-usage 
    • In one pre-existing use case documented by Tech Monitor author Greg Noone, one user who frequently played extended sessions on the post-apocalyptic game Fallout 4 in virtual reality became so accustomed to their virtual surroundings that it began to blur the boundaries between VR and reality.16 In discussing leaving the house, Noone’s interviewee claims that he would act as though he was still in a simulation. “I’m just saying things to myself like, ‘Oh, these graphics are really good,’” said the anonymized individual. “And, I’m pantomiming these things in VR, like hovering my hand over something to learn more about it.” The individual would also discuss experiencing problems in reintegrating with the ‘real world’ following long gaming sessions, noting that “I was just completely unable to hold a conversation,” when recalling a time meeting friends. 
  • https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/14/1/72 
    • Its main symptoms include (a) disorientation (systemic and non-systemic dizziness), (b) nausea (belching, unpleasant feeling in the stomach, salivation) and (c) oculomotor symptoms (eye fatigue, difficulty focusing, blurred vision, headaches). These symptoms are exacerbated by various factors, and among the important ones are (a) personal factors: age (the younger the person, the more severe the symptoms), female gender, fatigue, posture (sitting is safest); (b) technical inadequacies (devices/interfaces that are inconvenient to use, image lag and flickering, calibration; and (c) the specifics of the virtual task: a sense of lack of control, too long a virtual session (the longer, the greater the risk of adverse symptoms) [90,91]. It is noteworthy that in simulator sickness, oculomotor complaints predominate, while in cybersickness. it is primarily disorientation [92]. It is estimated that CS symptoms affect 60–70% of HMD users, and their severity is about three times that of simulator sickness. The considerations so far show how serious a problem cybersickness symptoms can be. Hence, intensive research is being conducted to reduce the adverse symptoms associated with being in the digital world. 
    • Virtual reality is described by three basic features: immersion, sense of presence and interaction. Immersion (an objective feature) is the sensual context of the experienced reality providing sensory stimuli that give the impression of being in the digital reality. Immersion is primarily affected by the quality of the equipment used. The more high-quality sensory stimuli the system provides, the better its fidelity to the real world. With infinitely high immersion, our brain would not see the difference between the real world and the computer-created one. The second feature of VR is the sense of presence (a subjective feature), i.e., the psychological perception of being involved in (or being part of) VR. People in VEs react realistically, while the degree of realness is determined by the experienced illusion of the place and its probability. Reactions range from physiological arousal to emotional and behavioral responses of participants in virtual worlds. This emphasizes that the important aspect of this presence is participant engagement in VR. The third feature of VR is interaction, which is related to the computer’s ability to detect the subject’s actions and respond to them in real time. 
  • https://www.proquest.com/docview/2659689834?sourcetype=Dissertations%20&%20Theses 
    • Though the churches embrace sound technologies, projectors, media soundbites, and RSS feeds, it has failed to embrace the language of affirmation that Generation Z gets through gaming and online chat. The church has not understood that the pastor is not the authority on religious matters any longer; Generation Z seeks chatrooms and peer groups to decide religious matters. (page 8) 
  • https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-attendance-trends-and-statistics-2023 
    • Attendance numbers 
  • https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/web-1-0-web-2-0-and-web-3-0-with-their-difference/ 
    • Difference between web1, web2, and web3. 
    • Emphasis on the connection of web2 due to social media and individuals being able to produce content. 
  • Digital Missionary Conference, https://www.missionary.digital/ 
    • The Digital Missionary Conference will be broadcast using Altar Live, an interactive platform that goes beyond passive webinars. Expect real engagement, real conversations and real connections (use in presentation, not in paper) 
  • Worship and the Reality of God by John Jefferson Davis 
    • A true ontology needs to be embodied and practiced as well as understood, or else our God-consciousness will be swept away by the culture around us. (page 25) 
    • Three ontologies: scientific materialism, digital virtualism, and trinitatrian supernaturalism (page 21). 
    • The fundamental purpose for which God created the universe and for which humans have been redeemed is that God might be glorified and that we might enjoy communion with God. This communion is enjoyed now in worship and is consummated in union with God in eternity. (page 174) 
    • The church is unique because it is, at the core of its being, in its fundamental reality, the only theanthropic (“God-bonded-to-man”) reality in the universe, the likes of which never has been before and never will be again, a reality in which the members are bonded forever to the triune God—the gold standard of reality—in the communion of the Holy Spirit. Because of our theanthropic union with God the Father, through Jesus Christ, in the communion of the Holy Spirit, and since the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father, where we are already seated with him in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6), we as the people of God are closer to God, in the act of true worship in spirit and truth, than the cherubim and seraphim, the holy angels themselves. (page 176) 
    • Gregory Jones, the former dean of Duke Divinity School, was introduced into the world of Facebook by his teenage children, and quickly developed his list of 181 online “friends.” While it is a plus to expand our social networks, such virtual friendships have their limitations, noted Jones. “We may have multiple social networks and thousands of acquaintances and still find ourselves profoundly lonely. . . . We are not likely to turn to Facebook when a loved one is dying, for guidance in vocational discernment, or for the joys and warmth of physical embrace.” 7 (page 70) 
  • https://www.graphsaboutreligion.com/p/who-is-attending-online-church 
    • Good visuals. 
    • Said another way, virtual worship seems to be little more than an add on effect for people who are already religiously engaged. People who don’t attend that much aren’t filling that void with online services. At least not in huge numbers. 
    • It’s important to point out that 60% of the sample reported that they had not attended a worship service in person, nor had they watched one online in the prior month. The other three combinations are basically the same share - people were just as likely to do both as they were to do only one. And there’s no evidence here that a whole bunch of people are online only - it was just 12% of the total survey sample. 
  • Bible 
    • Hebrews 10:25 
    • Acts 2 
  • Christ and Horrors, Marilyn Adams 
    • The attempt somehow to detach or abstract the personal from the material in human being and bring the personal to God while leaving the material behind would constitute a betrayal of the human vocation. (287)