Book Review: The Next Story

The chances are that you've arrived at this blog by some form of social media - I share links via Facebook, Google+, Twitter, occasionally Tumblr - and so today's book review reflects the all-pervasive nature of this new medium. Tim Challies, a well known Christian Blogger - you can find his blog here - has written a helpful book to aid us in navigating well the inter-related and confusing streams of social media and Christian Faith.

Challies is excellent at explaining and defining his terms, introducing topics in a way that is simply but not patronising, and getting to the nub of the issue. I found his chapter on those who are (like me) 'digital natives' and (like him) 'digital immigrants' to be very helpful; partly as it challenged me about my lifestyle of digital immersion, and partly because it helps me in engaging with those from an older generation who don't 'get' social media, or are (often wisely!) sceptical about it. 

I loved the way that Challies grounds much of his book in the language of identity, starting (essentially) with the doctrine of human creativity; "God's basic instruction to mankind is to develop the resources of the natural world and use God-given abilities to bring glory to him". For Challies, "obedience to God requires that we create technology". This bold starting point is helpful as it sets the discussion of digital technology, and social media, in the context of humanity's divine calling, and our identity as reflections of God. This is an ideal way to begin the discussion as it immediately rescues this book from the danger of Christian over-reaction (as is somewhat demonstrated in Tim Chester's "Will You Be My Facebook Friend?", though that is a shorter book), whilst also avoiding the equally likely (and probably more pervasive) problem of Christian apathy and unthinking acceptance.

This tension between extremes, thankfully, is a hallmark of this book, which due to its moderate tone and winsome writing, is a readable and enjoyable example of Christian writing. This is illustrated - with the usage of another social-media staple, vulnerability - with the balance between usage and withdrawal on the part of Challies himself. There is a story that stuck with me of how much (After a few days!) he enjoyed having a gadget-free week, but then how quickly, upon returning home, he switched everything back on very quickly. We are often distracted. 

A final area which I found very interesting in this book was Challies' discussion of authority and information. Ostensibly a critique of Wikipedia, and more generally a critique of an information-lazy digital culture, the engagement with the reality of information and dissemination here is very helpful. The related and important discussion of the notions of authority and information is incredibly helpful, and once again it is grounded in sound theology Challies grounds his understanding of information and truth in the very nature of God, ultimately applying it simply; "Truth is an attribute of God that he calls us to imitate so that we can have accurate, reliable knowledge". For the Christian, this is a challenge to how we often so easily echo the culture in our engagement with things. Skimming online articles rarely counts as 'research', neither does reading second-hand opinions on a text, rather than the original. The purpose of book reviews on my blog is not to tell you what a book says, but rather to encourage you to read good books for yourself. I don't want to encourage the kind of knowledge that is reliant on the opinion of one blogger, bookmarked for later reading!

Michael Horton, whose "The Gospel Commission" is one of the best things I've read recently on Discipleship, said this about "The Next Story"; "There are many books evaluating the nature and impact of new media. There are many books on Christian Discipleship. However, this book brings these issues together, with profound simplicity and well-informed analysis". I completely agree! I firmly recommend this book to anyone who calls themselves a Christian and uses digital technology and social media. Some bits are (As the author admits mid-text!) outdated (it was published in 2011), but I am certain that this is an incredibly helpful tool to aid us in thinking through balancing our lives for the sake of Jesus.

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