Way back in 2014, when we'd just moved to London, I was privileged to be nominated for a couple of awards (neither of which I won) and invited to speak at the Premier Christian New Media Awards and Conference. I blogged about that, and I'd encourage you to read my rather strange paper/presentation, which looked at how we might decide who to follow, and not follow, on social media; and what listening to them as authoritative voices might mean.
I'm delighted to be back in the mix for 2016. This year, with the theme 'Reach', the Premier Digital Awards and Conference is focusing on some fascinating stuff.
Working as I do in the Digital chunk of the Christian publishing industry, and as a continued-ly avid reader (if not, as much as I'd like, writer) of theology, I was delighted to have my proposal for a talk accepted.
In the theology stream, run in partnership with CODEC, I'm delighted to be speaking on human and church identities online. My paper is rather grandly titled 'Out on A Limb: the body of Christ and individual bodies online', and I reproduce the abstract below:
This paper explores the complexity of human and ecclesial identity, within New Testament language of the Body of Christ. Arguing that online presence, or identity, is a digital fingerprint rather than complete self, this paper suggests that healthy usage of social media by Christians is an outworking of their faith, rather than an identity.
Building New Testament Scholarship and Systematic Theology from a range of traditions, this paper argues that the individuality of present-day culture is challenged by concerted and social Christian digital activity. Moving on to ethics and Digital Theology, 'Out On A Limb' is suggested as a healthy way of getting a handle on ones-self, to reach others.
I'm enjoying writing this medley of topics, and can't wait to put my ideas out in the open and get some feedback! I had a whale of a time disagreeing and dialoguing with people last time, and am looking forward to doing so again this year. For a feel of where I'm getting some of my ideas from, you might enjoy my review of 'Body' by Paula Gooder, or browsing some of my recent-and-not-so-recent conference papers.
If you are interested, you can book on via Premier's website - which I'd encourage you to do based on some of the other speakers.
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