Ch 3: Reflection | John Dyer

I'm chillin' on a blog tour promoting From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology by John Dyer. A post from me every week, plus more at host site: ChurchM.ag. Check it out.. Chapter 3: Reflection Here, John Dyer lays one of the most important building blocks we need to think of technology and theology.

He starts with the Story, looking at God's original creation and intent. Adam and Eve and how they were to cultivate the garden. As much as fish were made to swim, humans were made to cultivate. This encompasses both "keeping" but also "creating."

What do we cultivate? Culture. Culture is "things, images, rituals, and language (Stanley Grenz) that mediate meaning, identity, and values (Barry Jones).

And where does culture start? In the garden.

Theologians know what this means. Commonly we ask the question of things in our world: is this from Creation (and therefore good!) or from the Fall (and therefore a result of sin and broken creation). Dyer is certain: culture-building starts in the Creation. Among other things, we see it in language.

And language is a culture-making tool we use to organize the world. A technology that acts as a lens for understanding and classification and even action (e.g. John Austin's speech act theory).

Want to read more?  Read the featured post at ChurchM.ag.

ps - Each chapter I read of this one is nearly perfect in its analysis, and I'm increasingly impressed. If you haven't already, pick it up and read along with me. John Dyer is doing good work here that we need to hear.