Dropping In On Jesus From The Roof as Networked Religion
Evidence of a Networked religion?
One day when Jesus was teaching in an over crowded home a network of guys forced Jesus to friend them by using technology to lower a member of their network down through the roof. Seeing the faith of this network, Jesus treated them like neighbors and full of justice, mercy, and humility, Jesus healed the man.
This story found in Mark 2 and Luke 5 illustrates the five key traits of Networked religion as defined by Campbell and Garner in their book, Networked Theology.
Networked Community
Online communities encourage new ways of gatherings. This comes with new behaviors. People join online communities for different reasons. In this story, there is the community that is being formed around listening to Jesus teach and there is another community of four men trying to get their friend healed. The Pharisees present also represent another community. Just like online communities today that are formed for various reasons, each of the communities in Mark 2 and Luke 5 are being formed with different values, goals, and behaviors. The four men decide to do something unorthodox and use technology, a rope and a mat, to gain access to Jesus. This is a picture of Networked religion today because there are many people who have heard of Jesus and his teachings, but when they look for him they can’t gain access to him either because of the religious teachers of our day or because there is a sense that Jesus is already surrounded by people and there is no more room. New media and a Networked religion can have the same effect of having some friends dig out a roof and lower a person to be in the presence of Jesus.
Storied Identity
Just like internet users who “often draw from multiple sources as they seek to create and present self-assembled spiritual identities online” (68), the person lowered from the roof is blurring the “public and private boundaries” (57) with the loud and clear status update for all to see that he is a paralytic. This is publicized privacy at its best! No doubt some would have known this paralyzed man because he might have been a beggar to make ends meet. However, diseases are mostly private matters and can make up a large part of our identities. This man’s four-person network realize that with Jesus “spiritual identity formation is seen as a continuous process” (70) and the act of lowering through a roof as a way to be in the presence of Jesus is a dynamic opportunity “for self-expression of belief and lifestyle, presenting identity as a process of performance” (70). Like online communities today, this story highlights the individual who received forgiveness while acknowledging reliance on a group. It’s a remix or mash-up of a typical biblical healing story.
Convergent Practice
Today religious rituals like prayer and Bible study are being transformed online. Just like people are creating new environments for religious devotion online, the network in this story are “mimicking” and “modifying” (71) forms of religious devotion the best way they can. They simply didn’t fit in the house. There was no room for them in the inn! Like the dynamic nature of network interactions and information online, they decided to take a “pic-’n’-mix approach” (71) and use technology to move past the gatekeepers and be healed. This approach is like current convergent practices mixing the secular and the sacred and creating rituals and practices that are definitely “outside traditional structures” (72).
Shifting Authority
The fluid nature of religion and internet creates a struggle between “traditional religious leaders and what can be seen as a new breed of religious authorities appearing online” (73). This same thing happened after the healing event in the home via the roof. The teachers and the Pharisees question who Jesus is that he would forgive sins. As traditional religious leaders, they are the gatekeepers of who can connect with God and who can not. Jesus is changing all this. The old way is linear, fixed, sequential (50) and the new way allows for multiple possibilities like forgiveness and healing even when it was impossible to gain access at first. Here we see a human act of faith so evidenced that Jesus forgives and heals, made possible by information ecology (35). Technology served this network and man well. And Jesus is making it clear that temple authority is shifting.
Multisite Reality
Multisite reality is the description of the ways “in which online practices are informed by wider beliefs as users integrate and seek to connect their online and offline patterns of life” (75). As God’s perfect Bitmoji become flesh, Jesus is changing the reality of the site on earth where heaven and earth intersect. In Jesus, a new reality of Kingdom and presence is launched. Jesus becomes the temple. In His profile, Jesus is creating a networked kingdom (13). Perhaps being lowered from a roof to be close to Jesus pushes Paul Hiebert’s categories of bounded and centered sets to their obvious networked next step. Instead of moving toward Jesus or away from Jesus as defined by traditional space, climbing a roof and being lowered on a mat feels a lot like an online community to me.
I spent most of last weekend and this week defending a coworker who made a poor choice in the classroom. Her lapse of judgment was SnapChat-ed by one her students to everyone in his story. One person in his network screen shotted part of it and sent the image to an international media outlet. The biased news agency created a mostly alternative factual news story and posted it on their website. Within 8 hours, local social media groups had formed an online lynch mob causing the teacher to fear for her safety. As her advocate I’ve had to negotiate my faith and practice in this digital culture. Thankfully people like Heidi Campbell and Stephen Garner are exploring ways for me to do that.
Bitmoji me after I post my blog each Thursday.
About the Author
Aaron Peterson
I am a working priest which means that I am a husband(to Lisa), dad(to four wonderful children), senior pastor and church planter(The Hub Vineyard Church), and high school social studies teacher(Verdugo Hills High School LAUSD). I am currently working towards a DMIN in Leadership & Global Perspectives @George Fox Seminary.4 responses to “Dropping In On Jesus From The Roof as Networked Religion”
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Aaron,
Great insights and breakdown of the book. Our country in the last few hours is shifting us to the reality of Networked Theology by the need for individualism. It’s amazing that people have used technology to form an opinion and created a desire to immigrate to a country they’ve never visited. If we (the church) could get people to feel the same way about serving Christ through technology, we’d be golden. My concern has been the lack of balance. I’ve noticed that the church are readily available to share through technology but often fail to maintain the relationship. Technology fosters an informational culture, but the relational element is poorly managed. Like America, we often share what we have to offer (Christ) through technology, but we don’t spend equal sacrifice to connect if people want a little more. As a multisite church, we had to switch to a hybrid model starting today because while the video was very useful, people wanted to connect relationally with the person that shared the message. You take several mission trips over the years because of the relational element. I love technology, but it only fills a temporary void.
Garfield
Aaron,
Thanks so much for your insights. Right here in our lovely town of Owasso a teacher went on a political rant that was posted by a student that caused a huge uproar. The teacher was called in and even suspended. I had students who were in the class and their story and the story that was reported were not exactly the same. Thanks for defending your coworker. Have you experimented with the Snap Chat culture? Their story telling ability? Have you explored this platform for communicating with your students? What about your church?
Thanks for contextualising what this book is about. The multi site reality is here to stay and how it advances will be a real part of the landscape of the local church. How have you navigated this issue?
Kevin
Aaron, this is a brilliant connection of contemporary concepts, lingo, and culture to a Biblical story.
Perhaps the one big difference is the reality of physical presence and proximity. What are your thoughts on that? What do you think about the value or non-value of physical presence?
Marc
Thanks Aaron P for a great blog!
It really is a “Evidence of a Networked religion”. In the 21st Century people incorporate computers, phones, and other networked devices into their lives, society itself has begun to mirror the web of connections between those machines,therefore religion is a part of the whole.The unanswered question, are we making disciples.
Thanks for sharing! Rose Maria