Emerging Scholars Blog

InterVarsity's Emerging Scholars Network

social networking

Taking the “Selfie Challenge”

Craig Detweiler, Selfies: Searching for the Image of God in a Digital Age (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2018).

How do you view yourself? Do selfies bolster or undercut those feelings? What does God say and feel about you? – Craig Detweiler, Selfies (27)

Introduction

If you follow the Emerging Scholars Network on Facebook or Twitter, you’ll remember that last week I posted a series of quotes from Craig Detweiler’s Selfies: Searching for the Image of God in a Digital Age. My motivation was for us to wrap up the summer and engage the new academic year well.

Craig Detweiler’s reflections and practices assist us not only in remembering with praise / gratitude who the Lord has created / called us to be (serving with head, heart, and hands in a particular context), but also as we have opportunity to invite others to hear our story / testimony as a child of God part of the reality of God’s work in the creation. My experience of dropping off our first child headed to college inspired me to write a short reflection on Selfies.
[Read more…] about Taking the “Selfie Challenge”

What Would Jesus Post on Social Media?

Have you ever felt the shot of excitement – the dopamine rush – that comes when someone ‘likes’ your photo or status on Instagram and Facebook?  Well dear reader, you are not alone. In 2015, Instagram reportedly exceeded 400 million users with 40 billion photos posted. The popularity and increasing use of social media has been a growing area of heated debate and controversy topic in the past couple of years, in both Christian and secular circles. But how does social media affect us in regard to God’s mission? Adam Jeske (website) (twitter) addresses this question in this afternoon’s seminar.

Adam Jeske: What Would Jesus Post on Social Media?

From Dec 27 – Jan 1, volunteers with our network of early career Christian academics are liveblogging seminars at the Urbana conference, a mission-focused student gathering of 16,000 Christians from across North America and the world. This post was co-written by May Yuan and Vivian Chen.

[Read more…] about What Would Jesus Post on Social Media?

“To tweet or not to tweet?”: Selective empathy in a world of hashtag revolutions (Scholar’s Compass)

Social Media Pic

Bat Manyika contemplates social media activism, drawing on his academic knowledge and practiced experience of the New Testament, which he studies as both church leader at CityHill Church, Johannesburg and PhD student at the South African Theological Seminary.

Reflection

On the 7th January 2015 the world awoke to the harrowing news of an extremist attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris. News outlets across the globe covered this sad incident in intricate detail. Shortly after, political figures of all stripes and sizes marched the streets of Paris, showing solidarity with the people of France and the right to freedom of speech. The hashtag #jesuischarlie trended as the message of freedom was broadcast from stadia and social media platforms worldwide. Meanwhile, in the very same week that 17 people lost their lives across France, as many as 2000 individuals were butchered to death in a separate extremist attack in Nigeria. The difference; no widespread media coverage, no solidarity march. Only a counter solidarity hashtag of #jenesuispasCharlie [Read more…] about “To tweet or not to tweet?”: Selective empathy in a world of hashtag revolutions (Scholar’s Compass)

Engaging Social Media

A taste of the resources I’ve been engaging for the upcoming “Social Media Workshop: Communications and Community” (Post Graduate & Faculty Ministries Staff Team Mtgs, 3/27/2015). Pray for workshop preparations. And please do not hesitate to share your top articles/insights 🙂

https://storify.com/esnivcf/social-media

Query: Social Media, Community Development, Campus Ministry

What tips/ideas do you have for InterVarsity’s National Graduate & Faculty Ministry Staff Team Members in Using Social Media Appropriately and Effectively to Grow Communities?  Now’s your opportunity to give input.  I’m leading a seminar on the topic at our April Team Meetings.  Here’s some material I’m seeking to address:

  1. How do we use social media appropriately to
    1. build community?  Note:  How does social media influence our/your definition of community or the various forms of community in which we find ourselves?  The seminar will take the direction of building local, face-to-face campus communities, but I’m also interested in the other forms of community, such one finds in the Emerging Scholars Network.
    2. invite others to engage with our community?
    3. engage others with ideas we are discussing in our communities?
  2. What are some do’s and don’ts for healthy, appropriate and effective use of technology?
  3. What’s available? What’s changing? How do we make decisions?
  4. How do we make decisions about the use of technology when engaging with audiences of different generations in our ministry?  Note:  Please don’t skip.  Due to the overall conference theme, it has particular relevance.  :-)  Feel free to also share How you make decisions about the use of technology when engaging with audiences of different generations in higher education?

Calling out to the community/network for input. …