Entries Tagged 'The Millennium Matrix' ↓

POV part one - oral culture/liturgical church

“The development of the printing press signaled the world’s first step into mass communication, arguably the most profound cultural dividing point in history.”¹ - Rex Miller, The Millennium Matrix

The Gutenberg press set the Bible in movable type around 1454, giving the (illiterate) masses the chance to read the sacred text that only the social elite had access to. Thereby elevating the peasants potential knowledge base to that of popes and kings. Some have said that the invention of the printing press was the start of the downfall of the Church, as now the uneducated would begin to read and decipher this ancient and complicated texts… And while I am grateful to have a Bible of my own, I see the point, as this invention produced a torrent of activity within the Church for the next 500 years (and beyond). Because everyone has access to the Bible, we have become a nation of armchair theologians, Now, any 35 year-old with any sort of personality, can start a church (in a school cafeteria), and base his opinions on his own doctrine… picking and choosing what to glean from his denominational audits throughout his youth.

I’m not saying that mass-printing of the Bible was bad(ie; there was a ton of good), it just has had some long-lasting effects that weren’t foreseen. But back to the topic at hand… Mass-printing and the Reformation.

From Messenger to the Message: The basis of understanding moved from person to person, master to apprentice, to books, lines of type, to print. The world became linear rather than a relational. Wisdom was found in knowledge of the message rather than first hand experience.

From Context to Content: A shift from receiving with the eye instead of the ear, created a vast change in perspective, no longer caring about the context of the messenger, rather the content of the message. The Modern Man. A rational, autonomous, self-made being.

• Understanding through analysis replaces understanding through dialogue
• Individual autonomy replaces community allegiance
• Conceptual understanding of God replaces a relational orientation toward God.
• Reading about the gospel in a book replaces experiencing the gospel through ceremony and ritual
• Ethical principles replace moral choices
• Pedagogy replaces mentoring
• Logical reasoning replaces dialectic exploration

Cultural Impact: Perspective.  Through this shift in communication came with it a shift in artistic interpretation, from the flat, round faces in earlier paintings to the depth and realism of the Renaissance.

Spiritual Impact: The Centerpiece for Reformation Theology was that the written word became the ultimate standard of authority.  Luther may have said it best in the Diet of the Worms in 1521, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason–I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other–my conscience is captive to the Word of God.”² Hence the proliferation of denominations which is ongoing still today.

Educational Impact: Before print - master taught apprentice, apprentice became master, and so on… With printed books came the educational system we know of today, the teacher disseminates information to multiple pupils, guiding them to books that contain more information for their use. One-to-Many teaching replaced One-to-One teaching.

Roots of the Church: From Intimate connection to a place of rational detachment (beginnings of the Reformation). Print makes the message more important than the messanger. Truth, in print cultures, shifts from its relational foundation to principle or propositional truth. The Bible replaces the Church as the source of authority and truth. Sola Scriptura - The Bible usurps the oral message (the good news) of God and Jesus the Christ.

Faith is Belief: Faith shifts from trust in the Word of God (Jesus) to belief in the printed word of God (the Bible).  This approach bred systematic theology, reason, analysis, and rational explanation of doctrine. The print revolution also brought with it a linear progression to Faith (think the Romans Road approach to evangelism):

• We are sinners, and sin is apart of our nature
• We can’t overcome sin on our own to reach God
• God came to earth in the form of a man, born to a virgin
• Jesus lived a sinless life and is able to make a bridge for us to God
• Jesus offered his life as an act of obedience and sacrificial payment for our sin
• He rose as Christ, validating his sinless life and his power over death
• We can experience rebirth and resurrection life by accepting our condition and Christ’s payment.

The Reformed (or Protestant mind) favors an individualistic, analytical, linear approach to relationship with God, which relies strictly on the Biblical text (Bibliology - a certain form of idolatry which is puts the Bible above Jesus and the message of the Gospel).

Worship Service: Orderly, the service is in a consistent and logical order building up into the preaching of the word.  Church service are to inform and reinforce God’s truth.

Worship Style: Hymns

Church Architecture: Functional:  outside and inside.

Next, we will look at how broadcast communication changed culture even further.

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1. Miller, Rex; “The Millennium Matrix“  (2004) Josey-Bass,  San Fransisco; p. 35

2. Ibid, p. 44

Our first culture was oral, based in the spoken word. The air was filled not by radio waves or the instant connections of cyberspace but by human voices: person to person. Oral communication is not only about speaking but also about hearing: not reading the printed word, watching television or movies, or visiting a Web site. In fact, the ancient Hebrews considered understanding to be a type of hearing. - Rex Miller, “The Millenium Matrix” pg 19.

Imagine a world without the constant buzz of airplanes above; without the sputtering of automobiles across the highways; without books and newspapers to read; without the Internet to surf. This is the world in which Jesus of Nazareth lived, a world that birthed Christianity, a world that is hard for many of us to imagine.

This world was fundamentally different than the one in which we live today, where spoken word was the main form of communication. Yes, yes… there were alphabets, written language and scrolls documenting things, but these luxury’s could only be afforded to the wealthy and educated, a unique minority. Reading and writing was not for the common people, the poor and the ignorant. In this era news was communicated through proclamations in the town square, history was told by chief storytellers using symbolic images, metaphors and allegories, and entertainment was given through plays and theatrical performances.

Knowing this, we must re-frame our perspective of church, faith, and truth, because our T.R.E.E. of understanding is much different then that of our religious patriarchs. In his book, “The Millennium Matrix,” Rex Miller has put together a timeline of communication evolution, offering the differences in each era and how these differences direct how we define our immediate reality. The following is my regurgitation of his thoughts on the characteristics of Oral Culture/Liturgical Church:

Truth is Relational: The truth and the truth giver are intimately connected, the credibility of the message was based entirely on the credibility of the messenger. Hence why killing the bearer of bad news was not abnormal.

Faith is Trust: Faith is not based on conscience or an “internal voice or compass” but rather on the voice of God or one of his prophets. The New Testament buffets this claim, see Romans 10:17, “faith comes through hearing… hearing through word of Christ.”

The Community of Faith: In community, right belief (orthodoxy) is secondary to the action of loyalty and faithfulness.

Worship Service: Liturgy, a ceremony centered on ritual and using symbols, sacraments and signs to create a mystical event. Escatological reference - this is the foundation for the Pharisee’s belief (as well as some Christians today) that right living will usher in end times… or put another way - they are always looking for “end” cause and effect signs. (in my opinion, this option leaves us looking at the stars and waiting on God to move, rather than living our lives in response to God’s movements).

Worship Styles: Chant and Psalm.

Church Architecture: Sacred places are physical expressions of heavenly reality. Examples include Gothic architecture, where cathedrals were intricate constructs designed to bring heaven’s story, order, awe, and mystery to earth. As a illiterate peasent, you could see how these massive and beautiful creations would bring about an emotional response, the stained glass windows, the sculptures, the mosaics, the cross in the layout all told a story, proclaimed a narrative, and led many to the saving grace found in Jesus.

Shifts in Morality: Teachings were rooted in wisdom, knowledge found in experience and history. Wisdom is rooted in relationship, thereby, circumventing the logical process found in A+B=C… (wisdom gets to the solution rather than being bogged down in the process).

There is much more to digest in this re-framing, but the preceding characteristics are a great beginning place to re-think our perspective on truth, faith, church and community. Next, I will be looking at the print revolution, which started around 1500 A.D. with the invention of the Gutenberg Printing Press. Cool.