Book Review: The New Media Frontier

The New Media Frontier

The New Media Frontier: Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting For Christ

Edited by John Mark Reynolds & Roger Overton

Christian + Blogger = Very interested in what this book has to say. This book features a collection of 15 essays that explores Christianity and the new media. Should Christians be using the new media? How should they use the new media? What aspects of Christianity should be standing up and paying attention? There’s a lot to think about in this book.

Christians are often scared of new things. Being scared of new things makes you part of the family in some churches. Some people look at the rapidly changing internet with their blogs and social networking and twittering and don’t know where to start. One of the questions raised in this book is whether it is too late to start. Have we missed our window of opportunity to get in on the ground floor and be part of the system? Or are we doomed to be constantly lagging behind? I felt this was a challenging question, one that encouraged me to not only devour the rest of these essays, but to put into practice what I was reading. The Fervr Presents vodcast was conceived in between reading paragraphs of this book.

The very way that people interact and communicate has changed in recent years. It doesn’t matter if you think it is a bad thing or a good thing, what matters is that it is a thing. It is happening. And as Christians, we can embrace and use this tool or we can neglect it. Just think where we would be today if the Reformers had rejected the new fangled technology of the printing press. (Reading this book the week before my Church History exam last year gave me a whole paragraph in one of my essays. I was happy.)

There is a good balance here of questioning if we should use the new media, tools for Christians using the new media, and areas of Christianity that would benefit from the new media. I had never really considered how the journal system of Christian academia would benefit from the internet. And the more I think about it, the more I lament that it isn’t fully utilising this resource.

If you are a Christian and been wondering how to best use these new media, read this book. If you are a Christian and you’ve been uncertain what the new media was and if it was worth finding out, read this book. If you are a Christian living in the 21st century, you really should read this book. Or at least skim through it. I found it really helpful. And I think you would too. Even if you don’t even have your own Facebook page.

I got my copy at Moore Books.