Thoughts on interaction
During the course of this week, I have had some interesting conversations about converged technology and the nature of the work space. After all – if technology allows us to converge all our ‘office kit’ into one device, as pictured below, then the work space could be anywhere:
Image: cisco.com
This is also the week when I conducted my second in a series of discipleship classes – this one being on the subject of the Bible. When asked which Bible is used, often now it is YouVersion. This is partly because of convenience – few of us are ever found without our phones. It is also about flexibility- this particular version is in effect a library of different translations. An interesting twist on this occasion was that such a digital Bible also facilitates easy highlighting – from which a library of favourite or significant verses will begin to emerge. In this way, even a digital Bible can become personal.
I am a big fan of annotating Bibles – and always encourage it. Annotations on the printed page catch the eye when looking up a reference, and cause a moment of reflection about why that particular verse was significant and the circumstances which made it so. In this way the Bible becomes converged literature. It is both map and travel journal; both to-do list and diary. Below is a page from my last-but-one Bible. The pages are crinkled on account of reading it at an open air service when the rain was pouring down. On it I have noted an incident when weather, nature and Word came together in a spectacular moment of revelation. Just as I was praying about my pastoral ministry three things happened at once:
- The highlighted verse came to mind
- The sun broke through from a totally overcast sky.
- The sheep in the field I had entered gathered round me bleating, instead of scattering from a stranger.
For me, the physicality of this page -from the indentations of the cheap ballpoint pen to the rain-induced crinkles, evoke that moment more powerfully than any digital highlight could ever do.
Is your Bible converged – and if so, is it physical or digital?
A couple thoughts, Richard. First, a converged Bible sounds very medieval — I’m thinking of all the annotations and commentaries that take place in the margins of medieval Bibles and other texts. It’s visually as well as textually striking!
Also – have you heard about the trend in Bible journaling? Apparently they make Bibles that are made to be journaled in. There is lots of blank space for the owner to write and draw and doodle. A friend was just showing me hers yesterday!
I myself have never written in a Bible but I’m beginning to like the idea. I especially like what you said about noting the weather conditions and the particularity of the moment in which a favorite verse was read and savored.
Of course Christ St John of the Cross, on which Salvador Dali’s painting was based was originally a doodle on the edge of a manuscript.
http://richardlittledale.me.uk/2011/01/07/the-doodle-the-painter-and-the-stunt-man/
Love the idea of a Bible intended for journaling. Wonder whether it would lack the frisson of writing on a ‘proper’ page though?
Neat! I didn’t know about the Dali. And — good point about the frisson of “marring” the “proper” page. I’ll have to do some thinking about that. 🙂
Love your bleating congregation!
One danger with this approach (and why I’m not fan of projecting the Bible in church) is that context can be lost and much harder to see the structure of the text overall.
On the flip side for those who may struggle from a literacy perspective, have poor eyesight or just more familiar with the digital world can engage with scripture. It’s hard enough to be a Christian so if barriers can be removed that’s got to be worth exploring.