Digital DiscernmentThinking Christian
Not just misinformation,
but mis-formation.
The digital world does not only tell us things that are false. It reorders our loves, retrains our instincts, and teaches us to live as if God were absent or irrelevant.
It forms us even when what it tells us is true.
The problem
The subtle art of mis-formation.
Our digital environment is not just delivering content. It is changing our sense of how the world works, reordering our priorities, and building a context in which our lives are reshaped. It does this inconspicuously. It draws us with convenience, tempts us with the sensational, and captures our attention with an endless supply of reels, posts, and videos.
Our convictions can remain intact while our instincts, priorities, and experience of the world shift.
Digital Discernment is a theological account of what it means to be human in that environment, and of how God’s people might resist being formed by it.
The contrast
Different worlds, different citizens.
The digital world
The digital world has no vested interest in making disciples of Jesus Christ. It promises ease and efficiency, but it is not designed for Sabbath. It promises information, but tolerates falsehood. It promises connection, but tends to create distance between us and others. It promises to expand our minds, but it narrows our vision through its indifference to God’s self-disclosure.
The order God created
This stands in contrast with the order God created, in which humankind was made in his image and commissioned to serve God, others, and creation for our mutual flourishing. Technology becomes a necessity after the Fall, but it cannot override or replace the governing dynamics of dependence on and allegiance to God, which are revealed by the Son and the Scriptures.
Disciplined inquiry for re-formation
Four ways of knowing.
Cognitive scientist John Vervaeke distinguishes four ways human beings know: propositional (“knowing that”), procedural (“knowing how”), perspectival (“knowing from a particular point of view”), and participatory (“knowing by being an agent in an arena”).
The Quad takes these four and puts them to work as a framework for biblical and theological thought. It is a way of examining the world’s perspective and integrating what God has disclosed, broadening a vision narrowed by the search for meaning apart from revelation and the Holy Spirit.
As you consider the words and actions of others through the Quad, you will be prompted to reflect on your own ways of “knowing that,” “knowing how,” “knowing from a particular point of view,” and “knowing by being an agent in an arena.” These four ways of knowing transcend what we normally describe as cognitive understanding, entering into an embedded and embodied knowing in relation that recognizes God’s presence and attends to our relationship with him.
What you get
A diagnosis, and something to do about it.
The book
Digital Discernment
Coming soon from IVP Academic.
A theological account of formation in a digital age, integrating biblical theology, spiritual formation, and information literacy. Sign up and we will let you know the moment it is available.
One email when the book releases. Nothing else.
Start here
Assessment and Study Guide
One time. 30 day access.
- The Digital Discernment assessment, built on the four ways of knowing
- A written report naming what has been formed in you, and how
- The study guide, downloadable and yours to keep
- Practices for individuals and for groups
Annual
Thinking Christian Annual
$94.00 platform access + $5.99 missional surcharge
The $5.99 missional surcharge funds scholarships and ministry training for those who cannot afford platform access.
- One assessment: Digital Discernment
- Recalibration (2x per year), so you can retake the assessment after changing your routines and see what has actually moved
- Unlimited Bible study sessions
- Access to every Thinking Christian study
- Members-only podcast access
- Progress tracking and comparison reports in the Thinking Christian app
The book is sold through the publisher. The assessment and study guide are sold here.
Contents
The argument, chapter by chapter
Who wrote this
The last thing
Our deepest problems are not technological.
They will not have a technological solution. Removing the tools would not clear the path, because the tools are not the origin of the trouble. What is required is a people formed well enough to live faithfully inside the world we have actually been given.