Meme – a noun
- an element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means.
- an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations.
As an amateur historian, I believe we have much to learn from the past. In 1964 Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase,“The medium is the message”, meaning that the form of communication (books, films, etc.), alters what is being communicated. The internet has empowered us to be interactive participants. This is the age of the ‘meme’, a phrase first used in 1976 by the evolutionary biologist and self-professed atheist, Richard Dawkins, to describe small pieces of culture spreading from person to person by imitation. The digital meme reflects our post-modern condition, filled with irony, creativity, subversion, and anxiety.
What are the implications of the current transition from print to digital medium for the Christian Church in the 21st century? In 1996 Mark Dery wrote a prophetic book called “Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the end of the Century.” At the beginning of the book Dery says this: “Escape velocity is the speed at which a body – a spacecraft, for instance – overcomes the gravitational pull of another body, such as the Earth.” More and more, computer culture, or cyberculture, seems as if it is on the verge of attaining escape velocity. Marshall McLuhan’s 1967 pronouncement that electronic media have spun us into a blurred, breathless “world of allatonceness” where information “pours upon us, instantaneously and continuously,” sometimes overwhelming us, is truer than ever.”
The Christian gospels are not memes, but they were written in Koine Greek, ‘ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος’, or ‘the common dialect’ of the Roman Empire. In the twenty-first century social media is increasingly our common dialect and the mirror of our human condition. What is required is nothing less than a new theology, a ‘digital theology’. Encouraging signs of such a Christian theological framework in the digital age can be seen in research centres such as CODEC at Durham University. Biblical literacy and discipleship are two key areas of exploration there. I would also argue that national ministerial training to provide a basic understanding on the subject of evolving social media and the world wide web should be as integral as preaching and pastoral care in the Church of the future. If ‘the medium is the message’ then we have to ask ourselves what is the common dialect in the context of evolving social media in the 21st century?
However Jesus of Nazareth is understood it is clear that he was an effective, popular teacher and preacher who communicated in the way he did at least in part because the ordinary people felt alienated from the religious institutions of their own day. Reflecting on this I am reminded of the words to a hymn, “There’s a Spirit in the air…”, and I believe it is time to leave the ‘house’ once more, as happened on the day that is described as the ‘birthday’ of the Christian Church – Pentecost. (Acts 2: 1-11)
