Category Archives: The Blogosphere

Weightless Words on the World Wide Web

Posted on December 27, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

Guy Debord, writing in the 1960s, analysed the supplanting of the active and directly lived life of society by the ‘spectacle’, with which members of society passively identify and which they consume. Debord made clear that the spectacle—the mediation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ethics, On the web, Politics, Society, The Blogosphere | 25 Comments

The Internet, Blogging, Authority, and the Sexes

Posted on April 30, 2017 by Alastair Roberts

The subject of women’s online platforms has been a live one over the last few weeks. A couple of days ago, Christianity Today published an article by Tish Harrison Warren, which provoked considerable controversy, many believing that women were being … Continue reading →

Posted in Controversies, Culture, Ethics, On the web, Sex and Sexuality, Society, The Blogosphere, Theological | 64 Comments

Pride and Prejudice and Thought in Our Hyper-Connected Communities

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Alastair Roberts

A guest post of mine has just been published over at Mere Orthodoxy. Within it I discuss the resemblance between common dynamics of discourse online and those described in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, using an article by William Deresiewicz as … Continue reading →

Posted in Controversies, Culture, Ethics, Society, The Blogosphere, Theological | 5 Comments

Too Long; Didn’t Read

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Alastair Roberts

About a couple of weeks ago, Matt Lee Anderson posted a 5,000 word piece over on Mere Orthodoxy, ‘The Distortions of Progressive Christians: How Religious Liberty is in Danger’. It was a characteristically thoughtful post: Matt carefully and methodically constructed … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, On the web, The Blogosphere | 25 Comments

How the Internet Has Brought Us Too Close Together (and the Wisdom of Trolls)

Posted on July 20, 2015 by Alastair Roberts

A couple of days ago, Scot McKnight posted on the subject of ‘crowdpounding’ and ‘crowdaffirming’, remarking upon the treatment of both Ellen Pao (Reddit’s Former CEO) and Julie Rodgers. McKnight traces these phenomena back to the underlying dynamic of ‘groupthink’: … Continue reading →

Posted in Ethics, On the web, The Blogosphere | 28 Comments

Our Culture of Reading and the End of Dialogue in the Internet Age

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Alastair Roberts

Matt Lee Anderson has a typically perceptive essay over at Mere Orthodoxy on the subject of our habits of reading in the Internet Age and how these are unconducive to reflective and receptive dialogue. He writes: I suggested above that a … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Ethics, On the web, Society, The Blogosphere | 26 Comments

Matt Lee Anderson on Gay Marriage

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Alastair Roberts

My friend and fellow Mere Fidelity participant, Matt Lee Anderson, has published a lengthy article in which he presents a case for his opposition to same sex marriage. Matt’s argument is almost certainly not one that you will have heard … Continue reading →

Posted in Controversies, Culture, Ethics, On the web, Sex and Sexuality, Society, The Blogosphere, Theological | 4 Comments

Feminism, Equality, and Authority

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Alastair Roberts

My good friend and member of the Mere Fidelity crew, Andrew Wilson, unwittingly entangled us in a bit of an online controversy earlier today (I have it on good authority that it registered between a brouhaha and an apocalypse on the online … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Christian Experience, Controversies, Creation, Culture, Genesis, Links, NT Theology, OT Theology, Politics, Scripture, Sex and Sexuality, Society, The Blogosphere, Theological, Theology | 69 Comments

N.T. Wright on Heaven and Earth, Male and Female

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Alastair Roberts

N.T. Wright recently made some controversial statements in opposition to same-sex marriage. He begins his argument against same-sex marriage by observing the dangers of the sudden and prescriptive redefinition of key terms, remarking upon examples of extensive attempts to transform … Continue reading →

Posted in Bible, Controversies, Creation, Culture, Ethics, Genesis, N.T. Wright, OT, Sex and Sexuality, Society, The Blogosphere, Theological | 81 Comments

The Politics of Pentecost

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Alastair Roberts

I’ve posted over on the Political Theology blog again, this time on the politics of Pentecost: The Church created at Pentecost is a dramatic contrast to the project of Babel and all attempts to repeat it. Rather than gathering all … Continue reading →

Posted in Acts, Bible, Guest Post, NT, NT Theology, Politics, The Blogosphere, The Church, Theological, Theology | 2 Comments