A weekend nonfiction review! Cause even ministers need breaks from heavy theological reading!
Tom Standage. Writing on the Wall. New York, NY: Bloomsbury USA, October 15th 2013. 288 pp.
5 out of 5
Purchase: Amazon
This was a fascinating book on social media. As the subtitle states this book is on the first two thousand years of social media. You might be scratching your head like I did at first with the idea of social media having been around for the last two millennium but I think the author Tom Standage made a good point that social media has been around for some time though it might not look like the social media we have today. We must not confuse our idea of social media that is based upon technologies such as the internet, websites and high speed connection with the social media that has been existent in the past.
I felt I learned a lot and even with the things I know the book puts it in new perspective of viewing certain medium and communication phenomenon being described as social media. The first chapter was on why humans are wired for sharing which has some speculative elements concerning Darwinism, evolution, etc. The second chapter really got me hooked with the author’s exploration of how social media existed in Roman culture. Standage points out the phenomenon of letter writings and correspondence at that time, in which people wasn’t necessarily writing always for official purposes and that people looked forward to exchange news, gossips and information across the Roman Empire. I also thought it was interesting that the author explored graffiti that archaeologists have found from the Roman era and one get the sense that bathroom stall crass jokes is nothing new. I really enjoyed the British humor of the author and his explanation of the times in terms that we understand from how social media works today. For instance he pointed out that social media during the Roman Empire really took off because slaves during that time was the “bandwidth” that made social media possible. That is, there were people who were able to transcribe letters, carry it around the empire and read it aloud for others. Interesting, and I imagine most people wouldn’t think of “bandwidth” in those terms. (Note: the author is making an observation and not endorsing slavery).
The book’s discussion of Christianity as a religion that spread by social media was also very profound. The author makes the argument that Christianity is not just only a religion of the book (like Judaism and Islam); it is truly a religion of the social media. The bulk of the New Testament was not originally formal doctrinal statements and documents like the way we think of later creeds, councils, catechisms and statements; rather the majority of the New Testament were letters written on specific occasions that went “viral.” I thought that was a profound observation. Even within the New Testament you see that the epistles were not just only limited to a locale but the Apostle Paul encouraged the epistles to be “shared” among other churches so they can learn from them. Compared to the time Christianity was less of a hierarchical order in the way it was spread, something of a phenomenon that we see in other instances of social media. This desire to make the Gospel truth accessible to everyone also made Christian communication and “social media” be a lot more accessible than other Greek form of writings during that time. In fact the spread of Christianity would improve the way letters were written and written medium such as the move from papyri to the more informal but accessible parchment and codex.
Another fascinating discussion in the book was the role of social media in revolution specifically in the case of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Standage argues that Luther was an adept social media figure and the power of the printing press really helped spread the Reformation. The book compares the pamphlets of their time to blog posts of today in which pamphlets were shorter than books but were written in various styles that were polemical, accessible and spread beyond the control of the original author. Luther’s pamphlets and writings were written in the language of the people (German and German colloquial forms) and not in the academic form of Latin; thus it helped printers making them go “viral.” Luther was quite the polemical “blogger” in terms of his tone, speed of response and output.
I also enjoyed the book’s discussion of social media today and its contribution towards revolutions. The author was quite balanced in that he didn’t see revolutions such as Arab Spring as being only caused by social media but he also realized social media’s as a tool and a catalysts in its contribution towards revolutions. He discusses Arab Spring and also authority’s attempt to control and centralize social media. Sometimes government would not totally censor social media and there are instances it has backfired and fuel the opposition and the book brought up China as one example who have thousands of government employees hired to spread and propagate government sanctioned views in Chinese social media.
Overall I enjoyed the book. It made me think about the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible in which there is nothing new under the sun. Sure technology changes but when one gets down to it human nature and the human condition is more similar than we realize sometime when our culture is obsessed with chronological snobbery. Social media has been around with us for a long time. Yesterday epistles and pamphlets are today’s blog posts and tweets. Yesterday’s coffee shop has become today’s Twitter and Facebook. Fascinating reading that was both enjoyable and insightful.
Interesting! That sounds like the kind of book I would like.
If you think about it, Christians really invented the whole cloak and dagger thing. We were painting fish on the walls of alleys long ago and it’s the bible that gave us the whole,”don’t let the right hand know what the left is doing.” “Gentle as doves but wise as serpents.” That’s all social media stuff, clandestine word of mouth, social engineering. For the good, of course. No Jokers or Penguins allowed.
This made me laugh, “Cause even ministers need breaks from heavy theological reading!” Definitely! That stuff will rot your brain. 🙂
Good point about the various socializing aspect of Christianity…for the good of course.
I’m glad that phrase made you laugh; I love theology and the study of the Word but sometimes its a good brain exercise reading things concerning history, society and the military…what do you like to read for fun?
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Thanks for the reblog!
You’re very welcome Pastor Jim
Thanks, Jim. I think I would really enjoy this one. Your comment on the New Testament epistles going “viral” brings to mind the Catholic church’s claim that it determined the New Testament canon at Nicea (325) and Carthage (397) (although neither council had the characteristics of Roman Catholicism as we know it today). But through the work of the Holy Spirit, the churches had already recognized which writings were inspired and which were spurious. Barrett in “God’s Word Alone” compared Catholicism’s claim of determining the NT canon to the notion that Isaac Newton “invented” gravity. Of course, gravity had always been around, Newton merely described how it works.
That’s a good analogy fro Barrett; I am barely having my head above water with all the books I’m reading but I hope sometime this year I can read Barrett’s book on God’s Word Alone especially since you reviewed it on your blog. I appreciated your review of Barrett’s new book by the way, thank you again!
And thanks for reading my review of God’s Word Alone, Jim! That one was just a little tough for me so I took a break halfway through and read Night Journey From Rome. You know, Jim, we can praise the Lord that there are so many good books from good authors to choose from! We readers are blessed! TV watchers not so much.