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Preaching and Technology: a Study of Attitudes and Practices

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Preaching and Technology: a Study of Attitudes and Practices PREACHING AND TECHNOLOGY: A STUDY OF ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES Alison C. Witte A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2013 Committee: Kristine L. Blair, Advisor Katherine A. Bradshaw Graduate Faculty Representative Sue Carter Wood Lee Nickoson © 2013 Alison C. Witte All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Kristine L. Blair, Advisor Historically, various technologies, print and the television, for example, have been adopted by religious groups to spread their teachings and faith. Presently, many churches are adopting various digital technologies to accomplish this aim. This study examines the adoption of digital technologies into preaching to determine the effects of this adoption on the sermon as a genre and preaching as a rhetorical practice. It contends that understanding genre expectations, which are steeped in the traditions and values of a community, is key to understanding how and why digital technologies are used in particular ways and further, how those uses shape or fail to shape a preacher’s ethos. The study employs a combination of survey and case study research to determine how both preachers and congregants understand the sermon as a genre and how those understandings influence the practice of preaching and the adoption of digital technologies. The results of the study indicate that many preachers and congregants privilege the spoken word in the sermon because, for both historical and theological reasons, they perceive the sermon as an oral genre. As a result, they situate digital technologies as supplementary or peripheral to the oral act of preaching. Such a separation is a method for preserving existing practices, beliefs, and values, while simultaneously adopting new technologies. However, as long as preachers and congregants expect the sermon to be an oral genre and evaluate preachers by those expectations including digital technologies in the sermon will not help preachers construct or maintain ethos. This study concludes by iv articulating two options for building ethos through the use of technology: (1) to reconceive the sermon as a multimedia genre that integrates digital technologies as integral to the sermon, thereby taking advantage of their affordances, or (2) to use digital technologies to improve congregational ethos through accessibility. Digital technologies may allow congregations to become more user-friendly, thereby increasing their ethos as a whole. Ultimately, this study suggests that the sermon is a genre in flux, being reshaped by the introductions of new technologies, and that further study is necessary to fully understand preaching in an increasingly digital culture. v To my beloved husband without whose love and support I could never have completed this project To my little loves, so you know that all things are possible vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank my committee chair, Kris Blair, for her continual support and encouragement over the course of this project. I also offer tremendous thanks to the members of my committee, Sue Cater Wood, Lee Nickoson, and Katherine Bradshaw for supporting me throughout this project, and for challenging me to look deeper and further. Enter Acknowledgement text here. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION: PREACHING AND TECHNOLOGY: A STUDY OF ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES .......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER I. “IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD”: PREACHING AS RHETORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL PRACTICE ..................................................................................... 7 Preaching as Historical and Rhetorical Practice ........................................................ 7 Historical Place of the Sermon in Rhetoric.................................................... 7 Orality and the Sermon .................................................................................. 9 Purpose of the Sermon ................................................................................... 9 Persuasion in the Sermon ............................................................................... 10 Remediation & Remix in Preaching .............................................................. 12 Authority & Ethos in Preaching ................................................................................. 15 From Corporate to Individual: Shifts in Authority ........................................ 15 Ethos .............................................................................................................. 20 Dual Roles of Preacher .................................................................................. 20 Authority & Ethos Defined ............................................................................ 22 Preaching and Technology ......................................................................................... 23 Technology as Audience-Centered ................................................................ 23 Technology Adoption Practices ..................................................................... 25 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 26 Project Overview ....................................................................................................... 28 viii Chapter II Collecting Multiple Perspectives: Researching Preaching through Multiple Methods ........................................................................................... 28 Chapter III Trinity Methodist: Integration and Expectation ......................... 29 Chapter IV Blink and You’ll Miss It Church: Doubts and Disconnects....... 29 Chapter V The Church On The Corner: Some Conclusions on New Beginnings ........................................................................................................................ 30 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 30 CHAPTER II. COLLECTING MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES: RESEARCHING PREACHING THROUGH MULTIPLE METHODS ................................................................................... 32 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 33 Data Collection .......................................................................................................... 40 Phase 1—The Initial Survey Phase ................................................................ 40 Benefits and Limitations of the Electronic Survey Instrument ...................... 44 Phase 2—The Screening Interview Stage ...................................................... 47 Benefits and Limitations of the Screening Interview .................................... 51 Phase 3—The Full Study ............................................................................... 52 Case Study 1:Trinity United Methodist Church ............................................ 57 Case Study 2: Blink and You’ll Miss It Church ............................................ 59 Case Study 3: Church on the Corner.............................................................. 60 Benefits and Limitations of the Combined Survey and Case Study Method ........................................................................................................................ 61 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 64 CHAPTER III. TRINITY METHODIST: INTEGRATION AND EXPECTATION .......... 66 ix Church Background ................................................................................................... 67 Technology Use In and Out of Church .......................................................... 69 Services .......................................................................................................... 71 Pastor.............................................................................................................. 73 Sermons...................................................................................................................... 76 Sermon 1: “Your Spirit Guide” ................................................................................. 82 Sermon 2: “Optimism and Your Brain”..................................................................... 86 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 89 CHAPTER IV. BLINK AND YOU’LL MISS IT CHURCH: DOUBTS AND DISCONNECTS ................................................................................................................................................ 94 Church Background ................................................................................................... 95 Technology Use In and Out of Church .......................................................... 98 Services .......................................................................................................... 101 Pastors ............................................................................................................ 103 Sermons...................................................................................................................... 106 Sermon 1: Pastor Sandburg .......................................................................................
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