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Файл:Цифровизация общества и будущее христианства к вопросу о трансформации ценностно-нормативной системы общества. Материалы VII Между народной научной ко
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Алекс Хон-Хо. Методологический обзор цифровой теологии и исследование...
signifi cant life activity. Among all social media, Facebook is still very infl uential. Looking into the respondents’ activities on Facebook, reading
news and friends’ status are the two most frequent activities. This supports
the research hypothesis that there is a great chance that Facebook’s commercial strategy, including collecting all information, reading and calculating all the data through AI and other algorithms and using techniques like
fi lter bubbles to keep our attention and time on using Facebook, can aff ect
Christians’ views and ideology on current situations and therefore aff ect
their interpretation of the Bible.
Impacts on Biblical Interpretation
Questions in this section were not compulsory, so the number of respondents will be less than the total 780 who received questionnaires.
Among the 704 people who answered this question regarding their view on
Romans 13:1: Did they agree that this verse implies fi rst-century Christians
had to completely obey the authority that was the Roman empire? They
were given four options ranging from strongly disagree, disagree, agree and
strongly agree. Of the total, 143 (18.3%) responded strongly disagree, and
331 (42.4%) responded disagree (we call this the strongly disagreed group
A in the following discussion). For agree, 196 (25.1%) responded agree and
34 (4.4%) answered strongly agree (we call this the strongly agree group
B in the following discussion). Opinions shift towards disagree when we
ask whether Romans 13:1 implies contemporary Christians have to obey
the government completely? Of the total, 41% strongly disagreed and 47%
disagreed, resulting in more than 88% of the respondents belonging to the
group of disagree.
The second question asked whether Jesus cleansing the temple can be
considered as a kind of civil disobedience or not, and the views are more
even between the two. People disagree and strongly disagree (44%), which
is a bit less than those who agree and strongly agree (56%). The percentage
even turned around when we asked whether Jesus’ temple cleansing action
can be applied to the contemporary world as a support for civil disobedience. The percentage of disagree and strongly disagree rose to 54%, and the
percentage of people agreed and strongly agreed dropped to 46%.
For the sake of fi nding the possible correlation and due to the limitations of this paper, we will focus on analysing the data revealed from the
41
Христианство и глобальные сети
respondents’ interpretation of Romans 13:11. The reason is that the data
show that the interpretation of this verse is more polarised and, therefore,
is a better case to look into whether diff erent patterns of using Facebook
may constitute a polarised view. The following analysis will follow the
framework suggested by SRI to see in what sense and in what way could the
social media using pattern aff ect one’s interpretation of bible. We start from
the inner texture which refers to the texture characteristic of Romans 13:1.
There is texture reason behind this polarisation of interpretation. This text
is controversial among biblical scholars and the church community mainly
because the word ποτσσω is used
2
. Whether the word implies a total
submission or conditional submission has long been a subject of debate.
The Chinese translation is even more ambiguous, since Chinese uses the
same word to translate πακουω, which is more often translated as obey,
to translate ποτσσω. If one does not consider the deeper meaning of
great and the social-political context, the text should be merely understood
as the word implied. Using the framework of SRI, since the inner texture
of the text in Chinese translation is not clear, other textures, including the
socio-cultural texture and the inter-textual texture, become more determining. To understand to what extent Facebook’s use of patterns aff ects
their interpretation, we will examine three main aspects revealed by the
survey. First is the respondents’ intensity of using social media. The more
intensely they use Facebook, the more likely they are to be aff ected by the
information received on Facebook. Second, we will look deeply into their
frequent activities on Facebook. This aspect is to determine, within the
context of the era of Big Data, how likely it is that Facebook’s commercial
policy of fi ltering and providing information will aff ect one’s viewpoint.
Finally, we will compare whether one’s theological training may contribute
to their interpretation. The assumption is that the more formal theological
training one has, the more likely one can appreciate texture beyond the
surface meaning or translation.
1
The word correlation rather than relationship is used because what the data can
show is only a correlation. It is clear that in order to conclude there is any kind of causal
relationship between the two, more evidence and theoretical support are required. This
is the mission of the subsequent project following this survey.
2
The use of ποτσσω (‘be subjected’) refers more likely to the submission in
earthly matters, which does not necessarily imply the same level of obedience as to
God. Joseph Fitzmyer, Romans: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary,
AYBC 33 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 666.
42
Алекс Хон-Хо. Методологический обзор цифровой теологии и исследование...
Turing to the social and cultural texture, from the readers’ perspective
it is not the actual social and cultural situation will aff ect their interpretation but the perception of it. The following will looking into if the data
shows if their social media using pattern may aff ect their perception of the
social and culture situation or not. The fi rst set of data consists of comparing those who strongly disagree (Group A) that Romans 13:1 implies we
have to submit to the government entirely with those who strongly agree
with that view (Group B). We fi rst compare these two groups’ time spent
on social media, the most popular use of social media and their major
activities on Facebook. The time spent on social media between the two
groups is 4.066 hours per day for group A and 3.76 hours for group B. This
shows that both groups are higher than the Hong Kong and world daily
averages of time spent using social media. Therefore, these two groups can
be identifi ed as high-intensity users of social media but with no signifi cant
diff erence in usage between the two groups. This is important to strengthen
the hypothesis that the possible infl uence of using social media on their
interpretation of the Bible is high given that their intensity of using social
media is high.
For the second aspect, we would like to see if there is any correlation
between their most frequent activities on Facebook. In order to understand
this aspect, the survey has two sets of questions, including their most frequent activities on Facebook and what Pages they liked. There are some
assumptions concerning the impact of diff erent activities on Facebook.
First, diff erent activities can be classifi ed into a spectrum with totally fed
by Facebook on the one end and totally self-chosen on the other. Based on
the view that Facebook may use a fi lter bubble to feed information to you
to keep you engaged as long as possible, those passively fed information
items will be highly manipulative and closest to your view, as calculated
by AI based on all your data collected by Facebook. The other side does
not mean that it is totally free but involves a higher possibility to provide
information and views that may not be the same as your previous thoughts
and could either enrich or broaden your previous view and therefore is
less manipulative. In this classifi cation, reading friends’ statuses or news
shared by friends will be classifi ed as the polar of highly manipulative, as it
is totally fed by Facebook according to your Big Data collected among all
accessible information by Facebook. Reading news will be in the middle,
although what types of news and which news agents could still possibly be
fi ltered by Facebook, and the news content can still broaden your view and
43
Христианство и глобальные сети
bring in some facts you may not know. The third main type of activity for
comparing is special Facebook Pages the respondents liked. The information concerning these Pages, mainly from special issue concern groups or
Key Opinion Leaders (KOL), which provide detailed analysis and perspective concerning diff erent issues, will belong more to the end of self-chosen
information. Although which page will appear on your Facebook account
still depends on the company’s policy, it is still your own choice, and these
Pages usually provide more perspective and information than just friends’
status. Therefore, the more Pages one likes, the less likely it is that one’s
view will be manipulated by Facebook.
The most frequent activity done on Facebook for group A is reading
news, which is shared by more than 50% of that group, and only 20% of
them rank browsing their friends’ status as the most frequent use on Facebook. Whereas, the most frequent activity people do on Facebook for group
B is to browse friends’ status, which is shared by 38%, and the second most
frequent activity is to read news, which is shared by 32% on Facebook.
This is the most signifi cant diff erence between the two groups of people.
To understand the details of their activities on Facebook, the survey also
asks the respondents to list the fi rst fi ve pages they have liked or followed,
not including friends’ status, that appear on their Facebook account. The
result is also interesting. The average special pages for those who strongly
disagree (A) is 3, and for group B is 2.56. Among the six categories, News,
Pages (including KOL and other social issue-related pages), Entertainment, Religious, Education and others, the total amount and average per
person of Pages signifi cantly diff erent. For group A, the total number of
Pages liked is 112 out of 134 persons in this group, which makes 0.83 Page
per person. For group B, the total number is only 13 Pages liked, out of 34
persons in this group, which makes it 0.38 Page per person. Based on our
assumption about the nature of diff erent activities on Facebook, the result
has two main implications. First, group A reads information that is more
inclined to the end of being self-chosen than group B. Second, concerning
the possibility of accessing information beyond their own previous knowledge, group A’s habit is more likely than group B. This may show that the
more widely one receives information merely feeding from social media,
the more likely they will take the social and cultural situation into consideration in their biblical interpretation
1
.
1
As everyone will have a perception of their social and cultural situation, the data
44
Алекс Хон-Хо. Методологический обзор цифровой теологии и исследование...
The fi nal aspect to compare is the respondents’ theological background to see if formal theological training may aff ect their interpretation.
The theological training will aff ect the intertexture of the readers in a sense
that the more formal theological training the more likely one can appreciate a deeper layer of the text and incorporate more theological concerns
in their biblical interpretation. Of the total, 41 out of 134 (29%) have a
theological degree or above in group A, whereas 6 out of 34 (17%) in group
B have the same level of theological training. Using our SRI concept, the
understanding of a text requires the ability to bring an analytical ability into
the reading. This ability to analyse and integrate the diff erent textures of a
text has a close relationship with the respondents’ formal theological training. Therefore, the above divergence further supports our hypothesis in this
paper that, on the one hand, the habit of using Facebook has a signifi cant
impact on one’s interpretation through their intensive usage and Facebook’s commercial policy for providing information. On the other hand,
their theological training and whether they have other sources of information may also aff ect whether they can read the deeper layer of the text and
how they understand the present social-cultural situation.
Conclusion
This paper starts by reviewing the methodological development of digital theology and, then, elucidating the basic nature of the era of the Big
Data era. We point out that in this era, every action on the Internet and
social media can be collected, stored and calculated. In return, the information you receive, whether on social media or other platforms, is not random but the result of data algorithms, including all kinds of AI techniques
for reading and interpreting your actions in the electronic world. Based on
this view of Big Data and the increasing importance of using social media,
we formed a hypothesis about the possible impact of using social media
on Christians’ biblical interpretation. This hypothesis was tested by a survey done in Hong Kong with 780 Christian respondents. The purpose of
this survey is not to show any defi nite relationship between social media
in this section shows how likely one’s perception will be conformed to the reality or
constructed by one’s own preconception strengthened by the social media information
feeding strategies.
45
Христианство и глобальные сети
patterns with the interpretation of the Bible. Instead, the survey aims to
discover if there are any preliminary correlations between the two and, if
yes, what kinds of correlations they are. The results of the survey do support the hypothesis made from two main perspectives. First, the impact
of social media using patterns on Christians is both signifi cant and growing. This can be seen by the average time spent on the Internet and social
media. Also, the growing popularity of smartphones surely helps to make
using diff erent social media apps more and more important and fi nally a
habit. Second, based on the results of the respondents’ usage intensity and
activities’ frequency on Facebook, we fi nd that those who strongly disagree
(group A) with the interpretation of Romans 13:1 as asking Christians to be
completely obedient of present authority have three major diff erences with
group B. They read more news and liked more pages than group B Christians, which shows that they can receive a broader scope of information.
This explains why group A Christians may be more willing and able to take
social and political considerations into the interpretation. Also, beyond the
social media-using pattern, group A Christians also received more formal
theological training than group B. This further supports the framework
suggested by SRI that theological training enables one to read the meaning beyond the shallow translation of a text. This ability, together with the
broader and less passive feeding information from Facebook, may help to
explain the polarised view on the interpretation of Romans 13:1.
I hope this paper can show the possible impact of our social media using pattern on our interpretations of the Bible. Although social media is not
the sole factor aff ecting our interpretations, with the more intensive use of
social media in this era of Big Data, we need to pay more attention to its
hidden impact on our understanding of biblical text.
Keywords: Big Data, Digital Theology, Social media using patterns,
Biblical Interpretation.
Ключевые слова: Большие данные, цифровая теология, шаблоны
социальных сетей, толкование Библии.
46
Алекс Хон-Хо. Методологический обзор цифровой теологии и исследование...
References
1. Alex Hon Ho IP. A Socio-Rhetorical Interpretation of the Letter to
Philemon in Light of the New Institutional Economics, WUNT2 444
(Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017).
2. Anil Maheshwari. Big Data: Made Accessible, Kindle Location.
3. Big Data Analytics for Social Media (December 2016).
4. Eli Pariser. The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalised Web is
Changing What We Read and How We Think (London: Penguin,
2011).
5. Katie Edwards. Rethinking Biblical Literacy (London: Bloomsbury,
2015).
6. Naomi Baron. Words Onscreen: the fate of reading in a digital world
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
7. Heidi A. Campbell. «Introduction: The Rise of the Study of Digital Re-
ligion» in Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New
Media Worlds, ed. Heidi A. Campbell (New York: Routledge, 2013).
8. Peter Phillips. The Bible, Social Media and Digital Culture (Oxon:
Routledge, 2020).
9. Roberta Biolcati, Giacomo Mancini, Virginia Pupi and Valeria Mu-
gheddu. «Facebook Addiction: Onset Predictors» Journal of Clinical
Medicine 7, 6 (May 2018).
10. Shen. Big Data Overview (IGI Global, 2014).
11. Siva Vaidhyanathan. Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects
Us and Undermines Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2018).
Gnana Patrick,
Dr. of Philosophy, Professor, University of Madras, India
Патрик Гнана,
д-р. филос. наук, профессор, Университет Мадраса, Индия
Resonances of &Digital Christianity[ An Exploration from
the Perspective of Public Religion
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The epochs of ‘Christendom’ — whether the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ or the ‘Christendom’ (Philip Jenkins) of the global south, are decisively transforming today.
Like every other classical religious tradition, Christianity too is becoming a ‘public
religion’, going beyond the ‘Christian borders’ to engage with wider sections of
humanity. The digital space has come today to be the special arena to make it
happen. Christianity, like other religious traditions, has taken to the digital space
in a big way and keeps unfolding with the ways of a public religion. There are some
‘general’ and ‘particular’ ways by which Christianity goes digitally public: by the
twin ways of ‘online Christianity’ and ‘Christianity online’ on the one hand, and
by bringing up discussion and debating forums on the other. They emit resonances of Christianity as a public religion. As regards individuals are concerned, the
‘digital Christianity’ (both as ‘online Christianity’ and ‘Christianity online’) adds
an inspiring dynamic to the agency of the self, and as regards social collectives, it
induces conversations on virtues of public life like common good, equal participa-
tion, and democratic values.
Эпохи «христианского мира» — будь то «Священная Римская империя» или
«Христианский мир» (Филип Дженкинс) глобального юга — сегодня решительно трансформируются. Как и любая другая классическая религиозная
традиция, христианство также становится «общественной религией»,
выходя за «христианские границы», чтобы взаимодействовать с более широкими слоями общества. Цифровое пространство стало сегодня особой
ареной для этого. Христианство, как и другие религиозные традиции, широко вошло в цифровое пространство и продолжает развиваться по пути
общественной религии. Есть несколько «общих» и «частных» способов,
с помощью которых христианство становится общедоступным в цифровом виде: с помощью двух способов «онлайн христианства» и «Христиан-
48
Патрик Гнана. Резонансы «цифрового христианства». Исследование...
ства-онлайн», с одной стороны, и путем проведения дискуссий и дебатов
на форумах, с другой. Они показывают резонанс христианства как общественной религии. Что касается отдельных людей, то «цифровое христианство» (как «онлайн христианство», так и «Христианство-онлайн«)
придает вдохновляющую динамику деятельности личности, а что касается социальных коллективов, то оно побуждает к разговорам о добродетелях общественной жизни, таких как общее благо, равные возможности
и демократические ценности.
Christianity as a Public Religion in the Digital Era
hristianity has passed through epochal changes in history: As a religion of the periphery, that of the ‘holy Roman empire’, as that of the
C
Western Christendom and of the Eastern Orthodoxy, as an overwhelming
inter-continental missionary religion, as a ‘religious-culture’ of the ‘modernising’ era, and as the ‘popular’ religion of the global south, Christianity
has had a substantive resonance in human experience during the last twomillennial history. It has indeed been a deeply pulsating faith-experience,
individually and collectively, for a majority of humanity on this planet.
One among the many features of Christianity so far has been its bold
self-assurance, bordering not so seldom on self-legitimacy, as the religion
of humanity. Even while acknowledging the reasonability of ‘absolutist religious claims’ from within its intra-religious horizon, Christianity’s foray
into the frontiers of other religions and cultures with its ‘overweaning’ sensibilities has not gone done congenially with the global humanity. Its historical engagements with others on ‘exclusive’ and ‘inclusive’ theological
and pastoral relational paradigms have now been radically questioned.
Christianity has entered a new epoch in the present-day context of the
radical plurality of religions on the one hand and their public salience on
the other. Plurality of religion has struck our consciousness with a solid
sense of facticity today. Exclusive and inclusive theologies of religion,
though still operative among not a few variants of Christianity, have been
characteristically sublated under pluralistic theologies of our global public world. Globality today goes with publicness and both have a symbiotic
relationship. It would mean that Christianity cannot anymore dwell self-
49
Христианство и глобальные сети
legitimisingly within its own walls or foray into others’ frontiers with unilateral legitimacy. Validations today emerge from virtues of sublime mutuality, and the now-prevalent trope of ‘public religion’ inspires discussions
and debates on the virtues of religions emergent in public spheres (Jose
Casanova, 1993), including their multiple forms of public theologies (Jurgen Moltmann, David Tracy, James K Smith), along with their political
philosophical underpinnings (Ford). Moreover, the classical heritage of
Christian tradition with its deep symbols (pace David Tracy) no more ‘belongs’ only to Christians and it fl ows across borders irresistibly in the open
public terrain.
Theorisation on ‘public religion’, which has grown signifi cantly — especially in Euro-American continents, has invariably related religion to
multi-layered public spheres (Habermas), which, in various modes, contribute to the formation of the general will for political praxis or to the
participation of increasingly widening sections of people in political decision-making of a given polity. While pointing out to certain negativities of
‘public religions’, it has also highlighted the positivities of public religions
and their substantive contributions to the nourishment of democratic polities and civic public life. In this context, every religion is called upon to
perform as a public religion and the call reaches the heart of Christianity
in a telling way. Christianities as extant in diff erent regions have begun to
respond to the call in terms of their contextual public concerns and bring
forth resonances of faith-based interventions. While the call and responses
have been situated so far within geographically demarcated polities, the
past three decades have brought about a new public arena in the form of
the digital space, which has emerged to be the ‘new public’. How do religions encounter the digital public space is an important area of study today.
Digital Publics and Religions
Much theorising has happened on the reality of digital publics and on
the participation of religions in public spheres. Starting with descriptive
accounts of presence of religion on the digital space in terms of providing
data as well as practising religion digitally, studies have explored the digital
debating / discussion forums or inter-religious dialogue forums for their
public interventions. Heidi Campbell’s Digital Religion… makes us aware
of the diff erent kinds of studies that have dwelt upon the reality of digital
50
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