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Archive for the Miscellaneous category
real life
Posted on Monday, July 05, 2010 at 10:12 PM by Jason Barker
real life, my new series of studies and podcasts with Ancient Faith Radio, has officially launched! real life will feature free studies (with study guides, discussion guides and mp3s) on being transformed through your relationships with God and others.
The first unit of the first study-on joy-is now up.
Also associated with real life is real life minute, a new daily podcast series (similar to Orthodox Life Tips) with advice from saints and Orthodox teachers on living as an Orthodox Christian in the modern world.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Worship & You Unit 12
Posted on Monday, April 19, 2010 at 5:02 PM by Jason Barker
The study guide, discussion guide, and re/CALL episode for Unit 12 of the Worship & You study are now available.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, re/CALL, Youth Department
Worship & You Units
Posted on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 5:10 PM by Jason Barker
I've fallen behind on posting links to the Worship & You study on this blog, but since the last post I've uploaded units nine, ten and eleven. Each of these units also contains the most recent episode of the re/CALL podcast.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, re/CALL, Youth Department
Worship & You: Unit 8
Posted on Friday, March 19, 2010 at 10:52 AM by Jason Barker
The study guide and discussion guide from Unit 8 of the Worship & You study are now available.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources, Youth Department
Worship & You Unit 7
Posted on Friday, March 12, 2010 at 11:23 AM by Jason Barker
The study guide and discussion guide for Unit 7 of the Worship & You study are now available.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources
The Future of My Teen Bible Studies is in Your Hands!
Posted on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 4:56 PM by Jason Barker
Hi, I'm Jason Barker, the host of Get Wisdom. For over 6 ½ years I've been producing Bible study materials for Orthodox Christian teens, and for almost 2 ½ years I'be been producing the Get Wisdom podcast. I'm doing this special episode of Get Wisdom because I need your feedback.
I love studying the Bible, and I love sharing Bible study with Orthodox Christian teens and adults. But now, after years of creating these—and other materials—I have a bit of a dilemma: I need to make some choices about what work (both Orthodox and otherwise) I'll be doing in the future. This is where you come in.
Don't worry, I'm not asking for any money!
What I need from you is feedback: do you value my teen Bible studies and Get Wisdom podcast? Do you want me to create more of them (such as continuing the series on the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew)? If so, then I need to hear from you. Let me know that you want me to continue creating Bible studies and podcasts for teens. Or, if there's something else you'd like to see and use, let me know about that.
Send me an email, or contact me using Twitter, Facebook, or a number of instant messaging services, from my website at orthodoxresource.com.
I'm not asking for any type of financial commitment, or even any personal information; if I continue creating these resources, I'll create them entirely for free, just as I always have. All I want is to know that there are enough people who use and value these resources that you're willing to tell me you want them.
If I hear from enough people, then I'll know that I need to continue creating teen Bible studies and the Get Wisdom podcast. If I don't hear from people, however, then I'll know that it's time for me to move on and do something else. In either case, praise God.
So again, send me an email, or visit my website at orthodoxresource.com. In two weeks I'll let you know what I've learned. Until then, thank you.
Posted in Bible Studies, Get Wisdom!, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, OCN, Youth Department
Worship & You: Unit 6
Posted on Friday, March 05, 2010 at 3:23 PM by Jason Barker
The study guide and discussion guide for Unit 6 of the Worship & You study are now available.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Worship & You: Unit 5
Posted on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 10:53 AM by Jason Barker
The study guide and discussion guide for Unit 5 of the Worship & You study are now available.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Worship & You Now Live!
Posted on Monday, February 01, 2010 at 12:34 PM by Jason Barker
Worship & You, my new multimedia study with Ancient Faith Radio, is now live! The study examines how you can carry the transforming power of Orthodox worship into daily life.
The study offers free downloadable study guides, discussion guides, and podcasts in two versions: one for teens, and another for adults.
Unit 1 is currently available; new units will be added weekly until the study concludes.
The Department of Youth Ministry is also partnering in the project to create the teen version of the study.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources, Orthodox News, Youth Department
Worship & You Starts in One Week!
Posted on Monday, January 25, 2010 at 12:26 PM by Jason Barker
Worship & You, the new multimedia study on carrying the transforming power of Orthodox worship into daily life, begins February 1st!
Worship & You will feature free downloadable study guides, discussion guides, and podcast in two versions: one for adults, and another for teens.
Worship & You is a production of Orthodox Resource, Ancient Faith Radio and the Department of Youth Ministry - Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Jason Barker, Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Happy New Year!
Posted on Thursday, December 31, 2009 at 2:28 PM by Jason Barker
I want to wish everyone a happy New Year (and, for Orthodox visitors on January 1st, a blessed celebration of the Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord, and of St. Basil the Great).
Posted in Miscellaneous
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
Posted on Thursday, December 24, 2009 at 10:39 PM by Jason Barker
Wishing everyone a blessed celebration of the Nativity of our Lord.
Below is a quote from St. Macarius the Great about the importance of Christ's Nativity (you can hear the quote in the 12/25 episode of Orthodox Life Tips):
Today the Lord is born, the life and salvation of mankind; today a reconciliation is made of Divinity to humanity, and of humanity to Divinity; today all creation has leapt for joy; those above sent toward those below; and those below towards those above; today occurred the death of darkness and the life of humanity; today a way was made toward God for man and a way for God into the soul.
Posted in Miscellaneous
No Podcasts or Study Guide This Week
Posted on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 12:35 PM by Jason Barker
There will no episodes of GET WISDOM or re/CALL, or the study guide on 1 John 4, this week. I should be back on track next week.
I hope to at least be able to put up the quiz on 2 Peter 1 later this week.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Youth & Family
Posted on Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 4:52 PM by Jason Barker
The Antiochian Archdiocese has announced the launch of a new section on the Archdiocesan website: Youth and Family.
The Archdiocese says about the section, "This new page brings together work from all of the ministries serving kids and parents, and provides a roadmap for Antiochian Christians who are looking for resources and support within our Archdiocese."
Posted in Miscellaneous, Orthodox News
Conference on the Future of Orthodoxy in America
Posted on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 at 11:28 PM by Jason Barker
St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary will be hosting a conference, The Council and the Tomos: 20th Century Landmarks Toward a 21st Century Church, on June 18-20. St. Andrew House will offer a video stream of the conference, and Ancient Faith Radio will offer audio podcasts of the presentations.
The conference program is available here.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources, Orthodox News
Deals from Conciliar Press
Posted on Friday, June 05, 2009 at 10:16 AM by Jason Barker
Conciliar Press is offering two deals on Bibles and Bible studies (the offers are good through June 21st).
First, their Orthodox Study Bible is 40 percent off.
Second, if you purchase three of Fr. Lawrence Farley's Bible commentaries, you will receive a free hardcover New Testament and Psalms (I assume these are remainders of the previous version of the Orthodox Study Bible).
I've only seen these offers in their email newsletter - I cannot find them anywhere on the Conciliar Press website - so you might need to subscribe to their newsletter to take advantage of the offers.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Feast of Feasts
Posted on Monday, April 13, 2009 at 6:03 PM by Jason Barker
The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America and the Orthodox Church in America have teamed up to create Feast of Feasts: An Orthodox Christian Celebration of Holy Pascha and the Resurrection of Christ.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
OCA DOS Bible Bowl
Posted on Thursday, April 09, 2009 at 11:40 AM by Jason Barker
The Diocese of the South of the Orthodox Church in America will be holding a Bible Bowl at their 2009 Diocesan Assembly; the topic will be the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Romans.
Teens and adults who are preparing for the diocesan Bible Bowl might be interested in the resources in my Be Transformed: An Interactive Study of the Epistle of the Holy Apostle Paul to the Romans.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Resources for Holy Week
Posted on Wednesday, April 08, 2009 at 10:57 AM by Jason Barker
The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America has a special section for Great Lent.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America also has a very good subsite dedicated to Great Lent, Holy Week, and Pascha. Newcomers to Orthodoxy might find their free Journey to Pascha guide to the services of Holy Week to be particularly useful.
The Orthodox Church in America features their Preparing for Pascha curriculum for different age groups.
Edited on: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 11:02 AMPosted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Win an Orthodox Study Bible
Posted on Wednesday, February 04, 2009 at 10:22 AM by Jason Barker
The Orthodox Christian Network is giving away an Orthodox Study Bible to one person who registers on their site in February.
Posted in Miscellaneous, OCN
Orthodox Planner
Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 at 8:42 AM by Jason Barker
I just discovered the Orthodox Planner from the Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministries in the Greek Archdiocese. This free planner adds the daily New Testament readings and feasts to a number of calendars/PIMs (Outlook, iCal, Google calendar, Entourage, and Palm).
There is also a printed version you can order (but which also costs $14 dollars).
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
The Ark on the iPhone / iPod Touch
Posted on Sunday, January 18, 2009 at 6:50 PM by Jason Barker
You can now listen to The Ark's mix of Orthodox music and teaching (including the Get Wisdom Bible study program for teens) on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
You will need the WunderRadio app, which converts the Windows audio stream used by The Ark's media player into a format that will play on the Apple devices.
Simply search for "The Ark" in the application's station directory, or look under the list of stations broadcasting from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Posted in Miscellaneous, OCN, Online Resources
Read the Bible in About a Year
Posted on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 8:50 AM by Jason Barker
Fr. John Whiteford proposes a simple approach to reading the Bible in approximately one year.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Come Receive the Light
Posted on Saturday, January 03, 2009 at 9:02 AM by Jason Barker
This week's episode of Come Receive the Light, the Orthodox Christian Network's national radio program, features Fr. Lawrence Farley talking about the Bible and the Orthodox Church.
Posted in Miscellaneous, OCN
Podcasting Guide
Posted on Monday, December 29, 2008 at 11:31 AM by Jason Barker
Alex Lindsay - one of the regulars on MacBreak Weekly (one of my favorite non-Orthodox podcasts) - has written a solid introduction to producing your own podcast. I largely agree with what he says (as can be seen in a mini-series of posts I wrote on the GET WISDOM site), but I should also point out that quite a few podcasts - including most of Ancient Faith's - are created using USB microphones.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Miscellaneous
What's in Your Bible?
Posted on Saturday, December 27, 2008 at 12:33 PM by Jason Barker
Via Fr. Gregory Jensen, I learned about an interactive chart detailing the different books in the scriptural canon of different Christian traditions. The chart may be useful for those who have never looked into it before.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
New Home Page
Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 11:06 AM by Jason Barker
A couple of days ago I put up a new home page for the Orthodox Christian Bible Studies site (of which this blog is a subsite). I needed more room for adding new resources, and I wanted to highlight the latest blog posts and episodes from the GET WISDOM and re/CALL podcasts.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Youth Department
Grateful for Free Software
Posted on Monday, November 24, 2008 at 11:24 AM by Jason Barker
Gina Trapani at Lifehacker has asked an interesting question: for what free software are you grateful? I've posted on numerous occasions about the free and open source software that makes my work possible (or at least easier). Such software is a necessity for me - with no outside money provided for this work, I need to keep my expenses to nearly the absolute minimum. To this end, I make heavy use of the following free applications (I'll note where the applications are cross-platform, and where they're Mac-only):
CROSS-PLATFORM APPLICATIONS
Thingamablog - A Java blogging application that maintains the database (or, in my case, databases) for your blog on your computer; I use it for all three blogs (OCBS Blog, Get Wisdom and re/CALL) on this site. Very handy when you do not have permission to install a CMS or blogging platform like WordPress (which I didn't when this site was hosted on the Archdiocese's server).
PasswordSafeSWT - A Java version of the Windows-only Password Safe, which saves your usernames and passwords. I used Password Safe for years when I was on PCs, and am glad that the Java version let me simply move that database over to my Mac.
Tux Paint - A great painting application for kids - my five year-old son loves it.
Skype - There are numerous apps that can now do video chat, but my family still uses Skype to talk regularly with a family member who lives on another continent.
Jreepad - A Java tree structure text editor/database that works with the commercial Treepad format. I use it to save scripts and codes I use in my work (and used to use it to save Orthodox quotes until I obtained a free copy of the commercial app DevonNote and now use that for collecting quotes).
APPLICATIONS FOR OS X ONLY
Adium - A multi-protocol instant messaging client I use for both my AOL Instant Messenger and Jabber accounts. When on PCs I used GAIM (which is now Pidgin).
Caffeine - Prevents your Mac from going to sleep. Very useful when doing things like transferring large files.
Cyberduck - A simple app for using FTP and SFTP (as well as a few other things). All my podcasts and graphics are uploaded using Cyberduck. When on PCs I used FileZilla.
Camino - I switched to Camino when I was having a lot of problems with Firefox 2.0. Firefox 3 is much more powerful, but I still prefer Camino as my primary browser for fast, simple browsing.
Smultron - A text editor for programmers. I use an earlier version (since I'm still running Tiger), but I'll update if I upgrade to OS 10.7 Snow Leopard. When on PCs I used Notepad++.
iPalette - Converts colors to HEX and RGB values. Very handy for determining the specific color I see in a graphic or web page.
FStream - A lightweight program for listening to Internet radio. A recent update seems to have broken the ability to manually add URLs, which may necessitate dropping this program if the problem isn't fixed.
TwitterPost - Not the most powerful Twitter client (or even the most current, since it hasn't been updated since 2/07), but I like the very simple layout for posting Tweets (if I followed other Twitterers, I would need something more powerful and up-to-date).
FOSS I STILL RECOMMEND (but no longer use myself)
In earlier posts I recommended NeoOffice for the Mac (and Bean for simple writing). They are still great programs - although now I would probably use OpenOffice instead of NeoOffice, since OpenOffice is now Mac-native and enables you to use the current version of OpenOffice (rather than being a version behind with NeoOffice). Last year, however, on Black Friday I was able to get Microsoft Office 2004 - with an upgrade to 2008 - for a total of $32 dollars. As much as I like OpenOffice/NeoOffice, and as unwilling as I was to spend $150 dollars for Office, the full compatibility with all the Office files people send me made spending a mere $32 dollars for Office a no-brainer. If I couldn't have gotten such a deal, however, I would still be happily using OpenOffice.
For a number of years I used Thunderbird as my email client. I now use Entourage 2008 (which comes with Office) to have the fully included calendar, task list and project management, as well as - most importantly - synching with OS X's address book. If had not gotten Entourage with the cheap copy of Office, however, I would still be using Thunderbird.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Google Earth Adds Ancient Rome
Posted on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at 1:39 PM by Jason Barker
Via Appscout, I learned that Google Earth has added Ancient Rome to the areas you can explore. There are over 6,700 buildings, including eleven (such as the Coliseum) that feature detailed interiors.
The date for the simulation is 320 AD, so it wouldn't fit into biblical studies, but it might be very useful for supplementing studies of the early Church.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Free Downloads from CodeWeavers (OS X and Linux)
Posted on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 9:04 AM by Jason Barker
CodeWeavers, which creates CrossOver software that enables you to run Windows applications in OS X and Linux, is giving away free registration codes to their applications. The deal is for today (10/28/08) only.
Their site is currently down due to the high traffic caused by the deal, so they are -- as of this writing (at 9:02 CST) -- making the downloads available here, and promising to publish the free registration codes later today.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
"Coming to a Bible Near You"
Posted on Monday, October 13, 2008 at 10:57 AM by Jason Barker
An interesting article by Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans of the GetReligion blog looking at another article that discusses a new Bible (apparently the Good News paraphrase) with "culture relevant" photographs and illustrations.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Wi-Fi Radio Roundup
Posted on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 at 3:39 PM by Jason Barker
The San Francisco Chronicle published a review of wi-fi radios (minus such seemingly obvious choices as the Roku Soundbridge Radio). Readers who want to listen to stations like Ancient Faith Radio's without using a computer might find the article useful (I'm not sure that the Orthodox Christian Network's stations would play on these, since their streams are in Windows Media format).
Posted in Miscellaneous
Hope for the Heart
Posted on Tuesday, July 08, 2008 at 3:59 PM by Jason Barker
Several years ago I was interviewed by June Hunt of Hope for the Heart about my upbringing as a Jehovah's Witness; segments from this interview have been played almost every July since the interview was recorded. This year the interview segments will air July 28 - August 1.
Posted in Jason Barker, Miscellaneous
"Study" Bibles
Posted on Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 10:47 AM by Jason Barker
Early in this blog I wrote an article about some of the problems with many (but not all) so-called "study Bibles." I stated in that article, "The most significant problem is that these niche study Bibles are in fact seldom truly study Bibles: they are simply the biblical text surrounded by - and too frequently, suffocated by - silly pop culture references and self-help snippets."
I thought of this point when I saw a list of "Unique Bibles," including such titles as the TruGlo Bible (which glows in the dark) and the Battlezone Bible (with a scarred metal cover).
In my previous article I noted some key differences between these types of "study Bibles" and a legitimate study Bible like the Orthodox Study Bible:
This is not to condemn the entire concept of study Bibles: my point is to criticize squeezing the Bible into a niche. The Orthodox Study Bible, for example, avoids the perils of the niche-targeted study Bibles by giving general study notes about the biblical text that are applicable to all Christians, rather than "helpful hints" that are at best only loosely related to the text (if at all related), and also are limiting the audience of the text to - for example - girls aged thirteen to sixteen in the year 2007 (and, in the Biblezine genre, literally only the year 2007).
I also pointed out some of the differences between such "study Bibles" and the Bible studies I create:
First, there is a significant difference between providing an external set of commentaries and application articles about the Bible (as the Department of Youth Ministry does with our Bible studies), and packaging a set of cultural ephemera with the biblical text in a single volume and calling it the Bible (as the Biblezines and niche study Bibles do).
Secondly, the focus of our Bible studies is always on the biblical text. The majority of the articles in each Bible study are on the text itself: textual commentary, explanations of biblical terminology, historical background, etc. In addition, the articles are grouped into three clearly-defined categories: the biblical text and commentaries; articles about life application and Orthodox faith and practice; and overview materials (summaries, handouts, and quizzes). Thus, as helpful as I hope my life application articles will be in assisting youth in applying the principles brought out in the biblical text to their lives, I never want the reader to believe that my application articles are in any way on a par with the biblical text, or believe that one of my life application articles is a complete summary of everything they need to know about the biblical text.
Posted in Miscellaneous
CSS Flavor
Posted on Saturday, May 31, 2008 at 3:06 PM by Jason Barker
The re/CALL website is currently featured on CSS Flavor, a collection of the best CSS design websites.
Posted in Miscellaneous, re/CALL
Growth in Internet Radio and Podcast Audiences
Posted on Monday, May 05, 2008 at 7:46 PM by Jason Barker
Edison Media Research has released several studies over the last two months that demonstrate the growing use – and therefore the potential for widespread outreach – of Internet radio and podcasts.
According to Edison's 2008 edition of the annual Infinite Dial: Radio's Digital Platforms, 33 million people aged 12 and above listen to Internet radio each week. This means that approximately 13 percent of Americans listen to Internet radio each week, and 21 percent (or 54 million) listen each month. This represents a 2 percent growth in total listenership from 2007.
The demographics are pretty evenly divided between men and women – 52 percent of listeners are male, while 48 percent are female – but there is currently a decided majority in listeners aged 25-44 (45 percent of all listeners). Listeners ages 12-24 make up 24 percent of all listeners, while listeners ages 45-64 make up 27 percent of listeners.
Not directly related to these demographics, but nonetheless interesting, is that "prime" listening time for Internet radio – by a wide margin – is 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM, with an Arbitron AQM of 1,247,000 (the next closest, 3:00 – 7:00 PM, is only 670,600).
According to Edison, 23 million Americans – or 9 percent of the total population – download at least one podcast each month; 18 percent (or roughly 46 million) have downloaded at least one podcast at any time. These numbers are notably higher than when I wrote about this topic in December, 2006, when only 12 percent of the US population had ever downloaded a podcast; this means that the number of people who have downloaded a podcast has increased by roughly 50 percent over the last 16 months.
An extremely significant statistic is the amount of time spent consuming digital audio: podcast listeners spend an average of 90 minutes more per week listening to digital audio than do people who listen only to Internet radio. Edison notes:
While some of this may be due to increased interest in audio content in general, at least part of this increased listening is attributable to additional listening occassions (sic) and opportunities in settings where online audio was not previously consumed. The portability of podcasts has enabled new contexts and environments for listening to downloadable audio.
These numbers are quite positive for Orthodox Internet multimedia ministry. While the growth rate for Internet radio has been somewhat flat, it nonetheless is growing, and is reaching a significant number of people. It also is doing so at a time when their media choices are limited; since a sizeable percentage of Internet radio listeners are listening while at work, Orthodox Internet radio has the important opportunity to minister to people in a venue where they otherwise would have little or no access to other Orthodox materials.
Total listenership of podcasts, while currently significantly lower than that of Internet radio, is growing at a much faster rate, meaning that – at least in the next few years – there should be a continually growing "market" for Orthodox Christian podcasts. Furthermore, podcast listeners are among the more dedicated consumers of digital audio; the growth in podcast listeners demonstrates that there is a growing audience for in-depth Orthodox audio teaching.
Edited on: Monday, May 05, 2008 11:08 PMPosted in Miscellaneous
Scripture and Tradition
Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 8:10 AM by Jason Barker
Kevin Edgecomb passes on a quote from Fr. Andrew Louth on the complimentarity of Tradition and Scripture, and some of the limitations of the historical-critical method of reading Holy Scripture. Kevin finishes with an exhortation to attend services at an Orthodox Church to experience the scriptural vitality of Orthodox worship.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Article About Creating Podcasts
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 9:37 AM by Jason Barker
On the blog for my Get Wisdom podcast, I've uploaded a brief article - also linking to a short series I wrote a few months ago - about creating podcasts. You might find this helpful if you're thinking about creating an Orthodox podcast.
Posted in Miscellaneous
re/CALL Website Featured
Posted on Saturday, April 05, 2008 at 6:52 PM by Jason Barker
The re/CALL website has been featured on today's Daily Slurp, which highlights websites with an interesting visual design.
Posted in Miscellaneous, re/CALL
Tools for Collecting Orthodox Quotes
Posted on Monday, March 24, 2008 at 2:41 PM by Jason Barker
The work I do requires a fair amount of organization - I have numerous different projects on which I'm working at any given time for different organizations, departments and/or ministries. I've therefore developed reasonable (for me) systems of organizing my time, my different projects, the resources for the different projects, and resources (such as Lingo scripts for Director) that I share between projects.
An area in which I tend to fail dismally, however, is in organizing my notes - and particularly quotations - that I use in articles and other documents I write. For some inexplicable reason, when writing I tend to simply have teetering piles of books stuffed with bookmarks on my desk - and a large number of websites bookmarked in my browser - but I have seldom gotten around to actually putting quotes and citations in some type of database or filing system. Thus, when I need a quote or reference that I used in a previous publication, I need to remember the specific publication, find it, and then read it to find the needed information (and too often I find that I misremembered the publication, forcing me to go through several works until I find the information).
My primary New Year's resolution for this year was therefore to turn around this abominable practice and develop a recording system that will enable me to easily find quotations on a topic. I was fortunate to use a type of application that works well with the way my mind organizations information; you might also find it to be helpful.
TREE-STYLE EDITORS
The application to which I'm referring is a tree-style text editor (you can also find them called such things as tree-view information organizers, tree-view PIMs, etc.). When working on the application for the Be Transformed study of Romans, I needed some way of tracking the location of objects on screens, the specific screens on which specific articles and indices appeared, and the location of individual objects (such as specific scripts) from within the cast of several thousand objects that are used in the application.
The free tree-style editor KeyNote (for Windows) served my needs very well: I created nodes for such things as the templates for the different types of screens, and then child nodes for each individual type of screen. Then, when I needed to find the location of an object on a screen, I could simply open the node for templates, and then look at the child node on which I had listed the object locations within that template. I created similar sets of parent/child nodes for articles and for cast members.
If I still used Windows as my primary OS I would still be using KeyNote. I eventually switched to a Mac, however, and I wanted something that would run on my Mac without necessitating the time and resource drain of continually running Windows in Parallels simply so that I could take notes. I eventually settled on Jreepad, a multi-platform application (it requires Java). Jreepad lacks many of KeyNote's features - particularly the ability to work with rich text (Jreepad uses only plain text) - but it saves files in the same format as the commercial application Treepad (which is a Windows app, but is supposedly coming to the Mac this year), and I like the fact that it allows me and others to use the files on both Windows and OS X.
Many readers may prefer Jreepad because, while it's more limited than KeyNote, it is also significantly easier to use than KeyNote: there are only eight simple commands, each of which has its own button in the application's toolbar.
SAVING AND ORGANIZING ORTHODOX QUOTES
I'll use Jreepad - which both PC and Mac users can use - as an example of how you can collect and organize quotations from Church Fathers and modern Orthodox writers. The image below displays the key elements I'll be discussing.
You'll start in the organizational tree by naming the main topic to be covered in this file: in my Jreepad file I simply named this topic "Patristic Quotes" (even though I also include modern quotations). Every topic that you will add to this collection will be added by clicking the "Add Below" button.
After creating a node for an individual topic (you can see my continually-growing list of topics in the left sidebar of the above image), you will then add a child to that topic. I organize the "children" of my topics in one of two ways: by subtopic, or by author. A huge topic - like Christ - will have a number of subtopics; a smaller topic - like Annunciation - will probably not have subtopics, and thus the first level of children will be the names of authors of various quotes. Further levels of children can be created as necessary.
To see an example of this, in the above graphic look at the node for "Annunciation" (which, at the time I am writing this, we will celebrate tomorrow). At this time I only have a quotation from St. Romanos the Melodist about the Annunciation; there is therefore only one child for Annunciation node. I also only have one quote from St. Romanos, and thus there is only one child of his node; if I had two hymns from him, then there would be two children of the "St. Romanos the Melodist" node.
If there is a subtopic that becomes so big that it needs to be made into its own topic, I can simply use the "Out" button to move the node further to the left (which also changes its level in the organizational hierarchy from a "child" node to a "parent" node). Conversely, when I create a topic that I later decide should instead be a subtopic of another topic, then I can use the "Up" button to move the lesser topic's node directly beneath the node for the greater topic, and then use the "In" button to move the lesser topic to the right (and thereby change it into a "child" of the greater topic).
This is the basic process I use for organizing and saving Orthodox quotations. The specific application commands will be different if you use KeyNote instead of Jreepad (or any other similar program), but the basic organizational strategy you use will be similar.
SOURCES FOR ORTHODOX QUOTES
There are, of course, many excellent translations of patristic works and modern works from St. Vladimir's Seminary Press and others that you can obtain from such sources as Light & Life, Conciliar Press and Eighth Day Books. There are also good modern Orthodox periodicals, like Conciliar Press' AGAIN magazine and The Handmaiden.
There are also websites with free translations of patristic works. In addition to the Christian Classics Ethereal Library's public domain collection of The Early Church Fathers, Matthew Steenberg's Monachos site has quite a few translations and articles.
I also recommend Fr. Stephen Freeman's Glory to God for All Things blog which, in addition to containing Fr. Stephen's valuable thoughts, also frequently contains quotations from ancient and modern Orthodox writers. Fr. Stephen also hosts the Glory to God podcast for Ancient Faith Radio, and frequently appears on Theologically Thinking on the Orthodox Christian Network.
Posted in Ancient Faith, Miscellaneous, OCN
Cost of Premium Cables
Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008 at 9:11 AM by Jason Barker
Joy of Tech has a good comic about the possible reasons for the high cost of premium electronics cables. I've always groaned at the shelling out what seems to be a lot of money for cables, but I REALLY groaned when I bought the XLR and insert cables I need for recording Get Wisdom and re/CALL.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Podcast Audience Increasing
Posted on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 at 10:02 AM by Jason Barker
eMarketer published an interesting article on Monday noting that the current active podcast audience (meaning people who download one or more podcasts per week) is 6.5 million, while the total audience is 18.5 million. They estimate that 2008 will see a 54 percent increase in active listeners (up to 10 million), and a 51 percent increase in total listeners (to 28 million). The total increase by 2012 is estimated to be 251 percent, with an active audience of 25 million and a total audience of 65 million.
While less relevant to listener-supported media outlets like Ancient Faith Radio and the Orthodox Christian Network, advertising dollars spent on podcasting is also increasing dramatically, with $165 million spent in 2007 and an estimated $240 million to be spent in 2008 (going up to an estimated $435 million by 2012).
eMarketer attributes the growth of podcasts to several factors:
- Greater ease of consumption for podcast content
- Growing awareness of podcasting
- Terrestrial radio’s use and promotion of podcasting
- Increased penetration of portable player
- The evolution of smart phones and proliferation of affordable mobile data plans
All of this bodes well for Orthodox podcasts (such as my own Get Wisdom for the OCN, and an upcoming podcast for Ancient Faith Radio that will launch during the first week of Great Lent). Contrary to many predictions that podcasting is dying, studies such as eMarketer's show that not only is the medium thriving, but it is predicted to continue experiencing dramatic growth. This is a great opportunity for Orthodox Christians on every level, from individuals to parishes to dioceses and national jurisdictions, to engage in a growing and cost-effective form of education and outreach.
If you are thinking about engaging in podcasting, you might be interested in my mini-series on selecting and using equipment to record a podcast:
- Choosing a microphone
- Choosing an interface
- Choosing a channel strip
- Choosing software
- Choosing music
Posted in Miscellaneous
New Article on Creating GET WISDOM
Posted on Monday, January 07, 2008 at 11:58 AM by Jason Barker
On the site for GET WISDOM I've posted an article about using podsafe music in podcasts and online radio programs you create.
Posted in Get Wisdom!, Miscellaneous
Have a Blessed Feast of the Nativity
Posted on Monday, December 24, 2007 at 9:56 AM by Jason Barker
I want to wish everyone a blessed celebration of the Feast of the Nativity. I will not be writing the next two days as my family and I prepare for, and celebrate, the birth of Christ. I'll be back on Wednesday to create the next episode of GET WISDOM.
Entirely unrelated to this, but nonetheless quite interesting, I just read (via a post by Susan Polger) an article about using chess to teach life lessons to daughters. As a parent who also loves chess, I found the central theme (which - as the author notes - can be found in a very large number of other articles and books) to be enjoyable.
Edited on: Monday, December 24, 2007 12:07 PMPosted in Miscellaneous
The Fathers and Reading Scripture
Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007 at 11:54 AM by Jason Barker
Fr. Stephen Freeman has posted an interesting article about the role of the Church Fathers in reading Scripture.
Posted in Miscellaneous
This Blog is One Year Old
Posted on Friday, December 07, 2007 at 4:08 PM by Jason Barker
The Orthodox Christian Bible Studies blog had its first anniversary yesterday. The first two posts were simply references to the old blog, but the third post was the beginning of my debate over whether to create a podcast for Orthodox youth. If you're new to this blog, I finally decided "yes," and in October began producing GET WISDOM - The Orthodox Bible Study Program for Teens.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Cultural Ministry
Posted on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 1:01 PM by Jason Barker
Fr. Stephen Freeman has posted an interesting article about ministering to American culture, and includes this important statement about youth ministry:
I have spent plenty of time with youth of both highschool and college years, who have been nurtured in Orthodox life. They’re not anti-music, etc. (indeed I like a lot of contemporary music and appreciate my children sharing it with me), but these same youth know what it is to worship God and when it is time to lay aside “all earthly cares” and offer God praise that is worthy (if any praise can be worthy) and in a spirit that is yielded to God and not something else. Presenting the Gospel to youth in America very much means to draw them beyond the boundaries of their own “niche” and into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
I recommend the entire article (as I have a number of his articles). I should also note that Fr. Stephen recently started a podcast for Ancient Faith Radio.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Fr. John Behr on Scripture
Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 at 4:29 PM by Jason Barker
Fr. Stephen Freeman has published an excerpt from a lecture by Fr. John Behr on Orthodoxy and Scripture.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Re-Uploading Some Articles
Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007 at 4:20 PM by Jason Barker
I am re-uploading four articles from the last week. I updated Thingamablog to the new release, but that release lost several articles from both this and the GET WISDOM blog. I'm therefore going back and replacing these articles.
Posted in Miscellaneous
New Email Address
Posted on Monday, November 05, 2007 at 9:31 AM by Jason Barker
Last week I was suddenly unable to access my antiochian.org email account (and am still unable to do so). Since this problem is continuing, I have - at least for the short term - switched my email address to . If you sent email to my antiochian.org address between Tuesday and Thursday last week, I have probably not received it. You will therefore need to resend it to the above address. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Posted in Jason Barker, Miscellaneous
Email Problems
Posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 4:37 PM by Jason Barker
Just a quick message to let you know that the Antiochian email server seems to be experiencing problems, and therefore I may not have received any email you sent today. I'll let you know when everything is working again.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Religious Teens and Happiness
Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 at 6:32 AM by Jason Barker
A survey released several weeks ago by the Associate Press and MTV claims that religion tends to make teens happier. According to the survey, eighty percent of teens who claim to be religious also claim to be happy (compared with sixty percent who say that faith is not important to them). This is also significant because forty-four percent of respondents said that faith is very important to them, and twenty-one percent said faith is somewhat important.
These statistics are encouraging for youth workers, because they emphasize that - contrary to popular (and entertainment-industry fed) opinion - religion is important to a solid majority of teens. This means that there is a sizable group of young people who are at least potentially receptive at any given time to Orthodox Christian outreach (furthermore, those who are currently uninterested in religion may change their minds, and thus must be reached, and it is the calling of all Christians to reach out to others regardless of the immediate response). It is also encouraging, of course, that most teens who are currently involved in religion find at least some benefit in their faith.
At the same time, however, we must avoid placing too much emphasis on the linkage between religion and happiness. Christian Smith, head of the National Study of Youth and Religion, points out that the theological worldview of most religious teens in North America is "moralistic therapeutic deism." Two central components of moralistic therapeutic deism are the beliefs that:
- The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when he is needed to resolve a problem.
This self-centered worldview, in which God is far more a "resource" than omnipotent Deity, is antithetical to Orthodox Christianity. It is therefore imperative for Orthodox youth workers to emphasize the proper understanding of -and attitude towards - God, and the fullness of the Christian's relationship with Him. A true relationship with God should indeed be the source of happiness for a person, but this must never be confused with the idea that God exists solely to give us happy thoughts and feelings, or even more, conflated with feeling good about oneself. Such misunderstandings of what constitutes the Christian life will almost inevitably end in loss of faith and despair.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Thingamablog Problems
Posted on Monday, September 17, 2007 at 12:26 AM by Jason Barker
Those of you who subscribe to this blog may have received through the RSS feed an article announcing the new website/blog for Get Wisdom, the radio show I am creating. If so, you might also notice that the article is not on this blog.
Thingamablog, the blog software I use for this blog (as well as Get Wisdom's site), suffered a database problem and erased the custom template I use with this blog. I believe the problem is that the database entry for the style sheet became corrupted; when Thingamablog created the post about Get Wisdom, therefore, it could not access the style sheet. This caused Thingamablog to revert the format of the entire blog to a built-in template that does not require a style sheet, and thus the heavily formatted blog content became unreadable (also lost were all the graphics and site-specific code I'd inserted into the templates). The problem was compounded by the fact that something in this train wreck also caused Thingamablog to refuse to accept the backup I had made earlier today.
By going into the database, and laboriously replacing the default template with my custom template (minus a few bits of code that were not worth reconstructing), I was able to bring the blog back, minus the post I'd written just before the whole thing crashed.
The main thing missing is the subscription form for Feedblitz. I didn't bother to rebuild the form because: 1) in the history of the blog, fewer than five people have subscribed to the blog using Feedblitz; and 2) Feedblitz is now inserting ads into the bottom of the articles it sends out. While I'm continuing to send the feed through Feedblitz for the handful of people who are currently subscribed through the service, the lack of popularity of this offering causes me to believe it isn't worth the trouble to rebuild and reinsert the form.
I think I have everything up and running again, but please contact me via email or AIM if you encounter a display problem or broken link on the blog.
Posted in Miscellaneous
iCal Woes
Posted on Wednesday, September 12, 2007 at 1:15 PM by Jason Barker
I opened iCal, and discovered that all my events had inexplicably vanished into the ether. This can happen to anyone, but it tends to occur most often to people who have another application sync with iCal (which I do with iGTD).
Fortunately, I backup my data regularly, and thus was able to revert to a database from a few days ago, but it's nonetheless disconcerting to open your calendar and have it be completely empty.
So, if you're one of those people who doesn't backup your data, don't say I didn't warn you!
Posted in Miscellaneous
Mac Freeware for Teens
Posted on Tuesday, September 11, 2007 at 10:06 AM by Jason Barker
From Thriftmac, I learned that macteens has a list of OS X applications for back-to-school. The list is pretty standard - including such apps as Adium and VLC, which I use, and GIMP and iProcrastinate, about which I've written - but it included one application that is new to me: Schoolhouse 2, a life-and-school management system that reminds me of iGTD (which I use heavily), and which seems to be much more full-featured (and also more complicated) than iProcrastinate.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Youth on the Impact of Digital Technology
Posted on Wednesday, September 05, 2007 at 9:51 AM by Jason Barker
Spotlight on Digital Learning posted a short entry - with a link to the full conference archives - about the April 2007 FOCUS: Teen Voices on Digital Media and Society. The comments in the article are not particularly illuminating, but it does give some perspectives on the perspective some teens have about the impact of digital technology - and particularly communication-related technology - on their lives.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Prediction: Internet Content-on-Demand will Destroy Television
Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 at 6:45 PM by Jason Barker
A not-particularly original prediction, but the Dallas Morning News' Tech blog links to an article in The Guardian about Vint Cerf. Cerf predicts that the ability to download programming on demand will irrevocably change the way programs are watched.
This is significant for all new media providers, including Orthodox media ministries. While basic production and bandwidth costs are still a significant issue, the Internet is rapidly doing away with the difficulties inherent in choosing (and funding) distribution channels.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Mac Freeware for Seminarians
Posted on Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 8:49 AM by Jason Barker
A student at an evangelical Protestant seminary created a list of freeware for OS X that he believes is indispensible for seminary students. The article is a somewhat standard list of some of the popular free applications for the Mac, with - quite naturally - a bit more emphasis on applications for writing (like Journlr, which I do not use, and Books, which I do (but in which I've so far only entered a few books)).
As regular readers of this blog know, I write somewhat frequently (see here and here) about free and open source software I use on my Mac, and strongly encourage parishes and ministries to utilize FOSS as an effective way of reducing overhead without sacrificing usefulness and productivity.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Greg Floor Quintet
Posted on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 9:09 AM by Jason Barker
I've mentioned before that my favorite musical genres are classical and jazz. While working on program descriptions for the Orthodox Christian Network, I saw that the Featured Artist Block for The ARK next week will highlight the the Greg Floor Quintet, a jazz group.
You can purchase the Quintet's The Grand Inquisitor and Uphill...Both Ways - and hear sample tracks - from St. Romanos Records.
Posted in Miscellaneous, OCN
Teens Producing Media
Posted on Monday, August 20, 2007 at 9:57 AM by Jason Barker
CNet published an interview on Friday with Henry Jenkins about youth using the Internet. The interview covered a wide range of topics, but I was struck by a statistic regarding teens and online media creation: 57 percent of teens online have produced media, and approximately 33 percent have created media that they shared beyond their small circle of family and friends. Jenkins notes that the majority of this content consists primarily of remixes of already existing media, but the involvement level is nonetheless significant.
I wrote some time ago about the possibility - in fact, the desirability - of Orthodox youth groups creating audio and/or video content that they submit for inclusion in my Bible studies. I have long thought that this would be a good way to involve Orthodox teens in the creation of these studies, and Jenkins' statistics simply reinforce this belief. Unfortunately, at this point no youth group has engaged in such a project, but I hope that groups will participate in this work in the future (you can contact me via email or IM using the buttons on the top of the left sidebar is you are interested).
Beyond these Bible studies, the possibilities for youth-created Orthodox media content are endless. The Orthodox Christian Network has a formal partnership with leaders of Teen SOYO, and I know they have discussed teen involvement in radio programming. I've suggested in the past that youth groups could create videos that could be uploaded to YouTube (or possibly the new GodTube). Groups could create podcasts for their individual parishes, or could band together to create content for their dioceses. The possibilities are almost unlimited.
What can you and your youth group create to share Orthodox Christianity with others on the Internet?
Posted in Miscellaneous
Popularity and Orthodox Media
Posted on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 9:52 AM by Jason Barker
A blog about classical music recently looked at the long-standing claim that classical music is dying (i.e., that its listenership is disappearing, and thus the music is becoming an unsustainable artform). The writer makes a cogent point:
Basically: people who say classical music is dying are doing so, in large part, because they don’t think that classical music generates enough of a bandwagon effect...A lot of this arises from a comparison with pop, and is usually follwed by a prescription to present and market classical music more like pop culture. Pop culture dominates the market because it generates lots of bandwagon effect—it’s designed to. (Think of the way Hollywood blockbusters are marketed, and the way they open in thousands of theaters to maximize the return on their short-lived bandwagons.) Unless it can follow suit, it’s claimed, classical music will be left hopelessly in the dust.
There’s almost always an accompanying argument that classical music must be dying because it’s lost the competition for mindshare/media attention/cultural relevance. The concept is similar to another economic idea, a close relative of bandwagons. It’s called a network effect...critics will say that classical music doesn’t really matter anymore, because only a small portion of the potential audience listens to it.
He goes on to ask two questions: 1) Are there enough organizations, musicians, listeners, etc., for classical music to remain economically viable (he answers, "Yes"); and 2) Is the ultimate value of an artistic pursuit necessarily dependent on its ability to generate network effects? He answers:
The second question, in reality, isn’t economic at all. It’s philosophical. And this is why this argument has gone on, and will go on, for so, so long. There’s no way to prove that question one way or another—either you believe that art has an intrinsic value regardless of the size of its audience, or you don’t.
Rudolf Serkin, infamously, once played the entirety of Bach’s Goldberg Variations as an encore. “When I finished,” he remembered, “there were only four people left in the hall—Adolph Busch, Artur Schnabel, Alfred Einstein and myself.” Did the value of Serkin’s recital dwindle along with the number listening? Hardly. My sanguine view of the survival of classical music is reflected in that illustrious trio staying in their seats. There will always be an audience whose demand for the music will remain purely functional, immune to fads, buzz, trends, what have you. Will it be smaller than the audience for this month’s pop sensation? Probably. Does that matter? Nope.
In this post I'm not concerned with the intrinsic value of art - although I emphatically believe that there is an intrinsic value - but rather with extending the writer's point to Christian work. Many Christians erroneously believe that the value of an activity - some would even say the presence of God - can be determined by the popularity of that activity. I have written before about popularity and true success, but the article about classical music - a particular love of mine - once again reminded me of the importance of the point.
It is a simple fact that Orthodox media - be it print or electronic publishing, terrestrial or Internet radio, etc. - is never going to be as widespread as that generated by evangelical Protestants, and far less than secular media. It is a simple question of demographics: there are an estimated six million Orthodox Christians in the United States, compared to an estimated 100 million evangelical Protestants. The demographic difference is even greater when it comes to secular media, since people of most demographic groups - including Orthodox Christians - consume secular media, whereas only a percentage of committed Orthodox Christians - and a small number of non-Orthodox who are interested in Orthodoxy - consume the small amount of Orthodox media currently available.
By American cultural standards, the relatively small target audience for Orthodox media would seem to be indicative of the media's irrelevance: since there are few Orthodox consumers, the argument would assert, there is little need or support for Orthodox media. In contrast to this argument, however, I maintain something close to what the classical music writer quoted above states: "There will always be an audience whose demand for [Christian media] will remain purely functional, immune to fads, buzz, trends, what have you. Will it be smaller than the audience for this month’s pop sensation? Probably. Does that matter? Nope."
Orthodox Christians do not create Bible studies, write and perform music, create podcasts, etc. because we hope for popularity or significant financial profit; we create this media because we are called to provide these materials and resources to glorify God and serve His people. We did not choose these works to build up ourselves; we were chosen by God to build up others. THAT is the impetus for why I create my materials, why the Orthodox Christian Network and Department of Youth Ministry - as well as all the other Orthodox ministry departments and media outlets - exist, and it is where our true concern is to be found. We want to make our work available to as many people as possible, and there are times when the needs and interests of our target demographic - be it increased or decreased - can result in a shift in which specific projects receive time and money, but we will never allow the relatively small size of our audience determine whether we engage in ministry. Each Christian is inestimably valuable in him- or herself, and we are called to serve each person, and thank God for that opportunity.
At the same time, this calling is precisely why Orthodox ministries always strive for growth. We are called to offer our work to as many people as possible, in order to benefit as many people as possible. We believe Orthodox Christianity is a pearl of great value (Matthew 13:45-46), and we give our all in order to share it with others. The point is that we are not to become discouraged, or give up, when we see the fewer number of people who use and respond to our media compared to those who use and respond to other media. Our call is to engage in this work for the benefit of, as the Athanasian Creed says, "Whosoever will be saved," and to thank God for the privilege of serving these people.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Relevance
Posted on Monday, August 13, 2007 at 9:29 AM by Jason Barker
I read an article last week about research on keeping young adults in church. The article emphasized the widely-known fact that teens will stay involved in a church that - among other things - provides teaching that they can directly apply to their lives. There are a number of assertions in the article with which Orthodox Christians would disagree, such as the assertion that worship services should be styled to fit current teen tastes and cultural trends, but we can nonetheless benefit from considering the importance of life-application in Orthodox teaching.
I have previously written about the need for relevant life-application teaching in Bible studies for teens (I've removed the parenthetical citations for this blog):
First and foremost, adolescents in the process of identity formation — i.e., of developing and asserting autonomy — require information that will constructively contribute to this process: they demand that biblical content be demonstrated as relevant to their lives by clarifying significant issues, addressing individual and social problems, and providing a reliable guide to navigation changes in both the larger culture and the constantly changing youth subcultures. Adolescents engage and interpret the Bible from within the context of events and issues in their lives; the changes they are undergoing — or, if they are experiencing foreclosure or identity diffusion, the changes they are avoiding and the defense mechanisms they are employing to avoid these changes — will influence both their interest in the Bible and the message they are currently able and willing (to use Issler and Habermas’ scheme) to comprehend. When motivated to study the Bible for guidance in their developmental issues, adolescents can conclude, in the words of one teenager, “The Bible is something I live by now. It answers every single question, and addresses every problem I've ever had. Maybe not always directly, but with God working in me, I can find the answer"...
Many Christians find the adolescent demand for relevance in biblical study to be in itself unbiblical and antithetical to Christianity; such individuals believe personal application “domesticates” the Bible and desanctifies the gospel message. In reality, however, studying the Bible to answer adolescent concerns and address identity crises is an intrinsically Orthodox activity: “prophetic” biblical interpretation addresses all contemporary situations — including personal, moral and social issues — to provide “the light of the word of God for correction and guidance.” John L. Boojamra addresses this point when he exhorts religious educators to “begin where people are and bring them to where the Church feels they should be... Any aspect of the Church’s life can be taught as typical of the whole, depending on the people with whom one is working. This, however, means selecting those aspects of the Church’s life that suit the people and, at the same time, are faithful to the given of the Church. This is not pandering to the whims of the people and betraying the Gospel; it is taking personhood, process, and community seriously."
At the same time, as I've warned before, we must be careful to avoid distorting Orthodox Christian teaching to pander to the cultural whims of modern youth (or modern adults for that matter). A website creating satirical "motivational posters" for emergent Christians has created a good graphic lampooning a skewed view of true relevance, "RELEVANCE - Tell me what I want to hear or else shut up and go away." Truly relevant teaching tells its listeners two things: truth they need to hear (which isn't, of course, necessarily what they want to hear), and ways in which to live out this truth in their lives.
Posted in Miscellaneous
More FOSS for OS X I Use
Posted on Wednesday, August 08, 2007 at 10:14 AM by Jason Barker
In an earlier post I listed the free and open source software (FOSS) I use on my Mac. While I still use most of these programs, I've both changed and added a few since I created that list. Therefore, in keeping with my practice of recommending FOSS for parishes and ministries, I thought I'd list the new FOSS I've adopted:
Word Processor - I still recommend NeoOffice, and use it when I need to create documents incorporating things like headers and endnotes, but NeoOffice also presents a significant problem for me: because it loads the entire suite in order to launch any one application, NeoOffice uses 94 MB of RAM at launch, and then uses continually more RAM as I work on a document. Because at least 95 percent of my writing goes into an electronic publication, and I therefore do all my layout in another application, I seldom use anything more in my word processor than font style and size and paragraph alignment. Since I often have desktop publishing (like InDesign) or multimedia publishing (like Director or Flash) applications open at the same time as my word processor, I often find NeoOffice uses far more resources than my needs warrant.
I've therefore switched to Bean as my primary word processor - it performs the tasks I commonly use, and only uses 10 MB of RAM at launch. While there are a few features I miss, and prefer toolbar commands to the floating menus incorporated by Bean, the application is generally a good solution for my usually pretty basic word processing needs. If in the future, however, I find that I need to regularly engage in more complicated word processing than simply changing font attributes and paragraph alignment (particularly if future writing requires heavy collaboration on documents), I will either go back to NeoOffice or will need to grudgingly pay for Microsoft Office.
Web Browser - I've switched to Camino. I love the extensions (now called "add ons") I can use with Firefox, but became dissatisfied with how often Firefox on the Mac would choke on Flash-based websites. While it was a nuisance to re-enter my common passwords into Keychain, I've been pleased with the speed and stability of Camino. I still use Firefox for viewing Shockwave applications (Shockwave is the format in which my online Bible studies are published), because the Shockwave plugin for OS X requires running the browser in Rosetta (which, since the emulator causes apps to run more slowly, I prefer not to do with my primary browser).
IM - As I wrote earlier, I use Adium.
Twitter - I use Twitterific to publish my tweets.
Graphics - As I've written before, when I want to do something simple like resize and web-optimize a graphic, and do not want to open Windows in Parallels so that I can use the version of Photoshop I currently own, I use the GIMP-based Seashore.
Task Managment - While I am not a devotee of Getting Things Done - I haven't even read the book - I have found very useful the principle of breaking down larger tasks into their smaller consecutive tasks, and then methodically following each of these tasks without allowing myself to be distracted by the innumerable external things that clamor for my attention. To help me keep a schedule of these tasks, I have become increasingly reliant upon iGTD, a free application that largely follows the GTD process, and that I've adapted to my own workstyle.
Podcast Receiver: I now use Playpod which, while no longer under development (as is the case for most OS X podcast receivers, including my previous choice of Juice, since iTunes has taken over podcast handling for most Mac users), allows me to select downloading preferences for individual podcasts, to read the description of the episode before downloading, and to group podcasts by category.
App Launching - I have several applications I open many times each day - Camino, Thunderbird, Bean, etc. - that I keep in my Dock. There are many other applications that I use regularly, but not daily, and therefore do not want to keep in my Dock. I've tried a number of methods and applications to access these, and currently use Namely, which enables me to launch applications by name without scrolling through the Finder.
Posted in Miscellaneous
New Subscription Feed
Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 at 3:23 AM by Jason Barker
The subscription feed for this blog now goes through Feedburner; I therefore ask those of you who subscribed to the old feed of the blog to delete your current subscription and add this link to your feed reader (you can also go to the blog's homepage and click the "Subscribe" link to re-subscribe). I now send the feed through Feedburner in order to determine precisely how many people subscribe to this blog.
I have also stopped publishing feeds for the various category indices. If you currently subscribe to the feed for one of the indices (such as "Bible Studies" or "Orthodox News"), I encourage you to subscribe to the new feed for all the articles.
Posted in Miscellaneous
"Screen Kids"
Posted on Monday, July 30, 2007 at 12:46 PM by Jason Barker
Albert Mohler recently wrote on his blog about the well-documented phenomenon of "screen kids" - youth whose life is built upon electronic communication and entertainment. In the article Mohler quotes a 1999 speech by Bill Gates about the current generation for whom electronic media are truly an intrinsic part of their lives:
To them, the idea that all the rich information should be easy to search and find, and that you should be able to find other kids in another country and speak to them about what their thinking is about that topic. They'll simply take that for granted. They'll think of buying as something where you can go out and get the best prices, or get the product reviews across the Internet. And so, they will think about the Internet in a far more profound way than most of us who grew up without it being an ever-present tool.
While it's easy to laugh that Bill Gates is hardly a seer when it comes to the Internet and electronic media - his 1995 The Road Ahead said little about the Internet when it was in fact booming, and even this lecture fails (as Apple's coup demonstrates) to anticipate the rise of something like the iPod while mentioning kids using computers to listen to and organize their music - his prediction is nonetheless a concise statement of the importance of the Internet in the lives of modern teens. And, as this quotation states, this importance will only rise in the years to come.
It is for this reason that online Orthodox media is such an essential form of ministry and outreach. The Internet is where teens currently look - and will look even more in the future - for information about spirituality and for spiritual resources: it is therefore imperative that we provide things like online multimedia Bible studies and Internet radio and video.
At the same time, Mohler makes an important point:
We need a generation of parents who will exercise their authority to teach their children how to use these technologies responsibly. This means no digital babysitters and no screen kids. This would mean family dinners with no digital noise, just the rare sound of parents and children talking to each other. This would mean balancing "screen time" with "paper time" -- that activity previously known as reading books.
The media we provide for youth must not be "electronic babysitters" or resources to equip youth to be autodidacts - it must be media that is shared by parents and children. I strongly encourage parents to go through my Bible study materials and discuss them with their children. I'm sure that Fr. Christopher Metropulos, John and Tatiana Maddex, and Ruston Miles - along with all the other Orthodox media providers and educators - would likewise encourage parents and children to listen and view online Orthodox media as a family, rather than exclusively consuming the media as individuals. We all want the resources we create to build up the entire Body of Christ - families as well as individuals (and, of course, parishes).
Furthermore, Mohler correctly points out the need to read books, and not limit textual consumption to short Web articles and blog posts. I've discussed the issue of printed text versus electronic text before - in fact, it was inspired by another post by Mohler - but I nonetheless want to agree with him that reading and meditating upon longer texts is an essential discipline.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Orthodox Concerts Online
Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 4:21 PM by Jason Barker
The Orthodox Christian Network has announced that they will upload videos from the Antiochian Archdiocese Convention of concerts by Fr. Peter Jon Gillquist and Ron Moore.
Posted in Miscellaneous
The Need for Orthodox Media
Posted on Monday, July 23, 2007 at 10:54 AM by Jason Barker
Fr. Christopher Metropulos has an interesting article about the need for Orthodox Christian media. He gives a good summary of the situation in the two concluding paragraphs:
We now choose to invest in making sure there is an Orthodox witness in the media. That means valuing our faith and what our faith has to offer to the point that we pay the price to include our faith in the mass-media community of ideas. That means we invest in radio programs. We develop and distribute TV programming. We work to use the Internet to share our faith, and we publish books that are readable and attractive to our culture.
In other words, we work hard to use media as well as we would use any tool to communicate the life-changing message of Orthodoxy to our nation. We don't try to do eternal things on the cheap, but we insist on excellence and we are willing to fund these good works.
I recommend reading the entire article.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Scholarship and Reading Scripture
Posted on Thursday, July 19, 2007 at 5:47 AM by Jason Barker
Kevin Edgecomb has written an interesting article on scholarship and reading Scripture. He writes:
Our Tradition in Eastern Orthodoxy is full to bursting with that ancient type-antitype allegorical exegesis. This method is rich and deep, and has thrived for centuries longer than any critical methods of study, creating an environment which produced not only amazing works of art, literature, hymnody, and philosophy, but especially the people who created them, whose lives were transformed by immersion into that environment, that worldview, to such an extent that they were, by God’s grace, rendered into Saints, continuing the cycle by continuing to pass on the Tradition.
I recommend the entire article.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Providing Bibles for All
Posted on Monday, July 16, 2007 at 9:01 AM by Jason Barker
The other day I read an article - I don't remember which publication - about the need to provide Bibles for students in Bible study groups. The point of the article is that many participants in a Bible study will not bring a Bible with them to the group - some will not own a Bible at all - and therefore churches and group leaders need to make available copies of the Bible for all participants. This is an excellent point, and jibes with my experience: if you want teens to follow along with the Bible reading and participate in group discussion, you need to have copies available at each meeting.
I include the New King James Version of the biblical text (generously provided by Thomas Nelson) in each of my Bible study applications. While this is necessary in the applications, it does not address the issue of providing copies of the text at Bible study groups. To meet this need, I encourage churches to keep numerous copies of the Orthodox Study Bible for use in study groups and classes. For churches or groups that cannot afford individual copies of the Orthodox Study Bible, I at least encourage you to find inexpensive copies of the NKJV (the official translation used in the Bible Bowl competitions in the Antiochian Archdiocese): for example, a few years ago I went to a sale at a local Christian bookstore and was able to purchase paperback copies of the NKJV for one dollar each.
Extending further the idea of making Bibles available for all, I want to particularly commend Steven Robinson and Bill Gould's ministry providing copies of the Orthodox Study Bible to all who ask. Steven and Bill - hosts of the Our Life in Christ radio program and podcast - need your support to continue this vital ministry.
Posted in Miscellaneous
iProcrastinate
Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 1:21 PM by Jason Barker
For readers who use OS X, Cool OSX Apps featured iProcrastinate, a free home / task management application. For my teen readers, this application looks particularly useful for managing homework and class assignments.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Teens Do Not Pay Attention to the News
Posted on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 12:26 PM by Jason Barker
Foreign Policy links to a study by Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government revealing the far from surprising fact that teens generally do not pay attention to news reports. Mike Boyer writes:
Nearly one in three American teenagers, according to the report, pay almost no attention to daily news. Another 32 percent are merely "casually attentive." So, taken together, 60 percent of teens can be considered to be basically uninterested in what's happening in the world...But surely, you say, "the Internet" must be informing America's youth. Apparently not. Just one in five teenagers say they get exposure to news on the Internet everyday, and two thirds of the teens who say they do get some news from the Internet also say they're not seeking it out, they "just happen to come across it."
This was an issue for me when I considered design themes for my Bible study on the Acts of the Apostles. The newspaper theme was the first idea with which I came up (and, obviously, is the theme I ultimately chose): laying out the articles in a newspaper format gives the content a sense of immediacy, a - for lack of a better description - "you are there" impression. The newspaper theme therefore reinforces the idea that the events in Acts are not simply historical events from the ancient near east, but are also events whose impact and import we experience today. The visual design therefore serves as a kind of bridge connecting "then" with "now."
At the same time, I knew there was a problem with design: most teens - and a continually decreasing number of adults - do not read newspapers, and therefore the impact of the newspaper theme would not necessarily be immediately apparent. I nonetheless went with the newspaper theme because, while most teens do not read newspapers, they are at least familiar with the look and purpose of newspapers, and could therefore eventually connect the visual layout of the Bible study with its content.
Getting back to Boyer's article, his final sentence brings to mind an important point about Bible study for teens: "I bet that if the military draft came back, though, you'd suddenly find U.S. teens paying rapt attention to what's going on out there." In other words, teen interest in news reports is largely predicated by self-interest: they will pay attention to the reports when they believe that the subject of those reports will have an immediate and tangible impact upon their lives.
This is an important reason for highlighting the life application articles in Orthodox Christian Bible studies. The main purpose for including these articles, of course, is simply to help readers see how to live out the truths contained in Scripture; the assumption in this case is that the reader has read the Scripture, wants to make this application, and simply needs guidance in doing so. Boyer's statement nonetheless helps us to remember that these life application articles serve an additional purpose: they appeal to the reader's self-interest, and therefore serve as an incentive for Bible reading for individuals who otherwise would not read the Bible. It is for this reason that the headline graphic on the home page for the Romans Bible study reads, "Do you wish you could transform your life?" Their self-interest serves as the initial attractor for Bible study that will ultimately remove their focus exclusively from themselves and turn it toward God.
I would of course, prefer to promote these Bible studies by focusing exclusively upon God, e.g., "Here's a study that will help you learn more about God and His Word!" And, if you look at the descriptions I give on the home page of each study, you will see that I do in fact emphasize this point. At the same time, however, such an appeal will not work with teens who have no interest in God; to attract these teens, you need to address their self-interest. The key is to NOT leave the focus on themselves, but instead to guide them in shifting their focus to God.
To wrap this up, if I were creating a newspaper for teens, I would have a sidebar for each article clearly stating something along the lines of "Here's what this means for you," and/or "Here's what this means for (the people of Iraq, the environment, the poor in Dallas, etc)." This would give the teens the information they need to be productive citizens, but would also give them the emphasis on relationship with self and others - in other words, the relevance - that inspires them to give their attention. I point out the life application articles in my studies for the same reason: I hope that readers will start with the biblical text and commentary, and set up the navigation so that these are always the first options, but provide easy access to the life application articles for those who will not (at least initally) read the biblical text. By providing easy access to the life application articles, I at least give otherwise uninterested teens entry into some of the principles in the Scripture, and hopefully inspire them to engage in further study.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Profile of Contemporary Youth
Posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2007 at 12:09 PM by Jason Barker
OrthodoxyToday has republished part of the summary of a presentation by Fr. Jonathan Tobias giving a profile of contemporary youth.
Posted in Miscellaneous
20 Million Podcast Listeners by 2010
Posted on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at 9:40 AM by Jason Barker
Via one of Scott Bourne's blogs, I learned about an eMarketer / Bridge Ratings estimate that 20 million Americans will download podcasts on a weekly basis by 2010. They estimate that 7.1 million Americans currently download podcasts on a weekly basis, and 21.4 million do so occasionally.
Interestingly, contrary to popular belief, the study found that listening to radio station podcasts tends to increase listening to that station: 56% of podcast listeners claim that they increased the amount of time spent listening to the station supplying the podcasts, while 44% claimed no change in their listening.
These findings are significant for the online Orthodox radio networks (Orthodox Christian Network and Ancient Faith Radio), both of whom offer downloadable content in addition to their streaming networks.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Gender in the NETS
Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 at 11:19 AM by Jason Barker
Fr. John Fenton has written a brief post about the problematic "gender specific/inclusive language" issues in the New English Translation of the LXX (the availability of which I noted yesterday). He nonetheless writes:
Even if not intended for liturgical use, it is nevertheless good to have yet another translation of the LXX; particularly since this is the preferred OT text in Orthodox Churches. Yet I shall await more eagerly this long-promised translation.
I second his eagerness for the complete Orthodox Study Bible (scheduled at this time to be released in February 2008).
Posted in Miscellaneous
"Ordinary" People as Theologians
Posted on Thursday, June 28, 2007 at 8:49 AM by Jason Barker
Mike Aquilina has written an article about the need for modern Christians to be theologians (rather than leaving the study of theology exclusively to clergy and professional academics). As an example, he turns to St. Gregory of Nyssa and the Christians of the fourth century:
In the middle of the fourth century, St. Gregory of Nyssa gave in to a fit of complaint. Ordinary people, he said, were spending entirely too much time talking about theology. “Mere youths and tradesmen, off-hand dogmatists in theology, servants too, and slaves that have been flogged … are solemn with us and philosophical about things incomprehensible … If you ask for change someone philosophizes to you on the begotten and the unbegotten.”
And the problem followed poor Gregory all over the marketplace. If he asked the baker the price of his bread, he got Trinitarian doctrine instead. If he asked whether the bath was ready, he got still more speculation.
Gosh, times have changed. Not too long ago, a friend of mine ordered a Christmas cake to read “Happy birthday, Jesus,” and the baker asked her how that name was spelled.
Today we live with widespread doctrinal ignorance, and reading St. Gregory’s complaint can be irritating — like listening to a friend gripe about having too much money or a spouse who cooks too well.
We live in a time when theology is an esoteric academic discipline practiced by very few Christians and of little interest to the bakers and bankers.
Christians of the fourth century knew better.
Aquilina's point is not that St. Gregory was wrong to lament the prevalence of Arianism and the debate it inspired, but rather that there is a tremendous value for Christians to - in a phrase I heard (and used) many times as a Protestant - "know what you believe and why you believe it." As Aquilina says, "Theology is not just for the elites. It’s a basic life skill. St. Gregory himself knew this, and that’s why he wrote one of the Church’s first catechisms."
Aquilina is a Roman Catholic, and therefore a few of his specific references - e.g., EWTN - may be unfamiliar to Orthodox readers, but his article nonetheless makes a very good point for Orthodox Christians.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Recover Lost Word Documents
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 at 1:17 PM by Jason Barker
Kyle Pott of Lifehacker writes about an article explaining how to recover lost Microsoft Word documents (in Windows). Pott says:
Maker of data-recovery applications Ease Us offers several approaches to resurrecting a lost Word document. The tutorial goes from the obvious -- look in the Recycle Bin -- to more complex searches, like looking for a backup file with the WBK extension, to looking for files that start with a tilde (~), plus a few more. They sprinkle in several recommendations to use their shareware apps, but if you ignore these, there are quite a few good tips you can try next time a Word document goes MIA on your PC.
Recovering deleted files can be lifesaver. My favorite freeware file recovery program for Windows is Brian Kato's Restoration. It isn't perfect - no application is - but it is remarkably effective for a simple and free application.
Edited on: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 1:17 PMPosted in Miscellaneous
Forbes Article About Caesarea
Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 6:24 PM by Jason Barker
Forbes recently published an article about the author's visit to Caesarea, an ancient city built by Herod the Great and dedicated to Caesar Augustus. The city is prominent in the Acts of the Apostles.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Giving Increases Happiness
Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 at 11:17 AM by Jason Barker
The Dallas Morning News linked to an article about a University of Oregon study in the new field of neureconomics which concluded that donating money to a charity activates regions of the brain associated with pleasure. The findings are not restricted only to financial giving, but also to virtuous living. Manya Brachear writes:
Paul Zak, director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, told me the findings speak not only to generosity but virtue. The study supports the theory that humans who strive to be virtuous are actually honing happier lives and better relationships, he said.
Scientists are puzzled as to why humans feel the need to give to others, and why they derive pleasure from such giving:
As for why humans would develop a desire to help others, the researchers can only speculate. "One basic is that early humans lived in small groups, where survival of the group helped your own cause," Mayr said. "But that still leaves the question of why you might care why someone in Africa is starving, how this particular mechanism becomes overgeneralized."
Christians, however, recognize such a life as a divine imperative, as just a small selections of biblical passages demonstrate:
- God Himself is generous (Matthew 7:7-11).
- It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).
- Generosity is rewarded by God (Proverbs 11:25; Matthew 25:34-40).
I've written before about ways in which you can donate to the Orthodox Christian Network and Ancient Faith Radio, and the Department of Youth Ministry can always use your donations of money and/or time to serve God and others.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Christian Education Beyond Sunday School
Posted on Friday, June 15, 2007 at 10:52 AM by Jason Barker
Fr. Gregory Jensen links to another blog article discussing an article in a recent Christianity Today about the way in which Christian churches approach Christian education. Mark Galli (the author of the Christianity Today article) uses as the foundation for his argument yet another article from Theology Today discussing the fact that, under current educational strategies (particularly in Protestant churches), religious education is largely the attempt to transmit intellectual knowledge: "Understood this way, knowledge is perceived as a kind of repository of neutral facts, and the mastery of these facts constitutes the process and the ultimate goal of coming to know." Instead of a largely intellectual approach to Christian education, Debra Dean Murphy argues in Theology Today, churches must understand that true knowledge is to be transformed through "the praise and adoration of God within the eucharistic fellowship of the body of Christ gathered together in worship."
I mention these articles, not to imply that these articles in any way reflect upon the excellent work of the Department of Christian Education in the Antiochian Archdiocese or the pan-jurisdictional Orthodox Christian Education Commission, but instead because they bring to mind a serious danger of Bible study: the tendency to make Bible study an individual intellectual pursuit rather than a communal spiritual discipline.
Bible studies for youth - as with those for most adults - must be more than simply the transmission of data. A simple perusal of the titles given to my Bible studies - Follow Me; The Journey; See the Vision; Be Transformed - gives an indication of the intent of the studies (both individually and collectively): transformation through a worshipful relationship with God and His Church. While there are any number of intellectual components in my work - and cognitive strategies informing these components - the focus is always on growth as a Christian, rather than simply the memorization of facts. It is for this reason that my studies are not simply a collection of summaries and quizzes - although the studies contain these - but also include numerous articles on Orthodox faith and worship, and life application. Furthermore, these studies always encourage the individual to become ever more deeply involved with - and committed to - the Body of Christ.
At the same time, while avoiding "over-intellectualizing" Bible study, we must avoid "under-intellectualizing" it. There are any number of modern "Bible studies" that, instead of studying the Bible, simply use the biblical text as a launching point for the delicate art of navel gazing, endlessly discussing one's feelings rather than the text itself. Bible-related activity that effectively promotes biblical ignorance is arguably even more damaging than biblical study that focuses exclusively on data transmission: a person might still be reached by a cold recitation of facts, whereas a person is very unlikely to grow in his or her relationship with God when the focus is away from Him and the Scripture He gave.
In another writing I stated the ideal for which I aim when creating Bible studies (I've removed the paranthetical citations):
A full reading of the biblical text, with its incorporation of scholarship and academic methodologies, should not be contrasted with - or opposed to - reading for life application or devotional reading. As this general approach demonstrates, both are vital to comprehension of the text: reading devotionally without understanding the background or context of the text results in the individual constructing “a new sacred calf” that is molded by a hunger for comfort or desire for the control of familiarity. Conversely, an academic reading without devotion to the God revealed in the text results in God being diminished into a mere concept over which the reader has control. The function of the instructor is to “urge [learners] to creatively and actively perform the reading role in such a way that personal and social life (theirs, ours, our neighbors, even our enemies) is informed and (by grace) transformed into an encounter with God” through the text.
Edited on: Saturday, June 16, 2007 12:40 PMPosted in Miscellaneous
Unicode on Windows XP
Posted on Thursday, June 14, 2007 at 10:16 AM by Jason Barker
From Biblical Software Review, I learned about a post on SansBlogue discussing using Unicode on Windows XP. This is important if you use biblical languages in your writing.
I previously mentioned an article from Tyndale Tech about using biblical language fonts and Unicode, and also have written about InsertBible, a free tool for incorporating Unicode fonts when using biblical langauges in Word 2003 for Windows.
Posted in Miscellaneous
St. Cyril of Alexandria
Posted on Saturday, June 09, 2007 at 9:28 AM by Jason Barker
Today is the feast day of St. Cyril of Alexandria. The Troparion and Kontakion are here.
I am incorporating St. Cyril's commentary on the Gospel according to St. Luke into the study on Luke. As I mentioned in an earlier post, you can find St. Cyril's commentary in several different formats here.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Enforcing Reading
Posted on Friday, June 08, 2007 at 9:50 AM by Jason Barker
Today's Frazz comic makes an important point about reading: youth are more likely to engage in the process when it is self-initiated and self-selected. This is not, of course, to disparage the importance of assigning reading: as an Orthodox writer and teacher, and the spouse of a children's literature professor, it would be foolish and hypocritical of me to disparage the role of authority in the learning process. At the same time, it is important to recognize that youth engage in learning with greater enthusiasm, and ultimately with greater efficacy, when they choose to learn.
That is a crucial reason for the emphasis I place on the design of my Bible studies. For one thing, youth are accustomed to their learning materials being packaged in increasingly more sophisticated packaging. While it would be wonderful if youth were attracted to materials only by the content to be found therein, and while it is extremely important to never let the design overwhelm (or even worse, replace) the content, we must recognize that youth are far less likely to engage with educational materials that lack an attractive design.
Another - and far more important point - is that youth are far more likely to engage in Bible study when they believe that the content will be relevant to their lives. The designs I create for my Bible studies are deliberately intended to emphasize the relevance of the biblical text to modern life. Therefore, the study on Luke uses a travel theme to emphasize the point of journeying through life with Christ, and the study on Acts uses a newspaper theme to make clear that the truths in that biblical book are not relegated to past events, but continue to impact us today. I strive to ensure that the design does not become the focus of the studies, but the designs are nonetheless quite intentional in their function.
The point of all this is to try to create Bible studies that youth want to study, and not solely materials that authority figures force them to study. This is particularly important for youth who are growing up in families and/or communities where there is little or no emphasis on Bible study. In order to demostrate to youth that Bible study is both desirable and effective, we must find ways to facilitate youth Bible study without negatively impacting the content - and therefore the impact - of the studies.
Posted in Miscellaneous
"Why Free is the Best Online Policy"
Posted on Monday, June 04, 2007 at 11:19 AM by Jason Barker
AppScout, part of the PC Magazine network of sites, posted a short article late last week about Chris Anderson's (editor of Wired Magazine) argument that the best business model for online content is to give it away for free. The article summarizes Anderson's position:
"When you lower the barrier of entry to almost nothing, you hugely increase the number of people who will participate," Anderson said. He went on to note that because the cost of distributing information on the Web is almost free (copying it, reproducing it, and sending it out), online business are able to build successful revenue models by advertising on their sites instead of charging users a fee.
While my work with these Orthodox Christian Bible Studies is a non-profit ministry rather than a for-profit business, Anderson's statement is nonetheless quite applicable to this website. The Department of Youth Ministry very deliberately does not charge anything to use these studies so that almost everyone in our target demographic (i.e., teens) has access to this material without finances being an obstacle. Most teens in North America have access to the Internet: According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, in 2005 87% of those between the ages of 12 and 17 were online (that number has almost certainly gone up in the last 1.5 years). Because our Bible studies are available for free, most youth have access to the material in their home and/or school or public library without being restricted from the content by an inability to pay.
A key difference between our non-profit model and the for-profit model described by Anderson is that we are not attempting to make a profit on our material (trust me, anyone who thinks I make money from the almost full-time I put into this work is very, Very, VERY mistaken), and thus do not feature paid advertising on our site. We do not want any conflation by users between our study of Holy Scripture and products or services that are for sale. We take very seriously Christ's admonition in Matthew 10:8, "Freely you have received, freely give."
As important as this principle is to us, this does not mean that it is possible for every feature and service we will offer in the future to always be completely free. For example, in our upcoming study on 1 Corinthians, we are going to make available to parishes a special feature: we will create personalized group study handouts for each teen in your youth group or Bible study, and email one handout to each teen per week, with a summary in the email of the content and an encouragement to that teen to participate in your youth group or Bible study. We will need to ask for a small donation (at this time undetermined) from participating parishes to pay for the software and services we will need - and do not currently have - to make this feature possible.
At the same time, this is the only feature in the study for which we will ask any money: the multimedia application, including the quizzes and non-personalized group study handouts (like those we have now) will remain freely available. If you want personalized material for your youth, you can give a very small amount for that material, or you can use the standard material for no cost.
Of course, the fact that this material is free for you to use does not mean that it costs nothing for us to produce. There are such unavoidable expenses for the Department of Youth Ministry as hosting and bandwidth charges, as well as the cost of occasionally upgrading the software needed to produce this material. Please click here if you would like to donate to support this ministry.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Online Reading Patterns
Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 at 10:12 AM by Jason Barker
Editor & Publisher - a journal covering the newspaper industry - published an article about a significant study by the Poynter Institute: online readers finish news stories more often than print readers. According to the study, online readers read an average of 77% of the story, compared to 62% in broadsheets and 57% in tabloids. There is a significant difference, however, in the depth of reading between users of the two media:
The research also found that 75% of print readers are methodical in their reading, which means they start reading a page at a particular story and work their way through each story. Just 25% of print readers are scanners, who scan the entire page first, then choose a story to read.
Online, however, about half of readers are methodical, while the other half scan, the report found. The survey also revealed that large headlines and fewer, large photos attracted more eyes than smaller images in print. But online, readers were drawn more to navigation bars and teasers.
This study can be closely linked to research - also by the Poynter Institute - I mentioned here, which found that online readers tend to prefer news briefs to in-depth articles. When the findings from the two studies are linked together, we come to this conclusion: online readers tend to read more of an article than print readers, but they also strongly prefer to read very short articles.
I have written before that, despite current trends toward short publications, we need to provide longer Bible studies and commentaries that do justice to the biblical text. At the same time, there is a need to meet readers at their current level. I therefore have what we might consider to be a blend of materials in my Bible studies. The main commentary remains - by modern standards of publications for youth (and even for many adults) - a relatively long examination of the biblical text. Furthermore, the articles on Orthodoxy and life application - while shorter than the commentary - are usually at least two printed pages long. At the same time, however, instead of writing one or two longer background articles on people and places in the text, I now create short notes which appear in sidebar boxes (you can see this in the notes about Ss. Zacharias and Elizabeth in the study on Luke). And, for those who only want the highlights of the chapter, I provide the "Fast Track" and "Quick Trip" features in the studies that give links to only the biblical text, group study handout, and quiz.
These are attempts to meet the diverse reading patterns and needs of online readers.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Colleges Use Student Blogs for Recruitment
Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 at 11:24 AM by Jason Barker
CNN recently posted a story on a development that has been noted among designers and marketers for some time (for example, see here): colleges using student blogs to recruit new students. The reason, as given by one dean of admissions:
"We found it a much freer, less constricting, far more believable way of letting prospective students glimpse what was going on on campus," said Seth Allen, dean of admissions at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania.
I wrote a number of months ago about issues of credibility: youth want information that they believe is not slanted by a need for institutional enhancement. Therefore, student blogs - where students give their opinion about student life, rather than simply repeat the talking points of the admissions office - are frequently seen as more credible sources of information than school brochures and talks from recruiting officers. There is some validity to this position. For example, to what do you ascribe greater honesty: a commercial from a marketer, or an independent review from a product user on a site like Amazon?
This same principle can be applied to religious publications: when discussing what it is like to live as an Orthodox Christian, non-Orthodox youth are more likely to see as objective the stories told in blogs and other venues by Orthodox youth than in articles written by me - a 37 year-old - for an official website of an Archdiocesan department.
This is not to impugn the work I do here - I've written before about the need for knowledge and experience when writing and teaching - but instead to note that teen writings can play an important role in outreach and evangelism; it would be very useful for outreach to teens to have Orthodox teens write about their life in the Church. Such a thing was once done in the Antiochian Archdiocese in the now-defunct Cross & Quill, and the explosive growth in using youth-created media for marketing and outreach demonstrates that Orthodox youth could have a significant impact on the world around them if they engaged in such activity.
What could your youth group create to reach their peers?
Posted in Miscellaneous
Website Problem Fixed
Posted on Saturday, May 12, 2007 at 2:40 PM by Jason Barker
The problem with our website has been fixed - we are now hosting Orthodox Christian Bible Studies on a new server.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Herod's Tomb
Posted on Friday, May 11, 2007 at 10:06 AM by Jason Barker
An archaeologist announced earlier this week that he has found the tomb of Herod the Great. While the claim is currently unconfirmed, it is arousing a great deal of media attention. BeliefNet has published an amateur video by John Spalding of the excavation site.
This news may be of particular interest to individuals studying the Gospel according to St. Luke.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Dual-Booting
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2007 at 12:40 PM by Jason Barker
Related to my previous post, I should note that installing Ubuntu using one of the Windows installers will create a dual-boot system. This means that, after installing Ubuntu, your computer will ask you each time you turn it on whether you want to boot Windows or Ubuntu. You will go through the same process if you run a LiveCD.
When running Linux in a virtual machine, however, you start the virtualization application in Windows, and then tell the application to boot Linux.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Install Linux in Windows
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2007 at 12:33 PM by Jason Barker
I wrote earlier about the potential value for churches and ministries of running Linux on donated or bare-bones machines. In that post I also discussed some of the ways in which Linux can be run in a virtual machine on a Windows system, thereby enabling priests and church leaders to become familiar with one or more Linux distros before committing to an OS.
It is also possible to test different Linux distros using a LiveCD, which runs on a CD without needing to be installed on your computer. There are of course many limitations with using a LiveCD (such as the inability to upgrade components and applications), but it is a relatively painless way to gain some experience with Linux.
Yesterday, Lifehacker featured a new Windows-based installer for Ubuntu Linux called Wubi. Wubi - as well as Ubuntu's own Windows installer prototype - allows you to install several distros of Ubuntu using Windows (I know this works in XP, but not in Vista; I do not know how well it works with older versions of Windows). Instead of needing to create a separate partition for Linux, these installers simply install Ubuntu into its own file in Windows. This is a relatively easy way to run a full version of Linux without some of the difficulties of a typical installation.
I haven't tried either of these installers - running Edubuntu in Virtualbox on my PC works fine - but everything I've read about them sounds very promising.
Posted in Miscellaneous
"Study to Show Yourself Approved"
Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2007 at 11:39 AM by Jason Barker
Fr. Christopher Metropulos, the executive director of the Orthodox Christian Network and host of Come Receive the Light, has written a brief article encouraging Orthodox Christians to study and learn more about their faith. His paragraph on studying Holy Scripture is worth repeating here:
Second, we can become serious students of the Holy Scriptures. St. John Chrysostom said that one cannot be a good Christian and be ignorant of Holy Scriptures. There are some who may think that the Orthodox aren't very interested in studying the Bible, that Bible study is "too Protestant," but they'd be wrong. We Orthodox should be the ones at the forefront of knowledge about the Holy Scriptures. Attend the Bible studies at your church. Your priest will be glad (and, maybe even surprised) to see you! And if there isn't one, work with your priest to form one.
Edited on: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 12:55 PMPosted in Miscellaneous
Manufacturing "Authenticity"
Posted on Wednesday, May 09, 2007 at 10:09 AM by Jason Barker
Fast company has an interesting article on corporate efforts to manufacture "authenticity." Of particular note is a section on the essentials of authenticity:
Authenticity constantly requires reinforcement, and it can come from a number of sources: craftsmanship, timeliness, relevance. But it is a brand's values--the emotional connection it makes--that truly define its realism. And there are four primary strands that draw out that connection.
- A sense of place. "Authenticity comes from a place we can connect with," says Steve McCallion, creative director of Ziba, a Portland, Oregon--based design consultancy. "A place with a story." The Champagne region of France, for instance, helps give Veuve Clicquot (OTC:LVMUY) special cachet. And yet, our notion of place does not need to be literal. On the contrary, it can sometimes prove considerably elastic. Häagen-Dazs, the Nordic-sounding ice cream, originated in that quaint Scandinavian village known as the Bronx, New York. The brand's name, concocted from two nonsensical words, is a perfect fake--so well chosen, and so evocative, that it resonates as real to folks who love the product
- A strong point of view. Authenticity also emerges from "people with a deep passion for what they are doing," says McCallion. So Martha Stewart is perceived to be authentic in large part because her ambitious recipes for Perfect White Cake and Chocolate-Strawberry Heart-Shaped Ice-Cream Sandwiches stand in the face of a world where food is mass-produced and preparation for the average dinner is measured by the number of minutes it takes to microwave the thing
- Serving a larger purpose. Consumers quite rightly believe, until they're shown otherwise, that every brand is governed by an ulterior motive: to sell something. But if a brand can convincingly argue that its profit-making is only a by-product of a larger purpose, authenticity sets in. "Just as there are purpose-driven lives," says Character's Hardison, "there are purpose-driven brands." (Think Whole Foods (NASDAQ:WFMI) here, or even, in a way, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG).) The counterpart is also true: "When a brand changes its story to better capture its customers' dollars, it's basically a poser," Hardison says, "and people sense that right away."
- Integrity. Authenticity comes to a brand that is what it says it is. In other words, "the story that the brand tells through its actions aligns with the story it tells through its communications," Hardison says. "Only then will customers sense that the brand's story is true." When McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) launched its "We love to see you smile" campaign in 2000, commentators like Advertising Age's Bob Garfield hooted in derision, arguing that filthy restrooms and grumpy counter clerks rendered the ads "preposterously false." A year later, published reports revealed that rude employees were costing Mickey D's millions of dollars in lost sales. And when bloggers exposed a flog (read: "fake blog") that masqueraded as a travel journal written by a couple who were compensated for their gushing posts about Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), the deception elicited a torrent of rebuke.
Pay special attention to this statement in the first bulleted point: "Our notion of place does not need to be literal. On the contrary, it can sometimes prove considerably elastic." In other words, you can establish so-called authenticity by creating the experience of a place that does not exist. This same approach to authenticity can be found in the other points: less important than true authenticity - which, of course, is seldom developed with mass profit in mind - is the perception of authenticity. This can be clearly seen in the examples of corporate efforts to achieve the appearance of authenticity.
This problem can be seen in many churches - and even religious education - where appearance trumps substance. Thus, churches attempt to recreate social settings they've seen in popular entertainment: coffee bars that look and "feel" like the ones in which close circles of friends congregate in any of a dozen TV shows, or even - to use my sister-in-law's church as an example - churches that make the main corridor through the church facility resemble a small-town main street, with vintage-looking lamposts and storefront facades for the nursery and classrooms (as well as the coffee house, movie theater and other features).
We can particularly see this problem when we look at religious education, as I did in an earlier post talking about the current phenomenon of Biblezines:
Interpreters and instructors must avoid the danger of trying to “fit” the biblical texts into adolescent interests. As an example of this danger, the Teen Devotional Bible describes the depiction in Genesis of the fracturing of human language at the Tower of Babel as “the result of a bunch of folks way back when who thought they were way too cool,” and similarly summarizes the Song of Songs as a dialogue between “Solomon and his love-muffin.” In another example, Revolve, a tabloid-styled Bible targeted to early adolescent girls, describes the role of Christ in the life of a Christian by comparing it to makeup: “You need a good, balanced foundation for the rest of your makeup, kinda how like Jesus is the strong foundation in our lives.” Rendering modern culture preeminent, and then adapting the biblical text to fit that culture - not to mention a consumer culture - ultimately trivializes the Bible; furthermore, many adolescents - particularly those who are not already active in the Evangelical Protestant circles which publish and promote these Bibles - will find such adaptations to be condescending and unsuccessful in meeting their needs.
I believe the last sentence summarizes the problem with these niche Bibles: they trivialize the Bible, and they are ultimately ineffective in their intended purpose. The most significant problem is that these niche study Bibles are in fact seldom truly study Bibles: they are simply the biblical text surrounded by - and too frequently, suffocated by - silly pop culture references and self-help snippets. These so-called study Bibles therefore fail, in the words of Phyllis Tickle in The New Yorker article, to "separate out the culturally transient and trashy from the eternal," and thus violate “something close to moral or spiritual barriers.”
Furthermore, even if these study Bibles were not too often simply culture-dictated fluff, they are often ineffective in their intended purpose: to repeat Mark Oppenheimer's claim from my thesis, non-Evangelical Protestants will find the Biblezines to be condescending and irrelevant. Since the stated purpose of the Biblezines is to attract individuals who do not currently read the Bible (see, for example, The New Yorker's description of the product proposal for Revolve), this is yet another significant failure of these products.
Churches should certainly provide social groups, and there is nothing inherently wrong with a cafe or other such resources somewhere in a church's larger facilities, but the problem is that too often churches that incorporate such things are more concerned with the appearance of authenticity and manufacturing "experiences" than they are with what Christianity has traditionally held to be authentic: relationship with God, and spiritually-beneficial relationships with the people in His Church. In an article published in The Word some time ago (I cannot remember the exact issue), Andrew Nova writes, "Since the Church is from God and is in God, then authenticity can surely be found within Her. We just need to be willing to see the wisdom within Her and be willing to accept Christianity in its most pure and unadulterated form. No matter what the topic is, we can look to the Church for an answer." Nova's statement highlights the driving concern behind my approach to the Bible studies I create. I - like all Orthodox Christians - believe that the authentic life is one lived in communion with God and His Church; the only reliable path for the authentic life is therefore one lived worshipping God and adhering to the life and teachings of His Church. Orthodox Christian Bible studies are therefore rooted in the teachings of the Church, and focus always on God and Holy Scripture. These studies further always direct users to become increasingly active in the life of the Body of Christ.
The possibilities opened up by multimedia are very important - I spend a great deal of time on this blog discussing these possibilities - but to focus on entertainment and a "cool design" would be inauthentic: the medium must never become the message. These Bible studies are authentic only in so much as they are truly Orthodox in their approach and content, and the impetus they provide to greater involvement in worship and the life of the Church.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Youth Worker Disc Preview
Posted on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 12:19 PM by Jason Barker
Below are screenshots from the application that has consumed my time for the last few months: Youthworker V3 (called "V3" because it is the third edition of the Youth Worker discs). Click on the image to see a full-size version:
Screenshot 1: Home Screen
Screenshot 2: Typical Article Screen
The application contains hundreds of resources for Orthodox youth workers: articles, camp and retreat curricula, videos, music, etc. The resources were submitted by the youth departments of the SCOBA jurisdictions: the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, the Orthodox Church in America, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church USA.
You can contact Fr. Joseph Purpura for more information about Youthworker V3.
Edited on: Friday, April 27, 2007 9:51 AMPosted in Jason Barker, Miscellaneous
Why Instant Messaging?
Posted on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 9:55 AM by Jason Barker
Related to my post yesterday, in which I pointed out that I'm now available through AOL's instant messaging service, you might wonder, "Why? Isn't email enough?"
A survey in late 2006 would answer that, to maintain reliable contact with teens and young adults (who are, of course, the core audience for these Bible studies), instant or text messaging is essential. The AP-AOL survey found that almost half of all teens - ages 13-18 - use IM; nearly a third say that they cannot imagine life without it. In addition, nearly 75 percent of teens who use IM prefer instant messaging over sending email. Furthermore, at least half of the teens who use IM (and thus an estimated 25 percent of all teens) send at least 25 text messages per day, and 20 percent send over 100 messages per day. It is therefore clear that my ability to communicate with my core audience will be facilitated by making myself available through an IM service.
You might then wonder, "Why AIM? Why not another service?" I chose AIM over a mobile phone texting service because it does not limit my potential contacts to only those using specific phone service. Furthermore, I chose AIM over other services, not for any ideological reason or preference for AIM's feature set, but solely because it remains the most popular Web-based IM service. I considered using Skype to allow users to contact me - which I've previously written about using - but finally decided against it because: 1) It is essential to keep a transcript of all communications, and I prefer to save space on my hard drive by logging text messages, as opposed to recording audio files of phone conversations; and 2) I've seen little evidence evidence that teens use Skype's chat features.
Finally, I should point out that, while I'm using the AIM service, I am not using the AIM client: I am using the open-source Adium client on my Mac, and in past years when I used the AIM service in Windows I used the open-source Pidgin client (previously called Gaim).
Posted in Miscellaneous
"Web 2.0--the folly of amateurs?"
Posted on Friday, April 06, 2007 at 10:47 AM by Jason Barker
Charles Cooper of CNet has a brief review of a book (to be released in June) by Andrew Keen, The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture, in which Keen gives a pessimistic perspective on some of the ways in which the philosophy of "the wisdom of the crowd" that drives a lot of new technology - particularly, as the article's title indicates, Web 2.0 - is increasingly enabling a culture of mediocrity.
Cooper writes:
The subtitle of his book states his thesis bluntly: "How the democratization of the digital world is assaulting our economy, our culture, and our values."
Them be fighting words, to be sure, and Keen is being purposely provocative. But he's worth reading. Keen's not writing from the uninformed point of view of a technophobe. In his previous life, he was the founder of Audiocafe.com. That said, he's not at all happy about where things are headed, bemoaning the advent of "an endless digital forest of mediocrity" as the number of new blogs doubles each six months. Here's a typical snippet:
"If we keep up this pace, there will be over five hundred million blogs by 2010, collectively corrupting and confusing popular opinion about everything from politics, to commerce, to arts and culture. Blogs have become so dizzyingly infinite, that they've undermined our sense of what is true and what is false, what is real and what is imaginary. These days, kids can't tell the difference between credible news by objective professional journalists and what they read on joeshmoe.blogspot.com."
Keen finds little to celebrate in the rising cult of the amateur. Same for the emerging age of citizen journalism, and he frets about the growing influence of short-form bloggers at the expense of the wisdom of long-form essays of scholars and experts. He worries about the wisdom-of-the-crowd phenomena represented by the likes of Wikipedia or YouTube and the impact they're having on an ADD-prone generation that embraces editor-free news sites. Technology is our friend? Don't kid yourself, is Keen's response. The crowd has often proved itself to be anything but wise. We may have strong opinions but so many of us remain uninformed.
It is true, as Cooper later says, that technology is generally morally neutral, and there are many positive things that can be said about the Internet: I've written about the efficacy of multimedia study tools, as well as the fact that publishing on the Web enables us to reach a world-wide audience in a cost-effective manner. At the same time, Keen's general point can be easily applied to online Bible studies: the fact that someone CAN publish his or her opinions - however uninformed - about the Bible does not mean that a person SHOULD publish these opinions. This fact can be easily demonstrated by visiting any number of online Bible studies - and particularly open-forum discussions - where preposterous opinions are put forth, with the writer expecting that this opinion not only be accepted as readily as the teaching of someone who has knowledge about the subject, but frequently that the writer's opinion REPLACE the teaching of the expert.
This problem can be even greater in Bible studies for youth because, as I've quoted elsewhere, teens generally are inhibited "in terms of their cognitive and emotional development, life experiences, and familiarity with the media apparatus." They therefore need guides in such online learning as Bible studies. It is for this reason that, while I hope to develop ways to increase interactivity in these Bible studies, the basic approach will remain one - for lack of a better summary - of teacher and student (both myself as a teacher through my writing, as well as the teachers and youth workers with whom the youth interact in their local parishes). Discussion must be allowed - and even encouraged - but it must be done within the context of knowing that there is absolute truth, and that there are authority figures who are more knowledgable and experienced in dealing with this truth than teens or newcomers to Orthodoxy.
This applies to me as much as it does to any teenager: I - like most Orthodox writers and teachers - have undergone years of education, and continue to study and keep current on scholarship, and I further always try to ensure that my opinions and writings are in accordance with the Tradition of the Church. Still more, my teachers have done the same thing. It is this faithfulness to the Tradition of the Church, combined with rigorous and ongoing education, that makes our teaching relevant, and ensures that what we write does not simply become another ill-formed shoot in the "endless digital forest of mediocrity."
Posted in Miscellaneous
Are Book-Length Publications Necessary?
Posted on Wednesday, April 04, 2007 at 1:17 PM by Jason Barker
Ben Vershbow has another interesting post on if:book on the fine art of "fileting a monograph" - finding and reading only the sections of a book relevant to your immediate needs or research - and the fact that many of us purchase entire books simply so that we have access to a single section of the text. He writes:
Not all thoughts are book-sized and not all reading goes in a straight line. Selective reading is probably as old as reading itself.
Unbundling the book has the potential to allow various forms of knowledge to find the shapes and sizes that fit them best. And when all the pieces are interconnected in the network, and subject to social discovery tools like tagging, RSS and APIs, readers could begin to assume a role traditionally played by publishers, editors and librarians -- the role of piecing things together.
Vershbow is correct that not all thoughts are "book-size," although I would point out - and his statement indicates he would agree - that some thoughts certainly are "book-size," and require a full monograph to explicate and examine all elements and ramifications of the thought. At the same time, however, his central point has a great deal of validity: digital publications enable readers to easily find the sections that are of interest and relevance to them.
I try to facilitate this reading style in my Bible studies by putting on every screen of the application - and featuring up-front on the home screen - links to indices of the different types of articles within the application. Thus, in the upcoming Luke application, screens will have at the top a menu (designed to look like an airplane ticket) to indices for Bible chapters, commentaries, life application articles, articles on Orthodoxy, and group-study handouts. This makes it easy for users to find articles without being forced to go through a strict linear progression of chapters.
The HTML versions of articles for the various applications allows for a similar reading style. While the primary reason for creating these HTML versions is to enable users to read and print the majority of articles without using the Shockwave application, having these articles in an up-front HTML index also allows even easier access to the material than going into the Shockwave application.
Thus, to answer the question asked in this post, are book-length publications necessary? When it comes to Bible studies, the answer is an emphatic yes! As I wrote in an earlier post:
The focus of our Orthodox Christian Bible Studies is on longer commentaries, articles about the background of the text, and articles about life application and Orthodox faith and practice. The Bible is a substantial collection of texts: it is long, it can be difficult, but it is also vital and transformative. It is the written word of God to His people. The biblical text not only cannot be understood with a cursory reading or video-viewing, and thus the Christian cannot be transformed through such an approach, but such an approach is an affront to the God Who gave us the Bible, and His people who through the centuries faithfully wrote, translated, taught, and learned these vital books.
Concessions must be made to the learning levels and styles of youth who are not currently adept at extensive reading, and we make these concessions by providing the "Fast" overviews. We must not, however, leave Bible study at this rudimentary level. We must fully delve into the Bible with our commentaries and other articles, both for those Christian youth who are currently able and willing to immerse themselves in the Bible, and to provide resources for youth who will do so in the future. While it is conceivable that in the future there will be a more effective medium than text to engage in such extensive and transformative study, at this time text (supplemented, when possible, with other media) remains the primary vehicle for communication, and thus extended articles remain the best way for us to communicate the transformative truth of the Bible to youth.
At the same time, the medium of digital publications allows us to create extended publications that are highly accessible and usable, while retaining all the depth of a book-length document.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Fr. Thomas Hopko on Scripture
Posted on Monday, April 02, 2007 at 8:43 AM by Jason Barker
OrthodoxyToday features an interview with Fr. Thomas Hopko. While Fr. Thomas addresses a number of issues, I found interesting his comments on why some evangelical Protestants are attracted to Orthodox Christianity:
CC.com: What do you think evangelicals see in Orthodoxy that would draw them to it?
Fr. Hopko: Two things. I think one is, evangelicals want a church that takes the Bible seriously as the Word of God, but they don't want a church where everybody can interpret it the way they want to, because I think they were frustrated over how many churches there were claiming to really follow the Bible. So they said there has to be some other criterion of exegesis than just picking up the Bible and reading it, with your Scofield commentary or something.
And then they discovered that the early Church and the Fathers were interpreting the Bible. Then they discovered that there were consensuses of interpretation. Then they discovered that there were whole councils that had battled over exegesis and had come to a common mind, and that there was like a history of exegesis from the time of the apostles that those in a certain church agreed upon, namely the one holy Orthodox Church.
So I think that they wanted the Bible -- they were convinced that the Bible was basic -- but they had a problem of how do you interpret it, and how do you maintain the proper interpretation. And then they found that the patristic and Orthodox tradition was doing that, at least in their conviction.
The other big thing is worship. You accept Jesus as your saviour, you believe the Bible is the Word of God, but then what do you do? What church do you go to? And I think for fellows like Gillquist, that was their main problem -- they said, "We all love Jesus, we all know this is the truth, but how do you worship? Where do you go? What church are you in?"
Then they came to the conclusion, if scripture is true, there's got to be a church around somewhere that's consonant with scripture, and then they became convinced it was the Orthodox.
So I think two things: biblical exegesis, a common biblical mind, and then the other was worship, a biblical worship that would be objective, Christian, communal, and that you wouldn't have to make up yourself. I think those were the two things that convinced them. And I think those are the two main cards that Orthodox would have with evangelical people.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Encouraging Engagement
Posted on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 10:49 AM by Jason Barker
I've read with interest some recent posts on Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning about encouraging civic engagement among teens and young adults. Lance Bennett recently uploaded transcripts from an online discussion he held with scholars and practitioners in youth engagement, and then uploaded the draft of a paper discussing the issue. While the subject of teen governmental activity is at most tangential to this blog, and the discussions are far too wide-ranging for coverage here, a very brief summary of the issue is nonetheless helpful because the general scenario is also applicable to youth religious involvement.
Essentially, Bennett states that there are two competing paradigms regarding youth civic involvement:
The engaged youth paradigm implicitly emphasizes generational changes in social identity that have resulted in the growing importance of peer networks and online communities. In this view, if there is an a decline in the credibility or authenticity of many public institutions and discourses that define conventional political life, the fault lies more with the government performances and news narratives than with citizens who cannot engage with them. In an important sense, this paradigm emphasizes the empowerment of youth as expressive individuals, and symbolically frees young people to make their own creative choices. In the bargain, the engaged youth paradigm also eases the overriding duty to participate in conventional government-centered activities. In many cases, researchers in this school are only dimly aware of (and may tend to discount) research on declines and deficits in more conventional political participation among young citizens. As a result, the engaged youth paradigm opens the door to a new spectrum of civic actions in online arenas from MySpace to World of Warcraft.
By contrast, the disengaged youth paradigm may acknowledge the rise of more autonomous forms of public expression such as consumer politics, or the occasional protest in MySpace, while keeping the focus on the large body of empirical data showing a generational decline in connections to government (e.g., voting patterns) and general civic involvement (e.g., following public affairs in the news) as threats to the health of democracy itself. Those speak of disengaged youth often worry about the personalization or privatization of the political sphere (young people living in heavily commercial online worlds), and focus more on how to promote public actions that link to government as the center of democratic politics, and to other social groups and institutions as the foundations of civic life.
The question is how can we resolve these different perspectives so that we can have a more productive discussion of education programs and policies? To begin with, consider the possibility that these different views of young people and political engagement reflect actual generational changes in the nature of citizenship itself. Proponents of the disengaged citizen paradigm seem to be using an earlier generational model of citizenship (centered on duties and obligations) to evaluate younger generations, while those seeing more engaged citizens seem to be focusing on changes in identity (involving needs for more self actualization, personal expression and individuality) associated with globalization and life in late modern society.
Anyone who has spent much time reading this blog knows that, from a religious (rather than political) perspective, I generally agree with the "disengaged youth paradigm" (this recent post being evidence). The primary reason for this, of course, is due to the fact that, as an Orthodox Christian, I support traditional Christianity and religious involvement, and thus see youth disengagement from the Church and society in general as highly problematic. Another reason, however, is that I find unconvincing - largely because they are unsupported by my personal observations, and because most of the research I've encountered seems to conclude differently - most of the arguments asserting that youth are becoming highly involved in widespread social networks that are increasingly involved in social action. What I mean is that, while youth are certainly spending significant amounts of time in virtual social networks (e.g., MySpace), the level of involvement seems to be largely superficial: not only is the depth of communication low, but the amount of time spent developing core relationships within any one virtualized social network is quite limited. In other words, from what I can discern, in a specific online episode youth generally move through a variety of virtualized networks engaging in brief messaging with an array of people, but seldom spend much time in any one virtualized network or communicating at length and in depth with any one person (or small group of people) who is geographically distant from them.
With whom, then, are youth really spending their time? They are generally still spending their time with youth with whom they are in close physical proximity: i.e., the majority of time they spend communicating online is used to communicate with their social network at their school or in their immediate community. And this, really, is both predictable and appropriate.
Despite this point, it is true that youth are engaging in at least limited virtual interaction with widespread social networks, and this interaction will almost certainly not decrease. We Orthodox Christians need to accept this reality, and work within it to reach youth whose religious engagement currently limited to online communities. There is a real need for Orthodox social networking media, and I hope to see some developed. This would increase our outreach to non-affiliated youth, as well as benefiting those Orthodox youth who because of their locale have few opportunities for interaction with other Orthodox Christians their age. To use the tiny mission at which I'm a member as an example, we have two youth: a sixteen year-old girl and my three year-old son (at 37, I'm the third-youngest member of the mission), and we live 90 miles from another Orthodox church. Online Orthodox social networks would be a tremendous asset to youth growing up in circumstances like this.
At the same time, such online social networks must ultimately never be more than a introduction to Orthodoxy for unaffiliated youth, and a supplement for Orthodox youth: as I've said many times before, the Orthodox life is communal, and thus our emphasis should always be on inclusion in - and thus activity within - the local Orthodox community. Our spiritual life must never be limited to autonomous activity.
Posted in Miscellaneous
YMMV
Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 12:09 PM by Jason Barker
Related to my last post - and any other post where I talk about computer systems and/or applications - I should emphasize that neither the Department of Youth Ministry or I provide any guarantee, warranty, or offer of technical support with any of the systems or applications I mention. I only write about things I've successfully used and like, but you assume all risks if you decide to try these out yourself: neither the Department of Youth Ministry or I assume any liability or legal responsibility for your experience.
In other words, "Your Mileage May Vary."
Posted in Miscellaneous
Running an OS in Virtualization
Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 11:42 AM by Jason Barker
I've mentioned before that, although I use a Mac, I also run Windows in Parallels Workstation for Mac. This enables me to use essential software for which I currently only have Windows versions.
Since Parallels - like most virtualization applications - allows you to install more than one operating system as a guest OS, I also installed Edubuntu so that my three year-old son could have a free education-focused OS that would also be effectively sandboxed (which means that he cannot leave Edubuntu and access anything in OS X, and also means that should he wreak havoc in his Linux OS, I can simply replace that virtual hard drive with a backup copy I've made of the file). There are a large number of good open source applications installed by default with Edubuntu that are a bit too advanced for him right now (Open Office, Firefox, etc.), but he is deriving a great deal of pleasure - as well as developing computer skills and enhancing his reading and memory skills - from such applications as GCompris and Tux Paint.
To enable my son to use his Linux system while still allowing me to use my computer, I wanted to run Edubuntu in a virtual machine on my old computer running Windows, but I didn't want to pay for the Windows version of Parallels. I learned that InnoTek's VirtualBox is now free under the GNU (for personal and evaluation use), so I installed the Windows version, and then installed Edubuntu as a guest OS in VirtualBox. At this point, everything is working fine.
I bring this up not to promote any particular virtualization programs or OS, but rather to note that it is possible for churches and ministries that want to install multiple computers in their office (or install a computer - or even computer lab! - in their library) to do so relatively inexpensively by using free and open source software. For example, the Orthodox classical school at my old parish (and for which I developed their website) runs openSUSE and Open Office on donated computers in their computer lab.
Since the average computer user is unfamiliar with Linux - even I have only the barest smidgen of knowledge about the distro I installed - priests and laypersons may be reluctant to commit themselves to a foreign OS. This is where virtualization comes in: you can install the free VirtualBox application on your PC (they are currently working on a Mac version), install the Linux distro of your choice as a guest OS in VirtualBox, and learn to use Linux without needing to partition your hard drive or risk any damage to your system. If anything goes wrong with the virtual drive running Linux, or if you want to try a different OS, you can simply replace the virtual drive with a new one in much the same way that you would replace a word processing document.
If your church or ministry has the opportunity to receive some donated computers, but you do not have the money for multiple licenses of Windows or applications like office suites, using a free open source OS like Linux and related open source applications is an effective way to legally stretch your resources. Furthermore, running the OS in a virtual machine on your current PC is a relatively painless way to test your options and learn the ropes without doing any damage to your current setup.
By the way, if you do run Linux on your computers, you should know that - to the best of my knowledge - my Bible study applications will not run on those computers because there is not currently a Linux version of the Shockwave plugin (given the focus of this post, they call this situation ironic). You can nonetheless access the main articles through the HTML versions, and download and print the PDF handouts.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Fr. Stephen Freeman on Biblical Interpretation
Posted on Monday, March 19, 2007 at 9:56 PM by Jason Barker
Fr. Stephen Freeman has posted another article on biblical interpretation.
Posted in Miscellaneous
On-Screen Reading
Posted on Monday, March 19, 2007 at 1:12 PM by Jason Barker
if:book has an interesting post linking to an article by Cory Doctorow about reading text on a computer screen; Doctorow is specifically discussing reading novels, but his points can generally be extended to any long-form textual publication. Doctorow's thesis can be summarized in this quote: "The problem, then, isn't that screens aren't sharp enough to read novels off of. The problem is that novels aren't screeny enough to warrant protracted, regular reading on screens." I have to admit that I'm not sure exactly what Doctorow means by novels being insufficiently "screeny" to encourage reading electronic versions; it seems his point is that extended digital publications are currently insufficiently adapted to the typical computer user's activity of engaging in digital multitasking (which is too distracting when reading complex extended publications).
While interesting, I'm not sure that Doctorow's point is entirely accurate (I think his argument is more effectively related to attention spans and the discipline of reading than to the subject of the readability of text when published in various media). Nonetheless, he and if:book's Ben Vershbow make an important point when they say that the most common object to reading digital publications - the supposed lack of clarity of digital fonts and their subsequently reduced ease of reading - is no longer a serious objection to reading digital publications. While neither author goes into detail on this particular point, I believe that the increasing transition of computer users from CRT to LCD monitors erases most of the previously quite accurate objections to reading from screens: LCD monitors do not have the flicker from refreshing the screen that is a significant problem with CRT monitors (as I can tell you from bitter experience, prolonged reading from a low or standard-quality CRT monitor is quite conducive to headaches), and digital text is actually sharper than the text in most books (which have the problem of print slightly spreading from ink soaking into the paper).
I believe the issue of portable reading devices is more significant than Doctorow believes. For example, I would generally prefer to do my reading from electronic devices rather than printed publications - precisely for the reasons of easy searching and storage mentioned by Doctorow - but there are two significant limitations for me. First, while Doctorow is correct that iPods and other easily portable electronic devices allow for reading digital text, there is the significant problem that these devices require far more care and protection than does a printed publication. If I am reading in my recliner, or bed, I do not want to be continually vigilant to avoid dropping my electronic reading device, or to worry about it being knocked from my hands by a rampaging pet or accidentally damaged in some way by my three year-old son. Pets or child may occasionally rumple a printed publication, but they will seldom destroy it - the same could not necessarily be said about a sensitive electronic device. Secondly, as a commenter to Doctrow's article mentions, DRMs and the wide array of incompatible formats is a further obstacle to widespread reading of extended electronic publications.
These objections can of course be applied to my Bible studies, and they do limit somewhat the usefulness of such a digital publication. There is little that I can do at this time about these problems beyond make the text from these studies available in multiple formats - Shockwave and HTML - to maximize their availability and usefulness for readers. I believe that enabling users to print copies of the HTML version of the articles addresses a great deal of the "electronic or print" dilemma, and future technological advancements will eventually solve even more of these issues.
Another issue with on-screen reading that is not mentioned by Doctrow, but is directly addressed by Vershbow, is the formatting of text on the screen. Speaking from my experience, a problem with reading long-form publications on a screen is that - unless specially formatted - the screen presents a significantly greater "chunk" of text at one time than does a printed page. For example, the window in which I am typing this post is roughly 13.5" x 8.75" - this presents a far greater mass of text than does the page from a typical hardcover book, which typically has a text section (not including headers and footers) of less than 4.5" x 8". Text must be formatted so that it is "manageable," not presenting an overwhelming mass in a single view through which the reader must slog. Vershbow thus demonstrates one free application that formats RTF documents in columns with horizontal scrolling. Similarly, documents published in PDF allow documents to be formatted in the same conventional manner as printed publications (as well as avoiding much of the restricted formatting that plagues many e-publications and e-readers).
In addition to using PDF for my handout formats, I address readability issues in my Bible study applications by limiting the size of the article on the screen by putting it into a small window. Readers are therefore seldom confronted with more than one paragraph of text at a time.
There are many other things that I hope to incorporate into later applications - ability to print articles from the online application itself, ability to bookmark articles, etc. - but my concern for formatting issues is one example of some of the things I take into account when trying to maximize the usefulness of my Bible studies.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Wash. Post Article about Online Worship
Posted on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 11:15 AM by Jason Barker
Via a link from GetReligion (headed by Orthodox Christian religion columnist Terry Mattingly), I read an article in The Washington Post about Hindus using the Web to commission offerings at temples in India. As Mattingly laughingly notes, this type of article is very up-to-the-minute - if this were 1995.
Despite the decidedly dated reason for the article - that the Internet has become a hub for religion - the article nonetheless caused me to think about an issue about which I've written before: the fact that Orthodox Bible study is a communal activity. Despite the fact that the Post's article focuses on Hinduism, the individualistic approach to worship covered in the article is of great concern to Orthodox Christians. We of course do not adhere to the Hindu concept of local deities (which drives the desire of the people in the article to commission offerings at specific distant locations), but we nonetheless must avoid using the Web as a proxy for worshipping and studying in community.
I will repeat what I wrote earlier about Bible study being a communal activity:
Orthodox Bible study is not an isolated activity, but instead is one that intricately relates the individual to all other Christians - past, present and future - who have engaged or will engage in the study of Holy Scripture. A individual Christian teen's spiritual development must be understood and promoted within a community of peers and leaders who know and love this person, and can support and guide this person in his or her life. It is for this reason that I regularly encourage teens to not rely solely on my Bible study applications as personal tools, but also to take this material and discuss it in an Orthodox youth group. I further encourage adults to participate in these groups, both for the good of the teens and for their own growth.
Individual study is, of course, very important, but it must never be the entirety of a person's Bible study. I try to design my Bible studies so that they are effective for individual study (which is where people will have the greatest amount of time for thorough reading and reflection), while always driving the individual toward then taking what he or she has read and studying the text and worshipping God within the local parish.
Posted in Miscellaneous
What is the Focus of this Blog?
Posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 9:12 PM by Jason Barker
I've been asked about the focus of this blog; it seems that some people are a bit confused by what seem to be a random selection of topics for a blog that ostensibly focuses on my Orthodox Christian Bible Studies projects. In reality, however, this blog focuses on five general topics, all of which are closely related to Orthodox multimedia Bible studies.
-
First and foremost, this blog provides updates on project development
- in that sense, this is a "company blog." As I progress on projects
directly related to Orthodox Christian Bible studies, I make note of
that progress in these pages. For example, as I complete and upload
chapters of the "Journey with Jesus" study on the Gospel according to
St. Luke (which really is coming!), those uploads will be mentioned
and linked on this blog.
- Second, since these Bible studies are intended for teens, I write about issues related to both general teen literacy and biblical literacy. Many of the articles on this blog discuss online publications about adolescent education or youth Bible study, and the ways in which current trends and developments in these areas affect my work on these Bible study projects.
- Third, since I create multimedia publications, I write about current trends in Internet and multimedia development and usage, and the effect that these have on my Bible study projects.
- Fourth, because I regularly encourage other Orthodox Christians to engage in multimedia outreach and education, I also mention new websites and other online resources created and distributed by Orthodox Christians.
- Finally, because Internet multimedia publishing involves computers, I occasionally write about software and other computer resources that are available and useful for individuals and parishes.
One thing you will seldom see are posts about me: this blog is not an appropriate forum for discussing my personal life, and even if it were, I have no inclination to do so. By and large, the only personal information you will read about me in this blog are notices that project updates are being delayed due to illness, travel or technical problems, and occasional notices about some of my other publications and media appearances.
In other words, this blog was created to update you on Bible study development in the Department of Youth Ministry, and secondarily to provide information and assistance that may be useful to others who feel called to engage in an online educational ministry. All the posts on this blog revolve around these emphases.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Declining Religious Observance Among Youth
Posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 at 11:10 PM by Jason Barker
Religion editor Frank Lockwood reported last month about a recent survey the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press finding that regular church attendance among young people is declining, and the number of youth who claim no religious affiliation is rising. Lockwood writes:
Among Americans ages 18-25, only nine percent attend church more than once per week. Another 17 percent attend about once per week. The bottom line -- 3 out of 4 aren't regular churchgoers.
Most consider themselves Christian (45 percent Protestant, 23 percent Catholic, 3 percent Mormon, 1 percent Orthox and 2 percent other Christian.) Non-Christian religions continue to draw few adherents (2 percent Jewish, 1 percent Muslim, 3 percent other non-Christian). But 18 percent say they have no religion and another two percent declined to answer.
It should be noted that these statistics are not reflective of the level of belief and activity among youth who regularly attend church services. For example, in his 1998 survey of teens involved in regional and national activities in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America, Fr. Joseph Purpura found that 83 percent of these teens attend at least one service per week, and have correspondingly high levels of belief (and low levels of behavioral and moral issues). What the Pew survey indicates, however, is the low level of belief and activity among the overwhelming majority of youth who only infrequently - if ever - attend Christian services of any sort. This is of course a serious concern to all Christians, and certainly to Orthodox Christians (only ONE PERCENT of the Pew respondents said they were Orthodox), but this situation also presents opportunities to Orthodox youth and youth workers.
I listened to a couple of radio programs earlier this week that made me think about this issue. The first, a Reformed Protestant program called The White Horse Inn, featured Mark Driscoll, the pastor of a youth-oriented church in Seattle, WA. Driscoll made a very important point: youth who are desperate for authenticity are potentially open to serious, traditional Christianity (there are of course many who would be opposed to such Christianity, but the point remains valid). It is vital to understand the current culture, and use it to reach non-Christian youth, without compromising our beliefs or our practice.
The second program was the latest episode of Come Receive the Light, where Fr. Christopher Metropoulos interviewed Bradley Nassif. Dr. Nassif focused on the fact that truly evangelistic Orthodox Christianity can powerfully and effectively reach people who are hungry for authentic transformation in their lives (he also notably mentioned ways in which many of us who are Orthodox Christians will need to change in order to be used by God in this way). Nassif's focus was not on youth outreach, but his points - to which I strongly encourage you to listen - are equally valid for teens.
The Department of Youth Ministry puts our Bible studies online, not merely because it is a cost effective way of disseminating the material to Teen SOYO groups in North America (although that certainly is a significant benefit), but also because having them online makes them available to anyone who might be interested - Orthodox and non-Orthodox, Christian and non-Christian. This is only one way in which to reach both the affiliated and unaffiliated, but it is nonetheless a genuine attempt.
What might God be calling you to do for those approximately 20 percent of youth who have no stated religious affiliation (as well as the large number whose affiliation is at most nominal)?
Posted in Miscellaneous
Residential Broadband Adoption to Increase
Posted on Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 8:48 AM by Jason Barker
CNet reports that, according to Parks Associates, more than 60 million U.S. households - approximately 55 percent - will be have a broadband Internet connection by the end of 2007. This follows a 20 percent growth in 2006, to approximately 50 million U.S. households.
I wrote a couple of months ago about the significance of increased broadband penetration for Orthodox Christian Bible studies:
Statistics such as this have a significant impact on the development of online Orthodox Christian Bible studies. The relatively high penetration of broadband means that it is reasonable to develop multimedia Bible studies, which require a higher bandwidth than simple text-based articles alone. At the same time, a reasonable percentage of users continue to use dialup connections (even though that percentage is continually dropping). I address this issue by offering the majority of the textual content from our Bible studies in two formats: incorporated into the multimedia applications themselves for broadband users, and available separately as HTML documents for dialup users.
At the same time, there are limitations - excluding such previously referenced limitations as our lack of resources to create such materials - on the amount and quality of audio/video material I can incorporate into these studies. As broadband speeds increase, the amount and quality of audio/video materials online can increase.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Quotation from Cicero
Posted on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 8:44 AM by Jason Barker
This morning I once again came across a quotation from Cicero, the great Roman statesman and orator, that is applicable to an Orthodox approach to Bible study: "Who knows only his own generation remains always a child."
In order to grow to spiritual maturity, youth need to interact with the faithful servants of God through the millennia, both in the Bible itself and in the subsequent centuries of Christian life and teaching.
Posted in Miscellaneous
What Young Adults Want
Posted on Monday, February 19, 2007 at 11:41 AM by Jason Barker
Terry Mattingly recently wrote a column about the efforts of some churches to create special "singles ministries" where it is possible for post-college singles to mingle and - at least potentially - find spouses. The column itself is at most tangential to my Bible studies for teens, but there is a quote at the end of the column from Dawn Eden that I believe is equally applicable to teens, and is quite applicable to this ministry:
What congregations should do is rally single adults around worship, prayer, books, the arts and service to others, she said. Then friendships and relationships can develop out of activities that strengthen the faith of those that choose to participate.
"You really don't have to dumb things down for us," said Eden. "There are plenty of ways for single adults to get less church if that is what they really want. Why not talk to some of your young adults and ask them what they really want. They may want more church _ more faith _ not less."
I am deeply concerned with ensuring that Orthodox Christian Bible studies do not "dumb down" the content for teens. It is obvious that the content must be somewhat basic and general - the target audience is in junior high through early college, not seminary or graduate school - but I strive to provide a relatively full approach to the material, rather than merely making it entertaining or removing any difficult passages. Teens need - and, as many studies indicate, increasingly want - biblical studies that, in Eden's words, gives them "more church _ more faith _ not less."
Posted in Miscellaneous
Spiritual Accountability and Bible Study
Posted on Friday, February 09, 2007 at 11:25 AM by Jason Barker
I read an article in Inside Higher Ed about ways in which Christian colleges assess and measure spiritual growth (Ted Olsen of Christianity Today correctly states, "Inside Higher Ed is a little late on the story, but it's encouraging to see them doing it at all"). I have no real opinion about the practices described, or insight into their efficacy (Orthodox psychologists like Fr. George Morelli and Fr. Gregory Jensen would be far ask about these things), but the article did make me think again about the importance of Orthodox Bible study as a communal activity.
Spiritual accountability is a central part of the Orthodox life: Orthodox Christians regularly engage in intense reflection upon our lives (in the Bible study on the Epistle to the Romans I included an article providing a spiritual checklist), which assists us in being aware of our spiritual development, and our practice of confession and direction provides some of the accountability we greatly need. While these things are at the heart of spiritual accountability, they are not the entirety of such accountability: the way in which Orthodox Christians study the Bible is also an exercise in spiritual accountability.
In an earlier post on developing credibility I wrote:
Because Orthodox Bible study is never an exclusively individual and private activity, but instead is always conducted within the Orthodox community, our Bible study applications are designed to be used in conjunction with group Bible studies in local parishes (for example, the applications contain PDF handouts designed primarily for use in these group studies). By supporting and encouraging the use of these Bible studies to the youth with whom they have a personal relationship, youth workers can go a long ways toward establishing the credibility of these studies with Orthodox youth.
Orthodox Bible study is not an isolated activity, but instead is one that intricately relates the individual to all other Christians - past, present and future - who have engaged or will engage in the study of Holy Scripture. A individual Christian teen's spiritual development must be understood and promoted within a community of peers and leaders who know and love this person, and can support and guide this person in his or her life. It is for this reason that I regularly encourage teens to not rely solely on my Bible study applications as personal tools, but also to take this material and discuss it in an Orthodox youth group. I further encourage adults to participate in these groups, both for the good of the teens and for their own growth.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Article on Print Publishers Creating MP3s
Posted on Wednesday, February 07, 2007 at 11:10 AM by Jason Barker
CNN published an article about publishers - in this case, particularly textbook publishers - creating MP3 versions of books. The statistics given for MP3 and podcast usage are similar to those I cited in an earlier post - over 50 percent of teens own an iPod, but less than five percent of their MP3 listening consists of podcasts or audio books - but the article also notes that the use of non-music MP3s is steadily increasing.
This increase can be noticed in the increased interest in - and availability of - Orthodox podcasts. I noted in a previous post that Ancient Faith Radio now has a podcast called The Path which focuses on daily scriptural reading (as does Annunciation Orthodox Church's Orthodox Word podcast), and both Ancient Faith Radio and the Orthodox Christian Network syndicate podcasts of radio programs (AFR makes available Our Life in Christ, and OCN produces Come Receive the Light, although Come Receive the Light's MP3 version has been unavailable since OCN launched its new website). Furthermore, this blog's stats show that a surprising number of people visit this blog while searching for Orthodox podcasts: at least two have done so in the last eighteen hours.
This again raises the issue of producing a podcast for Orthodox youth. I have not implemented an MP3 feature into the upcoming study of Luke (which I promise will start soon), but it may be possible to create another podcast, or to implement a podcast into the study of the Pauline epistle(s) that will be the subject of the 2008 Bible Bowl. Would you listen to a podcast for Orthodox youth, and if so, what type of podcast would you like to receive?
You can send me your feedback at the email address in the left sidebar.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Software is Hard
Posted on Monday, February 05, 2007 at 5:42 AM by Jason Barker
Salon published over the weekend an interesting interview with Scott Rosenberg, the author of a new book on Mitch Kapor's Chandler. The book - which I haven't read, but sounds like it has something in common with Fred Moody's fascinating (but out-of-print) I Sing the Body Electronic - details the three years (and counting) of development of a new PIM application. The interview makes clear that a focus of the book is more than Chandler itself:
The story of Chandler is also a platform for Rosenberg to explore much larger questions about the nature of software. Such as, why is it so hard to pull off a big project on deadline? What is it that software developers actually do? How is the art of writing software different from other forms of creative endeavor or technological construction?
I am always interested in examinations of software development projects. I am in no way a programmer: I design the applications for my Bible studies using Director and Flash (and before these I used Opus), and am dependent on the Lingo and ActionScript created by others to modify for use in my projects (at the same time, modifying and implementing these scripts is itself a complicated task). Nonetheless, because a significant part of the work I do is at least related to the type of work done by a typical development team, I always benefit from reading about the work of others.
Creating any type of interactive project is a monumental task. To use my Bible study applications as an example, creating the content - namely, the articles themselves - is only one part of the process. I must design the interface so that everything maintains a look that is attractive, consistent (this is vital), easy-to-use, and yet also does not distract from the focus on the Bible and biblical study. The design process itself is extremely complicated, as I realize that elements that seemed simple and clear in my mind are in fact quite complicated, and in the end must frequently be replaced with a different type of element (or jettisoned altogether). Scripts must be developed for each element so that it functions properly; this is often made more difficult by the fact that scripts frequently simply will not work, and thus must be debugged, and then must be extensively tested to ensure that they do not conflict with the hundreds of other scripts in the application. As the articles are placed into the application, I must go through each one to make sure that the format remains correct, and I must add hyperlinks where needed: the process of adding hyperlinks necessitates going back through earlier articles to add new hyperlinks to articles that have since been written, and testing every hyperlink to ensure that the links are not broken. Each article must also be added to the appropriate index.
There are more steps than these in the process of creating each chapter of an application (Luke will have 24 chapters), but this gives you a general idea of the workload in creating such application.
This process is complicated by the fact that almost all development teams struggle to obtain the necessary resources for their project. In my case, I am the sole worker on these projects, and thus must do all the work that would otherwise be delegated to several people in a development team. I love doing all these different tasks, but it adds greatly to the development time for a Bible study: furthermore, because I am the sole worker on these Bible study projects (as well as a number of others), any outside delay (sickness, family responsibilities, etc) completely delays a project's development. Limited financial resources further lengthens the production time, since I must find or develop free alternatives for resources that could otherwise be easily obtained if funding were available.
Thus, when you are tempted to ask, "What is the holdup in releasing chapters of the Bible study of Luke," you can already see my answer: "Software is hard!"
Posted in Miscellaneous
Fr. Stephen Freeman on Reading Scripture
Posted on Friday, February 02, 2007 at 11:25 AM by Jason Barker
In a recent post about the Orthodox approach to Scripture, Fr. Stephen Freeman makes several statements that underscore the approach I take in creating Orthodox Christian Bible studies. A representative statement:
The reading of Scripture is as important for the Church today as it has ever been. But it is vitally important that Scripture be read within the Tradition of the Church and not within the grips of those who would wrest it to some other use. The bottom line of both strains of historical methodology, is a claim that the Scriptures can be read by anyone as they would any historical document. This is not the claim of the Fathers. The Scriptures, of course, can be read in such a manner and will yield any amount of information - but they will not yield Christ in such a manner.
Examining the historical context of the biblical writings is a valuable activity, and I attempt to provide a reasonable amount of such information in my studies. Such information, however, must not be the primary - and certainly not the exclusive - focus of biblical studies: the focus must always be God, and our relationship with Him and His Church.
I recommend reading the post in its entirety.
Posted in Miscellaneous
To bring Orthodoxy to America we need more than Rhetoric
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007 at 12:11 PM by Jason Barker
In the January issue of the The Word, Fr. John Abdalah has an interesting article about the "need to be American in our embrace of freedom, and Orthodox in our correct apostolic faith and worship." Most of Fr. John's article, while important, is not directly applicable to the philosophy and methodology behind my work with Orthodox Christian Bible studies, but he makes one statement that reinforces the need for a ministry like this. He states, "Our worship must be expressive of that which God has revealed though the ages, while palatable to the now indigenous American population."
In a post last week I repeated a point I have made on numerous occasions: the Bible studies I create must be Orthodox in approach and content, and must engage in a full Bible study (rather than simply slipping Bible verses into an entertainment or pop-culture or pop-psychology package), but they also must be accessible for teens. Teens are increasingly more willing to use a computer and multimedia to learn about the Bible and religion than they are to pick up a book and read about these subjects. It is therefore imperative that these Bible studies, while being faithful to the beliefs and practices of Orthodox Christianity, also be presented in an electronic format that teens are more likely to use.
This is one way in which we can express "that which God has revealed through the ages" in a manner that is acceptable to modern generations in America.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Another Article on Youth and Reading
Posted on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 9:56 AM by Jason Barker
Albert Mohler has a new post about an article in The Washington Post by a librarian at a private school in Washington, D.C. The librarian laments the decline in reading among all youth, including the privileged for whom access to books in not a problem.
Mohler has a very significant conclusion to his post:
Librarians and secular educators have ample reason for concern, but Christians must look at this reality with an even greater concern.
Reading is an important Christian discipline. Further, growth as a Christian disciple is closely tied to the reading of the Bible, as well as worthy Christian books. This is why the Christian church has championed the cause of literacy. It is why the Reformers fought for the translation of the Scriptures into vernacular languages.
A loss of literacy and respect for the book amounts to grave danger for the Christian church. The transmission of Christian truth has been closely tied to scrolls, codices, and books throughout the history of the Church -- a legacy inherited from the Jews, who often protected the sacred scrolls with their lives.
The electronic media have their places and uses, and I am thankful for the accessibililty of so much worthy and important information through digital means. Nevertheless, the electronic screen is not the venue for lengthy, thoughtful, serious reading. The vehicle for serious reading is the book, and the Christian should be a serious reader.
At the moment there is some truth to Mohler's point that "the electronic screen is not the venue for lengthy, thoughtful, serious reading." Studies repeatedly show that reading - both the physical act of seeing the text, as well as the mental act of comprehension - is easier with the printed page than with electronic screens, and readers overwhelmingly prefer hard copy to electronic screens for lengthy reading (see the reference here to a study by M. Ziefle for one brief example). This is one of the reasons for which I provide the ability to print articles from my Bible studies (in the Romans study, which was designed for CD distribution, users could print directly from the application; in the Acts and upcoming Luke studies, users can open and print PDF copies of the articles) - the other reason is that it allows users to take the articles with them to group Bible studies, and keep copies for reading when they do not have access to the electronic versions.
At the same time, as The Washington Post article demonstrates and my recent post also states, teens generally prefer to incorporate computers and multimedia into their learning. Therefore, even though books are currently more effective than electronic texts for extended reading and learning, it is imperative to provide texts in a format that teens will use. Furthermore, as computer technology becomes easier to use, more portable, and easier to read, there will be a time when electronic texts will effectively compete with printed material not only for popular usage, but also for effective educational usage. It is essential that Orthodox Christian publishers be part of the movement toward that day, rather than belatedly attempt to respond after that period has already arrived.
My interest in Mohler's post is not, however, focused upon the effectiveness of electronic texts versus printed texts: my interest is in his accurate assertion that "growth as a Christian disciple is closely tied to the reading of the Bible." As I wrote in an earlier post:
The Bible is a substantial collection of texts: it is long, it can be difficult, but it is also vital and transformative. It is the written word of God to His people. The biblical text not only cannot be understood with a cursory reading or video-viewing, and thus the Christian cannot be transformed through such an approach, but such an approach is an affront to the God Who gave us the Bible, and His people who through the centuries faithfully wrote, translated, taught, and learned these vital books.
Concessions must be made to the learning levels and styles of youth who are not currently adept at extensive reading, and we make these concessions by providing the "Fast" overviews. We must not, however, leave Bible study at this rudimentary level. We must fully delve into the Bible with our commentaries and other articles, both for those Christian youth who are currently able and willing to immerse themselves in the Bible, and to provide resources for youth who will do so in the future. While it is conceivable that in the future there will be a more effective medium than text to engage in such extensive and transformative study, at this time text (supplemented, when possible, with other media) remains the primary vehicle for communication, and thus extended articles remain the best way for us to communicate the transformative truth of the Bible to youth.
Therefore, even if only a handful of youth are currently willing to engage in extensive Bible study - and even if in the future still fewer have developed the literacy skills necessary for textual study - you and I have an obligation to these youth to provide them with the best Bible studies of which we are capable.
Posted in Miscellaneous
World Outreach
Posted on Tuesday, January 23, 2007 at 9:44 AM by Jason Barker
The ability of the Web to enable people from around the world to access otherwise inaccessible information is nothing new: countless articles have been written about this fact.
Nonetheless, looking at statistics from this blog and the main Orthodox Christian Bible Studies site provides some very pleasing information. Our sites have received visitors from most Western nations, and some non-Western nations where there are significant numbers of Orthodox Christians (such as Lebanon and Romania), but we also have received visitors from nations where there is little access to Orthodox Christian publications. For example, we have recently received visitors from India, Thailand, Oman, Egypt, and a surprising number (given our traffic) of visits from users in Kuwait.
Our primary audience is Orthodox Christian teens in North America, but we are always pleased to provide our materials for non-Orthodox visitors. We are particularly pleased with the growing number of visitors we have received from some of the countries listed above.
All visitors can feel free to contact me at the email address in the left sidebar if you have any questions or need any assistance with our Bible studies.
Also, I want to remind our regular visitors that your support makes this ministry possible.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Multimedia Builds Learner Confidence
Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 at 10:34 AM by Jason Barker
Building on a point I made in my previous post, I earlier wrote regarding the effectiveness of multimedia educational applications in building learner confidence of success:
There are legitimate concerns regarding motivational differences between the genders. Studies have determined that males engage in substantially greater computer usage at both home and school, are more likely to participate in extracurricular computer organizations, and engage in far more elective programming activities than females. At the same time, Astrid M. Sølvberg has found that, after nine months of computer use and computer-based learning in school, females’ confidence in success and contingency beliefs reached the same level as that of males.
The issue in gender differences in motivation is not necessarily control beliefs regarding computer skills - Betty J. Young reports that there are no significant differences between males and females in self-perception of ability, with slightly more than half of both genders rating themselves as “great” or “pretty good” - but instead is with learning style preferences: a successful computer-based learning application for females offers many ways to learn and multiple format representations; supports methods of knowledge acquisition that are connected, relational and holistic; permits participation in which emotions and experiences contribute to learning; and design offers learner control. As we shall see, these are not simply ways in which to increase female involvement in computer-based learning: they are solid principles for multimedia design that will increase user success and satisfaction between both genders.
What are the elements of multimedia programs that properly motivate adolescents to learn? Thomas Malone and Mark Lepper maintain that four elements enhance intrinsic motivation: challenge, curiosity, control, and fantasy. A particularly useful theory of motivation that has much in common with Malone and Lepper’s theory is John M. Keller’s ARCS theory, which considers four elements:
- Attention - Attention must be captured early in the lesson, and maintained through perceptual and content variety (thereby maintaining curiosity)
- Relevance - Showing learners that what they are learning will be useful to them. Malone and Lepper’s concept of fantasy, in which the user is encouraged to imagine him- or herself in specific contexts using realistic imagery, can be particularly useful in demonstrating relevance
- Confidence - Three practices build learner confidence: making learning expectations clear to the learner; building the expectation for success, then providing opportunities in which the learner can be successful; and giving the learner personal control (which is essential to cognitive flexibility theory)
- Satisfaction - Several activities increase user satisfaction by enabling learners to apply knowledge in real contexts. Such activities can include providing extrinsic rewards; giving encouragement to maintain or boost morale; and by maintaining equity, which involves lesson consistency (particularly to the stated objectives and expectations).
While computer-based learning can be very effective in motivating learning, it must be remembered that motivation cannot be imposed by the multimedia developer or the instructor: the individual learner must ultimately be open and responsive to motivating elements.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Generating Teen Interest in Bible Study, Part Four: Building Learner Confidence of Success
Posted on Monday, January 22, 2007 at 9:44 AM by Jason Barker
Concluding our series on generating teen interest in Bible study. Click here to read the previous post.
Finally, adolescents can be motivated to study the Bible when they believe they will be successful in comprehending the text and transferring the knowledge to their daily lives. Edward Hootstein notes that learners have an increased expectation of success in learning when then choose the subject to be learned: Carl Rogers similarly states, “The only learning which significantly affects behavior is that learning which is self-appropriated, self-discovered." Cognitive flexibility theory further maintains that learners benefit not only from choosing the subject to be studied, but also from choosing a learning path through the subject that best suits their learning style.
Multimedia educational applications are particularly effective at building learner confidence of success. As stated above, multimedia applications enable the learner to construct his or her learning path according to needs and learning style. Furthermore, because adolescents are generally familiar with computer applications, they can feel greater confidence in their ability to find and retain information from within the multimedia environment; in fact, adolescents tend to prefer incorporating computers into their religious education and activities.
I will briefly discuss the effectiveness of multimedia educational applications in building learner confidence in my next post.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Generating Teen Interest in Bible Study, Part Three: Learner Satisfaction
Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 at 9:41 AM by Jason Barker
Continuing our brief series on generating teen interest in Bible study. Click here to read the previous post.
Learner satisfaction is developed through feedback: adolescents look to the instructor to determine if their response to a question or situation is correct. It is notable that, even when adolescents are correct about an assertion, they will change their position if the instructor discredits it. Deliberately highlighting the wisdom and value of an adolescent’s statements or involvement will motivate the individual to further participate and learn.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Generating Teen Interest in Bible Study, Part Two: Interesting Instruction
Posted on Thursday, January 18, 2007 at 8:00 AM by Jason Barker
Continuing our brief series on generating teen interest in Bible study. Click here to read the previous post.
Secondly, adolescents can be motivated to study the Bible when the instruction is interesting. Edward Hootstein recommends creating discrepancy by providing incongruous, conflictual, and paradoxical information; Bill McNabb explains this as emphasizing the challenging aspects of the Bible, highlighting areas in which its teachings challenge adolescents’ cultural biases and personal preconceptions. Hootstein also states that instruction can be made interesting by using concrete examples, analogies, metaphors, anecdotes, stories, and simulations that are accessible to the learners. Concrete teaching not only helps adolescents remember theological abstractions; it also gives them a way in which to transfer their learning to various real-life situations.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Generating Teen Interest in Bible Study, Part One: Relevance
Posted on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 at 8:40 AM by Jason Barker
I ended the previous post with a question: if there is such widespread disinterest in reading and study among teens, how can we interest teens in studying the Bible, which can be more complex than standard high school reading material?
I briefly addressed this question in my MA thesis, and I'll adapt that section of my thesis to answer the question in the next four posts (including this one). Please note that I've removed the paranthetical citations for this blog:
In [an earlier subsection of my thesis] on motivation we learned about the RISE theory of motivation (the subject matter is RELEVANT; the instruction is INTERESTING; the learner is SATISFIED; and the learner EXPECTS success). Understanding how these motivational needs influence adolescent receptivity to biblical content is essential in motivating adolescents to actively engage in transforming Bible study.
First and foremost, adolescents in the process of identity formation - i.e., of developing and asserting autonomy - require information that will constructively contribute to this process: they demand that biblical content be demonstrated as relevant to their lives by clarifying significant issues, addressing individual and social problems, and providing a reliable guide to navigation changes in both the larger culture and the constantly changing youth subcultures. Adolescents engage and interpret the Bible from within the context of events and issues in their lives; the changes they are undergoing - or, if they are experiencing foreclosure or identity diffusion, the changes they are avoiding and the defense mechanisms they are employing to avoid these changes - will influence both their interest in the Bible and the message they are currently able and willing (to use Klaus Issler and Ronald Habermas’ scheme) to comprehend. When motivated to study the Bible for guidance in their developmental issues, adolescents can conclude, in the words of one teenager, “The Bible is something I live by now. It answers every single question, and addresses every problem I've ever had. Maybe not always directly, but with God working in me, I can find the answer."
The relevance of Bible reading to daily life can be demonstrated to Orthodox Christian teens by relating statistics from the Antiochian survey revealing a correlation between Bible reading and avoiding dangerous or antisocial activity. For example, only 1.77 percent of respondents who read the Bible at least weekly (and .63 percent who read daily) engaged in pre-marital sexual relations, while the number was 7.85 percent for adolescents who infrequently or never read the Bible. Similarly, while 6.08 percent who read the Bible weekly drank alcohol in the previous twelve months (2.02 percent who read daily), the number skyrocketed to 34.43 percent of respondents who seldom read the Bible. 3.16 percent of respondents who read the Bible weekly (1.14 percent daily) admitted to smoking cigarettes in the previous month, whereas 20.12 percent who read infrequently had done so. The numbers were slightly lower regarding marijuana usage: 2.78 percent of weekly (.89 percent of daily) Bible readers admitted to having smoked marijuana, compared with 17.21 percent of infrequent readers. Finally, there is a significantly lower risk of suicide for weekly and daily Bible readers: 4.05 percent of weekly readers had considered suicide, and only .76 percent of daily readers had done so, while 23.92 percent of infrequent Bible readers had considered suicide (the percentages of those who thought they might commit suicide in the future were slightly more than half the number who had already considered the action — 2.28/.38/17.59 percent). Fr. Joseph F. Purpura concludes, “The survey data suggests that bible-reading frequency has a direct impact on behavioral outcomes of teens."
Many Christians find the adolescent demand for relevance in biblical study to be in itself unbiblical and antithetical to Christianity; such individuals believe personal application “domesticates” the Bible and desanctifies the gospel message. In reality, however, studying the Bible to answer adolescent concerns and address identity crises is an intrinsically Orthodox activity: “prophetic” biblical interpretation addresses all contemporary situations - including personal, moral and social issues - to provide “the light of the word of God for correction and guidance." John L. Boojamra addresses this point when he exhorts religious educators to “begin where people are and bring them to where the Church feels they should be:”
Any aspect of the Church’s life can be taught as typical of the whole, depending on the people with whom one is working. This, however, means selecting those aspects of the Church’s life that suit the people and, at the same time, are faithful to the given of the Church. This is not pandering to the whims of the people and betraying the Gospel; it is taking personhood, process, and community seriously.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Reading Habits of Incoming College Freshmen
Posted on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 at 8:18 PM by Jason Barker
Noel-Levitz, a firm specializing in marketing and enrollment for colleges and universities, released their 2007 National Freshman Attitudes Report, in which among other things they examined the attitudes toward reading and studying held by incoming college freshmen.
The study found that, while 46.7 percent of students claimed they get great satisfaction from reading, 39.6 stated that "books have never excited me." Furthermore, while 57.9 percent of students say that they study hard for all their courses (including the courses they dislike), 32.9 percent acknowledge their study habits to be irregular and unpredictable. In both cases, female students were significantly more literary and industrious than male students.
While college freshmen are technically beyond the target demographic for the Orthodox Christian Bible studies I create for the Department of Youth Ministry, the attitudes and habits of these students are indicative of those maintained by slightly younger teens.
This survey raises an important question: if there is such widespread disinterest in reading and study among teens, how can we interest teens in studying the Bible, which can be more complex than standard high school reading material? I will give a very brief answer to that question in my next post.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Does Corporate Publishing Determine Whether Media Creators Publish?
Posted on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 at 12:34 PM by Jason Barker
Eddie Tejada has an interesting post on if:book about the future of media industries (specifically print publishing and audio/video recording). Tejada quotes Siva Vaidhyanathan's book, The Anarchist in the Library, in which the CEO for Time Warner states that, unless pirating of music (and, presumably, other media) is squelched, artists will no longer have any impetus to create, thereby leading America into a "sort of Cultural Dark Age." Tejada responds:
The idea that "artists will have no incentive to create" without corporations' monetary promise goes against everything we know about the creative mind. Through out human history, self-expression has existed under the extreme conditions, for little or no gain; if anything, self-expression has flourished under the most unrewarding conditions. Now we that the Internet provides a medium to share information, people will create.
Piracy and copyright violation are inexcusable, and the theft of published works is a very serious problem. At the same time, however, Tejada is absolutely correct that the money to be made from corporate publishers, while certainly a significant attraction, is not going to be the determining factor in whether many - and perhaps most - artists choose to publish their works. The money that can currently be made through corporate publishing may determine where an artists publishes, but thanks to the Web usually will not determine whether an artist publishes.
There are, of course, some artists who will only create works if they are lavishly paid for their efforts, but critics repeatedly note that the crass commercialism of such creations usually results in inferior works. Their loss would hardly lead America into a cultural dark age.
Instead, while many artists will certainly publish their works through corporate media when possible - the increased audience and income provided by corporate media are most definitely not inherently bad - most artists will create works regardless of the profit potential, and thanks to the Web are now able to publish and/or disseminate their works with relatively minimal expense (and, if they use free webspace, no direct publication expense). The lack of corporate sponsorship can and does limit that amount of time many artists can spend on their work, and also can reduce the production values in the publication of that work (although the software available to non-corporate users is increasingly improving the productions of artists with a minimal production budget), but this lack of sponsorship does not mean that media creation is dependent upon high profitability for the corporations. The need for self-expression, artistic expression, and/or the imperatives generated by ideological concerns will continue to inspire publication and distribution even if the corporate media as it currently exists disappears.
I can use myself as an example. I have on several occasions turned down employment in the corporate sector (and in large educational institutions) because this employment - while frequently providing opportunities for artistic expression, and providing a vastly greater financial income than does my work for the Church - would have prevented me from completely fulfilling my calling to work in Christian educational publishing. The money I could have earned in corporate media was certainly an attraction, but ultimately it does not determine whether I create and publish assorted media.
The existence of Orthodox Christian Bible Studies is a more tangible example. There is, of course, no corporate interest in projects like these: the primary target audience of Orthodox Christian teens is too limited for significant financial profitability (at least at the level that would interest large corporations). Furthermore, even if the target audience were significantly larger, the focus on serious Bible study - which differs greatly from what is currently popular in the Bible market - would still reduce the financial profitability to a commercially unacceptable level. Despite the lack of corporate interest in projects like these, the deep concern of the Department of Youth Ministry for the upcoming generations of the Church, combined with our love for the Bible, compels us to create these Bible studies. We are not publishing these works because we are "in it for the money:" we create these Bible studies because we love God and His people. It is our calling - and our joy - to create Orthodox Christian educational resources regardless of the profit potential.
That motivation for publishing may be foreign to most corporations, but it is at the heart of the work in which I engage.
Edited on: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 10:51 PMPosted in Miscellaneous
Bradley Nassif on Scripture
Posted on Thursday, January 04, 2007 at 11:03 PM by Jason Barker
Bradley Nassif, in an article in Christianity Today that has much in common with the First Things article about which I posted yesterday, makes an important statement about Scripture within the larger context of Evangelical Protestant and Orthodox respect for the Great Tradition of Christianity:
We all agree that the Spirit's witness through the Bible is the main criterion of the church's faith. Tradition simply witnesses to, safeguards, and corrects itself by the integrity of the biblical message...I believe an increasing number of people fascinated with the early church will see that the Spirit, the Bible, tradition, and real, historical, identifiable churches are inseparably united, then as now.
Posted in Miscellaneous
The Old Testament According to Cliff's Notes
Posted on Thursday, January 04, 2007 at 10:17 AM by Jason Barker
Today's Non Sequitur gives a good reminder of the importance of accuracy when discussing the Bible.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Recent Article on Patristic Biblical Interpretation
Posted on Wednesday, January 03, 2007 at 7:21 PM by Jason Barker
R.R. Reno, in the November issue of First Things, has an interesting article on the current trend in Western colleges and seminaries toward studying patristic biblical interpretation. Among some of the statements in the article:
One of the most important new facts about Christian theology in North America is the sudden popularity of the theologians and pastors, monks and bishops, martyrs and missionaries, who first fashioned a Christian culture nearly two thousand years ago. The Church Fathers are returning as agents of renewal, guiding us toward the biblical source of a truly Christian culture...
The Church Fathers return, but what do they bring with them? Any student who picks up a treatise by one of the Fathers cannot but notice the intensely scriptural focus...
The basic patristic project was simple: to take all things captive to Christ. The Fathers did so by saturating their ideas, their lives, and their communities with Scripture. But as they return, they do not simply bring us Scripture as an undifferentiated mass of text, nor do they thrust the Bible into our hands without instructions for its use. All the power of Christian truth may reside in the biblical text, but, as the Church Fathers recognized, we need to organize our minds and sanctify our lives so that the Word of God might live in us. This requires the discipline of the rule of faith...
Seeing the truth and cleaving to it is not just a matter of having and following the right theories. Puzzling out the mosaic of Scripture is not simply a mental exercise. The patristic enterprise and the Christian culture it created shaped entire lives and not just minds. The rule of faith disciplines the whole person...
Reno's points underscore the patristic foundation for our Orthodox Christian Bible studies. These studies are not intended to merely provide intellectual content, nor are they intended as entertainment. Instead, the studies focus on Scripture as read and taught for two millennia by the Holy Fathers of the Orthodox Church. The studies I create therefore include more than the biblical text, my commentary, and study questions: they also include extensive articles - and, when available in the public domain, entire commentaries - from the saints of the Church.
The goal is to create truly ORTHODOX Christian Bible studies that assist teens in living the full Christian life.
Posted in Miscellaneous
What is Needed in Bible Study Material
Posted on Tuesday, January 02, 2007 at 7:46 PM by Jason Barker
I earlier wrote a post about some of the problems with niche study Bibles, and how such things as the Orthodox Christian Bible studies I create avoid these problems.
In some prefatory notes to a session on study Bibles at the most recent meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Barbara Brown Taylor provides an important observation about the content in some of the better study Bibles:
The study bibles with which I am most familiar assume a high level of commitment from readers who are able to read long stretches of dense print without nodding off (I am thinking now of excurses as well as the essays in the back). What are often missing are eye-teasers such as graphics, maps and boxes with provocative questions in them that might convince readers to spend their time reading a longer article. In the excurses and essays themselves, it would help to recruit writers with a gift for using accessible language that makes the text sound alive instead of like something stuck on a pin.
While I am not at this point involved in creating study Bibles, Taylor's comment is equally applicable to Bible studies. As I stated in another earlier post, the Bible studies I create contain a large number of articles, many of which are significantly longer and/or more complicated than standard teen reading material. Such articles are essential to do justice to the text and provide the reader with at least a moderate comprehension of the material.
At the same time, multimedia Bible studies provide us with the notable advantage of being able to incorporate a varied array of what Taylor calls "eye-teasers:" graphics, interactive questions, and other multimedia elements that enable the user to more fully interact with the material than is possible with solely the printed page. Taylor's comment gives us yet another example of the value of the Orthodox Christian Bible studies available on this site.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Fixed Viewing Problems with Internet Explorer
Posted on Tuesday, January 02, 2007 at 11:28 AM by Jason Barker
I've fixed a couple of problems viewing the new homepage in Internet Explorer. In both cases, IE was having some problems with javascript.
In one case, where the main Flash menu was displaying as a thumbnail rather than at full size, I temporarily removed the javascript and simply embedded the Flash file as an object. In the other case, I placed the javascript in a different cell in the table in which it is located.
Both solutions are rather "quick 'n dirty," but they seem to work for the time being.
Posted in Bible Studies, Miscellaneous
Fixed a Flash Problem
Posted on Monday, January 01, 2007 at 11:10 PM by Jason Barker
I fixed a problem with the Flash menu on the homepage. For some reason, it was a bit random on the rollover functions: for example, rolling over the "Acts" button would sometimes bring up the "Romans" description.
I added an additional script command to each of the buttons that seems to have solved the problem.
Posted in Bible Studies, Miscellaneous
Bible Explorer Available for Free
Posted on Saturday, December 30, 2006 at 1:36 PM by Jason Barker
John Fidel announced on the Bible Software Review Weblog that Bible Explorer - a Bible study application that previously retailed for around $20 dollars - is now available as a free download.
The free version of Bible Explorer contains Bible resources that are in the public domain: the King James Version, Smith's Bible Dictionary, etc. Some of these are not particularly useful to Orthodox Christians (such as Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotional and Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary), and the study resources are often, of course, a bit out-of-date, but Bible Explorer is nonetheless an adequate application for users who want a free Bible study application and do not need to engage in study of the original languages.
Members of Teen SOYO and the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America should be aware that the New King James Version - the translation used in my Bible studies and the Orthodox Study Bible - is only available for Bible Explorer as a $30 dollar download.
If you are interested in using the Opera browser to directly access free online Bible study resources (including searching the NKJV), you might want to read my post on the old blog.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
The Next Few Days...
Posted on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 1:22 PM by Jason Barker
Over the next few days I will complete the revisions to the Orthodox Christian Bible Studies home page, and then will write and upload study questions for the Gospel according to St. Luke.
I will resume blogging sometime after New Year's Day (which is also the feast day of St. Basil the Great).
Edited on: Thursday, December 28, 2006 1:32 PMPosted in Miscellaneous
Broadband Comic
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 11:24 AM by Jason Barker
Related to my earlier post about broadband penetration, today's On the FastTrack makes a good point about how improvements in Internet access simply increases our expectations.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Wanted: More Broadband
Posted on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 11:08 AM by Jason Barker
PC World has published an article claiming that the United States lags behind many other nations in the quality of U.S. broadband networks. As one paragraph states:
"We need real broadband," said Walter Mossberg, a product reviewer and technology columnist at The Wall Street Journal, speaking on a panel of tech industry observers at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. He described the broadband network in the U.S. as "pathetic" compared to what's available in other countries.
According to WebSiteOptimization.com, 76.33 percent of active American Internet users currently use broadband (the number is expected to rise to 80 percent by the end of 2006); this means that only 23.67 percent of active American Internet users access the Web through a dialup connection. The problem, according to PC World, is that U.S. broadband speeds are significantly slower than in other countries with high broadband penetration.
Statistics such as this have a significant impact on the development of online Orthodox Christian Bible studies. The relatively high penetration of broadband means that it is reasonable to develop multimedia Bible studies, which require a higher bandwidth than simple text-based articles alone. At the same time, a reasonable percentage of users continue to use dialup connections (even though that percentage is continually dropping). I address this issue by offering the majority of the textual content from our Bible studies in two formats: incorporated into the multimedia applications themselves for broadband users, and available separately as HTML documents for dialup users.
At the same time, there are limitations - excluding such previously referenced limitations as our lack of resources to create such materials - on the amount and quality of audio/video material I can incorporate into these studies. As broadband speeds increase, the amount and quality of audio/video materials online can increase.
Posted in Miscellaneous
New Yorker Article on Study Bibles
Posted on Friday, December 22, 2006 at 11:33 AM by Jason Barker
The New Yorker has published an article on study Bibles, The Good Book Business: Why publishers love the Bible. A large portion in the middle of the article provides a brief history of the proliferation of modern translations (with a notable statement by the influential translator Kenneth Barker - no relation - “We like to think that the motivation [for many modern translations] is all holy and pure, but finances do enter the picture, and publishers and Bible societies like to have their slice of the pie"), but the majority of the article focuses on the niche marketing of study Bibles.
The article has several paragraphs about "Biblezines," the popular tabloid-formatted publications marketed to teens (although, as some commentators have claimed, are probably largely chosen by parents for their teenaged children). Of particular note is a quotation of one of the ostensible "study notes" in the 2007 edition of the Revolve Biblezine:
Have you ever had a white stain appear underneath the arms of your favorite dark blouse? Don’t freak out. You can quickly give deodorant spots the boot. Just grab a spare toothbrush, dampen with a little water and liquid soap, and gently scrub until the stain fades away. As you wash away the stain, praise God for cleansing us from all the wrong things we have done. (1 John 1:9)
This quotation reminds me of a paragraph I wrote in my MA thesis (I've removed the paranthetical citations for this blog):
Interpreters and instructors must avoid the danger of trying to “fit” the biblical texts into adolescent interests. As an example of this danger, the Teen Devotional Bible describes the depiction in Genesis of the fracturing of human language at the Tower of Babel as “the result of a bunch of folks way back when who thought they were way too cool,” and similarly summarizes the Song of Songs as a dialogue between “Solomon and his love-muffin.” In another example, Revolve, a tabloid-styled Bible targeted to early adolescent girls, describes the role of Christ in the life of a Christian by comparing it to makeup: “You need a good, balanced foundation for the rest of your makeup, kinda how like Jesus is the strong foundation in our lives.” Rendering modern culture preeminent, and then adapting the biblical text to fit that culture - not to mention a consumer culture - ultimately trivializes the Bible; furthermore, many adolescents - particularly those who are not already active in the Evangelical Protestant circles which publish and promote these Bibles - will find such adaptations to be condescending and unsuccessful in meeting their needs.
I believe the last sentence summarizes the problem with these niche Bibles: they trivialize the Bible, and they are ultimately ineffective in their intended purpose. The most significant problem is that these niche study Bibles are in fact seldom truly study Bibles: they are simply the biblical text surrounded by - and too frequently, suffocated by - silly pop culture references and self-help snippets. These so-called study Bibles therefore fail, in the words of Phyllis Tickle in The New Yorker article, to "separate out the culturally transient and trashy from the eternal," and thus violate “something close to moral or spiritual barriers.”
Furthermore, even if these study Bibles were not too often simply culture-dictated fluff, they are often ineffective in their intended purpose: to repeat Mark Oppenheimer's claim from my thesis, non-Evangelical Protestants will find the Biblezines to be condescending and irrelevant. Since the stated purpose of the Biblezines is to attract individuals who do not currently read the Bible (see, for example, The New Yorker's description of the product proposal for Revolve), this is yet another significant failure of these products.
This is not to condemn the entire concept of study Bibles: my point is to criticize squeezing the Bible into a niche. The Orthodox Study Bible, for example, avoids the perils of the niche-targeted study Bibles by giving general study notes about the biblical text that are applicable to all Christians, rather than "helpful hints" that are at best only loosely related to the text (if at all related), and also are limiting the audience of the text to - for example - girls aged thirteen to sixteen in the year 2007 (and, in the Biblezine genre, literally only the year 2007).
I need to point out that there are significant differences between these so-called study Bibles and Bible studies like the studies I create. First, there is a significant difference between providing an external set of commentaries and application articles about the Bible (as the Department of Youth Ministry does with our Bible studies), and packaging a set of cultural ephemera with the biblical text in a single volume and calling it the Bible (as the Biblezines and niche study Bibles do).
Secondly, the focus of our Bible studies is always on the biblical text. The majority of the articles in each Bible study are on the text itself: textual commentary, explanations of biblical terminology, historical background, etc. In addition, the articles are grouped into three clearly-defined categories: the biblical text and commentaries; articles about life application and Orthodox faith and practice; and overview materials (summaries, handouts, and quizzes). Thus, as helpful as I hope my life application articles will be in assisting youth in applying the principles brought out in the biblical text to their lives, I never want the reader to believe that my application articles are in any way on a par with the biblical text, or believe that one of my life application articles is a complete summary of everything they need to know about the biblical text.
Posted in Bible Studies, Miscellaneous
Effects of Current Media Usage Trends on Bible Study
Posted on Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 2:09 PM by Jason Barker
In two earlier posts I commented on current trends in media usage, and some of the effects these trends are having on online publications. In this post I'd like to briefly examine some of the ways in which our online Bible studies address these trends.
In the post on comprehension issues, I discussed two effects that media usage trends are having on online publications: online publications are incorporating shorter articles with simple sentences, and they are increasingly relying upon audio and video in place of text.
Regarding the second publication trend - audio/video - one of the areas in which I hope to develop the Bible studies I create is in incorporating audio and video. While I have spent most of my career working in Christian education and publishing, I have a background in television production, and therefore greatly appreciate the advantages that audio and video can give as one of a variety of educational tools. There is one primary obstacle preventing us from incorporating quality audio/video: a lack of funds for equipment. Quality audio/video - and, as an educational tool, only high quality audio/video is effective - is very expensive to produce, and the Department of Youth Ministry does not have the resources to afford such production. If you would like to help us with this work, click here to make a donation.
Another way audio and video could be created is through submissions from Orthodox youth groups. If youth groups create videos enacting scenes from biblical books, or demonstrating situations in which youth can live out their Orthodox faith, these videos could be incorporated into our studies. These videos have three benefits:
- First, they would not stretch the resources of the Youth Department to create. Not only would the Youth Department not be forced to finance the production of these videos, but also because these videos would be user-submitted, there would not be the expectation that the production standards would meet those of professional productions.
- Second, they would allow Orthodox youth greater participation in both their parishes and in the creation of these Bible studies (plus, seeing videos of Orthodox youth in these studies would inspire other Orthodox youth groups to engage in similar activities, which would benefit everyone).
- Third, seeing Orthodox youth in action may inspire uninvolved youth to become involved in Orthodox activities.
If your youth group would like to produce videos for use in the upcoming study of the Gospel according to St. Luke, or a later study, please send me email at the link at the bottom of the left sidebar.
Returning to the main point of this post, notice how I said audio and video would be used in our Bible studies: as one of a variety of educational tools. At no time would audio or video become the exclusive educational tool used in these studies. The reason for this brings us back to the first publishing trend addressed earlier: increasingly short and simple articles.
The Bible studies I create for the Youth Department always incorporate a simple overview (e.g., "Fast Facts" in Mark and Romans, "Fast Track" in Acts, and "Quick Trip" in the upcoming study of Luke) that allows users to gain a basic understanding of the biblical chapter being studied. This is useful for study in groups, quick reviews during personal Bible study, as well as serving as a needed tool for individuals who simply would not engage in a lengthy, detailed study of the biblical chapter. A basic audio and/or video segment providing an overview of the chapter would serve a similar function.
A key difference between our Bible studies and many other youth Bible studies is that these overviews are simply one element of our Bible studies (and, notably, not the primary element). Many youth Bible studies are limited to very simple overviews of the text consisting of only a few paragraphs, much of which tends to focus on popular culture and then ends with a simple moral message or a reminder that Jesus loves you. Even worse, one video-based youth Bible study I examined while researching my MA thesis consisted almost entirely - to use one unit as an example - of youth skateboarding to a screeching rock soundtrack. At the end of the video, the youth gave their spiritual message: "We do this, cuz, like, you can be a Christian and still be cool" (that isn't an exact quote, but is very close; as you can see, the source video is not worth finding and re-watching). Such "studies" are in fact not Bible studies at all, and thus not only fail to transmit any substantial biblical knowledge and understanding, but also fail to lead to any significant transformation of the Christians involved.
In contrast, the focus of our Orthodox Christian Bible Studies is on longer commentaries, articles about the background of the text, and articles about life application and Orthodox faith and practice. The Bible is a substantial collection of texts: it is long, it can be difficult, but it is also vital and transformative. It is the written word of God to His people. The biblical text not only cannot be understood with a cursory reading or video-viewing, and thus the Christian cannot be transformed through such an approach, but such an approach is an affront to the God Who gave us the Bible, and His people who through the centuries faithfully wrote, translated, taught, and learned these vital books.
Concessions must be made to the learning levels and styles of youth who are not currently adept at extensive reading, and we make these concessions by providing the "Fast" overviews. We must not, however, leave Bible study at this rudimentary level. We must fully delve into the Bible with our commentaries and other articles, both for those Christian youth who are currently able and willing to immerse themselves in the Bible, and to provide resources for youth who will do so in the future. While it is conceivable that in the future there will be a more effective medium than text to engage in such extensive and transformative study, at this time text (supplemented, when possible, with other media) remains the primary vehicle for communication, and thus extended articles remain the best way for us to communicate the transformative truth of the Bible to youth.
Therefore, even if only a handful of youth are currently willing to engage in extensive Bible study - and even if in the future still fewer have developed the literacy skills necessary for textual study - you and I have an obligation to these youth to provide them with the best Bible studies of which we are capable.
Posted in Miscellaneous
I'm Back
Posted on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 10:58 AM by Jason Barker
I've been afflicted for two days with completely baffling computer problems (more specifically, OS problems). Each time I would click any shortcut or button on the Windows taskbar - including the "Start" button itself - Windows would experience a variety of memory errors and would crash.
I spent much of Monday afternoon and evening simply wrestling with Windows so that I could identify the problem. After testing everything of which I could think yesterday, I determined that the problem was probably the result of upgrading Opera (which, as I said in a post on the old blog, is my favorite browser).
I upgraded from Opera 9.02 to the just released 9.10. In trying to find the source of my problems I discovered that, when I upgraded from Opera 9.01 to 9.02, the new version did not completely replace the previous version, but left some of it in the system (most problematically, in the registry). Furthermore, 9.l0 changed some of the installation functions, which when combined with the remaining traces of 9.01, created a horrific number of system problems.
After a great deal of work, I finally have everything up and running properly. I'm going to catch up on work on which I've fallen behind, and should continue tomorrow my brief examination of media use and user comprehension.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Addressing Comprehension Issues with Online Bible Studies
Posted on Friday, December 15, 2006 at 8:53 PM by Jason Barker
As I noted in my previous post, there is a general move in online publishing away from extended text documents to reduced text and increased audio-visual media. In other words:
- Online publications are increasingly avoiding long, detailed articles about a subject, and instead provide shorter pieces with less-complicated sentence and paragraph structure, and correspondingly less detail.
- Online publications are increasingly relying upon audio and video elements to not only support their articles, but instead as a primary content medium.
Regarding the first point, readers approach online text as a medium to be scanned rather than read. As Steve Krug explains in his book Don't Make Me Think,
What [readers] actually do most of the time (if we’re lucky) is glance at each new page, scan some of the text, and click on the first link that catches their interest or vaguely resembles the thing they’re looking for. There are usually large parts of the page that they don’t even look at.
For example, a study by Stanford University and the Poynter Institute found that, in a typical 34-minute session of reading online news, readers chose to read three times as many news briefs as full articles, chose articles from 24 different categories of news, and read material from an average of six different - and as many as 19 - publications. In other words, online readers tend to read widely, but shallowly.
In a vicious circle, such quick, shallow reading is provoking online publishers (and, increasingly, print publishers) to publish simple and informal documents using a very limited vocabulary. The problem, as Jonathan Follett states, is
There’s no doubt that the writing that forms the core of our conversations and relationships has changed. The long missives and artful correspondence of letter writing have given way to new forms. Short pieces of informal writing are now the norm in both the professional and personal areas of our lives: e-mail, instant messaging, blogging, and others. The rules that govern this new writing style have developed quickly, in a rapidly changing technological environment. In the process of accommodating these new conventions, we’ve learned to abandon detail in our writing, and to celebrate brevity. We’re more connected in some ways—commerce is quick and easy, and transactions are lightning fast. But we may actually be communicating and understanding less, just skimming along the surface.
Additionally affecting the publication of online text publications is the second point: the increasing online use of audio and video. For example, Online video viewing increased 18 percent from October 2005 - March 2006. According to comScore, American Internet users started 3.7 billion video content streams in March 2006, with each user watching an average of 100 minutes of video content during the month. Similarly, the Consumer Internet Barometer found that 10 percent of American Internet users watch television programs online.
The problem is not online video itself: many studies have shown that curricula which combines textual and audio-video elements are more effective in enhancing learner comprehension than either medium alone. The problem is that online users, when engaging in shallow reading and/or watching short video clips, are too frequently deriving the benefits of neither medium.
In my next post I'll examine some of the ways in which I develop our Bible studies to address the problems and possibilities of current media usage trends.
Posted in Miscellaneous
Census Bureau Survey of Media Usage
Posted on Friday, December 15, 2006 at 10:39 AM by Jason Barker
The Associated Press is reporting a new survey by the Census Bureau of average yearly and daily usage of various media by Americans.
According to the survey, the average American spends nine hours interacting in some way with media each day; nearly half of this is spent watching television. The forms of media whose use increased over the last year are (in average hours used per year):
- 1,555 watching television, up from 1,467 in 2000.
- 974 listening to the radio, up from 942 in 2000.
- 195 using the Internet, up from 104.
- 86 playing video games, up from 64.
Printed media (newspapers, magazines, and books) all experienced declines in use: newspaper readership declined approximately 13 percent, magazine readership declined approximately 10 percent, and book readership declined approximately one percent.
While there is little new in these general trends, they nonetheless generate some important areas of thought regarding online publications like our interactive Bible studies.
The time spent on Internet usage experienced the greatest increase of all media: approximately 43 percent. Thus, while reading of printed media has decreased, use of the Internet - which, for all its audio and video elements, is still overwhelmingly a text-based medium - has increased dramatically.
This means that the most promising future growth area for publishing is online (a fact heavily studied by scholars such as those affiliated with the Institute for the Future of the Book). Furthermore, as I examined in my MA thesis, hypermedia is particularly well suited for Bible studies. Therefore, current work in online multimedia Bible studies is building a foundation for later online Orthodox publications in a medium that the current generation of youth - and their descendents - are most likely to utilize.
At the same time, however, online publishing suffers from a significant problem afflicting all text-based media: the general move away from extended text documents to reduced text and increased audio-visual media. In my next post I'll briefly talk about some of the implications this trend has for online Bible study, and how I believe we should respond.
Edited on: Friday, December 15, 2006 7:30 PMPosted in Miscellaneous
"We are Teachers"
Posted on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 at 9:31 AM by Jason Barker
A post on Dynamis, a daily scriptural reading and devotional from St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Wichita, KS, provides a good conclusion to yesterday's post on developing credibility for our online Bible studies:
Let each of us, in whatever station we find ourselves, remember that we are teachers. May our lives instruct in the “wholesome words...of our Lord Jesus Christ, and...the doctrine which accords with godliness” (vs. 3). Otherwise, we betray Christ. To live the Faith is not right words and pious gestures. Rather it has to do with determining when to “flee... [all kinds of evil] and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness” (vs. 11).
In case you have not read Dynamis before, I strongly recommend subscribing. You can receive a free email subscription by sending a blank email to orthodoxdynamis-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or you can subscribe to the RSS feed.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Youth and Online Learning: Establishing Credibility
Posted on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 7:53 PM by Jason Barker
In yesterday's post I briefly discussed some of the ways in which online Bible study applications are particularly useful for youth, who are frequently (if not typically) "digital natives." The blog Spotlight: Blogging the Field of Digital Media and Learning recently pointed out a significant factor with which I also concluded yesterday's post: youth will not interact with an educational resource which they believe lacks credibility.
This raises a significant issue: how can an educational resource establish its credibility so that its target audience will utilize the resource? In other words, even though our Bible studies are credible, how can youth be convinced of their credibility if they will not engage in the studies until they are assured of the credibility of the material?
For Orthodox Christian adults, the fact that the Bible studies on which I work are a ministry of the Youth Department of the Antiochian Archdiocese is generally sufficient to establish their credibility. For youth, however, such an informal institutional imprimatur is not necessarily adequate to establish credibility with them.
Youth generally assess the credibility of a source according to its acceptance or rejection by their social networks, rather than engaging in completely independent, objective study and analysis. The problem is that these youth, both individually and collectively, usually lack the critical skills and experience needed to accurately assess the value of the material they are learning.
The solution to this situation is for knowledgeable Orthodox Christians to participate in social networks and promote Orthodox Christian Bible study.
Orthodox youth workers perform an essential role in this endeavor. Because Orthodox Bible study is never an exclusively individual and private activity, but instead is always conducted within the Orthodox community, our Bible study applications are designed to be used in conjunction with group Bible studies in local parishes (for example, the applications contain PDF handouts designed primarily for use in these group studies). By supporting and encouraging the use of these Bible studies to the youth with whom they have a personal relationship, youth workers can go a long ways toward establishing the credibility of these studies with Orthodox youth.
Orthodox youth themselves can perform a similar role with their friends, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox. By recommending these Bible studies to friends who know them and trust their judgment, Orthodox youth can establish the credibility of these studies within their social networks.
Finding ways to increase personal interactivity on our website itself is another way in which credibility can be established and enhanced. For example, one thing I am currently considering adding to the upcoming study on the Gospel according to St. Luke is a way for users to submit questions about the biblical book that would be answered on the OrthodoxYouth website (similar to the Ask Abouna feature Fr. Anthony Yazge ran on the Antiochian Archdiocese's website). This would provide at least some of the interaction that many youth believe is essential in a credible resource.
"Ask Abouna" also provides another possibility for interaction. "Ask Abouna" was at one time a chat room in which youth could ask questions that could be immediately answered and discussed. An online, chat-based Bible study could be conducted from the website, as could a Bible study listserv. Such features, while potentially quite useful, would necessitate having knowledgeable and committed Orthodox Christian adults to guide and monitor the discussions, as well as financial supporters to help provide any upgrades needed in our equipment to facilitate such resources.
Do you have any comments or suggestions? If so, you can contact me at the email address in the left sidebar.
Edited on: Tuesday, December 12, 2006 8:09 PMPosted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Youth and Online Learning:
Posted on Monday, December 11, 2006 at 4:24 PM by Jason Barker
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is sponsoring, as part of their Building the Field of Digital Media and Learning initiative, a blog called Spotlight: Blogging the Field of Digital Media and Learning.
Each week the scholars involved with the blog write about a different issue. I found particularly relevant to my work in online biblical education to be the blog's week on credibility. In one post Miriam Metzger and Andrew Flanagin note:
Contemporary youth are a particularly interesting group to consider with regard to [issues involving the credibility of online resources]. On the one hand, those who have literally grown up in an environment saturated with digital media technologies can be seen as ”digital natives,” who may be highly skilled in their use of technologies to access, consume, and generate information. This view suggests that in light of their special relationship to digital technologies, youth are especially well-positioned to navigate the complex media environment successfully.
On the other hand, youth can be viewed as inhibited, in terms of their cognitive and emotional development, life experiences, and familiarity with the media apparatus. This view suggests that although youth are talented and comfortable users of technology, they may lack crucial tools that aid them to seek and consume information effectively.
Kate Wittenberg similarly points out:
While students clearly demonstrate a desire to explore freely the vast array of content and tools available through the Web, it is becoming equally clear that in many cases they do need some level of guidance concerning how to select and evaluate the information that they find.
This is very close to a point I made in my thesis for my MA in Applied Orthodox Theology (with the stultifying title, "A Foundation for Using Multimedia Software Applications as a Medium for Bible Studies for Orthodox Christian Adolescents"):
Learners with experience in hypertextual learning environments - which most adolescents now have through home and/or school Internet usage - are able to move as fluidly within the nonlinear structure as through a traditional linear educational structure; this fluidity is identical for both male and female users. This prior experience with hypertext creates within the learner a positive control belief regarding the potential for success in learning; combined with the fluid experience itself, this can often result in the learner experiencing flow (a state of intense concentration and enjoyment) while learning.
At the same time, learners who require a high degree of extrinsic control and guided learning can experience disorientation in a nonlinear, open-task learning environment. For this reason, multimedia applications are most effective when they provide both non-linear and linear learning paths: flexible, non-linear learning paths allow experienced, confident users to follow multiple informational routes; linear learning paths, however, provide the fixed structure and instructional assistance necessary to maximize the learning experience for users who require guided learning.
To use the See the Vision study of Acts as an example, users who are comfortable with non-linear learning can study by following an array of information paths:
- Choosing from a selection of articles on each chapter's home page.
- Choosing a topic of interest from one of the subject indices available from the top navigational menu of each screen; and
- Following the hyperlinks in each article to another article of interest.
Users who require a more limited informational path (or who simply want an overview of the material), however, can choose one of the resources available in the "Fast Track" menu for each chapter (the biblical text, a handout quickly surveying the chapter, and/or a quiz on the biblical text).
I believe these Bible study applications provide an effective educational resource by enabling users to tailor their learning experience to their need for more-or-less linear informational paths. Thus, to use the terminology of Metzger and Flanagin, the Bible studies provide a useful "complex media environment" that can be successfully navigated by "digital natives."
What can be said, however, about the way in which youths perceive the credibility of these studies? Even if the content and navigational structures are in fact solid - as, of course, I say they are - how can potential users determine (at least to the initial extent that they will be willing to interact with the material) the credibility of the information found in the studies?
I'll briefly talk about that in my next post. A little preview: one way credibility can be established - at least for Orthodox youth (who are, of course, the primary audience for these studies) - by youth workers.
Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Resources
Old Blog Now Available
Posted on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 at 11:57 AM by Jason Barker
The old blog for Orthodox Christian Bible Studies is again available. I had not posted to that blog since July, but you can learn about some of the decisions that went into developing "See the Vision: An Interactive Study of the Acts of the Apostles" (currently on hiatus until mid-2007).
Edited on: Thursday, December 07, 2006 10:53 AMPosted in Miscellaneous
New Blog
Posted on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 at 8:53 AM by Jason Barker
We now have a new blog discussing current developments in Orthodox Christian Bible Studies. This blog is a continuation of our old blog (which is currently inaccessible).
Posted in Miscellaneous