The great symbol drain of Christianity: Neil Postman and the postmodern church

Abstract

The postmodern church is one that embeds within it the trappings of the digital age. These institutions, whether manifesting as a megachurch with thousands of congregants or a humble emergent church with an intricate website and decent local following, tend to default to therapeutic modes of operating their churches; for instance, the implementation of stage lighting, projection screens or contemporary music serves to create an emotional response from congregants rather than one of spiritual reflection. This article seeks to understand the church in this current moment within a media ecological framework. First, it attends to the postmodern church, considering three major components that comprise the model: modern architecture, in-house technology, and internet and social media use. Next, the article attends to Neil Postman’s work, particularly Technopoly, Amusing Ourselves to Death, and an essay written in ETC: A Review of General Semantics about propaganda to understand the media ecological underpinnings of the digital age. Finally, the article addresses the implications of the postmodern church as made evident through Postman’s scholarship. Overall, this article seeks to address the question: ‘How can the work of media ecologists aid in the understanding of the postmodern, digitized church’, using Postman as the primary scholar of interest.