The Medium is the Mass Sage (part 1)
April 26, 2008 by Mark
“The medium is the message.” The phrase is pregnant with meaning. It arose from decades of study by Marshall McLuhan into the nature of communication and its impact on culture. As his insights deepened, he adapted his famous phrase to say, “The medium is the massage,” and “The medium is the mass age.”
I was first exposed to Marshall McLuhan in 1996 by my professor, Dr. Stephen McKenna, at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC. Two years later, McLuhan’s insights on the impact of electronic media on human cognition became the foundation for my graduate thesis for Barry University’s Communication program. This essay is largely based on that work, which has evolved over the past decade.
McLuhan’s famous statement is essentially bottomless. I believe EO accurately interprets it when it says the following: “[T[he tools we use to communicate a message can shape that message in ways we may or may not intend.”
The question EO puts before us is this: If the medium affects the message, how will the Christian message be affected by the new media?
I offer the following potential response: “The medium is the mass sage.”
I say potential because new media presents a broad opportunity that may or may not be seized. I offer this essay as a catalyst to that end. Through the effective discernment and utilitization of new media, a multi-generational chorus of Christians and churches can rise like sages in every area of natural and spiritual calling to address the hard questions with Biblical truth and love. New media has opened a door to proclaim and demonstrate gospel transformation in every area of life. It will not be open forever.
A Rare Historical Window
I define new media here as all forms of media delivered interactively over the Internet. The rise of new media has pushed content creation, filtering, delivery, and ingestion into the hands of anyone, anywhere.
History tells us it is impossible to predict the unintended consequences of new media on society and on the spread of the gospel of Christ. Yet, today’s communication trends are not without precedent. The rise of mass literacy through the Greek alphabet in the 6th century B.C. sparked the rise of propagation of Greek thought forms.
Similarly, Gutenberg’s printing press spread knowledge—particularly of the Bible—to the masses, beginning in Europe in 1452. This was the catalyst for both the Protestant Reformation and the Industrial Revolution, elevating Western culture to predominance on the global scene.
New media could be used to reverse this. Or it could be used to prune away the worst of the West and preserve the best. There is no question that the Christian message will go forth. The Risen Christ will see to that. The question is whether the West as we know it—including a framework of government-protected liberties—will continue to be friendly to gospel-centered individuals and communities over the coming generations. What do you see happening? Do you think this is an overstatement?
There is a common thread between the rise of the Greek alphabet, the printing press, and the new media. In each case, the power to send and receive information has been pushed into more hands, resulting in the rapid spread of ideas with less central control. The precedents of the Greek alphabet and the printing press tell us the cultural impact of new media will be seismic, but they cannot tell us exactly where the fault lines will be. My research over the past 10 years has led me to several observations, which I offer here.
New media can be evaluated in both natural and spiritual terms. These perspectives are not mutually exclusive, but interdependent. This points to the underlying truth at the very root of all that I will say. The Bible reveals a Triune God, one being in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Unity and Diversity are eternal, and they are mysteriously one in God. This unity-in-diversity pervades the natural creation and the spiritual redemption of fallen mankind. I aim to reflect that truth in the natural and spiritual considerations that follow.
