When I was first sent as a missionary to Austria I was almost immediately invited to a theological commission meeting for churches in Central Europe. This seems like a great idea until I realized that in the commission meetings everyone spoke German. Suddenly my PhD didn’t really mean a whole lot. Even when I could understand what the discussion was about, I really couldn’t say anything. And if I did say anything I sounded like a five-year-old because that was about the level of my German at the time. Without the language all your knowledge, all of your insights, and all of your experience is locked up inside of you and it cannot be communicated.
It is no different when we come to the cultural realm of digitally mediated relationships. It is a realm and a culture with its own language. It is a visual language, and an aural language. It is a language with its own forms and grammar. And if you don’t communicate in that language then you can’t be heard, or you will seem like a metaphorical five-year-old. Even if you have a PhD.
My own podcast efforts are a pretty good example. The content is good. But I haven’t learned how to speak the aural language of the medium, and I don’t yet really understand the forms and grammar. So my podcasts do not sound good. What am I going to do? In this case I don’t have time to learn to use the tools to bring the quality of my podcasts to where they need to be. So I’ve hired an expert. And experts are available on sites like fiverr.com and others for a reasonable cost. You can hear the problems I’m trying to overcome. https://interfaith-encounters.simplecast.com
On the other hand, learning to speak the visual language of the new media fascinates me. And I have spent considerable time trying to learn it. I’m getting better. But I didn’t learn German in just a few months, and it is foolish to believe that I will learn the visual language of the new media in just a few months. But we're getting there: But I’m getting there: https://www.youtube.com/c/InterfaithEncounters
People with PhD‘s tend to look down on those they see as mere technicians. But the scriptwriter, the cinematographer, or the audio engineer has had to work every bit as long and hard and master every bit as great a body of knowledge as anyone with a PhD in theology, history, psychology, or math. And we need them, because without them we cannot translate our insights into the language of contemporary society.
And when they become partners with theologians the result can be spectacular. More importantly, if theologians don’t want to be their partners then we will lose our voice, as we have been losing it steadily for the last century.
The same thing is true of the English language spoken between generations. And I don’t just mean the mastery of a few idiomatic terms. There is been a good deal of research done on how people respond emotionally to certain words and phrases, depending on their generation. I have a doctoral student doing just this kind of research now and her bibliography runs to dozens of contemporary works dating to the 1990’s.
What is notable is that words and phrases that create a positive emotional response in the baby boomer generation can create a profoundly negative response among Millennials and Gen Xers. They are as powerfully discriminatory as sexist and racist language.
This means pragmatically is that a lecture, or Sunday school lesson, or a sermon that has a strong positive impact for one generation can have a strong negative impact on another generation. And this is not necessarily because of the content. It is simply because of the selection of words and phrases used to convey that content. The difference can be even more dramatic if the two generations are also raised into different cultural environments, for example the environment that exists entirely outside the church and the environment that exists inside the church.
This does not mean that the situation is hopeless. It simply means that we must attend to the way we appear to others, whether it is visually, linguistically, or aurally.
Living and working in Austria it became paramount for me to learn German. Just as living and working in Malaysia it became paramount for me to learn Malay. I now regard it as paramount to learn the visual and aural language of contemporary culture and society. Because grownups don’t pay attention to five-year-olds, however otherwise precocious.
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