Technology and Faith

Steven Johnson.  Everything Bad is Good for You. (2005)  ISBN: 978159448194

This book has nothing to do with faith but provides a very interesting argument on why technology is actually making us smarter.  He makes some interesting arguments that are counter-intuitive, but hard to ignore.

Mark Bauerlein. The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes our Future.  (2008).  ISBN: 9781585427123

    This book serves as a nice counterpoint to the Johnson book.  The writing is a bit more difficult, but Bauerlein's whole premise is based on the fact that we simply don't read enough anymore.

Shane Hipps

Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes our Faith (2009)  ISBN: 9780310293217 Link

The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture : How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church (2006)  ISBN: 9780310262749 Link

Shane Hipps is a very engaging writer.  Both of these books are good and cover similar content, but I like the Hidden Power the best.  Shane Hipps brings in Marshall McLuhan's perspective to describe faith implications of technology.  His perspective is a bit more corporate than my perspective.  He talks about issues of the church in general and comes up with some great insights. One of my top picks.

Jacques Ellul.  The Humiliation of the Word  (2001) ISBN: 9780802800695 Link to Barnes & Noble

For me, Ellul was one of the foremost philosophers who struggled to bring together the fields of Media and Faith.  The book is definitely a philosophy book and not always easy to get through, but worth the extra work.

Neil Postman:

Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1993) ISBN: 9780679745402 Link to Barnes & Noble

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in an Age of Show Business (2005 revised ed., 1986 original ed.)  ISBN:  9780143036531 Link to Barnes and Noble

These two books are considered the "standard" in the field of media ecology.  While they don't deal too much with issues of faith, his insights are terrific and they are both excellent reads.