Review: The Social Church: A Theology of Digital Communication

The Social Church: A Theology of Digital Communication by Justin Wise
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being a millennial, the first portion of the book was quite a challenge to read through, because I could not really appreciate the dialogue of how the world was like before our modern day digital communications (at least not as well as the boomers). Yes I grew up with dial up internet and Compact Discs (CDs), but I felt that too many pages were committed to setting the stage for the primary substantives to come later. Initially I guessed that Justin Wise's primary audience was targeted at the latter group.

But I was so WRONG! The content started to get really interesting towards the end, where I felt that finally Justin is writing to me as well! And he provided some really valuable and sagely advice for us eager tech-savvy youngsters who feel that our tech-handicapped church leaders ought to go online. What would that be? I highlight recommend that you purchase the book (or borrow it) to find out! The couple of chapters towards the end of the book swayed me toward increasing the stars from 3 to 4. What then could make this a 5 star book? Perhaps for future revisions, the front material could be edited for brevity, and have a final product of 100 pages (down from the current 180).

I received this book from the Moody Publishers Newsroom program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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Review: What Would Jesus Post?: Seven Principles Christians Should Follow in Social Media

What Would Jesus Post?: Seven Principles Christians Should Follow in Social Media by Brian D. Wassom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thankfully the book was not as legalistic as the title hinted it could potentially be. The first section of the book provided many practical nuggets of advice that any social media savvy person would probably find useful. However I felt that the author was trying to write more chapters than what would have necessary. if Wassom were to cut out the fluffy chapters in the middle, this would have easily gotten 4 or even 5 stars (even with the many shortcomings that I am about to discuss in a moment).

Perhaps if marketed as a secular book, it could reach a larger audience. After all, the author makes many references to pop culture and general trivia, which probably will not be the average's Christian reader's area of interest. Also, the references to the bible were far too little if the author wants to support a thesis that is worded with Jesus' name. While the WWJP title seems to be rather catchy or attention grabbing, the author really have invested a bucket load more effort into citing passages from the gospels (or any other part of the bible) to explain what Jesus would post on social media.

I would recommend reading this book (especially if a friend or a library would lend you one) but I do not think that it is a book that you would want to keep on your bookshelf for time eternal.

I received this ebook from the Harpercollins’ Booklook Bloggers Program in exchange for this review.

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