The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to
the issues associated with media:
how exposure to differing media, irrespective of content, influences individuals or societies. Further,
the course is self-consciously theistic; attempting to understand individual
and social behavior, and the influences thereon, within a theistic
framework. We survey significant figures in the field of Media Ecology, from Socrates (who objected to writing) through Jacques Ellul, Marshall McLuhan, Walter Ong, Neil Postman, and others. The link list below Postman's image contains some web-accessible items: Geraldine E. Forsberg's "Media Ecology and Theology," the home page of the Media Ecology Association (with video of Camille Paglia, Marshall McLuhan, Neil Postman, et al.). The Amoskeag Presbyterian link can take you to a conference I did there entitled "Reformed Worship in the Electronic Age."
