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Note: This essay first appeared in the
January 2009 Baptist Studies Bulletin.
While recent decades have witnessed an era of unparalleled
technological advances, Baptists of the seventeenth century enjoyed
the benefits of early modern technology. The American Computer Museum
in Bozeman, Montana, houses one of the few exact replicas of the
Gutenberg printing press, an 1816 reproduction of the original
fifteenth century machine that earlier belonged to the American Bible
Society in New York. To stand in front of this machine is to marvel at
how this wooden contraption changed the world, altering the dynamics
of communications in the Reformation era and the century following. In
a similar fashion, the Internet of the late twentieth and early
twenty-first centuries has served to alter the course of
communications.
While Baptists had
nothing to do with the invention of moveable print, the Gutenberg press
provided a means of cheap, mass communication for disseminating the views of
the persecuted, small sect. The Protestant Reformation enabled the birth of
Baptists; the Gutenberg press facilitated the spread of Baptist ideals throughout
the western world.
Today, Baptists are
participants in the unfolding saga of an online digital revolution, a
development that has thoroughly transformed the dissemination of Baptist
ideals in our contemporary setting. Whereas the early days of the Internet
focused on email and personal web pages, today's Baptist churches increasingly
depend on email, web sites, and online audio and video to communicate with
members and the wider world. Baptist academic institutions are harnessing the
popularity of the virtual world to broadcast the best of historic Baptist
ideals to the worldwide public. In a similar fashion, some Baptist historical
organizations, local churches, and advocacy groups are utilizing the Internet
to resurrect long-shelved Baptist classics and reconnect with the legacies of
Baptist leaders of an earlier era.
In short, modern
technology offers opportunity and peril for Baptists celebrating 400
years of existence, cast primarily in the context of the daily shaping and
re-shaping of Baptist images and vision. Thus far,
moderate (traditional) Baptist voices lag behind fundamentalist and
Calvinistic efforts in terms of effectively utilizing the Internet. In
addition, the recent selections of the top ten religion stories by
moderate Baptist journalists and observers
on the one hand, and
fundamentalist Southern Baptist spokesperson Al Mohler on the other hand,
echo the ideological chasm in contemporary Baptist life.
To obtain a
perspective on the diversity of Baptist voices clamoring for attention in
today's world of digital communication, try "googling" the following terms and
note the sources that appear on the first page of search results: "baptist
history," "baptist theology," "baptist beliefs," "baptist doctrine," "baptist
studies," and "baptist news." You will find formal denominational voices and
credentialed scholars competing with the opinions of grassroots individual
Baptists, independent advocacy groups, and local churches. In many instances,
denomination and academy have difficulty obtaining a hearing in this public
digital forum, reflective of the leveling influence of the Internet.
Finally, data from
Google searches reveal insights into the types of Baptists online users are
seeking on the Internet: last year, internet users sought information about
"southern baptists" and "missionary baptists" 135,000 times each, while
"independent baptists" garnered 33,100 monthly queries and "reformed baptists"
9,900 monthly searches. By way of comparison, "cooperative baptist fellowship"
netted 3,600 monthly searches, while about 1,000 monthly searches were
conducted for "baptist world alliance," approximately 480 monthly searches for
"traditional baptists," and about 200 monthly searches for "moderate baptists."
In 2109, what
conclusions will historians be drawing concerning the successes and failures
of Baptists in terms of utilizing early twenty-first century communication
tools? The answers are now being shaped in cyberspace.
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