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Institute for Faith and Learning
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      • 2022 Art Seeking Understanding
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      • Starting Points
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    • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
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    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
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    • The Christian Reflection Project
      • Acedia
      • Advent Ethics
      • Aging
      • Anger
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      • Chastity
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Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Virtual Lives
  • Faith Animating Online Education
  • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
  • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
  • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
  • Recommended Reading
  • External Resources
  • The Christian Reflection Project
    • Acedia
    • Advent Ethics
    • Aging
    • Anger
    • Apocalyptic Vision
    • Attentive Patience
    • The Book of Acts
    • Caring for Creation
    • Catechism
    • Chastity
    • Children
    • Christianity and Islam
    • Christmas and Epiphany
    • Cities and Towns
    • Cloning
    • Consumerism
    • Death
    • Disability
    • Easter
    • Food and Hunger
    • Forgiveness
    • Freedom
    • Friendship
    • Gambling Culture
    • Generosity
    • Global Wealth
    • Health
    • Heaven and Hell
    • Hospitality
    • Immigration
    • Inklings of Glory
    • Lent
    • The Letter of James
    • Marriage
    • Membership
    • Monasticism Old and New
    • Moral Landscape of Creation
    • Mysticism
    • Parables
    • Patterns of Violence
    • Peace and War
    • Pentecost
    • Pornographic Culture
    • Prayer
    • Prison
    • Prophetic Ethics
    • Racism
    • Sabbath
    • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
    • Scripture
    • Sermon on the Mount
    • Singing Our Lives
    • Sports
    • Suffering
    • Traveling Well
    • Virtual Lives
    • Vocation
    • Where Wisdom Is Found
    • Women and the Church
    • Women in the Bible
    • Work

Virtual Lives

The astonishing new information technologies--computers, smart- phones, interactive television, and more--are fraught with moral ambiguity. They can enhance our friendships, extend our knowledge, and overcome barriers of time and distance. But they can also draw us into virtual lives that are careless, unreflective, and unguarded by our moral practices.

To see why mobile connectivity is both compelling and unsettling, Doug Henry distinguishes two ways of desiring information--curiositas and studiositas. Kevin Miller explores what we might learn from complex Amish attempts to use information technology in ways that preserve the meaningfulness of time and wholeness of community.

Robert Woods and Paul Patton provide guidelines for faithfully evaluating media technologies. Heidi Campbell and Paul Teusner review how the Internet is reshaping the authority of religious institutions. Cameron Moore employs C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien's theory of fantastic imagination to evaluate moral decision making within immersive fantasy video games.

The study guides and lesson plans integrate Bible study, prayer, and worship to examine how new information technologies can shape and misshape our discipleship. The guides can be used in a series or individually. You may download and reproduce them for personal or group use.

Download the entire Virtual Lives issue and the set of five Study Guides. Or, download individual pieces by clicking the titles below.

Articles

  • "Curiosity and Smartphones," by Douglas V. Henry
  • "Technological Prudence: What the Amish Can Teach Us" by Kevin D. Miller
  • "Faithful Criticism of Popular Media Technologies," by Robert H. Woods Jr. and Paul D. Patton
  • "Religious Authority in the Age of the Internet," by Heidi A. Campbell and Paul Emerson Teusner
  • "Making Moral Choices in Video Games," by J. Cameron Moore

Art

  • "The Field of Experience and Sensation," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Edward Hopper, New York Movie and Sunlight in a Cafeteria
  • "Prayer in a Fourth Dimension," by Heidi J. Hornik, on Salvador Dali, Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubus)

Hymn and Worship Service

  • "Full of Love and Christian Virtue," by Ann Bell Worley
  • Worship Service by Ann Bell Worley

Inspirational Piece

  • "Putting Ourselves Out There: Making Our Virtual Lives Virtuous," by Amy R. Grizzle Kane

Book Reviews

  • "Living Virtuously in the Virtual Age," by Jason Byassee
    • Craig Detweiler, ed., Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God
    • John Palfrey and Urs Gasser, Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives
    • Quentin J. Schultze, Habits of the High-Tech Heart
  • "Virtual Reality Comes to Church," by L. Roger Owens
    • Douglas Estes, SimChurch: Being the Church in the Virtual World
    • Shane Hipps, Flickering Pixels: How Technology Shapes Your Faith
    • Jesse Rice, The Church of Facebook: How the Hyperconnected Are Redefining Community
    • Quentin J. Schultze, High-Tech Worship? Using Presentational Technologies Wisely

Study Guides and Lesson Plans (Download the set of five Study Guides)

  • "Curiosity and Smartphones"
  • "Technological Prudence: What the Amish Can Teach Us"
  • "Faithful Criticism of Popular Media Technologies"
  • "Religious Authority in the Age of the Internet"
  • "Making Moral Choices in Video Games"
Baylor BU Institute for Faith and Learning Media and Resources The Christian Reflection Project Virtual Lives
  • About
    Back
    • Staff
  • Conferences and Symposiums
    Back
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture
      Back
      • 2022 Art Seeking Understanding
        Back
        • Call for Proposals
        • Conference Schedule
        • Key Information and Frequently Asked Questions
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
      • 2021 Living Accountably
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2019 The Character of the University
        Back
        • Plenary and Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2018 Stewardship of Creation
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2017 The Bible and the Reformation
        Back
        • Co-Sponsors
        • Featured Speakers and Panels
        • Video Archive
      • 2016 Higher Learning
        Back
        • Featured Speakers and Panels
        • Video Archive
      • 2015 The Spirit of Sports
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2014 Faith and Film
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2013 Kierkegaard: A Christian Thinker for Our Time?
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2012 Technology and Human Flourishing
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2011 Educating for Wisdom in the 21st Century University
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2010 Human Dignity and the Future of Health Care
        Back
        • Featured Speakers
        • Video Archive
      • 2009 Secularization and Revival
        Back
        • Video Archive
      • 2008 Bottom-Up Approaches to Global Poverty
      • 2007 Friendship
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
      Back
      • Bailey Lecture Video Archive
    • Other Conferences and Events
      Back
      • IFL@25
        Back
        • Select Pictures from IFL@25
      • 2019 LFP National Conference
        Back
        • Presenters
      • Art & Soul
      • Pruit Memorial Symposium
        Back
        • 2001 Celebrating Augustine's Confessions
        • 2002 Christianity and Economics
        • 2003 The Schooled Heart
        • 2004 Slavery, Oppression, and Prejudice
        • 2005 Global Christianity
      • Baylor University Medical Ethics Seminar
        Back
        • 2016 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2017 Medical Ethics Seminar
        • 2018 Medical Ethics Seminar
      • One-Time Conferences
  • Programs
    Back
    • Communio: A Retreat for Baylor Educators
    • William Carey Crane Scholars Program
      Back
      • Additional Information
    • Missio
    • Forming Character in the Classroom
      Back
      • About the Program: Called to Character
      • Past Workshops
    • Reading Groups and Guest Speakers
    • Soundings Project
  • Media and Resources
    Back
    • Faith Animating Online Education
      Back
      • Starting Points
      • A Christian Imagination about Online Education?
      • Cultivating Character and Online Learning
      • Additional Resources
    • Institute for Faith and Learning Video Archive
    • Baylor Symposium on Faith and Culture Video Archive
    • Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture in Christian Ethics
    • Recommended Reading
    • External Resources
    • The Christian Reflection Project
      Back
      • Acedia
      • Advent Ethics
      • Aging
      • Anger
      • Apocalyptic Vision
      • Attentive Patience
      • The Book of Acts
      • Caring for Creation
      • Catechism
      • Chastity
      • Children
      • Christianity and Islam
      • Christmas and Epiphany
      • Cities and Towns
      • Cloning
      • Consumerism
      • Death
      • Disability
      • Easter
      • Food and Hunger
      • Forgiveness
      • Freedom
      • Friendship
      • Gambling Culture
      • Generosity
      • Global Wealth
      • Health
      • Heaven and Hell
      • Hospitality
      • Immigration
      • Inklings of Glory
      • Lent
      • The Letter of James
      • Marriage
      • Membership
      • Monasticism Old and New
      • Moral Landscape of Creation
      • Mysticism
      • Parables
      • Patterns of Violence
      • Peace and War
      • Pentecost
      • Pornographic Culture
      • Prayer
      • Prison
      • Prophetic Ethics
      • Racism
      • Sabbath
      • Schools in a Pluralist Culture
      • Scripture
      • Sermon on the Mount
      • Singing Our Lives
      • Sports
      • Suffering
      • Traveling Well
      • Virtual Lives
      • Vocation
      • Where Wisdom Is Found
      • Women and the Church
      • Women in the Bible
      • Work
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