More Than a Pretty Face: Using Embodied Lutheran Theology to Evaluate Community-Building in Online Social Networks

The online social network phenomenon has forever changed the way we think about ourselves in relation to our neighbors. But do these massively popular networks actually build community? More Than a Pretty Face invites us to consider the present and future challenges of the Digital Age and offers resources from Lutheran theology, notably from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, that call into question many of the assumptions that support a disembodied understanding of community. What remains is a genuine call for a vibrant theology of embodiment. By recognizing the distinctive features of physical communities, Christians can discern which digital social technologies embrace a view of humanity that necessarily includes the body. There is no need for either the polar extremes of neo-Luddism or the uncritical embrace of all things digital. Rather, Christians are called to respond to needs of the community with empathy, intimacy, and physicality.

Joel Oesch is Associate Professor of Theology and Director of Graduate Studies in Theology at Concordia University Irvine.