Disciplines
• Library Science
• Information Technology
Impact of religion: Some would argue
that religion created the information revolution.
The desire to have and to understand the
record of religious thought and theology
helped create what is now a mass market
for information. Early Christian records
moved from verbal memorization to papyrus
scroll to parchment codex or book, which
was portable and easily referenced. Moveable
type meant books such as Bibles were no
longer prohibitively expensive, didn't take
a long time to produce and were available
in vernacular translations outside Latin.
This 16th-century revolution could be compared
to today's Internet, allowing easy access
to a multitude of information with no "gatekeeper."
Historically, religion has been one of the
first elements of society to embrace technological
advances, from the printing press to radio
to the Internet. Though some religions have
been criticized at various points in their
history for controlling and censoring information,
historically religiously affiliated institutions
such as Christian monasteries and Islamic
libraries have preserved important religious,
philosophical and scientific texts across
the ages. This archiving not only preserved
information but encouraged the ideology
of placing value on information.
Modern
information technology and library science
- with its focus on improving learning,
information organization and retrieval,
human invention and innovation, and dissemination
of new technologies and processes - could
look to religion as a model of how information
and technology have been used over the centuries
and today.
Religion and technology:
Religions aim to meet human spiritual, social
and community needs. As technology has changed
- changing both how people communicate the
how communities are structured - religions
have adapted to and used these new ways
to communicate thoughts and ideas. Information
and communities available on the Internet
have taken religion to a place begun with
the Protestant Reformation and printing
of vernacular Bibles - it allows people
to develop spirituality outside of the traditional
power structures such as churches or religious
leaders. Advances in technology have also
been useful in preserving and disseminating
religious texts. Today, people can read
the entire Bible, Koran and other texts
on-line, and many sites are searchable by
chapter, phrase or keyword.
Houses of worship,
denominations and faiths have Web sites
where you can find everything from what
time services are, to the address, to basic
beliefs and pro- and con- arguments about
the faith. Virtual seminaries are changing
religious education, and digitized resources
are available for schools and churches.
Hundreds - possibly thousands - of texts,
from journals to literature and primary
sources - are available digitized and for
free over the Internet. The Virtual Vatican
site allows researchers to access the Vatican
library and virtually examine objects such
as 15th-century manuscripts. The Holy Land
Satellite Atlas with a CD-ROM contains satellite
maps of the Middle East and software permitting
students to "fly" over the terrain
of biblical sites.
Issues today:
Advances in technology bring with them new
ethical debates. One could examine whether
on-line religious communities provide the
same connection as "real" ones,
and whether the Internet functions to bind
a real-world community together or disconnect
members from each other. The Internet has
made pornography, infidelity, child crimes
and identity crimes more accessible, which
poses new challenges for a community as
a whole and ethical dilemmas for some in
the religious community who believe the
Internet can be used for good, but has great
propensity for evil.
While some would deem
exposure to other belief systems found through
the Internet an enhancement to their spirituality,
some religious leaders are concerned exposure
to other religions or criticism about their
religion could weaken believers' adherence
or cause spiritual ruin. Still, the field
of religion and technology poses many opportunities
for those in the information technology
or library profession. Cataloguing and making
available the thousands of religious documents
that exist can inform us about the past
and our views of religion today. With the
expanding global marketplace, they could
make digital texts accessible in previously
unavailable languages and allow access to
documents previously unseen in nations around
the world. Having these resources available
opens the global public to information that
previously may have been unavailable, in
some countries even suppressed, possibly
for religious reasons.
There is increased
interest in religion, with discovery of
texts such as the Gospel of Judas, and Dan
Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code."
Having access to information digitally and
easily can put "primary documents"
into people's hands as they explore questions
about faith. Maintaining the religious record
in new ways also makes them accessible for
younger generations who grew up with this
technology and will naturally utilize it
in years to come.
American
Academy of Religion Syllabi Search
Association of Christian Librarians
Association of Jewish Libraries
Catholic Library Association
Church and Synagogue Library Association
Fellowship of Christian Librarians and Information Specialists
• See a full list of professional associations and resources here.
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