People of the Screen
How Evangelicals Created the Digital Bible and How It Shapes Their Reading of Scripture
By John Dyer
Oxford, 272 pages, $29.95
Recent technological advances have revolutionized how people approach texts and media. This is no less true for people of faith and their scriptures than it is for the secular world. About 40 years ago, a transformation began for the Bible, a transformation not of content but of format. In 1982, the first commercially available digital Bible software (aptly named “The Word Processor”) was released, aimed at helping pastors in research and sermon preparation.
With the advent of the internet in the 1990s came digital Bibles on websites, and more recently digital Bible apps on smartphones have increased in popularity. This change in how Christians access the Bible is on par with the first-century shift from scroll to codex and the 15th-century invention of the printing press. In People of the Screen, John Dyer examines this change to understand its trajectory and its implications for people’s engagement with the Bible. Evangelical Christians historically have placed a significant value on reading, knowing, and understanding the Bible.
Thus, it is not surprising that evangelicals have been at the forefront of the digital Bible’s development. Its development is multifaceted and complex, however, and stands at the intersection of religious values, a certain attitude to cultural change, and various societal factors.
Dyer argues that evangelicals’ work in this area is driven by a Hopeful Entrepreneurial Pragmatism. Those involved in the development of the digital Bible are (1) hopeful regarding the role technology can play in ministry and personal spiritual growth, (2) entrepreneurial in their creative use of technology and their business methods, and (3) pragmatic about what “works” rather than guided by a belief system or spiritual authority.
Dyer sets the stage for his work by examining how evangelical culture approaches the Bible, technology, and business. Then, through interviews with programmers at three Bible software companies, he assesses how these companies approach product, process, and profit. The programmers he interviewed expressed a strong sense of mission in their work, focused on increasing engagement with the Bible in order to help people progress spiritually and see change in their lives. This attitude seemed to stem from their involvement with evangelical institutions and churches. Elements of Hopeful Entrepreneurial Pragmatism were also present, as they used their technological expertise to contribute to building brand new ways to access Scripture.
These programmers in the software industry do not make choices in a void. Dyer presents research from three evangelical churches in the Dallas area, analyzing the effects of the digital Bible on these readers’ engagement with Scripture. Participants were interviewed and were asked to complete a Bible comprehension assessment and 10-day reading plan, some using print Bibles and some using a digital app. Most of those interviewed showed comfort and familiarity with using both print and digital Bibles.
Their choice of which one to use in any given situation depended on social context, their specific activity and purpose, and convenience. Men showed higher comprehension with a print Bible than with a digital Bible, but women showed similar comprehension with both media. Participants were more consistent about completing the 10-day reading plan with the digital app than with print Bibles.
Dyer’s analysis provides a comprehensive, detailed assessment of the historical and sociological factors behind current digital Bible software. An understanding of this material is beneficial for Bible readers, as it shows how the motivations of the app developers influence the results for consumers. For the most part, Dyer avoids both theological analysis and value judgements, which was intentional on his part, but the theologically informed reader may feel a lack there.
The results of his study of Bible readers were interesting, but most of them needed to be qualified significantly or required more research to confirm and validate. Dyer’s research is a peek into the brave new world of digital Bibles, but more time is needed to see the full effect it will have on Christians and their engagement with the Bible.
