Blog Post 4: Catholic Social Shaping of Technology and Approaches to Text

These frescos depict biblical stories for those of the Catholic faith in the early centuries who could not read

The Catholic approach to sacred text has changed drastically throughout the years. In the past centuries, stories of the bible were told on the walls in fresco paint. Nowadays, the Catholic religion has shifted to private readings of the bible (even on their phones)! Due to the ideas of the Social Shaping of Technology, the Catholic church’s approach to sacred texts has changed throughout the centuries from one of illiteracy and dependency to technological empowerment.

The Catholic approach to sacred texts can be described as the way and the medium that the Catholic religion both disseminates information about and consumes their holy beliefs; however, these media of dissemination have shifted over the years due to the Social Shaping of Technology. This Social Shaping can be described as the process of “examining group social processes’ influence on technology negotiation” (Campbell, 2019). This process argues that religious groups can redevelop technology to fit their needs. This process of redeveloping the social use of technology in relation to sacred texts can be seen in the Catholic church, both in the past and the present.

In the past, the approach to text was seen as a community effort; however, due to the Social Shaping of Technology, previous years have seen a boom in technological use within the church. In previous centuries, the members of the Catholic congregation were uneducated commoners who “could not read or afford a book” (Kutys, n.d.). Therefore, when they went to church, it was a community gathering. The congregation would seat themselves in the pews, and the Pope would read from a Bible, using the stories of the frescos on the walls to illustrate the stories he read from the Bible. However, “popular reading and ownership of books began to flourish only after the invention of the printing press” (Kutys, n.d.). After the printing press, the bible was actually one of the most commonly printed books. In this aspect, we can see how Social Shaping of Technology comes into play: The Catholic religion adapted the printing press technology to fit their needs and ways of worship. This Social Shaping of Technology has continued throughout the years: “the advent of the radio in the 1930s and then television in the 1950s quickly led to the rise of televangelism, where both Catholics and Protestants appropriated these new technologies as tools to proclaim their beliefs to a mass audience” (Campbell, 2010). Even now, the Catholic church has adopted technology such as iPhones to read their Bibles when mobile. Due to this idea of technology as a way of dissemination for religious uses, the Catholic church has now harnessed the uses of media to further globalize the religion and empower their members.

A bookstore in Venice that had an entire room dedicated to religious texts. Now, Catholics are even more empowered, literate, and independent thanks to the Social Shaping of Technology.

Campbell, Heidi. (2010). Considering Communal Discourse, When Religion Meets New Media (pp. 135-161). Retrieved from https://books.google.it/books?id=AWh\_AgAAQBAJ

Campbell, Heidi. (2019). COMM480: Social Shaping of Technology, week 1 [PowerPoint Slides].

Kutys, D. (n.d.). Changes in Catholic Attitudes Toward Bible Readings. Retrieved April 3, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/understanding-the-bible/study-materials/articles/changes-in-catholic-attitudes-toward-bible-readings.cfm