"A moderate diversity of books?" The challenge of new media to the practice of Christian theology

What is commonly known as "theology" has been a major agent by which the meaning of Christianity has been developed and expressed, and a central means by which coherence and continuity have been constructed in Christian identities in the diverse contexts in which they have found themselves across different times and in different places. Though theology can be embodied in a variety of expressive forms or genres, and though it is informed by a variety of affective experiences and sensory inputs, it is primarily an intellectual exercise. Macquarrie (1966) defined theology as "the study which, through participation in and reflection upon a religious faith, seeks to express the content of this faith in the clearest and most coherent language possible" (p. 1). For Tillich (1951), theology is an indispensable element in every religion: If taken in the broadest sense of the term, theology, the logos or the reasoning about theos (God and divine things) is as old as religion. Thinking pervades all the spiritual activities of man (sic). Man would not be spiritual without words, thoughts, concepts. (p. 15)&lt