Technefication: The Art and Craft of Utilizing Technology in Spiritual Practices

This dissertation claims there is an underutilization of technology in the church resulting in the bifurcation of the sacred and secular and asserts that the church needs to leverage the power of mobile devices to integrate spiritual practices and everyday life. Section 1 enters the discussion of technophobia and its effect on relationships with God and with others. Section 2 names a few ways the church has attempted to help people integrate spiritual practices into their daily lives through hiring a Spiritual Formation Pastor, encouraging involvement in small groups, and developing Bible apps. These attempts have taken great steps forward; however, there is still a need for further integration into everyday life. Section 3 proposes reclaiming the original definition of techne, art or craft, in technology as it relates to spiritual practices. I propose the idea that spiritual practices can be technified so technology and social media are integrated into spiritual practices, thus unifying them. Sections 4 and 5 outline the specifications of a website designed to demonstrate the process of technefication using Scripture and photos from our photo streams. The artifact itself is a website of technefication, which combines ScriptureTags, hashtags, photos, and short devotions to produce images that are personal to users, encourage them to see God’s promises in their daily lives, and are memorable to them