Since its inception, The Davenant Institute has sought to find out what it means to exercise Christian wisdom in a technologized and digital age. This is one reason I have always felt right at home here, since the burden of my own academic work—first in my short book Enduring Divine Absence, and then in my longer Bulwarks of Unbelief—has been the study of how techno-modernity changes what it feels like to be a Christian, a theist, or even just a plain old human being.
One of the most unique ways in which Davenant has concretely addressed these issues is through our recently established program, funded by a prestigious Lilly Grant, “Congregational Life in the Digital Age.” This is a three year program in which Davenant teachers and outside scholars are working with 12 local pastors in our region (SC, NC, GA) to reason through the impact of the digital era on church life, and to ask (in concert) what is to be done.
The first year of this program involves six two-day retreats at a cabin in the foothills of South Carolina. Several of these occurred at Davenant House, and the remainder will occur elsewhere. I have been privileged to run these events, and am always joined by fellow scholars from both within and without the Davenant Institute, including Brad Littlejohn, Alastair Roberts, and L.M. Sacasas. One of the benefits of this is that the fruits of different disciplines are brought to bear on the topic. In these six sessions, the pastors are working through a curriculum of reading (developed by Davenant scholars) on the various “fronts” of the digital world (i.e. impact on communities, on romance, on politics, etc). The readings include Heidegger, Jon Askonas, Anton Barba-Kay’s recent but epochal A Web of Our Own Making, readings from techno-optimists, as well as a few novels and films. These sessions are seminar style and are surrounded by food and fellowship in the woods. Most of the attendees stay on sight for the event. The atmosphere is excellent for thick collaboration and the pastors have been very energized. And indeed, friendships outside the cohort are developing between these men and Davenant employees. (The army of friends continues to swell its ranks!)
The second year will have fewer “direct” get-togethers, and will rather be an opportunity to look at their congregational life in light of all we have discussed the previous year. And here the various clergy will think through some way to engage their congregations about these matters (e.g. Sunday school, a conference, or any more creative suggestions). The Lilly Grant has a generous portion of subgrant funding available to these men to accomplish such an initiative without undue stress.
Finally, in the third year of the program, the goal is to collate our collection of projects on the backside, evaluate what went well and did not, and likely develop a “final product” for aid to other churches. This could take the form of a curriculum, though it need not. Nevertheless, there is a desire in that last year to bring the project into some final unity that can be made available to others.
If you had asked me just over 10 years ago when Davenant was founded what kind of work I hoped we’d be doing to help Christians faithfully navigate modernity with the wisdom of the ages, I would have been hard pressed to think of something better than this Lilly Grant project. If this project sounds like something you want to see multiply in order to bless churches beyond the SC/NC/GA region, then let me exhort you to donate today to help us do just that in 2025 and beyond.
Joseph Minich
Teaching Fellow