In the Beginning Was the Word: Theological Reflections on Language and Technical Media in the Context of the Gospel of John

Abstract

A proper theological perspective on technical media is not possible without a thorough consideration of the role of language in Christianity. Christian theology can gain this perspective in view of the fact that the sphere of language and that of technical media have a large cultural space in common and that language occupies a central position in the theological tradition. A representative example of the theology of language is the Gospel of John, which portrays Jesus Christ as the eternal Word of God who was sent into the world to proclaim God’s incarnate words. The “Word-in-flesh”, that is, in the flesh of human language, is fully normative to the “Word-in-the-beginning”. The term “flesh” may be normative in the full scale of its relevant application, as it may denote and cover all kinds of technical media such as the human body, the printed book and the digital computer. As possible carriers of the incarnate words of the Word, these material media may, to some extent, share the glory of the risen Christ. A theory of God’s Medium and media, as inspired by the Gospel of John, is necessarily at variance with secular media theory.