History shows that how the Churches respond to technological innovations such as artificial intelligence and new ways of communicating is impossible to predict. Amid the inevitable surprises, the only certainty is that the message as well as the medium will change

We Irish seem to have a knack for storytelling. Maybe it’s the old Bardic tradition, or the result of being born on an island, or maybe it’s just the “gift of the gab”, as we like to say. In my latest book, Christianity at the Crossroads, based on the Gifford Lectures I delivered in 2021, my aim was to tell stories that would help readers understand some of the great trends in world Christianity over half of a millennium between two communications revolutions – print and digital media – but to do it in a fresh way, considering how people and ideas move from place to place and get changed. In search of explanations, social historians like me tend to focus on underlying structures, trends and big themes – analytical categories more than personal narratives. Hence, there is often a tension between narrative history, or stories, and identifying deeper levels of causation. I tried to do both by carefully selecting stories with deeper meanings.

Get Instant Access

Continue Reading

Register for free to read this article in full

REGISTER

Subscribe for unlimited access

SUBSCRIBE NOW

From just £37.50 quarterly

  Print copy of The Tablet delivered directly to your door.
  Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
  Access to the weekly digital copy of The Tablet.
  Full access to The Tablet’s archive – over 180 years of back issues.

Already a subscriber? Login