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The Relationship of Bible Medium to Bible Perception Susan Ferebee, Ph.D (Kaplan University) 8135 N Central Ave #7, Phoenix, AZ 85020 ferebees@gmail.com Dr.Ferebee holds a Ph.D in Information Systems from Nova Southeastern and certification in Neuroscience Foundations from Harvard University She performs research in persuasive technology, social media, the neuroscience of persuasion, and trust and persuasion in virtual communication, and publishes in each of these areas She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and serves as chair and committee member for dissertation students James Davis, Ph.D (University of Phoenix) 8245 N Rancho Catalina Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85704 Jd789@comcast.net Dr Davis is a Professor Emeritus from the Communications Department at the University of Arizona and currently teaches for the University of Phoenix Dr Davis has received a number of teaching and outstanding contributor awards, Dr Davis performs research related to virtual communication Currently, his research involves development of neural persuasion models Dr Davis received his Ph.D from the University of Washington in Communication and is certified in Neuroscience Foundations from Harvard University Martine Bates Sharp, Ph.D (University of Phoenix) 2218 Indian Hills Road, Hartselle, AL 35640 martinebates@gmail.com Dr.Sharp has been a faculty member at the University of Phoenix since 2004, teaching doctoral classes in research and educational leadership, serving as chair and committee member for dissertation students, and teaching residencies She serves as peer coach for new dissertation mentors Dr Sharp formerly served in several K12 schools as a teacher, principal, and central office administrator, and served an on ground university as adjunct instructor and intern supervisor She has three books in print, has had over three hundred articles published, and currently holds the position of media reviewer for a statewide denominational newspaper Stephen Beyer, Ph.D (Kaplan University) 1603 Mayflower, Richardson, TX 75081 sbeyer@kaplan.edu Dr Beyer has worked in higher education for over twenty years His primary focus of study has been on the societal uses of computing along with teaching and administrative duties Dr Beyer has an undergraduate degree from the University of North Texas and graduate degrees from the University of Texas at Edinburg and the University of North Texas Dr Beyer also serves as an acolyte at his church 2 Abstract In 2013, the Barna Group performed a study on the state of the Bible in 2013 While the study provided valuable information on the percent of Americans who read the Bible and how they perceived the Bible, the study did not address the various mediums through which the Bible is presented today (print, digital, video, and audio) Combining theoretical frameworks on medium, sacred objects, and computermediated communication, this exploratory study examines how the use of different Bible mediums (print, digital, audio, video), varies by age, gender, and education and explores the relationship between the Bible medium and the perception of the Bible as a sacred object Results reveal whether different Bible mediums are used in different environments and for different purposes, and additionally suggest the participant’s overall perception of digital Bibles Keywords: digitization, digital Bible, Bible, medium, computer-mediated communication, sacred objects The Relationship of Bible Medium to Bible Perception Introduction In 2013, the Barna Group performed research to determine the state of the Bible in 2013 They found that 88% of Americans own the Bible and desire to read it Sixty percent of those surveyed expressed a desire to read it more often, and 80% of participants said that they considered the Bible sacred According to this Barna Group research, younger adults seek guidance from the Bible on specific topics like parenting, illness, death, and relationships at a far higher percentage than the older generation, but this generation is also more likely to question the content of the Bible In this study, the results show that 21% of the American participants felt that the Bible was the Word of God with no exceptions, while 39% believed that the Bible represents either the Inspired Word of God or the actual Word of God without exception Twenty-three percent of the participants were neutral, feeling that the Bible could be the Inspired Word of God or the interpretation of the writers’ understanding of God Seventeen percent felt that the Bible was just another book of stories and teachings written by men (Barna Group, 2013) What is unclear in the Barna (2013) study is the Bible medium being referred to by survey respondents The Bible is available in print, in digital format on smartphones, tablets, computers, and audio book format As McLuhan and Fiore posited in 1967, communication channels differ with regard to the senses and thoughts that they stimulate, and each channel requires different cognitive processes They hold that the medium affects how the message is processed and interpreted Each medium (e.g., a printed book, an audio book, or an e-book) offers a symbolic context that influences the message being communicated McLuhan and Fiore theorize that people adapt to their environment, and this adaptation might, therefore affect the perception of the message Without knowing which medium the survey participants were referring to in the Barna (2013) study, we remain with an incomplete understanding of biblical use in the modern world Background and Theoretical Basis Transition from Oral to Writing to Print Ong (2002) observes that the strength of oral communication compared to written and printed communication differs, and reports that in Clanchy’s (1979) studies, written documents did not immediately lead to trust Verbal witnesses could be asked to justify or defend what they stated, whereas documents could not be questioned in the same way Ong points to an important element of the written Bible in that the stories represent written records derived from an oral-based tradition and sensibility What is meant by this is that the written record recreates events in time, based on orally communicated sequences Ong suggests that these events in time were never present visually, but only orally This supports the position of McLuhan and Fiore (1967) who state that the medium within which a message is delivered provides the symbolic context that envelops the communication Certain social contexts existed at the time of the oral storytelling that may not exist at the time the stories are read in writing or print Hearing and reading are two different contexts, and expanding this logic further, reading hand-written text, printed text, and digital text are all different contexts Ong characterizes what might be lost in the transition from oral to written scripture when he states, “In a text even the words that are there lack their full phonetic qualities In oral speech, a word must have one or another intonation or tone of voice— lively, excited, quiet, incensed, resigned, or whatever It is impossible to speak a word orally without any intonation In a text, punctuation can signal tone minimally: a question mark or a comma, for example, generally calls for the voice to be raised a bit” (p 99) Wolf (2015) suggests that the best historic moment to reflect our current transition to a digital culture is in the Greek’s movement from an oral society to a literacy-based society She points to Socrates’s belief that the endurance of the printed text could confuse youth into thinking that if it is written, it is true, and that through reading, the core of knowledge was reached Probing for deeper meaning, as could occur in dialogue, might not occur during reading With regard to digitized text, it is difficult to say whether the ability to link to related relevant information leads to the ability to probe or serves as a distraction Computer-Mediated Communication In 2015, a further level of distance and a new context emerges when the Word of God is presented in digital format on our tablets, computers, and smartphones Computer-mediated communication (CMC) theory suggests what effect the digitization might have on the interpretation and perception of the Bible According to Fulk & Collins-Jarvis, a computermediated communication is non-neutral and causes alterations in communication patterns and result in social effects (2001) Examining the influence of moving from oral communication of scripture and Bible related events to writing and print, and then additionally moving to computermediated communication, it is clear that context is changing, and there may well be a loss in the sense of interpretation and implied meaning Nass and Reeves (2003) determined that people respond to and treat technological devices as though they are human by being polite, responding differently to male and female digital voices, and by exchanging comments in a conversational way with a technology device This personalization of technological devices adds to the complexity of human interaction with digital Bibles Sacred Objects A high percentage of Americans perceive the Bible as a sacred object (Barna Group, 2013), and the question arises as to whether this perception refers to both a digital Bible and printed Bible Can holding an IPad and reading the Bible on that IPad constitute holding a sacred object, and does the Word of God remain constant in interpretation and perception across different mediums? Durkheim (1965) wrote that an object becomes sacred depending on whether people choose to consider the item’s utility, or whether they respond to other intrinsic characteristics that have little to with the utility Society bestows meaning on objects Reading a Bible on an IPad, however, provides a complex scenario A printed Bible is an object in and of itself When the Bible takes on a digital format and becomes only one of many other objects stored on that digital device, the user’s direct connection with the Bible or Word of God is mediated Fulk & Collins-Jarvis (2001) suggest that computer-mediated-communication (CMC) effects changes in how individuals communicate, and might alter communication, interpretation, and formation of social connections Ferre (1991) suggests that in considering the effect of technology on religion, technology must be defined as “all the ways in which intelligence implements practical purposes” (p 220) A horse-drawn carriage is a technology in its own time, and an African drum used to communicate is a technology as much as radio or television However, Ferre does differentiate between what he calls a “craft technology” and “high technologies” (p 220) How should one consider issues that arise when religion, the Word of God, sacred objects, and technologies combine? Ferre states that every technology represents a value and suggests that certain technologies can embody Christian values, offering that it might then be acceptable to consider “Christian technologies” (Mullins, 1990, p 222) Mullins suggests that electronic data presentation restructures our cognitive processes related to texts because electronic text is purely visual, not tactile, and as McLuhan and Fiore (1967) also suggest, this different medium calls on different cognitive and sensory processes Additionally, Mullins points out that in an electronic document, the reader chooses his own path through the material, and this again may well influence the interpretation and perception of the content Purpose of the Study This quantitative exploratory study examines the use of different Bible mediums (print, digital, audio, and video), how this use varies in general and by gender, and explores the relationship between the Bible medium and the perception of the Bible The study results also reveal whether different Bible mediums are used in different environments and for different purposes, and finally the results suggest the participants’ overall perception of digital Bibles Finally, it analyzes whether any significant differences exist between males and females in Bible usage and perception of digital Bibles Methodology This quantitative, exploratory research was conducted to determine Bible usage patterns that included the use of digital Bibles on electronic devices In Survey 1, information was gathered from a general population regarding use of both print and digital Bibles In Survey 2, information was gathered from only those who read and use digital Bibles to understand their perceptions of using the digital Bible The first survey was given to a sample from the general population, recruited through social media sites and through email This survey gathered information regarding which type of Bible, if any, the participants used, and their perception of digital Bibles compared to print Bibles Survey used categorical variables The second survey was given to only participants who use a digital Bible, and the purpose was to determine their perceptions of that experience and how and where they use their digital Bible This survey was a five-question Likert scale with responses ranging from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree The survey questions are represented in each of the Table titles in the Results section The results reported here were used to guide a future qualitative study on perception of the digital Bible 6 Analysis of Survey data was descriptive, looking at frequency, means, and standard deviations of responses Analysis of Survey included descriptive statistics as well as using a single factor Anova to determine if significant differences existed between male and female for any of the questions Participants Participants for Survey consisted of 500 respondents recruited from social media sites and through email Participants were volunteers and represented a convenience sample Of the 500 responses received, 443 were complete and with no missing values Participants for Survey consisted of 110 respondents, also recruited from social media sites and through email Of the 110 responses received, 70 were complete and with no missing values Table Participant Gender for Survey Frequency Percentage Male 233 53% Female 210 47% Total 443 100% For Survey 1, 53% of respondents were male and 47% were female Table Participant Gender for Survey Frequency Percentage Male 30 43% Female 40 57% Total 70 100% For Survey 2, 43% of respondents were male and 57% were female Results Survey The first two questions explored what Bible format was most used at home and at church 7 Table The Bible that I use most often at home is Frequency Percentage Printed Bible 216 49% IPad, Tablet Bible App 50 11% Bible App on Smartphone 24 8% Bible on CD on Computer 13 3% Audiobook Bible 68% I don’t read the Bible 127 29% TOTAL 443 100% Forty-nine percent of respondents in Survey reported using the printed Bible most often at home, while 29% reported that they not read the Bible Nineteen percent of respondents reported using a Bible app on a digital device at home Three percent use a Bible on a CD at home and less than 1% used an audiobook Bible at home Table The Bible that I use most often at church is Frequency Percentage My printed Bible 221 50% IPad, Tablet Bible App 31 7% Bible App on Smartphone 26 6% The Bible provided at church 25 5% I not use a Bible at church 140 32% TOTAL 443 100% With regard to the Bible used by Survey respondents while at church, 50% report using their own printed Bible and 32% report not using a Bible at church Thirteen percent use a Bible app on a digital device while at church, and 5% use the Bible provided by the church Table For me, personally, the experience of reading the Bible on a digital device compared to reading the printed Bible Frequency Percentage is no different 95 22% is somewhat different but is a positive experience 110 25% provides less of a connection to God 39 7% Provides a greater connection to God 14 2% allows more opportunities to connect with my spiritual world 27 5% is a negative experience 12 2% I don’t know I have never read the Bible on a digital device 146 33% TOTAL 443 100% With regard to how respondents of Survey feel about the experience of reading the on a digital device, 22% felt that there was no difference between reading the printed Bible or the digital Bible Twenty-five percent felt that the experience was somewhat different, but positive Thirty-three percent of respondents had never read the Bible on a digital device Four percent reported reading the digital Bible as a negative experience Table Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God? Frequency Percentage Yes 292 66% No 151 34% Total 443 100% Sixty-six percent of Survey respondents believe that the Bible is the Word of God Thirty-four percent not believe that the Bible is the Word of God Table Do you believe that the Bible is a sacred object? Frequency Percentage Yes 264 60% No 179 40% Total 443 100% Sixty percent of Survey respondents believe that the Bible is a sacred object, and 40% believe that it is not Table In your opinion, can holding a digital device with the Bible on it be considered holding a sacred object Frequency Percentage Yes 105 24% No 208 47% Unsure 130 29% Total 443 100% Twenty-four percent of Survey respondents felt that holding a digital device with the Bible on it could be considered holding a sacred object Seventy-six percent did not believe it could be considered a sacred object, or were unsure Survey The descriptive statistics for each question in the Likert scale survey is shown in Table The response range for these questions was – Strongly Agree, – Agree, – Not Sure, – Disagree, and – Strongly Disagree Table Using a digital Bible encourages me to read and/or study the Bible more often Encourage More Mean 1.928571 Standard Error 0.09614 Median Mode Standard Deviation 0.804362 Sample Variance 0.646998 Kurtosis 1.152184 Skewness 0.991652 Range Minimum Maximum Sum 135 Count 70 Confidence Level(95.0%)0.191793 The mean response for whether the digital Bible encouraged respondents to read and/or study the Bible more often was – Agree, with the range of responses being between and with a standard deviation of 804 Table 10 I use a virtual Bible in different contexts and/or different places than I use my printed Bible 10 The mean response for whether the virtual Bible was used in different contexts and different places than the printed Bible was – Agree, with the range of responses being between and with a standard deviation of 659 Table 11 I consider my digital Bible to be as authentic as my printed Bible The mean response for whether the virtual Bible was perceived to be as authentic as the printed Bible was – Agree, with the range of responses being between and with a standard deviation of 851 Table 12 I like to receive daily Bible scripture or devotional messages by text or email 11 The mean response for whether the virtual Bible was perceived to be as authentic as the printed Bible was 2.5 between Agree and Not Sure, with the range of responses being between and with a standard deviation of 1.5 This is the only question in which responses of Strongly Disagree were recorded There were 10 responses of Strongly Disagree, all from males (representing 1/3 of the male responses) Table 13 I read the Bible more for spiritual guidance than for education The mean response for whether the virtual Bible was perceived to be as authentic as the printed Bible was 2.64 between Agree and Not Sure, with the range of responses being between and with a standard deviation of 1.29 12 Additional analysis was performed to determine if any significant differences existed for Gender across the five questions Two questions showed significant difference in the responses by males and females Table 14 Single Factor Anova for differences in males and females for question: Using a digital Bible encourages me to read/study the Bible more often There was a significant difference (P-value 00005) between males and females with regard to whether using a digital Bible encouraged them to read/study the Bible more often Males were significantly more likely than females to be encouraged to read/study the Bible more often when using a digital Bible Table 15 Single Factor Anova for differences in males and females for question: I like to receive daily Bible scripture or devotional messages by text or email There was a significant difference (P-value 001) between males and females with regard to whether they like to receive Bible scripture or devotional messages by email or text Females liked to receive Bible scripture of devotional messages by text or email significantly more than males 13 Discussion The influence of computer-mediation is shown in participants’ responses to whether a digital Bible is considered a sacred object The computer-mediated experience of reading and holding the Bible on a digital device influenced respondents’ perception of the Bible as a sacred object in the digital medium supporting Fulk & Collins-Jarvis (2001) suggestion that computer-mediated communication has social effects The Barna Group (2014) shows that in 2011, 86% of the people considered the Bible to be sacred, down in 2014 to 79% It is possible that increased use of digital Bibles contributes to this decline in perception of the Bible as a sacred object However, the fact that almost a quarter of participants felt that a digital Bible on an electronic device could be considered a sacred object, supports Durkhem (1965) that society bestows meaning on objects based on intrinsic characteristics beyond only the utility of the item The results here suggest that individuals have the ability to confer a sacred meaning to an object on a digital device, and supports Ferre’s (1991) concept that values can be attributed to technologies There is a contrast between the participants’ belief that the digital Bible is as authentic as the printed Bible and whether or not a digital Bible could be considered sacred While all participants felt that using a digital Bible persuaded more reading and study of the Bible, males were significantly more persuaded than females to a greater reading/studying of the Bible through the use of digital Bibles In contrast, females showed a significantly greater desire than males to receive Bible scripture and devotional messages through text and email Although males and females were not significantly different in their perception of the digital Bible, they show significant differences in how they might use the digital Bible Males are persuaded toward proactive engagement with the Bible when in digital format, while females respond to automatically receiving daily Bible messages The goal of a good exploratory study is to suggest new or additional directions for further research Fortunately, the present study provides a number of additional questions that should be addressed Clearly, additional demographic factors such as age, length of belief, denomination, socio-economic status, and level of education should be introduced into the model suggested here to determine if these factors make significant contributions to understanding who uses a digital Bible Furthermore, several important questions are raised by this preliminary study Why will people use a digital Bible? What gains are anticipated by the use of a digital Bible? In addition, if a person were in a foreign country where Bible use is not allowed, would use of a digital Bible would be potentiated due to safety and security concerns We expect more questions to flow from future research The importance of sacred texts to our culture, and to the cultures of the entire world, can hardly be overstated People conduct their daily life based upon sacred text content, and they justify making peace and war using the words of sacred texts Understanding the spectrum of delivery methods such as digital, and how it affects that content, is therefore crucial for understanding the influence of words that men and women consider holy 14 References Barna Group (2013) What Americans really think about theBible? Retrieved from http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/609-what-do-americans-really-think-about-theBible Barna Group (2014) The state of the Bible: trends for 2014 Retrieved from https://www.barna.org/barna-update/culture/664-the-state-of-the-bible-6trends-for-2014#.VQ4O-Y7Yz_8 Clanchy, M.T (1979) From Memory to Written Record: England, 1066–1307 Cambridge, MA.: Harvard University Press Durkheim, E (1965) The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life Translated by J W Swain New York: The Free Press Ferre, F (1991) Technological faith and Christian doubt Faith and Philosophy , 8(2), 214-224 Fulk, J & Collins-Jarvis, L (2001) Wired meetings: Technological mediation of organizational gatherings In L.L Putnam & F.M Jablins (Eds.), New handbook of organizational communication 624-703, Newbury Park, CA: Sage McLuhan, M & Fiore, Q (1967) The Medium is the massage: An inventory of effects Random House Mullins, P (1990) Sacred Text in an Electronic Age Biblical Theology Bulletin: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 98-106 doi:10.1177/014610799002000302 Ong, W (2002) Orality and literacy New York: Routledge Reeves, B & (2003) The Media Equation: How people treat computers, televisions, and new media like real people and places Stanford: CSLI Publications Tanis, M (2003) Cues to identity in CMC The impact on person perception and subsequent interaction outcomes Unpublished master’s thesis, University of Amsterdam Wolf, M (2015) Our ‘deep reading’ brain: Its digital evolution poses questions Retrieved from http://niemanreports.org/articles/our-deep-reading-brain-its-digital-evolution-posesquestions/ 15 ... really think about theBible? Retrieved from http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/609-what-do-americans-really-think-about-theBible Barna Group (2014) The state of the Bible: trends for 2014... Bible: trends for 2014 Retrieved from https://www.barna.org/barna-update/culture/664-the-state-of-the -bible- 6trends-for-2014#.VQ4O-Y7Yz_8 Clanchy, M.T (1979) From Memory to Written Record: England,... Amsterdam Wolf, M (2015) Our ‘deep reading’ brain: Its digital evolution poses questions Retrieved from http://niemanreports.org/articles/our-deep-reading-brain-its -digital- evolution-posesquestions/
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