Magazine

Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine
ISSN 1076-027X / Volume 4, Number 3 / March 1, 1997

Searching for Meaning Online

John December introduces this special issue, edited by Michel Bauwens, which focuses on spiritual life online. The online world need not be considered "neutral" in its spiritual aspects, nor purely technological in what we can do with it.

SPECIAL FOCUS: SPIRITUALITY ONLINE

Techgnosis, Infomysticism, and the War Against Entropy

Are we are about to weave a Universe Wide Web of intercommunication? Are we on the verge of understanding our universe as an "infoverse" in which mind is a key force, rather than an accidental epiphenomenon? Steve Mizrach explores the metaphysical implications of these questions.

The Emerging Faith Communities of Cyberspace

Does God surf the Internet? Charles Henderson, the organizing pastor of The First Church of Cyberspace, addresses this question, sorting out the sacred from the profane on the Net.

Sacralization of Hyperlink Geometry

Can the hyperlinks of the Web be woven into something that unleashes human potential? Anthony N. Judge describes a project ot use hypertext to configure seemingly unrelated, or opposing, perspectives and understandings.

Teilhard de Chardin and the Noosphere

No other thinker is so often cited as a techno-spiritual forerunner as Teilhard de Chardin, coiner of the concept of the noosphere, usually associated with the Internet. In this essay, Paulist Father Rev. Cunningham goes back to the Teilhard's original text to explain the philosopher's own evolution.

The Last Link: The Future Shape of Religious Structures

Will digital beings will evolve to mediate new forms of spirituality and religious experience? Richard Thieme suggests that religious structures can flourish and continue to exist in the electronic media, but they will be influenced by global, virtual, and cross-cultural realities.

Letters to the editor always welcome: mailto:john@december.com