Texting in Class and Church: Butt Cheeks and Fear of Hell

Because several of the classes I teach have to do with how to read and interpret texts (particularly biblical texts) , contexts, and intertextuality...I actually encourage students to send me text messages in class.

They often look at me as if I am kidding, even afraid I will confiscate their phone if they do.

...Or worse! Check out this shocking video (HT Michael),  revealing one professor's policy on texting :in class:

 Here's one teacher who welcomes texting in class:


And how about church?  Our friend and local pastor Kevin Foster responds to text message questions and comments as part of his sermon..  Kevin is the one who introduced me to Earl Creps and his quote, If they are not texting, they are not listening.

Compare that to one church's policy on cell phones (video below) Hell is pretty strict, huh?



FPU professor  (and Textpert) Greg Camp introduced me to the brilliant idea of having students text me in class. 

I ask them to send me a random text message (anything) or to forward me a text message from their inbox.   These become our curriculum for the next few minutes as we interpret them.


This opens great discussion..sometimes even about topics discussed in " Is There a Meaning in This Text?: The Bible, the Reader, and the Morality of Literary Knowledge."

And very often I get a text that says, "The university president just emailed, notifying that all classes get out early today."

I usually tell the "butt cheeks" story (inspired by Pastor John Christie's use of that text) in classes where students text, to illustrate context.


Suffice to say that's a different text than "but, cheeks."

Suffice to say the whole idea of texting in class has proven to be a fruitful means of discussing the only thing we ever engage in, and the only job we have:

interpreting text messages.

Huh?

Increasingly, the definition of text is becoming:

"any message, in any medium, intended to communicate anything"



Movies are texts; conversations at St. Arbuck's are texts. etc


So the primary discipline/skill/art we should cultivate is that of sending and interpreting text messages.


All of life is a text message.


Of course, when dealing with The Text (Scripture), how much more...

Text, subtext, and context is everything.


Text me..

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Related, see my popular posts on "signs" (even though that is another class, namely "semiotics")...they, too, are text message and need to be interpreted.

Signs, album 1
Signs, album 2