This essay is a powerful illustration of what is possible when we allow ourselves to live in wonder and curiosity, to approach other stories with an open mind, and to hold our own stories with a degree of humility that makes learning possible. I’m making it a practice to collect stories from my more conservative …
Three new resources that I find particularly powerful in media education are the following: the 2017 issue focused on “Agency” of the Journal of Media Literacy (available for free) Sonja Vivienne’s book, Digital Identity and Everyday Activism: Sharing Private Stories with Networked Publics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016) Henry Jenkins’ book, By Any Media Necessary: the New Activism …
I frequently invite people — in my classes, in church settings — to do theological reflection using commercials. Patricia O’Connell Killen long ago published a lovely book with an excellent process in it for more general theological reflection, which I have adapted. You can download my handout, based on her book. And here are some …
As we pray and remember this Holocaust Remembrance Day, it is worth noting the “power of individual stories.” Javier Torres writes: It was that Sunday morning I truly understood that part of our mandate is to preserve and share stories like Judy’s. Through her story, and the stories of many others found here in the …
That’s the substance of a profound essay by Serene Jones appearing at Time.com. Her prescription for healing America’s spiritual pain? “We need a new common narrative about who we are as a country.” I won’t quote the whole essay — please read it! — but here’s an excerpt: As Americans, we have a “theological” national story we tell …
Rainbowfamilytree.com calls itself a “Haven for Queer Digital Storytellers and their friends and families.” Using the core processes of digital storytelling this site (StoryingFaith.org) advocates, RainbowFamilyTree offers dozens of stories created by individuals who seek to share both the joys and the sorrows of their experiences as GLBTQ people in the world. No matter your …
Creative Narrations is a nonprofit that does a lot of work on digital storytelling. They have a website with a huge archive of digital stories, and lots of other resources.
I wish we had found this site earlier, before it went into archive mode. I love the idea of finding ways to share stories that people have crafted about their lives. It’s the heart of why I think digital storytelling is a form of faith formation. So here are some stories by other people — …
Leaf Seligman tells a powerful story in this TEDx talk about the ways in which the stories we tell can make and break connection, can draw us beyond the “either/or” worlds too many of us inhabit.
Here’s an interesting example of inviting popular films into sustained engagement in faith formation — all through the mechanism of Sunday School!