I understand what is meant by the title.  I have read Clayton's article of 1/19/2010 by the same name and Chad Holtz's response dated 2/25/31010.  

Assuming we are discussing 'communication,' the title might be Theology AfterThe Next Pervasive Way People Connect.  That would let it remain relevant after Facebook :-) and be more consistent with the findings of the recent Pew Research Center Publication "Social Media & Mobile Internet Use Among Teens and Young Adults."  Those findings suggest communicating by blogging for those under 30 is on the wane.  Interestingly that group is not flocking to Twitter but is currently making high utilization of Facebook.  

It seems the question is whether the current under 30 population will morph to where some iteration of the church is or whether the church, with all of its over 30 people, have to morph to where people under 30 (now and any future time) are.  

I have to confess upfront that I am not the most technologically sophisticated theologian in the world.  That is related to the fact that I have never been interested in automobile engines or video games or pinball maschines, I could never rewire the electricity in my house, or build a house, etc.  I like to read and write, and occasionally see a movie!  I don't even watch T.V. that much.  I do like e-mail a lot!  That is a great invention.

During the years when I received my formal education (1975-1991), I never experienced a power-point presentation or used a blog or some other computer-generated medium as a means for communicating theological ideas.  I suppose I am the typical representative of what this upcoming conference is designed to overcome: the nerdy academic theologian who teaches based on written texts (books and articles) and for whom journals and books are the preferred media for publications.  Thankfully, I have made one foray into this brave new world: I published an article in a peer-reviewed online journal for which there is no paper trail ("What Every Beginning Student Needs to Know about Nineteenth-Century Protestant Theology," Religion Compass 2:6 [2008]: 961-978, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2008.00107.x).

I am reminded of the facts of history in this respect, namely, that new technologies have had an important impact upon theology and its dissemination.  I read one entry that spoke of "From Guttenberg to Google," and that is an important reference.  The Protestant Reformation was heavily dependent upon the invention of the printing press in the 15th century.  Indeed, it is not far-fetched to say that the Reformation could never have succeeded without this technology.  But one can go even further back in history, specifically, to the origins of Christianity.  The Christian writings that eventually became canonized as the "New Testament" were never written on scrolls.  Rather, Christians availed themselves of the "codex," i.e., the book.  So too, non-canonical Christian writings such as those found in the Coptic Gnostic Library at Nag Hammadi utilized the codex.  So too, there is every reason to believe that those theologians who avail themselves of the internet and related technologies may have a much more significant impact than those who continue to rely on the older media.

For all these reasons, I am grateful to have been invited to participate in this conference.  I intend to learn a lot and to amend my ways!  As a liberal Protestant theologian in a post-Protestant culture, there are important ideas I need to communicate and if I want to reach a wider audience with these ideas, then I must avail myself of the technological possibilities now offered to us in our historical time and place.