We invite you to join us March 10-12, 2010 in Claremont for a first-of-its-kind national conference, “Theology After Google.” Thanks to a generous grant from the Ford Foundation, we are able to keep registration costs low. Moreover, the three applicants with the best applications forms will win a free flight to Claremont and free registration for the entire conference.

Why “theology after Google”?

Progressive Christian theologians have some vitally important things to say, things that both the church and society desperately need to hear. The trouble is, we tend to deliver our message using technologies that date back to Gutenberg: books, academic articles, sermons, and so forth. We aren't making effective use of the new technologies, social media, and social networking. When it comes to effective communication of message, the Religious Right is running circles around us.

Hence the urgent need for a conference to empower the up-and-coming theologians of the next generation to do “theology after Google.” Thanks to the Ford funding, we’ve been able to assemble a stellar team of cultural creatives and experts in the new modes of communication. We are also inviting a selection of senior theologians, and well as some of the younger theologians (call them “theobloggers”) whose use of the new media (blogging, podcasts, YouTube posts) has already earned them large followings and high levels of influence. For two and a half days, in workshops and in hands-on sessions, in lectures and over drinks, these leading figures will be at your disposal to teach you everything they know.

The “Theology After Google” conference is not just about techniques, though — however important they are. It will also serve as a top-level forum in which the next generation of American theologians begin to think together about the implications of these new modes of communication. Marshall McLuhan's famous "the medium is the message" may not have been completely on the mark; still, what we say is affected by how we say it. During the time you're here, and afterwards as well, we want you as constructive theologians to share your reflections with us (and others) about what it means to do theology after Google. How are the new media changing the nature of human existence and human social connections? How are they transforming human conceptions of God, Jesus, and Christianity? And what will (and should) the church become as a result? If these discussions are as successful as we hope, the conference will eventually produce a high-impact book.

Schedule and Costs:
"Theology After Google" (TAG) will kick off with drinks and dinner on Wednesday, March 10, and will end with a closing party on Friday evening, March 12th. We have reserved a block of rooms at Hotel Claremont, which should be close to $70 for a single, and less if you choose to room with someone else. Registration for the conference is only $149 if paid by January 31st and $199 thereafter. Registration includes all meals during the conference.

* Authors of the best three registration applications will receive a free airline ticket from anywhere in the U.S., hotel, free registration and meals for the conference.