Proceedings of the International Conference on Theology, Humanities and Christian Education 2022 (ICONTHCE 2022)
Conference Name: Proceedings of the International Conference on Theology, Humanities and Christian Education 2022 (ICONTHCE 2022)
Date: 27-28 October 2022
Location: Medan, Indonesia (Offline)
Website: http://www.iconthce.org/about/ Digitalization is not only a product of technology, but it has reshaped the culture that affects the lives of mankind in all aspects. The internet and the various platforms that exist to support human digital activities have taken over many things. There have been significant changes in economic, social, and especially religious life. Financial transactions are now mostly done cashless. Traditional markets are turning to digital services so that all human needs can be ordered online and delivered to the doorstep. Digital automation has become a new artifact in various ways so that there are no longer long queues of people everywhere. Likewise, meetings that used to be strictly coordinated in face-to-face forums can now be efficiently conducted platform-based from anywhere without having to be in the same physical space. Geographical constraints in distance, space, and time are no longer a problem for humans because the internet has overcome everything. Humans have arrived in an era where everything is converted into data that drives things or the Internet of Things era. Digital automation is a new color that dominates human life on earth that is still unfinished, and will still move toward surprising new directions. The construction of human spirituality is one aspect that has been reshaped by digitalization. Significant changes have occurred in how humans shape and manifest their spiritual experiences through rites, rituals, and worship. The internet has facilitated online worship gatherings so that physical presence in a church building is no longer considered the only concept of worship. The experience can now be formed anywhere and at any time. It does not depend on the tools or mechanisms of implementation but rather on the response built by the religious community. It appears that the face of contemporary religion is the shift of various traditional forms into new concepts based on digital technology. From here, we know the terms online church, digital church, online worship, digital fellowship, and metaverse church, all summarized in a new world called cyberspace. The face of contemporary Christianity has undergone a metamorphosis. Christian religious institutions and all their followers have arrived at a new horizon where physical-based offline religious practices and internet and cyberspace-based online religious practices have merged within boundaries that are not easily identifiable. This happens because digital media has dominantly facilitated modern religious practices. On the other hand, religious movements and networks are changing their nature from physical-based geographical space to the digital space of cyberspace. This change forces pastors, theologians, institutional churches, and laity to communicate and deliver Christian messages using new media. Thus, how people experience, understand, and practice their faith in contemporary times has also changed. The catalyst for all these changes is twofold. First, the Industrial Revolution 4.0 has led humans to move from computer-based machine automation to data-driven internet automation and artificial intelligence. This automation can make predictions and work precisely because everything is calculated based on data. The second is forming an Intelligent 5.0 society that lives in a networking society pattern. Society’s dependence on the internet and all the technology that comes with it has changed social patterns and mechanisms. There are various new forms of relationships and the formation of perspectives on things now controlled by the internet. Based on data released by the We Are Social website, the total population of the earth, according to the United Nations, in January 2023 was 8.1 billion people. The data shows that there are 5.44 billion people who use cell phones, and 5.16 billion are recorded as active internet users. The global internet penetration rate has reached 65.6%. Social media users are 4.76 billion people, or equivalent to 59.4% of the total world population. This data is a growing trend and shows how the world’s population will experience digital growth that is likely to increase exponentially. This means that in addition to offering the intrusion of the internet in our lives, on the other hand, we must all be prepared for the next surge of the world’s digitalization wave with the presence of artificial intelligence and humanoid robots that may one day replace human functions as pastors, Christian teachers, and household assistants. Therefore, humans need to prepare themselves for the changes currently taking place and the significant changes that will take place in the future. Research needs to be done not only to map the changes on the one hand but also to provide educational aspects so that humans can prepare themselves. This is why the theme of The International Conference on Theology and Christian Education (ICONTHCE) in 2022 is deliberately focused on religion in the life of digital society. Implementing this theme extends not only to religious practices but includes everything related to the purposes of religion itself, of which Christian education is one of the most important. ICONTHCE is one of the platforms presented to accommodate studies and the results of the scientific thinking of theologians and academics in the scope of Indonesian Christian religious universities. Through this conference, the Indonesian experience in the scientific scope will be brought to the level of global thinking. Thus, there will be a contribution from Indonesian academics to making a better world. Sonny Eli Zaluchu
Editor in Chief ICONTHCE 2022 October 2023
Date: 27-28 October 2022
Location: Medan, Indonesia (Offline)
Website: http://www.iconthce.org/about/ Digitalization is not only a product of technology, but it has reshaped the culture that affects the lives of mankind in all aspects. The internet and the various platforms that exist to support human digital activities have taken over many things. There have been significant changes in economic, social, and especially religious life. Financial transactions are now mostly done cashless. Traditional markets are turning to digital services so that all human needs can be ordered online and delivered to the doorstep. Digital automation has become a new artifact in various ways so that there are no longer long queues of people everywhere. Likewise, meetings that used to be strictly coordinated in face-to-face forums can now be efficiently conducted platform-based from anywhere without having to be in the same physical space. Geographical constraints in distance, space, and time are no longer a problem for humans because the internet has overcome everything. Humans have arrived in an era where everything is converted into data that drives things or the Internet of Things era. Digital automation is a new color that dominates human life on earth that is still unfinished, and will still move toward surprising new directions. The construction of human spirituality is one aspect that has been reshaped by digitalization. Significant changes have occurred in how humans shape and manifest their spiritual experiences through rites, rituals, and worship. The internet has facilitated online worship gatherings so that physical presence in a church building is no longer considered the only concept of worship. The experience can now be formed anywhere and at any time. It does not depend on the tools or mechanisms of implementation but rather on the response built by the religious community. It appears that the face of contemporary religion is the shift of various traditional forms into new concepts based on digital technology. From here, we know the terms online church, digital church, online worship, digital fellowship, and metaverse church, all summarized in a new world called cyberspace. The face of contemporary Christianity has undergone a metamorphosis. Christian religious institutions and all their followers have arrived at a new horizon where physical-based offline religious practices and internet and cyberspace-based online religious practices have merged within boundaries that are not easily identifiable. This happens because digital media has dominantly facilitated modern religious practices. On the other hand, religious movements and networks are changing their nature from physical-based geographical space to the digital space of cyberspace. This change forces pastors, theologians, institutional churches, and laity to communicate and deliver Christian messages using new media. Thus, how people experience, understand, and practice their faith in contemporary times has also changed. The catalyst for all these changes is twofold. First, the Industrial Revolution 4.0 has led humans to move from computer-based machine automation to data-driven internet automation and artificial intelligence. This automation can make predictions and work precisely because everything is calculated based on data. The second is forming an Intelligent 5.0 society that lives in a networking society pattern. Society’s dependence on the internet and all the technology that comes with it has changed social patterns and mechanisms. There are various new forms of relationships and the formation of perspectives on things now controlled by the internet. Based on data released by the We Are Social website, the total population of the earth, according to the United Nations, in January 2023 was 8.1 billion people. The data shows that there are 5.44 billion people who use cell phones, and 5.16 billion are recorded as active internet users. The global internet penetration rate has reached 65.6%. Social media users are 4.76 billion people, or equivalent to 59.4% of the total world population. This data is a growing trend and shows how the world’s population will experience digital growth that is likely to increase exponentially. This means that in addition to offering the intrusion of the internet in our lives, on the other hand, we must all be prepared for the next surge of the world’s digitalization wave with the presence of artificial intelligence and humanoid robots that may one day replace human functions as pastors, Christian teachers, and household assistants. Therefore, humans need to prepare themselves for the changes currently taking place and the significant changes that will take place in the future. Research needs to be done not only to map the changes on the one hand but also to provide educational aspects so that humans can prepare themselves. This is why the theme of The International Conference on Theology and Christian Education (ICONTHCE) in 2022 is deliberately focused on religion in the life of digital society. Implementing this theme extends not only to religious practices but includes everything related to the purposes of religion itself, of which Christian education is one of the most important. ICONTHCE is one of the platforms presented to accommodate studies and the results of the scientific thinking of theologians and academics in the scope of Indonesian Christian religious universities. Through this conference, the Indonesian experience in the scientific scope will be brought to the level of global thinking. Thus, there will be a contribution from Indonesian academics to making a better world. Sonny Eli Zaluchu
Editor in Chief ICONTHCE 2022 October 2023