Every technology has embedded spiritual consequences. The mechanical clock was created by Benedictine monks in the 13th century. It was designed to create more regular prayer intervals to enhance our devotion to God. The mechanical clock also gave birth to the Industrial Revolution and capitalism, because it created measurable, uniform time units to break up your day into. So a technology originally designed to enhance devotion to God also enhanced our devotion to mammon.
Shane Hipps, CT interview 5th May 2009.
1 comment:
I knew there was an excuse somewhere for why I never remember to wear my watch! In fact I don't remember where it is. Hipps is my new hero!
And yet water clocks (I don't know if they were mechanical, per se) were around before Christ. They even had bells to toll the hours. (Consult Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. I first told my class that this was an anachronism, but they made me research it and I found that it was in fact a reality from Caesar's time.)
But Hipps is quite right, and also right that it can take centuries before we realize those consequences. The trouble is that all that we have is in human hands. And those hands can not be trusted to handle even an angel without abusing it. Consider Lot's neighbors.
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