Breaking The Digital Spell

SA-3: On Esther, Daniel, and Exile in Digital Babylon

• Austin Gravley

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The Babylonian exile is arguably the most important event in the history of the Old Testament. Israel's long descent into apostasy ends with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, and the people of God are forcibly relocated to a pagan nation that they did not want to live in. But the Babylonian exile is more than just a date and time in history - it is a framework, used by New Testament writers and by Christians for millennia, that helps us understand what faithful obedience to God looks like in a sinful world.  In this episode of Breaking the Digital Spell, we look at the Babylonian Exile and the lives of Esther and Daniel and how these can help us understand what faithful obedience to God looks like not just in a sinful world, but a digital world - in Digital Babylon. How would applying this biblical framework to our social media world shape our understanding of the world that we currently live in and how we are called to live in it? Like the exiles who asked "how do we live in Babylon?", how do we live in Digital Babylon?

Full episode manuscript: https://digitalbabylon.substack.com/p/on-esther-daniel-and-exile-in-digital

Chapter Divisions

  • Part One: The Top of the Rabbit Hole - 1:10
  • Part Two: Introducing Digital Babylon - 29:58
  • Part Three: The Reality of Exile - 43:23
  • Part Four: Engagement in Exile - 51:23
  • Part Five: Providence in Exile - 1:16:58

Tanak Order Reading List

  • The introduction of "A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the Old Testament", ed. by Miles V. Van Pelt.
  • "Dominion and Dynasty" by Stephen Dempster 
  • "Know How We Got Our Bible" by Ryan M. Reeves and Charles Hill

Purchase a copy of Chris Bail's "Breaking the Social Media Prism"

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