Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Astonishingly Innovative Book that Interconnects Art, Creativity, Religion and New Media



Praise for Through a Bible Lens: Biblical Insights for Smartphone Photography and Social Media from Jewish and Christian spiritual leaders and experts on art and digital culture.

“In Through a Bible Lens, Alexenberg offers us a magnificent and original approach that interconnects art, creative processes, religion and new media technologies. The book is an important contribution to the study of media and is a must read for anyone interested in our contemporary culture. - Dr. Lucia Leao, author of The Labyrinth of Hypermedia and The Chip and the Kaleidoscope: Studies in New Media; professor of Communications and Semiotics, Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, Brazil

“Alexenberg proposes that text and image—something as simple as photos taken with a smart phone, and multiplied in their resonance by the internet—can be used as a consciousness raising tool, at once personal and collective. With such simple means, we can attune ourselves to the sacred dimensions of our lives from moment to moment. In fresh, clear language, he brings his detailed knowledge of Torah texts and what he calls "the down-to-earth mysticism of the kabbalah" to bear on daily life, showing how the annual round of sacred readings from that spiraling scroll provides prompts for deepening our personal and artistic practice.” - Peter Samis, co-author of Creating the Visitor-centered Museum; associate curator, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

“In his astonishingly innovative book, Mel Alexenberg quotes photographer Jan Phillips, who writes, “Everywhere I look, there God is looking back, looking straight back." Alexenberg is able to perceive that Godly gaze not only in nature around us or the heavens above, but in the smartphone we hold in our hand.” - Rabbi Joshua Hammerman, author of thelordismyshepard.com: Seeing God in Cyberspace; spiritual leader at Temple Beth El, Stamford, Connecticut

Photo above is one of the 50 photos in Through a Bible Lens. It shows the author Prof. Alexenberg demonstrating that the entire Bible can be carved out of a potato. In Hebrew, the original language of the Bible, word statute is hok, a word derived from the same root as engraving, hewing or carving out. An engraved letter does not exist as a distinct entity independent of the material out of which it is carved. Hok suggests that our encounter with the Bible should be like carving letters out of everyday life to make the Bible and our lives integrally one to reveal God in our midst.   

The photo is based upon two biblical passages: If you will walk in my statutes…I will keep my sanctuary in your midst.” (Leviticus 26:3, 11) and For the Lord thy God walks in the midst of thy camp” (Deuteronomy 23:15).

THROUGH A BIBLE LENS explores the Bible, the best selling book in the world, from the viewpoint of life in today's digital era.

Scroll down to see praise for Through a Bible Lens  from Jewish and Christian spiritual leaders and experts in digital culture. In his highl...