I can’t think of a better example to begin the blogging process of design, media theory, and theology with than Marshall McLuhan. He is renowned for his contribution to media theory in the 20th century, and is best known for the iconic phrase, “the medium is the message.”
Essentially, McLuhan argues that the medium in which content and ideas are delivered on frames one’s perception over the actual message itself. For example, when we read an article in the newspaper, we are more influenced by the structure of the newspaper itself than the content of the article. While I don’t completely agree with the extremity of that notion, I do wholeheartedly agree that the medium in which we consume content plays a huge role in the way we perceive and understand a message being delivered. Design, good and bad, influences the way we view the world.
Another fascinating contribution was his prediction of what we now know as the internet. In the 1960s, he predicted that traditional print culture would be replaced by a “global village” that relied on “electronic interdependence” and would turn humanity from an individualistic culture to a global tribal system. Looking to how our world has changed so much over the past few decades, it’s interesting to sit and read his predictions. And I think it takes a while to answer whether his predictions are correct or not.
Not only was he an influential media scholar, but he was also a devout Catholic convert! While studying at Cambridge, he stumbled onto the writings of GK Chesterton (a great choice). He later wrote that if it wasn’t for Chesterton’s writings, he probably would have still been agnostic.
It makes me wonder how his faith transition influenced his perception of media theory and design. The Mass is full of imagery that has all kinds of special meaning, even in the smallest details. In a way I can see how the term, “the medium is the message” can fit into the rhythm of the Mass. While faith and belief manifest in a number of ways individually, it is, Catholics believe, the structure of the Mass that brings us to the source and summit of our faith.
It has taken generations to compile an intricate system of design, from the movements of the priests, deacons, and parishioners, to the words that are spoken at every moment, to the type of music sung at each point, to the images that are presented at specific points in the sanctuary. Those elements together form what we believe to be the “magnum opus” of our faith. While reading scripture is important, it is only one element to the vast sensory experience that brings us to calvary. Surely, that experience had some influence to McLuhan’s thought process.