Episode 46: The Social Network
On this week’s episode, Matt and Adam talk with Steve Thorngate, associate editor of the Christian Century, about David Fincher’s 2010 movie The Social Network. In the first segment, “Justification by Faith,” the group talks about Facebook, ambition, and the creation myth of the tech geek. In the second segment, “Preaching to the Choir,” the group discusses the intersection of The Social Network and the lectionary texts for May 27, 2018, Trinity Sunday, focusing on Isaiah’s heavenly vision, the themes of belonging in Romans 8, and the moral center of The Social Network. Finally, in the last segment, “Postludes,” Adam discusses hidden moral problems that plague our social media and Matt plays Tetris.
SHOW NOTES:
Steve Thorngate is the associate editor of the Christian Century.
Adrian Chen, "The Laborers who keep Dick Pics and Beheadings out of your Facebook Feed."
LATE POSTSCRIPT:
First, since some have asked, the best two books on ambition I (Adam) have read are: Anna Fels, Necessary Dreams: Ambition in Women's Changing Lives and William Casey King, Ambition, A History: From Vice to Virtue. Fels describes the matrix of ambition as encompassing mastery and recognition and King provides an historical overview of ambition as an idea in the west. Both are well worth your time.
Second, the podcast The Rewatchables on The Ringer Podcast Network has posted their own long form discussion of The Social Network. Well worth a listen. You find it here.
