On the Lived Theology Reading List: Restless Devices

Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age

“Our contemporary digital lives are fundamentally shaping our imaginations and appetites about what it means to be human.”

Despite good intentions to step away from our devices, we remain bound to the habits these digital chains have created. Similarly, as human connections lag in the presence of artificial media-measured by likes, followers, and visibility-our everyday relationships deteriorate. This is the digital crisis exposed by Felicia Wu Song in “Restless Devices,” a crisis that, once recognized, can be addressed through a reorientation grounded in Christian theology.

The restlessness and dissatisfaction we experience with digital media, Song argues, reflect a deeper longing for a more rooted and meaningful life. She connects this longing to the “restless heart” from St. Augustine’s Confessions: our endless scrolling and search for superficial affirmation is ultimately a yearning for a deeper communion. In response, Song offers The Freedom Project—a framework for spiritual reformation through small, intentional practices. Through theological habits such as prayer, communion, and mindfulness, she invites readers to realign their digital behaviors with rhythms of grace, attentiveness, and faith.

Overall, “Restless Devices” is a timely and theologically rich reflection on the unseen costs of digital life, offering both critique and hope. With wisdom and compassion, Song calls us not just to unplug, but to realign according to a Christian vision-one of faith, grace, and ultimately greater fulfillment. 

Reviews and endorsements of the publication include:

“Digital media has shaped our spiritual lives and churches in profound ways, yet we have few guides to navigate this new terrain. I have longed for a book like Restless Devices to be written. Felicia Wu Song compellingly examines the addictive qualities of digital media—its ubiquity and totalizing power. But her depth of expertise and profound Christian imagination allow her to go further than mere critique. She offers us practical hope in the ‘counterliturgies’ of the Christian faith. I highly recommend this powerful work of spiritual formation to all who seek to live humanely and faithfully in our digital age.” — Tish Harrison Warren, Anglican priest and author of Liturgy of the Ordinary and Prayer in the Night

“I have been looking for this book for years. Dr. Song brings the top scholarship and the deepest Christian reflection to bear on the important spiritual topic of how we faithfully engage our devices. In this digital age, which requires new forms of moral and spiritual reflection, there are few topics that could be more relevant or more needed. This is a book I will read again and again.” — Elaine Howard Ecklund, professor of sociology at Rice University and author of Why Science and Faith Need Each Other: Eight Shared Values That Move Us Beyond Fear


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Turn Your Radio On: Liberal Theology in a Southern Register

As a research fellow for the Project on Lived Theology, Heather Warren explored the Atlanta-based Protestant Hour radio show, which began as one station in 1945 but boasted 600 participating stations by 1963, and sounded a liberal theology that promoted the liberalization of Protestantism throughout its largely southern listening area. Her research culminated in the publication of an article by Cambridge University Press titled “Turn Your Radio On: Liberal Theology in a Southern Register, 1953-1963.”

In the mid-twentieth century, a contest played out between evangelicals and mainline Protestant denominations over which organizations would have access to the radio airwaves and whose message, including whose theology, would receive the widest hearing. While networks favored the mainline denominations, a host of independent evangelical stations and the National Association of Evangelicals’ broadcast arm countered the impression that network religion represented American religion more generally. Preachers who frequently appeared on the show—Methodist Robert E. Goodrich, Jr., Presbyterian John A. Redhead, and Lutheran Edmund Steimle—presented this liberalism and echoed such evangelical elements as a heightened Christocentricity, repeated reference to the Bible, and personal appeal. Despite the later decline of mainline Protestantism, a type of evangelical liberalism in the 1950s and early 1960s attracted numerous radio listeners in the south contrary to the stereotype of southerners as fundamentalists who embraced a conservative theology.

Excerpt: “The theology offered in the Protestant Hour sermons was not so much the theologies that gained traction in the academy, but liberalism with evangelically associated elements that caught middlebrow attention at a time when Americans swelled congregations. That white, southern, mainline Protestantism grew in the context of the 1950s has gained little notice, being overshadowed because of its resistance to racial engagement or marked by some exceptions to the segregationist position. Closer attention to Protestant Hour preachers and their sermons, however, helps us to understand the kind of liberal theology that they communicated and that was apparently well received as indicated by the communications received from Protestant Hour listeners, the growth in number of stations broadcasting the program, and the growth in churches themselves.”

Warren has also authored an essay on Father John A. Ryan for the PLT book Can I Get a Witness? (2019). She also serves as an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, where she specializes in the history of American religious life and thought from the late-nineteenth century to the present. Her research has also carried her into the field of American religious autobiography.

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

Church Life Journal Excerpt from God’s Long Summer

In association with the University of Notre Dame, The Church Life Journal: A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life recently published a lovely excerpt from Charles Marsh’s book God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and the Civil Rights.

“Twenty-five years later, Bowers’s vision of Christianity and America is no longer an idiosyncratic position forged in the crucible of the anti-civil rights movement by segregationists clinging to authority they’d quickly lose. Rather, Bowers’s theories sound like talking points for a generation of Christian nationalists who hold political office, run think tanks, publish sleek journals and newspapers, and permeate social media.”

Marking the 60 year anniversary of Freedom Summer, God’s Long Summer became a Princeton Classic.

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

No Small Endeavor: Conversation with PLT Director Charles Marsh

Has religion ever kept you from doing something that was actually good for you?

It did for Charles Marsh. As a boy growing up in the evangelical South, Charles was taught to distrust his own body, to fear his desires, and to treat suffering as a gift from God. So when debilitating panic attacks shattered his world as a young man, he thought that he should count these panic attacks as something he was supposed to feel “joy” about.

Charles is now the Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. In conversation with Lee C. Camp, find out how he navigated shedding the taboos of his evangelical upbringing as he sits down to discuss his memoir, Evangelical Anxiety.

Charles Marsh: Evangelical Anxiety

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

Charles Marsh Delivers Scoper Lecture in Christian Thought

Watch the keynote address of the 2025 Scoper Lecture in Christian Thought, “Open, Honest and Free: A Celebration of Theological Inquiry Across the University” featuring Charles Marsh, PhD, Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia. The lecture was a deeply personal account of how moments of generous and generative intellectual, emotional, and civic encounter stand as an antidote to “closed society” experiences – and hold promise for the building a healthier university, democracy, civic and emotional life. The event took place on March 29, 2025 in the Dome Room of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia.

The Scoper Lecture in Christian Thought is an annual series building off the Capps Lectures that brings eminent speakers to the University to deliver public lectures exploring the breadth of Christian expression in the arenas of scholarship, science and medicine, the arts, and culture. The series is generously funded by Nancy and Stephen Scoper, M.D., through their gift to the University of Virginia, designated to Theological Horizons.

The 2025 Scoper Lecture in Christian Thought continued with a A Virtual Conversation: Theological Inquiry Across the University: Where Do We Go From Here? Thursday, April 24, 2025. This virtual panel was moderated by Karen Marsh, and featured 3 expert panelists: Felicia Wu-Song, cultural sociologist who studies the social effects of digital technologies on community and identity in contemporary life, Rev. Dr. Brandon Harris, Director of Partnerships and Business Development at Forum for Theological Exploration, & John Kiess, associate professor of theology at Loyola University Maryland. Moderated by Karen Marsh, Executive Dir., Theological Horizons & Charles Marsh, Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Project on Lived Theology at UVA.

Watch the Scoper Lecture here.

Watch the Virtual Conversation here.

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

A Virtual Conversation: Theological Inquiry Across the University

Register to attend the Virtual Panel Discussion on April 24, 2025 at 8:00 pm, in which three experts chart a path for Faith in the University, moderated by Karen Marsh.

Featuring panelists: Felicia Wu-Song, cultural sociologist who studies the social effects of digital technologies on community and identity in contemporary life, Rev. Dr. Brandon Harris, Director of Partnerships and Business Development at Forum for Theological Exploration, & John Kiess, associate professor of theology at Loyola University Maryland. Moderated by Karen Marsh, Executive Dir., Theological Horizons & Charles Marsh, Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Project on Lived Theology at UVA.

This is a companion event to the March 29 Scoper Lecture in Christian Theology with Dr. Charles Marsh which can be viewed here.

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

Cast the First Stone Documentary Screening

On Wednesday, April 23 at 6:30 pm, St. Paul’s Memorial Church at the University of Virginia will be screening the Cast the First Stone Documentary in the “TUF Study Space” at St. Paul’s — located through the side courtyard, near the chapel. 

Seventy-five inmates from Angola Prison and Louisiana Correctional Institution for Women come together to perform the largest prison production of The Passion Play ever. CAST THE FIRST STONE is a 93 minute documentary based on the most popular story in history as performed by men and women for whom it is perhaps most relevant. The film cuts between the daily lives of the inmates with scenes from the play that are performed throughout the prison. It is an intimate and searing portrait of redemption. The actors, whose own experience mimics the characters they are playing, help us experience these biblical characters in ways rarely portrayed. Leading the effort is prisoner, Gary Tyler, who in 1974 at age 16 was the youngest person in America on death row. With 40 years behind bars, four on death row and six more in solitary, his wisdom guides the ship and assures its success. The film is directed by multiple Emmy winning and two-time Oscar nominated director Jonathan Stack.

View the trailer here.

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

Why Some Say Bonhoeffer has Become a Hero to Today’s White Christian Nationalists

A new article by John Blake on CNN reflects on the theology of Bonhoeffer:

“While both the left and right have twisted Bonhoeffer’s views over the years, members of the far Christian right have taken that misappropriation to a dangerous new level, says Charles Marsh, author of ‘Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.’ They argue incorrectly that Bonhoeffer was never a pacifist and that he always supported certain types of political violence, Marsh says.

‘The Democrats have become the Nazis, and the faithful German anti-Nazi pastors have become Trump Republicans — that’s a tortured reading of history,’ Marsh says. ‘But it has been sold to many sectors of American Christian life as a meaningful reinterpretation of the Bonhoeffer story.’”

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

“Martin Luther King, Jr – Pastor, Theologian, Christian Critic” with Rev. Dr. Nathan Walton

On March 18, 2025, Rev. Dr. Nathan Walton joined the UVA Kingdom of God in America in to talk about the life and theological formation of Martin Luther King, Jr. This undergraduate class on religion and social movements explores the influence of theological ideas and religious commitments on social movements in America. 

Excerpt: “[King] inhabited a long tradition of theologically informed social engagement and an embodied faith embodied faith. You can see themes of social engagement in the sermons and speeches and you can see themes of embodiment and everything from physically marching and boycotting to hearing the musicality of the sermons.”

Nathan Walton is  Co-Lead Pastor at East End Fellowship in Richmond, Virginia.  He most recently served as Executive Director of Abundant Life Ministries, a community development nonprofit in Charlottesville. Nathan holds a Master of Divinity degree from Duke Divinity School and both a B.A. and Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia.

Listen to the lecture here

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.

9 Illuminating Memoirs by UVA Alumni

By Sam Grossman

With elements of traditional memoir, biography and lyric essay, these nonfiction works chronicle some of the diverse experiences of the UVA alumni community.

In his newest book, UVA religious studies professor Charles Marsh explores the ways in which his Christian upbringing affected his mental health. For years he suffered from panic attacks and depression, but “we did not do therapy—my family, my particular evangelical coterie,” he writes. With vulnerability and humor, Marsh explains how he finally sought mental health treatment. Through years of Freudian psychoanalysis, he slowly sheds the secrecy and shame he was “primed for,” becoming “freer, and somehow more unified.” In the end, Marsh remains devoted to Christianity, with the understanding that it’s “much larger and more encompassing than the churches of my childhood.”

See the full article here.

The Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia is a research initiative, whose mission is to study the social consequences of theological ideas for the sake of a more just and compassionate world.