Media and communication influence, shape, and change our societies. Therefore, this first chapter aims to explain the implications of digital communication for our societies and the relationship between media, technology, and society. The chapter introduces the concept of society from a sociological perspective and explains how societies change because of the effects technological developments have on them, and vice versa. It illustrates this interplay with the example of digital divides.

In order to explain the significance and changes of public communication in a digital society, the chapters zooms in on the media landscape and explicates the difference between new media and old (or traditional) media. It pays particular attention to the ideas of Marshall McLuhan, as his work remains a cornerstone when studying the relationship between media, technology, and society. The chapter then outlines the discipline of media linguistics and explains how media linguistics can help to make digital media and digital communication more tangible. It focuses on three key terms crucial for understanding public digital communication: multimodality, media convergence, and mediatization.

I propose that the Hebraic philosophical style consists of modes of raising philosophical problems, often in contraposition to the wisdom of Israel’s neighbors, and asking the reader to think through the doxastic commitments required by them. As with discerning a "Socratic method" in the disparate texts depicting Socrates , a particular set of dispositions and commitments is required to see this philosophical style in the Christian Scriptures. This is not a "trait list" approach, but a collection of traits that exhibit an organic unity. The Hebraic philosophical style features this cluster of attributes: pixelated, networked, ritualist, transdemographic, mysterionist, and creationist.