@book {140,
	title = {Japanese Religions on the Internet: Innovation, Representation, and Authority},
	year = {2011},
	publisher = {Routledge},
	organization = {Routledge},
	address = {New York},
	keywords = {Authority, internet, Japanese, religions},
	url = {http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415886437/},
	author = {Baffelli, Erica and Reader, Ian and Staemmler, Birgit}
}
@inbook {110,
	title = {Crossing the Boundary: New Challenges to Religious Authority and Control as a Consequence of Access to the Internet},
	booktitle = {Religion and Cyberspace},
	year = {2005},
	publisher = {Routledge},
	organization = {Routledge},
	address = {London},
	keywords = {Authority, Challenges, control, internet, religion},
	url = {http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/9342/},
	author = {Eileen Barker}
}
@article {373,
	title = {Come to a Correct Understanding of Buddhism: a case study on spiritualising technology, religious authority, and the boundaries of orthodoxy and identity in a Buddhist Web forum},
	journal = {New Media and Society},
	volume = {13},
	year = {2011},
	pages = {58-74},
	abstract = {This study examines the Buddhist message forum, E-sangha, to analyze how this forum{\textquoteright}s founder and moderators {\textquoteleft}spiritualized the Internet{\textquoteright} (Campbell, 2005a, 2005b) using contemporary narratives of the global Buddhist community, and in doing so, provided these actors with the authority to determine the boundaries of Buddhist orthodoxy and identity and validate their control of the medium through social and technical means. Through a structural and textual analysis of E-sangha{\textquoteright}s Web space, this study demonstrates how Web producers and forum moderators use religious community narratives to frame Web environments as sacred community spaces (spaces made suitable for religious activities), which inherently allows those in control of the site the authority to set the boundaries of religious orthodoxy and identity and hence, who can take part in the community.},
	keywords = {Authority, Buddhism, spiritual, technology},
	url = {http://nms.sagepub.com/content/13/1/58.abstract},
	author = {Busch, L.}
}
@article {85,
	title = {Creating digital enclaves: Negotiation of the internet amongst bounded religious communities},
	journal = {Media, Culture and Society},
	volume = {33},
	year = {2011},
	pages = {709-724},
	publisher = {Sage},
	chapter = {709},
	abstract = {This article examines the motivation behind bounded groups{\textquoteright} creation of digital enclaves online. Through in-depth interviews with 19 webmasters and staff of selected Israeli Orthodox websites three critical areas of negotiation are explored: (1) social control; (2) sources of authority; and (3) community boundaries. Examining these tensions illuminates a detailed process of self-evaluation which leads religious stakeholders and internet entrepreneurs to form these digital enclaves in order to negotiate the core beliefs and constraints of their offline communities online. These offer spaces of safety for members within the risk-laden tracts of the internet. Examining the tensions accompanying the emergence of these religious websites elucidates community affordances as well as the challenges to the authority that integration of new media poses to closed groups and societies. },
	keywords = {Authority, community, internet, Israel, Judaism},
	url = {http://mcs.sagepub.com/content/33/5/709.abstract},
	author = {Heidi Campbell and Oren Golan}
}
@article {1191,
	title = {Religion and the Internet: A microcosm for studying Internet trends and implications},
	journal = {new media \& society},
	volume = {15},
	year = {2012},
	chapter = {680},
	abstract = {This article argues that paying close attention to key findings within the study of religion 
and the Internet, a subfield of Internet Studies, can enhance our understanding and 
discussion of the larger social and cultural shifts at work within networked society. 
Through a critical overview of research on religion online, five central research areas 
emerge related to social practices, online{\textendash}offline connections, community, identity, and 
authority online. It is also argued that observations about these themes not only point 
to specific trends within religious practice online, but also mirror concerns and findings 
within other areas of Internet Studies. Thus, studying religion on the Internet provides 
an important microcosm for investigating Internet Studies{\textquoteright} contribution in a wide range 
of contexts in our contemporary social world.},
	keywords = {Authority, community, Computer, Contemporary Religious Community, cyberspace, identity, internet, Mass media, network, New Media and Society, new media engagement, New Technology and Society, offline, Online, online communication, Online community, religion, religion and internet, Religion and the Internet, religiosity, religious engagement, religious identity, Religious Internet Communication, Religious Internet Communities, Ritual, sociability unbound, Sociology of religion, users{\textquoteright} participation, virtual community, virtual public sphere, {\textquotedblleft}digital religion{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}Internet Studies{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}media and religion{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}media research{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}networked society{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}online identity{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}religion online{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}religious congregations{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}religious media research{\textquotedblright}, {\textquotedblleft}religious practice online{\textquotedblright}},
	url = {http://nms.sagepub.com/content/15/5/680.abstract},
	author = {Heidi A Campbell}
}
@inbook {322,
	title = {Religious Authority in the Age of the Internet},
	booktitle = {Virtual Lives: Christian Reflection },
	year = {2011},
	pages = {59-68},
	publisher = {Baylor University Press},
	organization = {Baylor University Press},
	abstract = {As the internet changes how we interact with one another, it transforms our understanding of authority by creating new positions of power, flattening traditional hierarchies, and providing new platforms that give voice to the voice- less. How is it reshaping Christian leadership and institu- tions of authority?},
	keywords = {Authority, internet, religion},
	doi = {http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/130947.pdf},
	url = {http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/130950.pdf},
	author = {Heidi Campbell and Paul Teusner}
}
@article {90,
	title = {Who{\textquoteright}s got the power? The question of religious authority and the internet},
	journal = {Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication},
	volume = {12},
	year = {2007},
	chapter = {14},
	abstract = {While many themes have been explored in relation to religion online{\textemdash}ritual, identity construction, community{\textemdash}what happens to religious authority and power relationships within online environments is an area in need of more detailed investigation. In order to move discussions of authority from the broad or vague to the specific, this article argues for a more refined identification of the attributes of authority at play in the online context. This involves distinguishing between different layers of authority in terms of hierarchy, structure, ideology, and text. The article also explores how different religious traditions approach questions of authority in relation to the Internet. Through a qualitative analysis of three sets of interviews with Christians, Jews, and Muslims about the Internet, we see how authority is discussed and contextualized differently in each religious tradition in terms of these four layers of authority.},
	keywords = {Authority, Christianity, internet, Islam, Judaism},
	url = {http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue3/campbell.html},
	author = {Heidi Campbell}
}
@article {88,
	title = {Bloggers and religious authority online},
	journal = {Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication},
	volume = {15},
	year = {2010},
	pages = {251-266},
	chapter = {251},
	abstract = {It is often argued that the internet poses a threat to traditional forms of authority. Within studies of religion online claims have also been made that the internet is affecting religious authority online, but little substantive work has backed up these claims. This paper argues for an approach to authority within online studies which looks separately at authority: roles, structures, beliefs/ideologies and texts. This approach is applied to a thematic analysis of 100 religious blogs and demonstrates that religious bloggers use their blogs to frame authority in ways that may more often affirm than challenge traditional sources of authority.},
	keywords = {Authority, blogs, religion, religious authority},
	url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2010.01519.x/full},
	author = {Heidi Campbell}
}
@article {86,
	title = {Religious engagement with the internet within Israeli Orthodox groups},
	journal = {Israel Affairs},
	volume = {17},
	year = {2011},
	pages = {364-383},
	abstract = {This article provides an overview of research on religion and the Internet within the Israeli context, highlighting how Orthodox Jewish groups have appropriated and responded to the Internet. By surveying Orthodox use of the Internet, and giving special attention to the ultra Orthodox negotiations, a number of key challenges that the Internet poses to the Israeli religious sector are highlighted. Exploring these debates and negotiations demonstrates that while the Internet is readily utilized by many Orthodox groups, it is still viewed by some with suspicion. Fears expressed, primarily by ultra Orthodox groups, shows religious leaders often attempt to constrain Internet use to minimize its potential threat to religious social norms and the structure of authority. This article also highlights the need for research that addresses the concerns and strategies of different Orthodox groups in order to offer a broader understanding of Orthodox engagement with the Internet in Israel.},
	keywords = {Authority, community, internet, Israel, Judaism, Orthodox, religion, ultra Orthodox},
	url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537121.2011.584664$\#$preview},
	author = {Heidi Campbell}
}
@article {281,
	title = {Religious Communication and Epistemic Authority of Leaders in Wired Faith Organizations.},
	journal = {Journal of Applied Communication Research},
	volume = {39},
	year = {2011},
	pages = {452-454},
	abstract = {The mediation of communication has raised questions of authority shifts in key social institutions. This article examines how traditional sources of epistemic power that govern social relations in religious authority are being amplified or delegitimized by Internet use, drawing from in-depth interviews with protestant pastors in Singapore. Competition from Internet access is found to delocalize epistemic authority to some extent; however, it also reembeds authority by allowing pastors to acquire new competencies as strategic arbiters of religious expertise and knowledge. Our study indicates that although religious leaders are confronted with proletarianization, deprofessionalization, and potential delegitimization as epistemic threats, there is also an enhancement of epistemic warrant as they adopt mediated communication practices that include the social networks of their congregation.},
	keywords = {Authority, internet},
	doi = {10.1080/00909882.2011.577085},
	url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01579.x/abstract},
	author = {Pauline Hope Cheong}
}
@article {2719,
	title = {The vitality of new media and religion: Communicative perspectives, practices, and changing authority in spiritual organization},
	journal = {New Media \& Society},
	abstract = {We are witnessing the growth of a distinct sub-field focusing on new media and religion as the relationship between the two is not just important, it is vital. I discuss in this article how this vitality is both figurative and literal in multiple dimensions. Mediated communication brings forth and constitutes the (re)production of spiritual realities and collectivities, as well as co-enacts religious authority. In this way, new mediations grounded within older communication practices serve as the lifeblood for the evolving nature of religious authority and forms of spiritual organizing. Further research to identify diverse online and embodied religious communication practices will illuminate a richer understanding of digital religion, especially as a globally distributed phenomenon.},
	keywords = {Authority, Communication},
	url = {https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444816649913},
	author = {Cheong, Pauline Hope}
}
@article {280,
	title = {Religious Communication and Epistemic Authority of Leaders in Wired Faith Organizations},
	journal = {Journal of Communication},
	volume = {61},
	year = {2011},
	pages = {938-958},
	abstract = {The mediation of communication has raised questions of authority shifts in key social institutions. This paper examines how traditional sources of epistemic power that govern social relations in religious authority are being amplified or delegitimized by Internet use, drawing from in-depth interviews with protestant pastors in Singapore. Competition from Internet access is found to delocalize epistemic authority to some extent; however, it also re-embeds authority by allowing pastors to acquire new competencies as strategic arbiters of religious expertise and knowledge. Our study indicates that while religious leaders are confronted with proletarianization, deprofessionalization and potential de-legitimization as epistemic threats, there is also an enhancement of epistemic warrant as they adopt mediated communication practices that include the social networks of their congregation. },
	keywords = {Authority, internet, theory of religion online},
	doi = {10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01579.x},
	url = {http://www.paulinehopecheong.com},
	author = {Pauline Hope Cheong and Huang, Shirlena and Poon, Jessie}
}
@article {1925,
	title = {The vitality of new media and religion: Communicative perspectives, practices, and authority in spiritual organization},
	journal = {New Media and Society},
	volume = {1},
	year = {2016},
	month = {2016},
	pages = {1-8},
	abstract = {It is significant that we are witnessing the growth of a distinct subfield focusing on new media and religion as the relationship between the two is not just important, it is vital. I discuss in this article how this vitality is both figurative and literal in multiple dimensions. Mediated communication brings forth and constitutes the (re)production of spiritual realities and collectivities, as well as co-enacts religious authority. In this way, new mediations serve as the lifeblood for religious organizing and activism. Further research in religious communication will illuminate a richer understanding of digital religion, especially as a globally distributed phenomenon.},
	keywords = {Authority, Communication, convergence, digital media, Globalization, religion, spiritual organizing},
	doi = {10.1177/1461444816649913},
	url = {http://nms.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/05/30/1461444816649913.abstract},
	author = {Cheong, Pauline H.}
}
@book {286,
	title = {Digital Religion, Social Media and Culture: Perspectives, Practices, Futures},
	year = {2012},
	publisher = {Peter Lang},
	organization = {Peter Lang},
	address = {New York},
	keywords = {Authority, avatars, community, history, identity, internet, online church, social media, theology, theory of religion online},
	url = {http://www.paulinehopecheong.com},
	author = {Pauline Hope Cheong and Fischer-Nielsen, Peter and Gelfgren, Stefan and Ess, Charles}
}
@article {279,
	title = {Cultivating online and offline pathways to enlightenment: Religious authority in wired Buddhist organizations},
	journal = {Information, Communication \& Society},
	volume = {14},
	year = {2011},
	pages = {1160-1180},
	abstract = {In light of expanding epistemic resources online, the mediatization of religion poses questions about the possible changes, decline and reconstruction of clergy authority. Distinct from virtual Buddhism or cybersangha research which relies primarily on online observational data, this paper examines Buddhist clergy communication within the context of established religious organizations with an integrationist perspective on interpersonal communication and new and old media connections. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Buddhist leaders in Singapore, this paper illustrates ways in which priests are expanding their communicative competency, which we label {\textquotedblleft}strategic arbitration{\textquotedblright} to maintain their authority by restructuring multimodal representations and communicative influence. This study expands upon previous research by Cheong, Huang \& Poon (in press) and finds that constituting Buddhist religious epistemic authority in wired organizational contexts rests on coordinating online-offline communicative acts. Such concatenative coordination involves normalizing the aforementioned modality of authority through interpersonal acts that positively influences epistemic dependence. Communicative acts that privilege face-to-face mentoring and corporeal rituals are optimized in the presence of monks within perceived sacred spaces in temple grounds, thereby enabling clergy to perform ultimate arbitration. However, Buddhist leaders also increase bargaining power when heightened web presence and branding practices are enacted. The paper concludes with limitations and recommendations for future research in religious authority. },
	keywords = {Authority, community, internet, religion, theory of religion online},
	doi = {10.1080/1369118X.2011.579139},
	url = {http://www.paulinehopecheong.com},
	author = {Pauline Hope Cheong and Huang, Shirlena and Poon, Jessie}
}
@inbook {674,
	title = {Authority},
	booktitle = {Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds},
	year = {2012},
	publisher = {Routledge},
	organization = {Routledge},
	address = {London},
	abstract = {Digital Religion offers a critical and systematic survey of the study of religion and new media. It covers religious engagement with a wide range of new media forms and highlights examples of new media engagement in all five of the major world religions. From cell phones and video games to blogs and Second Life, the book:

    provides a detailed review of major topics
    includes a series of case studies to illustrate and elucidate the thematic explorations
    considers the theoretical, ethical and theological issues raised.

Drawing together the work of experts from key disciplinary perspectives, Digital Religion is invaluable for students wanting to develop a deeper understanding of the field.},
	keywords = {Apps, Authority, Digital, media, religion, technology},
	issn = {9780415676106 },
	author = {Cheong, P},
	editor = {Heidi Campbell}
}
@inbook {284,
	title = {Religion 2.0? Relational and hybridizing pathways in religion, social media and culture},
	booktitle = {Digital Religion, Social Media and Culture: Perspectives, Practices, Futures},
	year = {2012},
	pages = {1-24},
	publisher = {Peter Lang},
	organization = {Peter Lang},
	chapter = {Religion 2.0? Relational and hybridizing pathways in religion, social media and culture.},
	address = {New York},
	keywords = {Authority, community, identity, internet, religion, social media},
	url = {http://www.paulinehopecheong.com},
	author = {Pauline Hope Cheong and Ess, Charles}
}
@article {1302,
	title = {Transnational immanence: the autopoietic co-constitution of a Chinese spiritual organization through mediated communication},
	journal = {Information, Communication \& Society},
	volume = {Online},
	year = {2013},
	abstract = {Information and communication technologies are often cited as one major source, if not the causal vector, for the rising intensity of transnational practices. Yet, extant literature has not examined critically how digital media appropriation affects the constitution of transnational organizations, particularly Chinese spiritual ones. To address the lack of theoretically grounded, empirical research on this question, this study investigates how the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation (Tzu Chi), one of the largest Taiwan-based civil and spiritual nonprofit organizations among the Chinese diaspora, is co-constituted by various social actors as an operationally closed system through their mediated communication. Based on an innovative theoretical framework that combines Maturana and Varela{\textquoteright}s notion of {\textquoteleft}autopoiesis{\textquoteright} with Cooren{\textquoteright}s ideas of {\textquoteleft}incarnation{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}presentification{\textquoteright}, we provide a rich analysis of Tzu Chi{\textquoteright}s co-constitution through organizational leaders{\textquoteright} appropriation of digital and social media, as well as through mediated interactions between Tzu Chi{\textquoteright}s internal and external stakeholders. In so doing, our research expands upon the catalogue of common economic and relational behaviors by overseas Chinese, advances our understanding of Chinese spiritual organizing, and reveals the contingent role of digital and social media in engendering transnational spiritual ties to accomplish global humanitarian work.},
	keywords = {Asia, Authority, autopoiesis, Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, communicative constitution of organizations, information and communication technologies, nonprofit, social media, Taiwan, transnationalism},
	url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2013.833277$\#$.Ulm51VCsim5},
	author = {Pauline Hope Cheong and Jennie M. Hwang and Boris H.J.M. Brummansb}
}
@article {282,
	title = {The Internet Highway and Religious Communities: Mapping and Contesting Spaces in Religion-Online},
	journal = {The Information Society},
	volume = {25},
	year = {2009},
	pages = {291-302},
	abstract = {We examine {\textquoteleft}religion-online{\textquoteright}, an underrepresented area of research in new media, communication, and geography, with a multi-level study of the online representation and (re)-presentation of Protestant Christian organizations in Singapore, which has one of the highest Internet penetration rates in the world and also believers affiliated with all the major world religions. We first critically discuss and empirically examine how online technologies are employed for religious community building in novel and diverse ways. Then we investigate the role religious leaders play through their mental representations of the spatial practices and scales through which their religious communities are imagined and practiced online. We show how churches use the multimodality of the Internet to assemble multiple forms of visible data and maps to extend geographic sensibilities of sacred space and create new social practices of communication.},
	keywords = {Authority, community, geography, internet, theory of religion online},
	doi = {10.1080/01972240903212466},
	url = {http://www.paulinehopecheong.com},
	author = {Pauline Hope Cheong and Huang, Shirlena and Poon, Jessie and Casas, Irene}
}
@mastersthesis {1196,
	title = {Give Me That Online Religion: Religious Authority and Resistance Through Blogging},
	volume = {Master of Arts},
	year = {2013},
	school = {Georgia State University},
	abstract = {This study of forty-nine Christian blogs explores how groups of bloggers in two case studies resist and/or perpetuate hegemonic gender ideologies online and where these bloggers draw authority from for these views. The findings reveal that bloggers are most likely to cite texts as sources of authority and are more likely to affirm authority (78.1\%) than to challenge it (25.7\%). The bloggers in my sample, who were majority male, use an array of strategies in their efforts to resist hegemonic gender norms. These included, but are not limited to, debating God{\textquoteright}s gender, emphasizing women{\textquoteright}s roles in the Bible, privileging equality in theological interpretations, redefining masculinity and employing satire and images to delegitimize hegemonic power},
	keywords = {Authority, bloggers, Contemporary Religious Community, Digital Religion, New Media and Society, new media engagement, online identity, religious media research, Resistance},
	url = {http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_theses/39/},
	author = {Erin V. Echols}
}
@article {1307,
	title = {Religious Online Developments in a Secular Context},
	journal = {Masaryk University Journal of Law and Technology},
	volume = {6},
	year = {2012},
	chapter = {49},
	abstract = {Religious groups have conceived the internet as both a promising way of increasing 
interest in religious issues and a threat to the core religious values. This article 
deals with religious developments on the internet based on theoretical perspectives 
on secularization. Four relevant themes are listed, namely secularization as loss of 
religious institutional power and authority, secularization as adaption, secularization as decrease in individual religious engagement, These themes are investigated through an empirical analysis of results from two large surveys with 1,015 Danes and 1,040 Danish pastors and secularization as changed conditions for religious communication. The article concludes that the internet does not seem to have dramatically changed people{\textquoteright}s religious orientation. As in offline contexts, religious institutions are under pressure on the internet. Though the internet has been viewed 
as a new direct channel to people, evidence suggests that people are difficult to 
reach and that other players than the religious institutions dominate the transmission of religious messages. Secularization does take place online, but the development is counteracted by deliberate attempts to use the internet in religious activities, for instance by pastors who engage in critical negotiation of the possibilities online.},
	keywords = {adaption, Authority, cyber church., dialogue, discussion groups, individualization, internet, media sites, Negotiation, religion, search engines, secularization, Social Networking},
	url = {https://mujlt.law.muni.cz/storage/1373984017_sb_03-fischer-nielsen.pdf},
	author = {P. Fischer-Nielsen}
}
@article {1224,
	title = {Authority in the Virtual Sangat : Sikhism, Ritual and Identity in the Twenty-First Century},
	journal = {Online {\textendash} Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet},
	volume = {02.1},
	year = {2006},
	chapter = {24},
	abstract = {In her paper Authority in the Virtual Sangat. Sikhism, Ritual and Identity in the Twenty-First Century, Doris Jakobsh analyses the change of authority based on her research on Sikhs on the Internet. She stresses the Web as a {\textquoteleft}third place{\textquoteright} of communication among the Sikhs as well as the phenomenon of new authorities online. However, this does not imply the replacement of the traditional seats of authority, the Akal Takht, SGPC, or gurdwara managements, but one can recognize a significant shift away from these traditional sites of authority toward the {\textquoteleft}new authorities{\textquoteright}, the intermediaries of cyberspace. Her analysis shows that this aspect of the Sikh experience brings with it the most profound challenges and, most importantly, a need to bridge the post-modern individual, i.e. {\textquoteleft}Sikh tradition{\textquoteright} intertwined and legitimated by the metanarrative, and the proliferation of new authorities who have become intermediaries of Sikhism online by virtue of their expertise within the digital domain.},
	keywords = {Akal Takht, Authority, Digital Religion, identity, online communication, Ritual, Sangat, Sikhism, Sociology of religion, third place},
	url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/religions/article/view/374},
	author = {Jakobsh, Doris R}
}
@article {375,
	title = {Religious Leaders, Mediated Authority and Social Change},
	journal = {Journal of Applied Communication Research},
	volume = {39},
	year = {2012},
	pages = {452-454},
	abstract = {This essay discusses the relationships between mediated religious authority and social change, in terms of clergy{\textquoteright}s social media negotiation and multimodal communication competence, with implications for attracting attention and galvanizing active networks and resources for social initiatives.},
	keywords = {Authority, Leaders, religion, social media},
	url = {http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00909882.2011.577085},
	author = {Cheong P.H.}
}
@inbook {1256,
	title = {Claiming Religious Authority: Muslim Women and New Media },
	booktitle = {Media, Religion and Gender Key Issues and New Challenges},
	year = {2013},
	publisher = {Routledge},
	organization = {Routledge},
	chapter = {9},
	keywords = {Authority, Digital Religion, GENDER, Islam, Muslim, New Media},
	url = {http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415504737/},
	author = {Anna Piela}
}
@article {1244,
	title = {Rituals Online : Transferring and Designing Rituals},
	journal = {Online {\textendash} Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet},
	volume = {02.1},
	year = {2006},
	chapter = {54},
	abstract = {
Kerstin Radde-Antweiler stresses the aspect of ritual construction by the individual believers in her paper Rituals Online. Transferring and Designing Rituals. In addition to the potential of the Internet to offer interaction and new processes of communication in the context of rituals {\textendash} the so called "Online-Rituals" {\textendash}, this medium also offers much information about rituals and instructions how to perform a ritual, in and outside the Internet. This varies from the publication of {\textendash} at first glance - fixed ritual prescripts to texts on how to design a ritual by him- or herself. These fixed texts are often identified as old traditional scripts, whereas critical analyses show explicit or implicit transfers and receptions of various religious traditions. In the paper, different ritual prescripts presented on Wicca- and Solitaire Homepages, which are often seen as continuation of pre-Christian, matriarchal, Celtic and Germanic cults and mythologies, are analysed and their transfer processes are exemplified. Instances that show the processes of ritual transfer are the choice of the owner-names, the mixture of deities of different religions, the integration of different feasts and festivals etc. The assertion of perpetual continuity from the insider perspective seems contradict those texts which encourage the believers to develop their own individual ritual. Therefore, the elements of newness and invention as well as the phenomenon of Ritual Design in their processes of gaining legitimacy and authority has to be examined},
	keywords = {Authority, Digital Religion, Hexe, Hexenglaube, internet, Online-Rituals, Patchwork, religion, Ritual, Wiccakult},
	url = {http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/religions/article/view/376/352},
	author = {Kerstin Radde-Antweiler}
}
@article {65,
	title = {Internet Threats to Hindu Authority: Puja Ordering Websites and the Kalighat Temple},
	journal = {Asian Journal of Social Science},
	year = {2009},
	abstract = {This article investigates threats to authority within Hinduism as a result of the Internet. It focuses upon websites which allow for pujas (devotional rituals) to be ordered to be carried out at the important Kalighat Temple in Kolkata. The two groups which currently exercise authority at the temple are identified, along with the specific forms of authority which they exercise. The processes which are occurring as a result of the puja ordering websites and the activities of those responsible for them are then demonstrated. The argument put forward is that, in addition to the puja ordering services being a threat to both the authority of the temple administration and the priests working there, they also have the potential to affect the relationship between these two groups. Findings from the Kalighat Temple case study further suggest that the effects at temples of online puja ordering services are dependent upon the current situation at respective temples.},
	keywords = {Authority, Hinduism, internet, Kalighat Temple, Puja ordering websites, Pujas},
	url = {http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/saj/2010/00000038/00000004/art00007},
	author = {Heinz Scheifinger}
}
@inbook {824,
	title = {Formation of a Religious Technorati: Negotiations of Authority Among Austrailian Emerging Church Blogs},
	booktitle = {Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds },
	year = {2012},
	publisher = {Routledge},
	organization = {Routledge},
	address = {London},
	keywords = {Authority, Blogging, Church, religion},
	issn = {0415676118},
	author = {Teusner, P. and Campbell, H.}
}
@article {208,
	title = {Religious Authority and the New Media},
	journal = {Theory, Culture \& Society },
	volume = {24},
	year = {2007},
	pages = {117-134},
	abstract = {In traditional societies, knowledge is organized in hierarchical chains through which authority is legitimated by custom. Because the majority of the population is illiterate, sacred knowledge is conveyed orally and ritualistically, but the ultimate source of religious authority is typically invested in the Book. The hadith (sayings and customs of the Prophet) are a good example of traditional practice. These chains of Islamic knowledge were also characteristically local, consensual and lay, unlike in Christianity, with its emergent ecclesiastical bureaucracies, episcopal structures and ordained priests. In one sense, Islam has no church. While there are important institutional differences between the world religions, network society opens up significant challenges to traditional authority, rapidly increasing the flow of religious knowledge and commodities. With global flows of knowledge on the Internet, power is no longer embodied and the person is simply a switchpoint in the information flow. The logic of networking is that control cannot be concentrated for long at any single point in the system; knowledge, which is by definition only temporary, is democratically produced at an infinite number of sites. In this Andy Warhol world, every human can, in principle, have their own site. While the Chinese Communist Party and several Middle Eastern states attempt to control this flow, their efforts are only partially successful. The result is that traditional forms of religious authority are constantly disrupted and challenged, but at the same time the Internet creates new opportunities for evangelism, religious instruction and piety. The outcome of these processes is, however, unknown and unknowable. There is a need, therefore, to invent a new theory of authority that is post-Weberian in reconstructing the conventional format of charisma, tradition and legal rationalism.},
	keywords = {Authority, Bureaucracy, Knowledge, New Media, Tradition},
	url = {http://tcs.sagepub.com/content/24/2/117},
	author = {Turner, Bryan S}
}
@mastersthesis {1199,
	title = {Manifestation of Religious Authority on the Internet: Presentation of Twelver Shiite Authority in the Persian Blogosphere},
	volume = {Master of Arts},
	year = {2012},
	month = {23-May-2012},
	school = {University of Waterloo},
	type = {Master Thesis},
	abstract = {Cyberspace has diversified and pluralized people{\textquoteright}s daily experiences of religion in unprecedented ways. By studying several websites and weblogs that have a religious orientation, different layers of religious authority including {\textquotedblleft}religious hierarchy, structures, ideology, and sources{\textquotedblright} (Campbell, 2009) can be identified. Also, using Weber{\textquoteright}s definition of the three types of authority, {\textquotedblleft}rational-legal, traditional, and charismatic{\textquotedblright} (1968), the specific type of authority that is being presented on blogosphere can be recognized. The Internet presents a level of liberty for the discussion of sensitive topics in any kind of religious cyberspace, specifically the Islamic one. In this way, the Internet is expanding the number and range of Muslim voices, which may pose problems for traditional forms of religious authority or may suggest new forms of authority in the Islamic world. The interaction between the Internet and religion is often perceived as contradictory, especially when it is religion at its most conservative practice. While the international and national applications of the Internet have increased vastly, local religious communities, especially fundamentalists, perceived this new technology as a threat to their local cultures and practices. If we look at the Internet as a central phenomenon of contemporary modernity that interacts with practiced fundamentalist religious traditions, we can ask how broad the interactions are between religious fundamentalism and the Internet and whether these relations can be reconciled. More specifically, this thesis presents a study of the junction of the Internet and religious fundamentalism reviewing the presentation of Shiite religious authority on the Persian blogosphere. As a case study, Persian weblogs are studied for content analysis for this thesis. Weblogs{\textquoteright} texts are analyzed to find evidences for Shiite beliefs and shared identity, usages and interpretations of the main Shiite religious texts, references to the role of recognized Shiite leaders, and descriptions of Shiite structural patterns of practices and organizations. This research will demonstrate how the Internet has been culturally constructed, modified, and adapted to the Iranian community{\textquoteright}s needs and how the Shiite fundamentalist community of Iran has been affected by it. Based on one of the most structured research in this area, the study by Baezilai-Nahon and Barzilai (2005), in this article I identify four principal dimensions of religious fundamentalism as they interact with the Internet: hierarchy, patriarchy, discipline, and seclusion.},
	keywords = {Authority, Biosphere, Digital Religion, Iran, media and religion, new media engagement, New media praticipation, Persian, Religious Internet Communities, Shiite Muslim, sociability unbound},
	url = { http://hdl.handle.net/10012/6774},
	author = {Valibeigi, Narges}
}
