%0 Book %D 2010 %T Religious Internet Communication. Facts, Trends and Experiences in the Catholic Church %A Arasa, Daniel %A Cantoni, Lorenzo %A Ruiz, Lucio %K Catholic %K Church %K Communication %K internet %I EDUSC %C Rome (Italy) %G English %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Media and Religion %D 2003 %T The Relationship Between Religiosity and Internet Use %A Armfield, Greg G. %A Holbert, Robert L. %K internet %K religion %X With the solidifying of the Internet as an influential form of mediated communica- tion has come a surge of activity among media scholars looking into what leads indi- viduals to use this emerging technology. This study focuses on religiosity as a poten- tial predictor of Internet activity, and uses a combination of secularization theory and uses and gratifications theory as a foundation from which to posit a negative relation between these 2 variables. Religiosity is found to retain a significant negative relation with Internet use at the zero order, and remains a robust negative predictor of the cri- terion variable even after accounting for a host of demographic, contextual, and situ- ational variables. Ramifications for these findings are discussed and an outline for fu- ture research building on our analyses is provided. %B Journal of Media and Religion %V 3 %P 129-144 %G English %U http://www.mendeley.com/research/relationship-between-religiosity-internet/ %N 2 %0 Book %B International Studies in Religion and Society %D 2010 %T Religions of Modernity: Relocating the Sacred to the Self and the Digital %A Aupers, Stef %A Houtman, Dick %K religion and internet %K Sociology of religion %B International Studies in Religion and Society %I Brill %C Leiden %V 12 %G English %0 Book %D 2010 %T Religions of Modernity: Relocating the Sacred to the Self and the Digital %A Stef Aupers %A Dick Houtman %K Emile Durkheim %K individualism %K Max Weber %K modernization %K religion %K Spirituality %X Religions of Modernity challenges the social-scientific orthodoxy that, once unleashed, the modern forces of individualism, science and technology inevitably erode the sacred and evoke the profane. The book's chapters, some by established scholars, others by junior researchers, document instead in rich empirical detail how modernity relocates the sacred to the deeper layers of the self and the domain of digital technology. Rather than destroying the sacred tout court, then, the cultural logic of modernization spawns its own religious meanings, unacknowledged spiritualities and magical enchantments. The editors argue in the introductory chapter that the classical theoretical accounts of modernity by Max Weber, Emile Durkheim and others already hinted at the future emergence of these religions of modernity %I BRILL %G eng %U http://books.google.com/books/about/Religions_of_Modernity.html?id=l85zsiTI28sC %0 Book %D 2008 %T Reaching Out in a Networked World: Expressing Your Congregation's Heart and Soul %A Baab, L %K Christianity %K Congregation %K Heart %K network %X A congregation communicates its heart and soul through words, photos, actions, programs, architecture, decor, the arts, and countless other aspects of congregational life. In Reaching Out in a Networked World, communications expert and pastor Lynne Baab examines technologies such as websites, blogs, online communities, and desktop publishing. She demonstrates how a congregation can evaluate these tools and appropriately use them to communicate its heart and soul, to convey its identity and values both within and outside the congregation. Baab urges congregation leaders to reflect on the way they communicate. The recent explosion in communication technologies offers many new ways to present values and identity, but no one has much experience thinking about how best to use these tools. Baab seeks to help leaders use these new technologies with more precision, flair, and consistency. When congregations are intentional about communicating who they are and what they value, people in the wider community can get a clear and coherent picture of the congregation and its mission. Newcomers and visitors are more likely to see why faith commitments matter and why and how they might become involved in this congregation, while current members and leaders will greatly benefit from having a unified vision of the congregation’s heart and soul. %I Alban Institute %C Herndon, VA %G English %U http://www.scribd.com/doc/14597552/Reaching-Out-In-a-Networked-World-Excerpt %0 Book %D 2996 %T Relating: Dialogues and Dialectics %A Leslie A. Baxter %A Barbara M. Montgomery %X This book draws on the dialogism of social theorist Mikhail Bakhtin to develop a new approach which the authors term "relational dialectics" to the study of interpersonal communication. Emphasizing a social self instead of a sovereign self, multivocal oppositions instead of binary contradictions, and indeterminate change instead of transcendent synthesis, chapters examine and critique prevailing approaches to interpersonal communication. Building on these theoretical foundations, the volume rethinks such key areas as relationship development, closeness, certainty, openness, communication competence, and the boundaries between self, relationship, and society, and raises intriguing questions for future research. %I Guilford %C New York %G eng %U https://www.guilford.com/books/Relating/Baxter-Montgomery/9781572301016/summary %0 Book Section %B Encyclopedia of Information Science & Technology %D 2018 %T Religious Use of Mobile Phones %A Bellar, W %A Cho, J %A Campbell, H %K Digital Religion %K mobile phones %K religious %B Encyclopedia of Information Science & Technology %7 4 %I IGI Global %C Hershey, PA %P 6161-6170 %G eng %U https://www.igi-global.com/book/encyclopedia-information-science-technology-fourth/173015 %1 Z. Yeng %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Religion, Media, and Digital Culture %D 2013 %T Reading religion in Internet memes %A Bellar, W %A Campbell, H %A Cho, K %A Terry, A %A Tsuria, R %A Yadlin-Segal, A %A Zeimer, J %K internet memes %K religion %X This article provides a preliminary report of a study of religious-oriented internet memes and seeks to identify the common communication styles, interpretive practices and messages about religion communicated in this digital medium. These findings argue that memes provide an important sphere for investigating and understanding religious meaning-making online, which expresses key attributes of participatory culture and trends towards lived religion. %B Journal of Religion, Media, and Digital Culture %V 2 %G eng %U http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/21659214-90000031 %N 2 %0 Generic %D 2009 %T Religion on the Internet: Cyborg Anthropology and Religion 2.0 %A Annie Blakeney-Glazer %K cyborg %K internet %K religion %X The central claim of this course is that technology affects understandings of community and identity. As anthropologists, we will investigate online religious communities in order to learn how religious practices and beliefs function in virtual spaces. By the end of the semester, you will be able to analyze and explain online religious practices as well as analyze and explain your own role as an anthropologist of online religion. This course will be driven by your own research. Each of you will investigate a specific online religious community over the course of the semester, asking: how does religion function online? How do people interact without bodies? How can a scholar represent an online community to an outside audience? %I Millsaps College %C Jackson, Mississippi %8 Spring 2009 %G eng %U not found %0 Journal Article %J Media, Culture & Society %D 2017 %T Religion, communications, and Judaism: the case of digital Chabad %A Blondheim, Menahem %A Katz, Elihu %X In their article on ‘Building the Sacred Community Online’, Oren Golan and Nurit Stadler zoom in on the latest attempts of Chabad, the extrovert Jewish Hasidic group, to harness the newest digital technologies to propagate and popularize its staunchly traditionalist reading of Jewish heritage. Also known as ‘Lubavitch’, Chabad is the Hebrew acronym of ‘Wisdom, Intellect, Knowledge’, three of the more elevated kabalistic spheres (cf. Proverbs 3, 19–20). To many, Chabad’s embrace of communication technologies looks like an example of enlisting the devil to do God’s work, though it does not look like that to them. This paradox, and Golan and Stadler’s account of its newest coming, touches on some of the most fundamental issues of Jewish communications, as well as the much broader problem of religion and communications. The general religion and communication nexus may be divided into two major themes. One is the issue of religious communications, or media theology – namely, the problem of interaction of God and humans. But it also consists of the issue of communicating religion, namely, the handling and disseminating of what the religious believe to be a divine message in this world. As we shall see, both these issues are particularly relevant to Chabad. But the more immediate context for understanding Chabad and its use of media is the universe of Jewish communications. Here too there is a duality: ‘Jewish’ connotes both Jews and Judaism – a social entity and a religion – and here too, both aspects are relevant to understanding Chabad’s media practices today. %B Media, Culture & Society %G eng %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0163443715615417 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Communication Inquiry %D 2015 %T Religious memetics. Institutional authority in digital/lived religion %A Borrough, B %A Feller, G %K Digital Religion %K religious memetics %X Recently leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon) faith have called upon members to “sweep the earth” with positive religious messages through social media. This digital moment in Mormonism exemplifies the interrelation and concomitant tension between everyday lived religion, technology, and religious institutions. While studies on digital religion have emphasized the push of participatory culture into everyday lived religion, this research on religious memes contributes to an emergent vein of digital religion scholarship focused on institutional authority. In our analysis of the “doubt your doubts” meme and antimemes we theorize religious memetics as a space for the reconnection of the everydayness of religious practice, which boils down meaningful moments of faith into facile, nonthreatening avenues for sharing religion. While this is beneficial for institutions, the reflexive and metonymic function of religious memes ruptures routine, offering participants momentary pauses from the demands of orthodox religious life. %B Journal of Communication Inquiry %V 39 %P 357-377 %G eng %U http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0196859915603096 %N 4 %0 Book %D 2014 %T Ready to be a thought leader? How to increase your influence, impact, and success %A Denise Brosseau %X The how-to guide to becoming a go-to expert Within their fields, thought leaders are sources of inspiration and innovation. They have the gift of harnessing their expertise and their networks to make their innovative thoughts real and replicable, sparking sustainable change and even creating movements around their ideas. In Ready to Be a Thought Leader?, renowned executive talent agent Denise Brosseau shows readers how to develop and use that gift as she maps the path from successful executive, professional, or civic leader to respected thought leader. With the author's proven seven-step process―and starting from wherever they are in their careers―readers can set a course for maximum impact in their field. These guidelines, along with stories, tips, and success secrets from those who have successfully made the transition to high-profile thought leader, allow readers to create a long-term plan and start putting it into action today, even if they only have 15 minutes to spare. Offers a step-by-step process for becoming a recognized thought leader in your field Includes real-world examples from such high-profile thought leaders as Robin Chase, founder and former CEO of Zipcar; Chip Conley, author of PEAK and former CEO of JDV Hospitality; and more Written by Denise Brosseau, founder of Thought Leadership Lab, an executive talent agency that helps executives become thought leaders, who has worked with start-up CEOs and leaders from such firms as Apple, Genentech, Symantec, Morgan Stanley, Medtronic, KPMG, DLA Piper, and more Ready to Be a Thought Leader? offers essential reading for anyone ready to expand their influence, increase their professional success, have an impact far beyond a single organization and industry, and ultimately leave a legacy that matters. %I Jossey-Bass Publishing %C California %G eng %U https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Be-Thought-Leader-Influence/dp/1118647610 %0 Journal Article %J Social Media + Society %D 2017 %T The Religious Facebook Experience: Uses and Gratifications of Faith-Based Content %A Brubaker, Pamela Jo %A Haigh, Michel M. %X This study explores why Christians (N = 335) use Facebook for religious purposes and the needs engaging with religious content on Facebook gratifies. Individuals who access faith-based content on Facebook were recruited to participate in an online survey through a series of Facebook advertisements. An exploratory factor analysis revealed four primary motivations for accessing religious Facebook content: ministering, spiritual enlightenment, religious information, and entertainment. Along with identifying the uses and gratifications received from engaging with faith-based Facebook content, this research reveals how the frequency of Facebook use, the intensity of Facebook use for religious purposes, and also religiosity predict motivations for accessing this social networking site for faith-based purposes. The data revealed those who frequently use Facebook for posting, liking, commenting, and sharing faith-based content and who are more religious are more likely to minister to others. Frequent use also predicted seeking religious information. The affiliation with like-minded individuals afforded by this medium provides faith-based users with supportive content and communities that motivate the use of Facebook for obtaining spiritual guidance, for accessing religious resources, and for relaxing and being entertained. %B Social Media + Society %G eng %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305117703723 %0 Book Section %B Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet %D 2004 %T Rip.Burn.Pray: Islamic Expression Online %A Gary Bunt %K Islam %K Online %K Prayer %X After sex, religion is one of the most popular and pervasive topics of interest online, with over three million Americans turning to the internet each day for religious information and spiritual guidance. Tens of thousands of elaborate websites are dedicated to every manner of expression.Religion Onlineprovides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to this burgeoning new religious reality, from cyberpilgrimages to neo-pagan chatroom communities. A substantial introduction by the editors presenting the main themes and issues is followed by sixteen chapters addressing core issues of concern such as youth, religion and the internet, new religious movements and recruitment, propaganda and the countercult, and religious tradition and innovation. The volume also includes thePew Internet and American Life ProjectExecutiveSummary, the most comprehensive and widely cited study on how Americans pursue religion online, and Steven O'Leary's field-definingCyberspace as SacredSpace. %B Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet %I Routledge %C New York %P 123-134 %G English %U http://books.google.com/books?id=xy0PJrrWXH4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false %0 Book Section %B Communities in Cyberspace %D 1999 %T Reading race on-line; discovering racial identity in usenet discussions %A Burkhalter, B %K identity %K internet %K race %K Usenet %X This wide-ranging introductory text looks at the virtual community of cyberspace and analyses its relationship to real communities lived out in today's societies. Issues such as race, gender, power, economics and ethics in cyberspace are grouped under four main sections and discussed by leading experts: * identity * social order and control * community structure and dynamics * collective action. This topical new book displays how the idea of community is being challenged and rewritten by the increasing power and range of cyberspace. As new societies and relationships are formed in this virtual landscape, we now have to consider the potential consequences this may have on our own community and societies. Clearly and concisely writtenwith a wide range of international examples, this edited volume is an essential introduction to the sociology of the internet. It will appeal to students and professionals, and to those concerned about the changing relationships between information technology and a society which is fast becoming divided between those on-line and those not. %B Communities in Cyberspace %I Routledge %C London & New York %P 60-75 %G eng %U http://books.google.com/books?id=210IkjyN8gEC&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=Reading+race+on-line;+discovering+racial+identity+in+usenet+discussions&source=bl&ots=Xv2QeLJjvv&sig=K1teJw4Ir9QY9__-Z6D_XYGqEN4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=C7ffT9qxO4Oa2gXb0KmWCg&ved=0CFUQ6AEwBw#v=onepa %1 M. A. Smith & P. Kollock %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Communication Inquiry %D 2015 %T Religious Memetics: Institutional Authority in Digital/Lived Religion %A Burroughs, Benjamin %A Feller, Gavin %K Digital Religion %K Lived religion %K meme %K mormonism %K religious memetics %X Recently leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS/Mormon) faith have called upon members to "sweep the earth" with positive religious messages through social media. This digital moment in Mormonism exemplifies the interrelation and concomitant tension between everyday lived religion, technology, and religious institutions. While studies on digital religion have emphasized the push of participatory culture into everyday lived religion, this research on religious memes contributes to an emergent vein of digital religion scholarship focused on institutional authority. In our analysis of the "doubt your doubts" meme and antimemes we theorize religious memetics as a space for the reconnection of the everydayness of religious practice, which boils down meaningful moments of faith into facile, nonthreatening avenues for sharing religion. While this is beneficial for institutions, the reflexive and metonymic function of religious memes ruptures routine, offering participants momentary pauses from the demands of orthodox religious life. %B Journal of Communication Inquiry %V 39 %G eng %U http://jci.sagepub.com/content/39/4/357.abstract %N 4 %R 10.1177/0196859915603096 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication %D 2010 %T Religious Authority and the Blogosphere %A Campbell, Heidi A. %X 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. %B Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication %G eng %U https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2010.01519.x %0 Journal Article %J Israel Affairs %D 2011 %T Religious engagement with the internet within Israeli Orthodox groups %A Heidi Campbell %K Authority %K community %K internet %K Israel %K Judaism %K Orthodox %K religion %K ultra Orthodox %X 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. %B Israel Affairs %V 17 %P 364-383 %U http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13537121.2011.584664#preview %N 3 %0 Journal Article %J Communication Research Trends %D 2006 %T Religion and the Internet %A Heidi Campbell %K internet %K religion %B Communication Research Trends %V 26 %P 3-24 %G English %U http://cscc.scu.edu/trends/v25/v25_1.pdf %N 1 %0 Book %B Research Methods and Theories in Digital Religion Studies %D 2018 %T Religion and the Internet %A Campbell, H %K internet %K religion %B Research Methods and Theories in Digital Religion Studies %I Routledge %C London %V 3 %G eng %U https://books.google.com/books?id=lp5gswEACAAJ&dq=religion+and+the+internet+volume+3+Research+Methods+and+Theories+in+Digital+Religion+Studies&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib-s3ipsTbAhVHrVkKHdBOD1IQ6AEIJzAA %0 Book Section %B Virtual Lives: Christian Reflection %D 2011 %T Religious Authority in the Age of the Internet %A Heidi Campbell %A Paul Teusner %K Authority %K internet %K religion %X 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? %B Virtual Lives: Christian Reflection %I Baylor University Press %P 59-68 %G English %U http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/130950.pdf %R http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/130947.pdf %0 Book %B Mapping the Rise of the Study of Religious Practice Online %D 2018 %T Religion and the Internet %A Campbell, H %K Digital Religion %K internet %K religion %X Religion and the Internet will present a range of scholarly articles that offer a critical overview of the interdisciplinary study of new media, religion and digital culture. Scholars have documented individuals using computer networks for religious discussions and enagagment since the early 1980s. In the mid 1990s, when the Internet became publicly accessible, scholars began to study how users were translating and transporting their religious practices onto this new digital platform. This collection will cover the development of the study of Religion and the Internet over the past three decades, highlighting the core research topics, approaches and questions that have been explored by key international scholars at the intersection of new media and religion. The collection seeks to present how new forms of religious practices have emerged and been interrogated by scholars. It will also present how religious communities have negotiated their engagement with digital techologies and the online and offline implications this has had for religious practioners and individuals. %B Mapping the Rise of the Study of Religious Practice Online %I Routledge %C London %V 1 %G eng %U https://www.crcpress.com/Religion-and-the-Internet/Campbell/p/book/9781138093669 %0 Book %B Key Themes in the Study of Digital Religion %D 2018 %T Religion and the Internet %A Campbell, H %K internet %K religion %X Religion and the Internet will present a range of scholarly articles that offer a critical overview of the interdisciplinary study of new media, religion and digital culture. Scholars have documented individuals using computer networks for religious discussions and enagagment since the early 1980s. In the mid 1990s, when the Internet became publicly accessible, scholars began to study how users were translating and transporting their religious practices onto this new digital platform. This collection will cover the development of the study of Religion and the Internet over the past three decades, highlighting the core research topics, approaches and questions that have been explored by key international scholars at the intersection of new media and religion. The collection seeks to present how new forms of religious practices have emerged and been interrogated by scholars. It will also present how religious communities have negotiated their engagement with digital techologies and the online and offline implications this has had for religious practioners and individuals. %B Key Themes in the Study of Digital Religion %I Routledge %C London %V 2 %G eng %U https://books.google.com/books?id=QrGhswEACAAJ&dq=religion+and+the+internet+volume+2&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjhiYyrocTbAhWjo1kKHUlfCicQ6AEIJzAA %0 Book Section %B Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Culture and Religion %D 2003 %T A Review of Religious Computer-Mediated Communication Research %A Heidi Campbell %K Communication %K Computer %K religion %K Research %X This is the first book to bring together many aspects of the interplay between religion, media and culture from around the world in a single comprehensive study. Leading international scholars provide the most up-to-date findings in their fields, and in a readable and accessible way.37 essays cover topics including religion in the media age, popular broadcasting, communication theology, popular piety, film and religion, myth and ritual in cyberspace, music and religion, communication ethics, and the nature of truth in media saturated cultures. %B Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Culture and Religion %I T & T Clark/Continuum %C Edinburgh %P 213-228 %G English %U http://books.google.com/books/about/Mediating_religion.html?id=X6uEQgAACAAJ %1 S. Marriage, J. Mitchell %0 Journal Article %J The Annals of the ICA %D 2017 %T Religious Communication and Technology %A Campbell, H %K Digital Religion %K internet %K religion %X This article provides a review of contemporary research on religious communication and technologies through the lens of Digital Religion Studies, which explores how online and offline religious spheres become blended and blurred through digital culture. Summarizing the emergence and growth of studies of religion and the Internet, and offering an overview of scholarship demonstrating how religious actors negotiate their relationships and spiritual activities within their online–offline lives, enable us to look critically at the state of Digital Religion Studies. This article also highlights current trends and emerging themes within this area including increasing attention being paid to theoretical developments, approaching digital religion as lived religion, and the influence of postsecular and posthuman discourses within this scholarship. %B The Annals of the ICA %V 41 %G eng %U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23808985.2017.1374200 %N 3-4) %0 Book Section %B International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences %D 2015 %T Religion and New Media %A Campbell, H %A Connelly, L %K New Media %K religion %B International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences %7 2 %I Elsevier %C Oxford %V 20 %P 273–278 %G eng %U https://www.elsevier.com/books/international-encyclopedia-of-the-social-andampamp-behavioral-sciences/wright/978-0-08-097086-8 %1 James D. Wright (editor-in-chief) %0 Journal Article %J Information, Community & Society %D 2011 %T Rethinking the online-offline connection in religion online %A Heidi Campbell %A Lövheim, Mia %K internet and religion %K offline %K Online %K religion %X This special issue of Information, Communication and Society aims to present current research on the connection between online and offline religion and map out significant questions and themes concerning how this relationship takes shape among different religious traditions and contexts. By bringing together a collection of studies that explore these issues, we seek to investigate both how the Internet informs religious cultures in everyday life, and how the Internet is being shaped by offline religious traditions and communities. In order to contextualize the articles in the special issue, we offer a brief overview of how religion online has been studied over the past two decades with attention given to how the intersection of online-offline religion has been approached. This is followed by a discussion of key questions in the recent study of the relationship between online and offline religion and significant themes that emerge in contemporary research on religious uses of the Internet. These questions and themes help contextualize the unique contributions this special issue offers to the current discourse in this area, as well as how it might inform the wider field of Internet studies. We end by suggesting where future research on religion and the Internet might be headed, especially in relation to how we understand and approach the overlap between online and offline religion as a space of hybridity and social interdependence. %B Information, Community & Society %V 18 %8 11/2011 %G eng %U http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2011.597416 %N 4 %& 1083-1086 %R 10.1080/1369118X.2011.597416 %0 Journal Article %J new media & society %D 2012 %T Religion and the Internet: A microcosm for studying Internet trends and implications %A Heidi A Campbell %K Authority %K community %K Computer %K Contemporary Religious Community %K cyberspace %K identity %K internet %K Mass media %K network %K New Media and Society %K new media engagement %K New Technology and Society %K offline %K Online %K online communication %K Online community %K religion %K religion and internet %K Religion and the Internet %K religiosity %K religious engagement %K religious identity %K Religious Internet Communication %K Religious Internet Communities %K Ritual %K sociability unbound %K Sociology of religion %K users’ participation %K virtual community %K virtual public sphere %K “digital religion” %K “Internet Studies” %K “media and religion” %K “media research” %K “networked society” %K “online identity” %K “religion online” %K “religious congregations” %K “religious media research” %K “religious practice online” %X 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–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’ contribution in a wide range of contexts in our contemporary social world. %B new media & society %V 15 %G eng %U http://nms.sagepub.com/content/15/5/680.abstract %N 5 %& 680 %0 Journal Article %J Society %D 2003 %T Religious authority in the modern world %A Chavez, M %B Society %G eng %U https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12115-003-1034-8 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Applied Communication Research %D 2011 %T Religious Communication and Epistemic Authority of Leaders in Wired Faith Organizations. %A Pauline Hope Cheong %K Authority %K internet %X 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. %B Journal of Applied Communication Research %V 39 %P 452-454 %G English %U http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01579.x/abstract %N 4 %R 10.1080/00909882.2011.577085 %0 Journal Article %J Applied Artificial Intelligence %D 2020 %T Religion, Robots and Rectitude: Communicative Affordances for Spiritual Knowledge and Community %A Cheong, Pauline Hope %X In light of growing concerns on AI growth and gloomy projections of attendant risks to human well-being and expertise, recent development of robotics designed to fulfill spiritual goals can help provide an alternative, possibly uplifting vision of global futures. To further understanding of the potential of robots as embodied communicators for virtuous knowledge and community, this paper discusses the affordances or possibilities of action of robots for spiritual communication by drawing upon the recent highly publicized case of Xian’Er the robot monk (XE). By discussing XE’s communicative affordances including its searchability, multimediality, liveliness and extendibility, findings illustrate how robots can facilitate religious education, augment priestly authority and cultivate spiritual community. Contrary to abstract and dystopic visions of AI, findings here temper extreme pronouncements of societal disorder and points to prospects for pious and positive interplays between AI technology and society while also identifying various limitations for spiritual communication. In doing so, this paper unpacks the profound relations between religion, robots and rectitude, contributing interdisciplinary insights into an understudied area of AI development as faith leaders and adherents interact with new technological features and applications in their desire for transcendence. %B Applied Artificial Intelligence %G eng %U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08839514.2020.1723869 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Communication %D 2011 %T Religious Communication and Epistemic Authority of Leaders in Wired Faith Organizations %A Pauline Hope Cheong %A Huang, Shirlena %A Poon, Jessie %K Authority %K internet %K theory of religion online %X 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. %B Journal of Communication %V 61 %P 938-958 %U http://www.paulinehopecheong.com %N 5 %R 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01579.x %0 Book Section %B Digital Religion, Social Media and Culture: Perspectives, Practices, Futures %D 2012 %T Religion 2.0? Relational and hybridizing pathways in religion, social media and culture %A Pauline Hope Cheong %A Ess, Charles %K Authority %K community %K identity %K internet %K religion %K social media %B Digital Religion, Social Media and Culture: Perspectives, Practices, Futures %I Peter Lang %C New York %P 1-24 %U http://www.paulinehopecheong.com %& Religion 2.0? Relational and hybridizing pathways in religion, social media and culture. %0 Book Section %B Encyclopedia of Mobile Phone Behavior %D 2015 %T Religious Use of Mobile Phones %A Cho, J %A Campbell, H %K Digital Religion %K mobile phones %K religious %B Encyclopedia of Mobile Phone Behavior %I IGI Global %C Hershey, PA %V 1 %P 308-321 %G eng %U https://books.google.com/books?id=bIkfCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA318&lpg=PA318&dq=Religious+Use+of+Mobile+Phones+campbell&source=bl&ots=TbHQw5CLCS&sig=gAA9VmqoTfuXPv2bxCI-Ga0B1dc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSh8bsmMTbAhVC-6wKHZI0CXcQ6AEINTAD#v=snippet&q=308&f=false %1 Z. Yeng %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Media and Technology %D 1997 %T Religious Perspective on Communication Technology %A Christians, Clifford %K Communication %K Perspective %K technology %K View %B Journal of Media and Technology %V 1 %P 37-47 %G English %N 1 %0 Book %D 2011 %T Religion and authority in a remix culture: how a late night TV host became an authority on religion %A Clark, L.S. %X This Reader brings together a selection of key writings to explore the relationship between religion, media and cultures of everyday life. It provides an overview of the main debates and developments in this growing field, focusing on four major themes: Religion, spirituality and consumer culture Media and the transformation of religion The sacred senses: visual, material and audio culture Religion, and the ethics of media and culture. This collection is an invaluable resource for students, academics and researchers wanting a deeper understanding of religion and contemporary culture. %I Routledge %C London %P 111-119 %G eng %0 Book Section %B Religion on the Internet. Research Prospects and Promises. %D 2000 %T Researching Religion in Cyberspace: Issues and Strategies %A Dawson, Lorne %X Religion on the Internet is the first systematic inquiry into the nature, scope and content of religion in cyberspace. Contributors to this volume include leading social scientists engaged in systematic studies of how organizations and individuals are presenting religion on the Internet. Their combined efforts provide a conceptual mapping of religion in cyberspace at this moment. The individual papers and collective insights found in this volume add up to a valuable agenda of research that will enrich understanding of this new phenomenon. Among the contributors are the founders of three of the most important scholarly religion web sites on the Internet: American Religion Data Archive, Religious Tolerance, and Religious Movements Homepage. Religion and the Internet is essential reading for all who seek to understand how religion is being presented on the Internet and how this topic is likely to unfold in the years ahead. %B Religion on the Internet. Research Prospects and Promises. %I JAI Press %C Amsterdam, London and New York %P 25-54 %G English %U http://books.google.com/books/about/Religion_on_the_Internet.html?id=xXVgQgAACAAJ %0 Book %D 2004 %T Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet %A Dawson, Lorne %A Cowan, Douglas %K information and communication technology %K methodology %K social networks %X After sex, religion is one of the most popular and pervasive topics of interest online, with over three million Americans turning to the internet each day for religious information and spiritual guidance. Tens of thousands of elaborate websites are dedicated to every manner of expression.Religion Onlineprovides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to this burgeoning new religious reality, from cyberpilgrimages to neo-pagan chatroom communities. A substantial introduction by the editors presenting the main themes and issues is followed by sixteen chapters addressing core issues of concern such as youth, religion and the internet, new religious movements and recruitment, propaganda and the countercult, and religious tradition and innovation. The volume also includes thePew Internet and American Life ProjectExecutiveSummary, the most comprehensive and widely cited study on how Americans pursue religion online, and Steven O'Leary's field-definingCyberspace as SacredSpace. %I Routledge %C New York %G English %U http://books.google.com/books?id=xy0PJrrWXH4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false %0 Book %D 2004 %T Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet %A Lorne L. Dawson %A Douglas E. Cowan %K Australia %K cyberspace %K identity %K internet %K Islam %K religion %K Spirituality %K USA %K virtual community %K Youth %I Routledge %G eng %U http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=wv7yBEkNy90C&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=religion+and+internet&ots=CA4s_YcVP2&sig=xdDIUwtCtkJoZbGLjswTPVLMeg4#v=onepage&q=religion%20and%20internet&f=false %0 Book Section %B Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age %D 2009 %T Religionless in Seattle %A Michael Delashmutt %K religion and internet %K Seattle %X In recent years, there has been growing awareness across a range of academic disciplines of the value of exploring issues of religion and the sacred in relation to cultures of everyday life. Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age offers inter-disciplinary perspectives drawing from theology, religious studies, media studies, cultural studies, film studies, sociology and anthropology. Combining theoretical frameworks for the analysis of religion, media and popular culture, with focused international case studies of particular texts, practices, communities and audiences, the authors examine topics such as media rituals, marketing strategies, empirical investigations of audience testimony, and the influence of religion on music, reality television and the internet.Both academically rigorous and of interest to a wider readership, this book offers a wide range of fascinating explorations at the cutting edge of many contemporary debates in sociology, religion and media, including chapters on the way evangelical groups in America have made use of The Da Vinci Code and on the influences of religion on British club culture and electronic dance music. %B Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age %I Ashgate %C London %P 85-104 %G English %U http://books.google.com/books?id=HRmYapWETqcC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=Religionless+in+Seattle&source=bl&ots=Q89-xXtfO2&sig=JU8y6qjD29n9STEiL4viFgfAJZ8&hl=en&ei=FFbFTqeMLMn8ggf9l8nYDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Religionl %1 Christopher Deacy, Elisabeth Arweck %0 Journal Article %J Cogent Social Sciences %D 2017 %T Religious testimonial narratives and social construction of identity: Insights from prophetic ministries in Botswana %A Faimau, G. %K Facebook %K identity %K prophetic ministries %K testimony %X Giving a testimony forms a central part of the religious practices among Pentecostal churches including prophetic ministries. Testimony links the understanding of one’s religious experience and the configuration of the divine intervention. Utilizing data collected through ethnographic observation among prophetic ministries in Botswana and digital ethnography of the testimonial narratives circulated online through various new media outlets of these ministries, this paper examines the ways in which religious identity is constructed and understood through the testimonial performance in various religious services. Informed by the premise that narrative is closely related to identity, the paper pays particular attention to the extent to which religious testimonies influence the dynamic relationship between individual, communal and institutional religious identity. The following questions are central to the analysis: In what ways does a religious testimony inform us about the construction and negotiation of religious identity? To what extent does a religious testimony influence the dynamic relationship between individual, communal and institutional religious identity? While suggesting that religious identity constructions and negotiations are embedded within the sharing of religious testimonies, I also argue that the sharing of a religious testimony has an agentive function of extending the social relationship between an individual believer, other believers and the religious community within which the testimony is shared. %B Cogent Social Sciences %V 3 %P 15 %8 07/2017 %G eng %9 Research %& 1 %R doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2017.1356620 %0 Journal Article %J Masaryk University Journal of Law and Technology %D 2012 %T Religious Online Developments in a Secular Context %A P. Fischer-Nielsen %K adaption %K Authority %K cyber church. %K dialogue %K discussion groups %K individualization %K internet %K media sites %K Negotiation %K religion %K search engines %K secularization %K Social Networking %X 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’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. %B Masaryk University Journal of Law and Technology %V 6 %G eng %U https://mujlt.law.muni.cz/storage/1373984017_sb_03-fischer-nielsen.pdf %N 1 %& 49 %0 Journal Article %J Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society %D 2016 %T Religion on the Internet: Community and Virtual Existence: %A Foltz, Franz %A Foltz, Frederick %X There is considerable controversy concerning the ability of the Internet to provide communal experiences. This article looks at the ability of the World Wide Web to foster religious community, particularly from a Christian perspective. It looks at the nature of religion and community and shows to what extent the Internet has and has not been successful in recreating religious community. It looks at the reaction of two particular groups of users and categorizes Web sites into five types: research sites, extensions of local community, independent sites, spiritual retreats, and online worship. Finally it discusses the limitations of disembodied experience and argues that most individuals use the media within these limitations. %B Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society %G eng %U https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249747436_Religion_on_the_Internet_Community_and_Virtual_Existence %R 10.1177/0270467603256085 %0 Journal Article %J Perspectives on Politics %D 2018 %T Race, Religion, or Culture? Framing Islam between Racism and Neo-Racism in the Online Network of the French Far Right %A Froio, Caterina %X When debates about Islam acquire importance in the public sphere, does the far right adhere to traditional racist arguments, risking marginalization, or does it conform to mainstream values to attain legitimacy in the political system? Focusing on the aftermath of the 2015 terrorist attacks in France, I explore the framing of Islam, discussing how the far right’s nativist arguments were reformulated to engage with available discursive opportunities and dominant conceptions of the national identity. By looking at actors in the protest and the electoral arenas, I examine the interplay between the choice of anti-Islam frames and baseline national values. I offer a novel mixed-method approach to study political discourses, combining social network analysis of the links between seventy-seven far-right websites with a qualitative frame analysis of online material. It also includes measures of online visibility of these websites to assess their audiences. The results confirm that anti-Islam frames are couched along a spectrum of discursive opportunity, where actors can either opt to justify opposition to Islam based on interpretations of core national values (culture and religion) or mobilize on strictly oppositional values (biological racism). The framing strategy providing most online visibility is based on neo-racist arguments. While this strategy allows distortion of baseline national values of secularity and republicanism, without breaching the social contract, it is also a danger for organizations that made “opposition to the system” their trademark. While the results owe much to the French context, the conclusions draw broader implications as to the far right going mainstream. %B Perspectives on Politics %G eng %U https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/abs/race-religion-or-culture-framing-islam-between-racism-and-neoracism-in-the-online-network-of-the-french-far-right/FE258FCC20A9AAFFF2390E942426D491 %0 Thesis %B ISIM %D 2008 %T Rhythms and Rhymes of Life: Music and identification processes of Dutch-Moroccan youth %A Gazzah, Miriam %K Dutch %K identity %K Music %K Youth %B ISIM %I Amsterdam University Press %V PhD %8 2008 %G English %9 PhD %0 Journal Article %J Information, Communication & Society %D 2019 %T Religious live-streaming: constructing the authentic in real time %A Golan, Oren %A Martini, Michele %X From the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem to the Kaaba of Mecca, many religious sites are webcasting in live-streaming. This study inquires how religious institutions act to shape users’ worldviews and negotiate meanings via live-streaming-mediated communication. Ethnographic fieldwork accompanied a case study of 25 in-depth interviews of the Canção Nova and the Franciscan Order’s recent media operation in the Holy Land. Findings uncovered three facets: (1) Evangelizing youth. (2) Establishing affinity towards the Holy Land. (3) Maintaining constant presence of the transcendental. Drawing on Walter Benjamin, proximity between believers and the divine via live-streaming is discussed and its implication for transforming the religious experience, establishing secondary authority in the Catholic world and propelling religious change in the information society. %B Information, Communication & Society %G eng %U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2017.1395472 %0 Book %B Routledge Research in Religion, Media and Culture %D 2014 %T Religion, Media, and Social Change %A Kennet Granholm %A Marcus Moberg %A Sofia Sjö %K Digital Religion %K Globalization %K institutions %K Online community %K religious change %K social change %K socioeconomic modern societies %K sociological study of religion %K Technologies %X In an era of heightened globalization, macro-level transformations in the general socioeconomic and cultural makeup of modern societies have been studied in great depth. Yet little attention has been paid to the growing influence of media and mass-mediated popular culture on contemporary religious sensibilities, life, and practice. Religion, Media, and Social Change explores the correlation between the study of religion, media, and popular culture and broader sociological theorizing on religious change. Contributions devote serious attention to broadly-defined media including technologies, institutions, and social and cultural environments, as well as mass-mediated popular culture such as film, music, television, and computer games. This interdisciplinary collection addresses important theoretical and methodological questions by connecting the study of media and popular culture to current perspectives, approaches, and discussions in the broader sociological study of religion. %B Routledge Research in Religion, Media and Culture %I Routledge %G eng %U http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415742825/ %0 Book Section %B Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds %D 2012 %T Religion %A Grieve, Gregory %K religion %B Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds %I Routledge %C New York %0 Journal Article %J Diogenes %D 2006 %T Religion and the Internet %A Rosalind I. J. Hackett %K internet %K religion %X Emergent scholarship on the most radical technological invention of our time confirms what most of us know from first-hand experience – that the internet has fundamentally altered our perceptions and our knowledge, as well as our sense of subjectivity, community and agency (see for example Vries, 2002: 19). The American scholar of religion and communications, Stephen O’Leary, one of the first scholars to analyze the role of the new media for religious communities, claims that the advent of the internet has been as revolutionary for religious growth and dissemination as was the invention of the printing press (O’Leary, 1996). In the present essay, I consider the transformations of both religion, and by extension scholarship on religion, occasioned by computer-mediated communication (CMC) and information. I lay out a basic framework for analyzing the multifunctionality of the internet with regard to religion. I also briefly address the multidisciplinarity required to comprehend this multi-dimensional technological revolution. My primary focus is religious uses (Lawrence, 2000), but some reference is also made to religious perceptions of this new medium. In my broader research, I am particularly interested in some of the latest forms of internet applications by religious individuals and organizations, and their consequence for inter-religious conflict or harmony in what sociologist Manuel Castells calls our ‘global network society’ (Castells, 1997; Hackett, 2003, 2005). The information technology revolution and the restructuring of late capitalist economies have generated this new form of society. But as to whether the internet is predominantly utopian or dystopian is hard to discern, conclusions may be determined by one’s own interests and vantage-point. %B Diogenes %V 53 %P 67-76 %8 2006 %G eng %U http://dio.sagepub.com/content/53/3/67.citation %0 Book %D 2000 %T Religion on the Internet: Research Prospects and Promises %A Hadden, Jeffery %A Cowan, Douglas %K internet %K religion %K Research %X Religion on the Internet is the first systematic inquiry into the nature, scope and content of religion in cyberspace. Contributors to this volume include leading social scientists engaged in systematic studies of how organizations and individuals are presenting religion on the Internet. Their combined efforts provide a conceptual mapping of religion in cyberspace at this moment. The individual papers and collective insights found in this volume add up to a valuable agenda of research that will enrich understanding of this new phenomenon. Among the contributors are the founders of three of the most important scholarly religion web sites on the Internet: American Religion Data Archive, Religious Tolerance, and Religious Movements Homepage. Religion and the Internet is essential reading for all who seek to understand how religion is being presented on the Internet and how this topic is likely to unfold in the years ahead. %I JAI Press/Elsevier Science %C London %G English %U http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/cipr/image/304.pdf %0 Journal Article %J Information, Communication & Society %D 2020 %T The representation of Islam within social media: a systematic review %A Hashmi, Umair Munir %A Rashid, Radzuwan Ab %A Ahmad, Mohd Kamil %X This systematic review was carried out to provide insights into how Islam has been represented in social media; and the omissions and gaps in the synthesized literature on the topic. Two databases – Scopus and the Web of Science – were explored to collect data. Primary searches between 2010 and 2019, revealed more than 100 studies dealing with the topic of investigation. After scrutinizing abstracts and removing duplicates, 36 studies came within the research criteria and were retained for analysis. A thematic analysis was conducted for the derivation of themes. The themes that emerged were: (1) Islam as a liberal religion; (2) Islam as a religion of extremism and terrorism; (3) Islam as religion of gender discrimination; (4) Islam as a religion of collective identity; and (5) Islam as a humane religion. Although the representation of Islam in social media is wide-ranging, more empirical studies found that social media users represent Islam negatively than studies which revealed positive view of Islam by social media users. %B Information, Communication & Society %G eng %U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1847165?journalCode=rics20 %0 Book Section %B Communicative Figurations %D 2018 %T Rethinking Transforming Communications: An Introduction %A Hepp, A %A Breiter, A %A Hasebrink, U %K Communication %K mediatization %X This chapter introduces the contributions to this volume in three stages. First, it is argued that when considering the present stage of deep mediatization, it is insufficient to concentrate solely on the media as such: one also has to consider how communication transforms with changing media. It is by virtue of the change in human communicative practices together with other social practices that processes of social construction change. This is what is called transforming communications. Second, the chapter outlines why it is helpful to take a figurational approach for researching such transforming communications. The term figuration goes back to Norbert Elias, who used it to describe structured interrelations between humans. However, for the analysis in question, it is extended to reflect questions of communication. Finally, this introduction provides an overview of the arguments presented in the following chapters. %B Communicative Figurations %I Palgrave Macmillan, Cham %P 3-13 %G eng %U https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-65584-0_1#citeas %1 Hepp A., Breiter A., Hasebrink U %0 Book %D 2005 %T Religion and Cyberspace %A Hojsgaard, Morten %A Warburg, Margit %X In the twenty-first century, religious life is increasingly moving from churches, mosques and temples onto the Internet. Today, anyone can go online and seek a new form of religious expression without ever encountering a physical place of worship, or an ordained teacher or priest. The digital age offers virtual worship, cyber-prayers and talk-boards for all of the major world faiths, as well as for pagan organisations and new religious movements. It also abounds with misinformation, religious bigotry and information terrorism. Scholars of religion need to understand the emerging forum that the web offers to religion, and the kinds of religious and social interaction that it enables. Religion and Cyberspace explores how religious individuals and groups are responding to the opportunities and challenges that cyberspace brings. It asks how religious experience is generated and enacted online, and how faith is shaped by factors such as limitless choice, lack of religious authority, and the conflict between recognised and non-recognised forms of worship. Combining case studies with the latest theory, its twelve chapters examine topics including the history of online worship, virtuality versus reality in cyberspace, religious conflict in digital contexts, and the construction of religious identity online. Focusing on key themes in this groundbreaking area, it is an ideal introduction to the fascinating questions that religion on the Internet presents. %I Routledge %C New York %G English %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Media and Religion %D 2003 %T The Relationship Between Religiosity and Internet Use %A Greg G. Armfield & R. Lance Holbert %K Computer %K Contemporary Religious Community %K cyberspace %K internet %K Mass media %K network %K New Media and Society %K new media engagement %K New Technology and Society %K online communication %K Online community %K religion %K religion and internet %K Religion and the Internet %K religiosity %K religious engagement %K religious identity %K Religious Internet Communication %K Religious Internet Communities %K secularization theory %K Sociology of religion %K users’ participation %K uses and gratifications %K virtual community %K virtual public sphere %K “media research” %K “religion online” %K “religious media research” %X With the solidifying of the Internet as an influential form of mediated communication has come a surge of activity among media scholars looking into what leads individuals to use this emerging technology. This study focuses on religiosity as a potential predictor of Internet activity, and uses a combination of secularization theory and uses and gratifications theory as a foundation from which to posit a negative relation between these 2 variables. Religiosity is found to retain a significant negative relation with Internet use at the zero order, and remains a robust negative predictor of the criterion variable even after accounting for a host of demographic, contextual, and situational variables. Ramifications for these findings are discussed and an outline for future research building on our analyses is provided. %B Journal of Media and Religion %V 2 %G eng %U http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S15328415JMR0203_01#.UikaxDasim5 %N 3 %& 129 %0 Book Section %B Belief in Media: Cultural Perspective on Media and Christianity %D 0 %T Religious Meaning in the Digital Age: Field Research on Internet/Web Religion. %A Hoover, S. %A Park, J.K. %E Horsfield %K Christianity %K culture %K field research %K media %K religious %K Religious Media %B Belief in Media: Cultural Perspective on Media and Christianity %I Ashgate %C Aldershot, UK %G eng %& 10 (pg 121-136) %0 Book %D 2006 %T Religion in the Media Age %A Hoover, Stewart %X Looking at the everyday interaction of religion and media in our cultural lives, Hoover's new book is a fascinating assessment of the state of modern religion. Recent years have produced a marked turn away from institutionalized religions towards more autonomous, individual forms of the search for spiritual meaning. Film, television, the music industry and the internet are central to this process, cutting through the monolithic assertions of world religions and giving access to more diverse and fragmented ideals. While the sheer volume and variety of information travelling through global media changes modes of religious thought and commitment, the human desire for spirituality also invigorates popular culture itself, recreating commodities, film blockbusters, world sport and popular music as contexts for religious meanings. Drawing on research into household media consumption, Hoover charts the way in which media and religion intermingle and collide in the cultural experience of media audiences. Religion in the Media Age is essential reading for everyone interested in how today mass media relates to contemporary religious and spiritual life. %I Routledge %C London %G English %U http://books.google.com/books/about/Religion_in_the_media_age.html?id=rdLh5S_MkUQC %0 Book %D 1997 %T Rethinking Media, Religion, and Culture %A Hoover, Stewart M. %A Lundby, Knut %X The growing connections between media, culture, and religion are increasingly evident in our society today but have rarely been linked theoretically until now. Beginning with the decline of religious institutions during the latter part of this century, Rethinking Media, Religion, and Culture focuses on issues such as the increasing autonomy and individualized practice of religion, the surge of media and media-based icons that are often imbued with religious qualities, and the ensuing effect on cultural practices. Editors Stewart M. Hoover and Knut Lundby examine each of these issues and the implications of major recent findings of religious, media, and cultural studies as they pertain to one another. In a primary effort, the leading class of contributors to this work effectively triangulate these three separate areas into a coherent whole. The book explores phenomena like rallies, rituals, and resistance as they are distinct expressions of religion often transmogrified into different mediated or cultural expressions. This collection should benefit the work of scholars and researchers in communication, media, cultural, and religious studies who seek a broader understanding of the two-sided relationships between religion and media, media and culture, and culture and religion. %I Sage Publications, Incorporated %G eng %U https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/rethinking-media-religion-and-culture/book4416 %0 Book %D 1998 %T Religion in the News: Faith and Journalism in American Public Discourse %A Hoover, Stewart %X Since the 1970s, more and more religious stories have made their way to headline news: the Islamic Revolution in Iran, televangelism and its scandals, and the rise of the Evangelical New Right and its role in politics, to name but a few. Media treatment of religion can be seen as a kind of indicator of the broader role and status of religion on the contemporary scene. To better understand the relationship between religion and the news media, both in everyday practice and in the larger context of American public discourse, author Stewart P. Hoover gives a cultural-historical analysis in his book, Religion in the News. The resulting insights provide important clues as to the place of religion in American life, the role of the media in cultural discourse, and the prospects of institutional religion in the media age. This volume is highly recommended to media professionals, journalists, people in the religious community, and for classroom use in religious studies and media studies programs. %I SAGE Publications, Inc %G eng %U https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/religion-in-the-news/book8019 %0 Journal Article %J Word and World %D 2015 %T REAL VIRTUAL COMMUNITY %A Tim Hutchings %K virtual community %X Virtual community can be real community. An example is the Church of Fools (now St Pixels), launched as an experiment eleven years ago, meant to last but three months. However, that experiment created a congregation that is still alive today, one in which people carry on public discussions with sufficient human feelings to form webs of personal relationships online. %B Word and World %V 35 %8 04/2015 %G eng %U https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/issues.aspx?article_id=3847 %N 2 %0 Book Section %B Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion %D 2012 %T Religion and the Digital Humanities: New Tools, Methods and Perspectives %A Hutchings, T. %K Digital humanities %K methodology %X From the editors' introduction: "Tim Hutchings believes that the emerging research field of "digital humanities" seeks to generate and explore intersections between the questions and commitments of the traditional humanities disciplines and the opportunities, challenges and social transformations associated with digital media. This article maps the possibilities and challenges offered by the diverse landscape of new research, drawing on the author's own research experience as one of several sociologists of "cyber" and "cyborg" religion working at HUMlab, a digital humanities study laboratory in Umea, Sweden. Three of the author's own research projects - studies of cyberchurches, digital evangelism and Christian music festivals - will be used as case studies to demonstrate the development and application of digital research methodologies." %B Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion %I Brill %V 3 %G eng %1 Berzano, L. Riis, O. %0 Journal Article %J Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet %D 2008 %T Rituals and Pixels. Experiments in Online Church %A Jenkins, Simone %K Reality %K Ritual %K Virtual %X Simon Jenkins, the founder of the famous “Church of Fools”, writes about his experiences of turning Christian rituals into virtual reality. In his article “Rituals and Pixels. Experiments in Online Church” he describes from an emic perspective the beginnings and the formation of the ”Church of Fools” as an experiment of a 3D-Faith-Environment, its development and his latest project, “St Pixels". %B Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet %G English %U http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2008/8291/pdf/jenkins.pdf %0 Journal Article %J The Muslim World %D 2006 %T Religious authority and autonomy intertwined: The case of converts to Islam in Denmark %A Jensen, T. G. %B The Muslim World %G eng %U https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1478-1913.2006.00151.x %0 Journal Article %J Religion %D 2002 %T Religious Discourse and Cyberspace %A Anastasia Karaflogka %K Attitude %K cyberspace %K religion %K Typology %X This article explores the evolution and development of a typology of cyberspatial religious discourse over the course of a few years. The vast quantity of information published on the Net requires the creation of a typology in order to identify and classify the different approaches, attitudes, applications and functions of religion on and in cyberspace. The three different typologies indicate, on the one hand, the versatile character of cyberspace, and on the other hand, the ever-expanding nature of its perimeters. They show that cyberspatial discourse, religious or not, cannot be confined within restricted boundaries but must be perceived as a changeable and unforeseen structure, having the capacity to adapt itself according to the visions, fantasies, ingenuities and inventiveness of the users. They also suggest that despite the rhizomatic construction of cyberspace, the information published on the innumerable religious sites can be systematised in a ‘logical’ formation. %B Religion %V 32 %P 279-291 %8 2002 %G eng %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WWN-47YPV51-2&_user=10&_coverDate=10%2F31%2F2002&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1395870485&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_us %0 Journal Article %J Media, Culture & Society %D 2016 %T Religious beings in fashionable bodies: the online identity construction of hijabi social media personalities %A Kavakci, Elif %A Kraeplin, Camille R %X A ‘hijabista’ – from the terms hijabi and fashionista – is a Muslim woman who dresses ‘stylishly’ while still adhering to the rules governing ‘modest’ apparel that coincides with Islamic dress code. A handful of these digitally savvy young women have established an online presence, becoming social media personalities with hundreds of thousands, even millions, of ‘followers’ who avidly consume (read) their personal blogs and/or social media posts. This study examines new media, faith, and fragmentation online, where virtual spaces facilitate the construction (re-construction) of a digital identity or persona. We employ an approach that combines netnography and case study to examine the content generated by three high-profile hijabistas, or hijabi fashion and lifestyle bloggers, and build upon identity theory to determine how each has negotiated an online persona that privileges her religious or fashionable self. %B Media, Culture & Society %G eng %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0163443716679031 %0 Journal Article %J Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion %D 2017 %T Religious Identity, Expression, and Civility in Social Media: Results of Data Mining Latter‐Day Saint Twitter Accounts %A Kimmons, R %A McGuire, K %A Stauffer, M %A Jones, J.E. %A Gregson, M %A Austin, M %K civility %K data mining %K Later-Day Saint %K religious identity %K social media %K Twitter %X This study explores religious self‐identification, religious expression, and civility among projected Latter‐Day Saint Twitter accounts (201,107 accounts and 1,542,229 tweets). Novel methods of data collection and analysis were utilized to test hypotheses related to religious identity and civility against social media data at a large scale. Results indicated that (1) projected LDS Twitter accounts tended to represent authentic (rather than anonymous or pseudonymous) identities; (2) local minority versus majority status did not influence users’ willingness to religiously self‐identify; (3) isolation stigma did not occur when users religiously self‐identified; (4) participants exhibited much lower degrees of incivility than was anticipated from previous studies; and (5) religious self‐identification was connected to improved civility. Results should be of interest to scholars of religion for better understanding participation patterns and religious identity among Latter‐Day Saints and for exploring how these results may transfer to other groups of religious people. %B Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion %V 56 %P 637-657 %G eng %U https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jssr.12358 %N 3 %0 Journal Article %J Mental Health, Religion and Culture %D 2014 %T The relationship between problematic Internet use, God attachment, and psychological functioning among adults at a Christian university %A Knabb, J.J %A Pelletier, J %K addiction %K attachment %K distress %K God %K internet %K problematic Internet use %X In the present study, we utilised structural equation modelling (SEM) to investigate the relationship between God attachment and problematic Internet use, mediated by emotional distress. Findings supported the proposed hypothesis that anxious God attachment (i.e., anxiety about God's abandonment) predicts both problematic Internet use (i.e., obsessing about the Internet, neglecting tasks and relationships due to the Internet, struggling to control Internet use) and psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress, worry). In addition, weak-to-moderate correlations emerged between depression, anxiety, stress, and worry and problematic Internet use. Further research is needed to generalise and replicate these preliminary results. %B Mental Health, Religion and Culture %V 17 %P 239-251 %G eng %U https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13674676.2013.787977 %N 3 %0 Journal Article %J Nordic Journal of Religion and Society %D 2014 %T RELIGION ON CATHOLIC INTERNET FORUMS IN POLAND. A MEMORY MEDIATED %A Kolodziejska, Marta %K Catholicism %K forums %K internet %K memory %K religion %X The following article aims to show that on Catholic Internet forums in Poland, religion—in this case Roman Catholicism—serves as a mediated chain of memory fulfilling two main functions simultaneously: an integrating function and a differentiating function. The analysis will be based on Hervieu-Léger’s concept of religion as a chain of memory (2000, 2006) and Davie’s modified concept of religion as memory that mutates (2000, 2006).A thread from 2011 on one of the most popular Catholic forums in Poland—forum.wiara.pl—will be used as a case study. It will be shown that through voicing various notions of the meaning of religion, faith, the institutional Church, and the connection between science and religion, users both distinguish themselves from and integrate themselves with other users, as well as with their representation of ‘average’ Catholics in Poland. %B Nordic Journal of Religion and Society %V 27 %P 15 %G eng %U http://www.akademikaforlag.no/content/nordic-journal-religion-and-society-272 %N 2 %& 151 %0 Journal Article %J Area %D 2001 %T Religion and technology: refiguring place, space, identity and community %A Lily Kong %K community %K cyberspace %K place %K religion %K space %K technology %X This paper reviews the literature on the religion–technology nexus, drawing up a research agenda and offering preliminary empirical insights. First, I stress the need to explore the new politics of space as a consequence of technological development, emphasizing questions about the role of religion in effecting a form of religious (neo)imperialism, and uneven access to techno-religious spaces. Second, I highlight the need to examine the politics of identity and community, since cyberspace is not an isotropic surface. Third, I underscore the need to engage with questions about the poetics of religious community as social relations become mediated by technology. Finally, I focus on questions about the poetics of place, particularly the technological mediation of rituals. %B Area %V 33 %P 404-413 %8 July 2001 %G eng %U http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118968381/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 %0 Journal Article %J American Behavioral Scientist %D 2009 %T Relational authority and legitimacy in international relations %A Lake, D. %X This article develops a theory of relational authority in the most unpromising setting of international relations. Relational authority locates legitimacy in a social contract between a ruler, who provides a social order of value to the ruled, and the ruled, who comply with the ruler’s commands necessary to the production of that order. International politics are nearly universally assumed to be an anarchy devoid of authority. Through the lens of relational authority, however, one sees that relations between states are better described as a rich variety of hierarchies in which dominant states legitimately rule over greater or lesser domains of policy in subordinate states. After contrasting alternative approaches to authority, the article identifies international hierarchies and summarizes a suite of measures that capture variations between the United States and other states. The article then deduces a set of international behaviors that follows from relational authority and demonstrates that (a) the United States is more likely to join international disputes in which its subordinates are involved and (b) subordinates acknowledge the authority of the dominant state by engaging in actions of symbolic obeisance, of which the most costly and salient form is following the United States into war. %B American Behavioral Scientist %G eng %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002764209338796 %0 Journal Article %J Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues %D 2005 %T Ritualwell.Org -- Loading the Virtual Canon, or: The Politics and Aesthetics of Jewish Women's Spirituality %A Lefkovitz, Lori. H %A Shapiro, Rona %K Jewish %K Politics %K Women %B Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues %V 9 %P 101-125 %G English %U http://www.jstor.org/pss/40326620 %N 5765 %0 Journal Article %J Nordicom Review %D 2008 %T Rethinking cyberreligion? Teens, religion and the Internet in Sweden %A Mia Lovheim %K internet %K religious change %K social networking sites %K Sweden %K teenagers %X Since the coming of the Internet scholars have been discussing its implications for the future of religion. With its high levels of Internet use and low levels of religious practice Sweden represents an interesting case for studying these issues. This article presents findings from the first online survey of Swedish teenager’s use of the Internet for religious purposes, conducted at one of the largest social networking sites LunarStorm. The results show that more young people seem to come into contact with religion via the Internet than through local religious communities. However, the findings also challenge several early expectations about the Internet as a new arena for religion in contemporary society. Thus the article initiates a critical discussion of what conclusions may be drawn from these results, and where future research on young people, religion and the Internet should be directed. %B Nordicom Review %V 29 %P 205-217 %8 2008 %G eng %U http://www.nordicom.gu.se/common/publ_pdf/269_lovheim.pdf %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Religion in Europe %D 2017 %T Religion between Politics and Media: Conflicting Attitudes towards Islam in Scandinavia %A Lundby, K %A Hjarvard, S %A Lövheim, M %A Jernsletten, H.H %K Islam %K media %K Politics %K religion %K Scandinavia %X Based on a comparative project on media and religion across Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, this article analyzes relationships between religiosity and political attitudes in Scandinavia and how these connect with attitudes regarding the representation of Islam in various media. Data comes from population-wide surveys conducted in the three countries in April 2015. Most Scandinavians relate ‘religion’ with conflict, and half of the population perceives Islam as a threat to their national culture. Scandinavians thus perceive religion in terms of political tensions and predominantly feel that news media should serve a critical function towards Islam and religious conflicts. Finally, the results of the empirical analysis are discussed in view of the intertwined processes of politicization of Islam and mediatization of religion. %B Journal of Religion in Europe %V 10 %P 437-456 %G eng %U http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/journals/10.1163/18748929-01004005 %N 4 %0 Journal Article %J Religion Compass %D 2012 %T Religion and Media %A Jeffrey Mahan %X This essay describes the emerging field of religion and media and outlines key issues at play in the field. The field focuses both on the media and their content and on the reception of media among various publics as ways to examine the location of religion, the nature of religious practice and the complexity of religious identity and authority. On the one hand, studies reveal how religious institutions and leaders use traditional and new media, and command of emerging media grants some institutions and leaders increased voice and authority. On the other, we find evidence that in the emerging media culture, authority shifts from traditional locations such as sacred writings, traditions and religious authorities to the individual internal authority of religious consumers involved in religious self-construction. Those in the field typically argue that religion has always been mediated and that studying the mediation of religion is necessary to the understanding of religion. There is a great deal of religion, or something that looks a great deal like religion, to be found online and in modern media. Students in a Colorado bible college celebrate communion online, leading to online discussion by their denomination’s theologians of whether this is appropriate (J. Dulce, personal conversation). In Ghana Christian videographers create popular melodramas that portray traditional African religious practice as spiritually powerful but evil (Mitchell in Mitchell & Plate 2007). American Mormons use media to correct what they see as media misrepresentations of their faith. In the cyberspace environment of “Second Life” it is possible to worship online at Temple Beit Israel (Crabtree 2007) while in Israel Orthodox Jews create web browsers that block material inappropriate for religious Jews (Campbell 2010). And, Elvis fans make seemingly religious pilgrimage to his home (Doss 1999). In these examples what seem to be “two ontologically distinct spheres – the spiritual and the technological – collide” (Meyer 2009, p. 1). This activity has not gone unnoticed by scholars. There is vibrant interdisciplinary conversation about religion and media in fields including religious and theological studies, cultural studies, media studies, art history, anthropology and sociology. The conversation considers what attention to media and mediation tells us about the nature of religion itself. Methodologically, social scientific and cultural study approaches predominate. The conversation emerged out of research in quite varied cultural contexts and has found location in scholarly associations including the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, the American Academy of Religion and the Society for Biblical Literature. It began to find independent organizational structure with an invitational meeting held in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1994. This led to the establishment of the International Study Commission on Religion, Media and Culture (1996–2005) whose work has continued in a series of international conferences with meetings in Boulder (1996), Edinburgh (1999), Louisville (2004), Sigtuna (2006), Sao Paulo (2008) and Toronto (2010). Work is underway to establish the International Society for Media, Religion and Culture at the conference scheduled to be held in Eskisehir, Turkey (2012). Key areas of study include: • How religious practitioners, movements and institutions use media and are shaped by their adoption or rejection of new forms of media• The interpretation of the way they are portrayed in media and• How they attempt to control media content.But, also • The appearance of religious themes and images in popular entertainment• The ritual use of seemingly secular entertainment and• The fetishization and consumption of religious images and objects.We know that “religion” is a complex phenomenon uniting diverse practices and beliefs. The same can be said about “media”. We ought not to talk too easily about “the media” in the singular as though there were a single media message, impact or interaction with religion. While together the various media may constitute media cultures, our examples are of a particular form of religion and a particular medium in cultural context. Many of the participants in this conversation are located in media studies departments and they are likely to define their work as being about “Media and Religion”. This reversal of the terms is worth noting. Just as religion scholars argue that the connection helps them to understand and define religion, colleagues in media studies suggest that it helps them understand media more clearly. They argue that media does not simply treat religion as a subject; but carry out some of religion’s ritual and interpretive functions. With the establishment of the regular study of religion and media within the guilds and the launching of a scholarly society, it becomes appropriate to recognize “religion and media” as a distinct interdisciplinary field. This essay identifies the field and points to some key figures, concerns and insights while recognizing that, as with any emerging field, much remains in flux. %B Religion Compass %V 6 %P 14-25 %8 1/2012 %U http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00330.x/full %N 1 %R 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2011.00330.x %0 Book Section %B Medicine, Religion, and the Body %D 2010 %T The ‘Religionated’ Body: Fatwas and Body Parts %A Roxanne D Marcotte %K body parts; fatwas; Islam; organ donation; religionated bodies %X This chapter looks at some of the issues that arise with meanings that are associated with Muslim bodies to illustrate the importance of the body in Islam as a reflection of social meanings and its significance as the object of power relations. In order to investigate how the body is imagined in Islam, it may be useful, for our purpose, to resurrect an obsolete mid-17th century verb in order to discuss the specific religious ontological statuses that are attributed to persons and bodies: to 'religionate' literally means 'to make religious'. Ethico-religious, social and physical segregation of 'religionated' bodies often finds its religious justification in the theological or religiolegal realms. The chapter focuses on the 'religionated' meaning of bodies. Bodies still often retain their 'religionated' constructions in contemporary fatwas on such issues as blood and organ donation, organ transplant, or dissection of cadavers for medical training. %B Medicine, Religion, and the Body %7 International Studies in Religion and Society %I Leiden %C Brill %P 27-49 %G eng %U 10.1163/ej.9789004179707.i-300.16 %0 Journal Article %J Online: Heidelberg Journal of Religion on the Internet %D 2005 %T Researching Individuals Religious in the Context of the Internet %A Meier, Gernot %K Individuals %K internet %K Research %B Online: Heidelberg Journal of Religion on the Internet %V 1 %G English %U http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2005/5827/pdf/Meier3.pdf %N 1 %0 Book %D 1986 %T Responsible Technology: A Christian Perspective %A Monsma, S. V. %I Eerdmans %C Grand Rapids %U http://books.google.com/books?id=cp7Jcfz2fmwC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false %0 Conference Paper %B UK Research Network for Theology, Religion and Popular Culture Conference %D 2007 %T Researching theo(b)logy: Emerging Christian communities and online construction of identity, theology and society %A Katharine Sarah Moody %X In this paper I will present two Internet technologies, blogs and open source programming, which are being used by emerging Christian communities in their construction of identity, theology and society. I am in the preliminary stages of data collection for my PhD thesis, and so this paper addresses several methodological issues that are raised when conducting research on blogs. This paper reflects on the use emerging Christian communities are making of the Internet and argues for a participatory research methodology for the blogosphere. %B UK Research Network for Theology, Religion and Popular Culture Conference %C St. Catherine’s College, Oxford %8 April 2007 %G eng %U not found %0 Journal Article %J Critical Research on Religion %D 2013 %T Religion and media: A critical review of recent developments %A Morgan, David %X This article considers recent changes in the definition of religion and of media as the basis for framing the study of their relation to one another and recent research in the intersection they have come to form over the last two decades or so. The history, materiality, and reception of each have colored scholarly work, and made ethnography, practice, material culture, and embodiment key aspects of scholarship. A new paradigm for some scholars for studying mediation is aesthetics—no longer understood as the “philosophy of the beautiful,” but as the study of perception in the mediated practices that make up lived religion. %B Critical Research on Religion %G eng %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2050303213506476 %0 Book %D 2009 %T Religion and Material Culture: The Matter of Belief %A Morgan, David %X Religious belief is rooted in and sustained by material practice, and this book provides an extraordinary insight into how it works on the ground. David Morgan has brought together a lively group of writers from religious studies, anthropology, history of art, and other disciplines, to investigate belief in everyday practices; in the objects, images, and spaces of religious devotion and in the sensations and feelings that are the medium of experience. By avoiding mind/body dualism, the study of religion can break new ground by examining embodiment, sensation, space, and performance. Materializing belief means taking a close look at what people do, how they feel, the objects they exchange and display, and the spaces in which they perform whether spontaneously or with scripted ceremony. Contributions to the volume examine religions around the world—from Korea and Brazil to North America, Europe, and Africa. Belief is explored in a wealth of contexts, including Tibetan Buddhism, the hajj, American suburbia and the world of dreams, visions and UFOs. %I Routledge %@ 9780415481168 %G eng %U https://www.routledge.com/Religion-and-Material-Culture-The-Matter-of-Belief/Morgan/p/book/9780415481168?__cf_chl_captcha_tk__=dcf98635278d2dbf1b5546e4d830a447c597fa6b-1612998192-0-AcQLnnm-lkXwFTQGhEEk3GsUXxv6mfzYrr_VMbnioNzJSVE_9nCOgFm99XPreP2uHSkSJuHQJv %0 Book %D 2016 %T religion@home? Religionsbezogene Online-Plattformen und ihre Nutzung: Eine Untersuchung zu neuen Formen gegenwärtiger Religiosität %A Neumaier, Anna %X Uber den Wandel gegenwartiger Religion und Religiositat ist in Debatten rund um Sakularisierung und Re-Sakralisierung viel diskutiert worden. Die Bedeutung neuer Medien wurde dabei aber noch wenig berucksichtigt. An diese Debatten anschliessend widmet sich die vorliegende Studie deshalb religioser Online-Nutzung, ihren Bedingungen, Formen und Konsequenzen: Was sind Ausloser fur den Einstieg, Themen des Online-Austauschs, und in welchem Zusammenhang steht die Online-Nutzung mit der Einbettung in die lokale Gemeinde? Dem geht die Arbeit mit Blick auf christliche Online-Foren nach. Sie beschrankt sich dabei nicht auf Analysen der Online-Diskussionen, sondern stellt mit uber 30 qualitativen Interviews und einer quantitativen Erhebung die Perspektive der Nutzer dieser Foren in den Mittelpunkt. Insgesamt zeigt sich: Forennutzung ist vor allem als Strategie der Restabilisierung individueller Religiositat zu verstehen. Ihr Ausgangspunkt sind weniger mediale Eigenschaften des Internets, sondern vielmehr Defizite traditioneller religioser Angebote, die zu anhaltender Unzufriedenheit oder dem Abbruch der Gemeindeeinbettung fuhren. Durch die Aneignung individueller religioser Expertise und Wiedereinbettung in einen Kontext kollektiver Legitimierung von Religiositat vermag die Online-Nutzung hier Ausgleich zu schaffen. Die erarbeiteten Nutzungsmuster und Typen online entstehender Gemeinschaften zeigen Details dieser Prozesse. %I Ergon %G eng %U https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Home-Religionsbezogene-Online-plattformen-Nutzung/dp/3956501411 %0 Book %D 1999 %T The Religion of Technology: The Divinity of Man and the Spirit of Invention %A David Noble %I Penguin %C New York %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Applied Communication Research %D 2012 %T Religious Leaders, Mediated Authority and Social Change %A Cheong P.H. %K Authority %K Leaders %K religion %K social media %X This essay discusses the relationships between mediated religious authority and social change, in terms of clergy's social media negotiation and multimodal communication competence, with implications for attracting attention and galvanizing active networks and resources for social initiatives. %B Journal of Applied Communication Research %V 39 %P 452-454 %G English %U http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00909882.2011.577085 %N 4 %0 Journal Article %J Journal of Korean Religions %D 2017 %T Religion and Media: No Longer a Blindspot in Korean Academia %A Park, Jin Kyu %A Cho, Kyuhoon %A Han, Sam %X In contemporary social life, religion and media cannot be said to be separated. Contrary to the long-lasting understanding that the two are independent from each other, the spheres of religion and media are closely intertwined. Dynamic and increasing connections have been observed and reported by a range of scholars. Indeed, the scholarly interest in the relationship is a fairly recent one. Only thirty years ago, religion was just a blindspot within media studies (Hoover and Venturelli 1996). Similarly, media were an overlooked issue in religious studies. However, the new millennium witnessed a fast-growing attention to the interactions in both fields, demonstrated by two simultaneously released pieces of literature. On the one hand, Journal of Media and Religion was launched in 2002 by a community of media scholars who had investigated the religious dimension of media-related phenomena. In the preface to the inaugural issue, the respected media scholar James Carey noted that ‘‘[N]one of these religious phenomena can be understood without reference to media that organize religious community, transcribe and embed religious belief, and create both collective memory and modern politics’’ (Carey 2002, 3). On the other hand, a year earlier, a group of religion researchers collected twenty-five articles in an edited volume entitled Religion and Media. Hent de Vries and Samuel Weber, the volume’s editors, summarized their efforts as confronting ‘‘the conceptual, analytical, and empirical possibilities and difficulties involved in addressing the complex issue of religion in relation to ‘media,’ that is to say, ancient and modern forms of mediatization such as writing, confession, ritual performance, film, and television, not to mention the ‘new technological media,’ of which the Internet is the most telling example’’ (de Vries and Weber 2001, vii). %B Journal of Korean Religions %G eng %U https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Religion-and-Media%3A-No-Longer-a-Blindspot-in-Korean-Park-Cho/840a3698269904300fc9daa4530da186296e8501 %0 Journal Article %J Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies %D 1991 %T Religion and Views on Reproductive Technologies: A Comparative Study of Jews and Non-Jews %A Harriet L. Parmet %A Judith N. Lasker %K children %K education %K Jews %K Non-Jews %K religion %K technology %K Youth %X New developments in reproductive technology have proliferated throughout the last decade and received enormous attention from the public. In vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, and surrogate motherhood have all been the subject of controversy at the same time as they are becoming more widely %B Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies %V 10 %G eng %U http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/shofar/summary/v010/10.1.parmet.html %N 1 %0 Book Section %B Reflexivity, Media and Visuality %D 0 %T Religious Rituals on Video Sharing Websites %A Pasche Guignard, Florence %K religion and internet %K Ritual %K video sharing website %B Reflexivity, Media and Visuality %I Harrassowitz %C Wiesbaden %P 339-355 %G eng %1 Brosius, Christiane Polit, Karin %0 Book %B Gods, Humans and Religions %D 2005 %T Religion and Popular Culture. A Hyper-Real Testament %A Adam Possamai %B Gods, Humans and Religions %I P. I. E. Peter Lang %C Brussel %V 7 %G English %0 Journal Article %J Online – Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet %D 2006 %T Rituals Online : Transferring and Designing Rituals %A Kerstin Radde-Antweiler %K Authority %K Digital Religion %K Hexe %K Hexenglaube %K internet %K Online-Rituals %K Patchwork %K religion %K Ritual %K Wiccakult %X 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 – the so called "Online-Rituals" –, 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 – 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 %B Online – Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet %V 02.1 %G eng %U http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/religions/article/view/376/352 %N Special Issue on Rituals on the Internet %& 54 %0 Journal Article %J Online – Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet %D 2006 %T Ritual is becoming digitalised". Introduction to the Special Issue on Rituals on the Internet %A Kerstin Radde-Antweiler %K analysing rituals %K communication within the Internet %K media and religion %K New Technology and Society %K Online community %K Practicing Faith in Cyberspace %K religion %K religious practice %K RITUALS ON THE INTERNET %K Techno-Ritualization %B Online – Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet %V 02.1 %G eng %U http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/ojs/index.php/religions/article/view/372 %N Special Issue on Rituals on the Internet %& 1 %0 Journal Article %J Online-Heidelberg Journal of Religion on the Internet %D 2006 %T Rituals-Online: Transferring and Designing Rituals %A Radde-Antwiler, K. %K Design %K Online %K Ritual %X “(1) We acquire knowledge today from the Internet. (2) Searching and finding information in the Internet is an independent element of our culture – in the future, children will learn how to count, read, write, and google at school. (3) The ability to acquire information and integrate it into our personal corpus of knowledge is more important than the knowledge itself. (4) Search engines like Google always provide a surplus of information: Users find answers to questions that they haven’t even asked (yet). Google generates an entire universe of questions and in the process ultimately changes the basic operation of knowledge acquisition.” %B Online-Heidelberg Journal of Religion on the Internet %V 2 %G English %U http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2006/6957/pdf/Aufsatz_Radde_Antweiler.pdf %N 1 %0 Book Section %B Religion and Mass Media: Audiences and Adaptations %D 1996 %T Religion and the information society %A Schement, J.R %A Stephenson H.C. %X How do religious audiences react to and use the media? How do institutional religious influences and expectations affect how they experience media news and entertainment? Drawing on theory and empirical research, contributors to Religion and Mass Media explore these questions from Jewish, Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Protestant, Fundamentalist and Mormon audience perspectives. The book looks at recent theoretical developments in the sociology of religion and communication theory; offers an overview of specific religious beliefs; examines audience behaviour; and describes specific case studies including the use of gospel rap and contemporary music in black religious communities. %B Religion and Mass Media: Audiences and Adaptations %I Thousand Oaks, Ca %C Sage Publications %P 261-289 %G English %U http://eatemadifard.blogfa.com/post-1.aspx %0 Book Section %B Gaming Realities: A Challenge for Digital Culture %D 2006 %T Representation and Self-Representation: Arabs and Muslims in Digital Games %A Sisler, Vit %X This paper presents the ways in which Muslims and Arabs are represented in mainstream European and American digital games. It analyzes how games — particularly of the action genre — construct the Arab or Muslim ‘Other.’ Within these games, one finds the diverse ethnic and religious identities of the Islamic world reconstructed into a series of flat social typologies, often presented within the framework of hostility and terrorism. The second part of the paper deals with selected digital games created in the Middle East, whose authors are knowingly working with the topic of self-representation. Recent digital games originating in the Middle East can be perceived as examples of an ongoing digital emancipation taking place through the distribution of media images and their corresponding meanings. A key part of this ongoing digital emancipation involves the construction of Arab and Islamic heroes, a process accomplished by exploiting distinctive narrative structures and references to Islamic cultural heritage. %B Gaming Realities: A Challenge for Digital Culture %P 85 - 92 %G English %U http://www.digitalislam.eu/article.do?articleId=1423 %1 Santorineos, M., Dimitriadi, N. %0 Book Section %B Religions in Play. Games, Rituals, and Virtual Worlds %D 2012 %T Religion from Scholarly Worlds to Digital Games: The Case of Risen %A Steffen, Oliver %E Bornet, Philippe %E Burger, Maya %K Computer games %K digital games %K religion %X A content analysis of the fantasy role-playing game Risen is conducted. Methodically, the case study shows that the ludological concept of hit points may be taken as a starting point for the investigation of the religious repertoire. In addition, the comparison with the original German work of Dutch phenomenologist Gerardus van der Leeuw suggests that Risen’s ludological-narrative complex of hit points (“life energy”) enacts a 20th century essentialistic and phenomenological conception of religion that has made its way into, and was specifically framed by, the new medium of digital games. %B Religions in Play. Games, Rituals, and Virtual Worlds %S CULTuREL %I Pano %C Zurich %P 262-273 %G eng %0 Generic %D 2008 %T Religious language: Towards a framework for religious language theory %A Paul Teusner %X George Lindbeck (1984: 39) writes that from a cultural-linguistic point of view, religious change is not understood as emerging from new religious experiences. It is rather seen as coming out of changing situations within a cultural-linguistic system. When a certain way of ordering or explaining the religious character of a cultural group creates anomalies in its application to new contexts (eg. new media, new places and times of reception), new concepts, symbols and ideas are discovered that solve the anomalies. I want to see how well this theory fits when we examine the differences in the language employed to communicate religious ideas in different contexts, and how this may impact on the way audiences receive and interpret the information to form a religious identity. The contexts I want to identify are: 1. Traditional mainstream Protestant communities 2. Evangelical Protestant communities (I know, I know: we could go to town trying to delineate between the two. I don't want to dwell on it, but will acknowledge that the definitions of such words, and the line drawn between them, are not clear, and both "mainstream" and "evangelical" streams exist in the same denomination) 3. Secular popular media (eg. film, TV shows - I'll just use a couple of examples) 4. Religious television, and 5. Religious web sites and accompanying discussion outlets Basically, I want to know what the conditions are that create new ways of talking about, interpreting and experiencing religion in these media spheres. %8 Unknown %G eng %U http://hypertextbible.org/virtual/blog/Religious%20Language.pdf %0 Journal Article %J Colloquium %D 2005 %T Resident evil: Horror film and the construction of religious identity in contemporary media culture %A Teusner, P. %K media %K popular culture %K religion %B Colloquium %V 37 %N 2 %0 Report %D 2000 %T Religion and the Internet %A Thumma, Scott %B Hartford Institute for Religion Research %G English %U http://hirr.hartsem.edu/bookshelf/thumma_article6.html %0 Conference Paper %B 4th Workshop international Essachess: Média, spiritualité et laïcité : Regards croisés franco-roumains %D 2015 %T Representations de la diversité religieuse à la télévision publique %A Tudor, Mihaela-Alexandra %K cultural diversity %K Faith %K freedom of opinion %K laicism %K pluralism %K public institution %K religion %K religious community representation %K Television %X Le problème que je pose dans ce cadre consiste à voir quel sont les pratiques des médias de service public à l’égard des représentations de la diversité religieuse et, plus précisément, à l’égard des représentations de transmission et communication de la foi dans deux pays européens dont l’un fort religieux et l’autre fort laïc, la Roumanie et la France. Il est question de voir en quoi le discours des médias publics sur la diversité n’altère pas le principe de la laïcité, la neutralité, le respect du pluralisme et l’intégralité des consciences. Pour ce faire, je vais retenir deux cas de figure, deux émissions télévisées diffusées sur les chaînes publiques de télévision en France et en Roumanie : l’émission « Le jour du Seigneur », avec ses déclinaisons d’intitulé au fil du temps « Programme du dimanche » et « Les chemins de la foi », diffusée sur France 2 et « Universul credintei » (« l’Univers de la foi ») diffusée sur TVR1. En considérant ces deux programmes de télévision, je vais tenter de répondre globalement aux questionnements suivants : est-ce que tous les mouvements religieux sont-ils présents dans les médias audiovisuels publics autant que les acteurs des confessions religieuses traditionnellement implantées ? Oui, c’est une réalité, certains mouvements disposent de leurs propres chaînes, mais leur présence sur leurs chaînes privées ne remplace pas un droit par un autre. S’agit-t-il alors d’une situation de monopole et de visibilité maximale des courants religieux dominants dans l’espace public au travers des médias publics ? Plus de normalisation garantit plus d’accès compte tenu que le principe de laïcité prévoit l’égalité et l’absence de hiérarchie entre les différentes croyances et cultes ? %B 4th Workshop international Essachess: Média, spiritualité et laïcité : Regards croisés franco-roumains %I Iarsic %C Bucarest-Villa Noel %8 12/2015 %@ 978-2-9532450-6-6 %G eng %U http://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/45739/ssoar-2015-tudor-Representations_de_la_diversite_religieuse.pdf?sequence=3 %0 Journal Article %J Theory, Culture & Society %D 2007 %T Religious Authority and the New Media %A Turner, Bryan S %K Authority %K Bureaucracy %K Knowledge %K New Media %K Tradition %X 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. %B Theory, Culture & Society %V 24 %P 117-134 %G English %U http://tcs.sagepub.com/content/24/2/117 %N 2 %0 Journal Article %J Advances in Experimental Social Psychology %D 1992 %T A relational model of authority in groups %A Tyler, T. %A Lind, A. %X This chapter focuses on one particular aspect of authoritativeness: voluntary compliance with the decisions of authorities. Social psychologists have long distinguished between obedience that is the result of coercion, and obedience that is the result of internal attitudes. Opinions describe “reward power” and “coercive power”, in which obedience is contingent on positive and negative outcomes, and distinguish both of these types of power from legitimate power, in which obedience flows from judgments about the legitimacy of the authority. Legitimate power depends on people taking the obligation on themselves to obey and voluntarily follow the decisions made by authorities. The chapter also focuses on legitimacy because it is important to recognize, that legitimacy is not the only attitudinal factor influencing effectiveness. It is also influenced by other cognitions about the authority, most notably judgments of his or her expertise with respect to the problem at hand. The willingness of group members to accept a leader's directives is only helpful when the leader knows what directives to issue. %B Advances in Experimental Social Psychology %G eng %U https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S006526010860283X %0 Book Section %B Rapporto sull’Analfabetismo Religioso in Italia %D 2014 %T Religioni e Internet: Evangelizzazione o Reincantamento del Mondo? %A Vitullo, A %K evangelism %K internet %K religion %X Il rapporto sull'analfabetismo religioso in Italia intende porre domande, tracciare percorsi e contestualizzare il tema dell'assenza del religioso nei processi educativi su scala internazionale. Il volume offre una riflessione organica su ciò che viene ignorato dal sistema scolastico e sui perché storico-teologici, oltreché storico-politici, di queste omissioni e lacune. A un'ampia analisi delle premesse teorico-critiche e dello scenario storico italiano da cui il fenomeno trae la propria natura si affiancano rassegne di studi, analisi delle esperienze riuscite e fallite e alcuni primi strumenti di cura che ambiscono a generare un dibattito pubblico sul tema e a costruire una riflessione capace di coinvolgere tutti gli attori sociali impegnati nel settore educativo e della formazione. Correda il volume una sezione info-grafica e di mappe che rende la lettura più intuitiva, trasferendo su immagini e simboli la complessità delle informazioni e dei dati raccolti. %B Rapporto sull’Analfabetismo Religioso in Italia %I Il Mulino %C Bologna %P 355–367 %G eng %U https://books.google.com/books?id=V1bYngEACAAJ&dq=Rapporto+sull%E2%80%99Analfabetismo+Religioso+in+Italia&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjNs_2y1uDbAhVmxlQKHeAXDaQQ6AEIJzAA %1 A. Melloni %0 Book Section %B The Web as History: the first two decades %D 2017 %T Religious discourse in the archived web: Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, and the sharia law controversy of 2008 %A Webster, Peter %B The Web as History: the first two decades %I UCL Press %C London %P 190-203 %G eng %U https://www.ucldigitalpress.co.uk/Book/Article/45/70/3464/ %1 Niels Brügger and Ralph Schroeder %0 Book Section %B The SAGE Handbook of Web History %D 2019 %T Religion and Web history %A Webster, Peter %B The SAGE Handbook of Web History %I Sage %P 479-90 %G eng %1 Niels Brügger and Ian Milligan %0 Journal Article %J Online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet %D 2014 %T Remixing Images of Islam. The Creation of New Muslim Women Subjectivities on YouTube %A Wheeler, Kayla Renée %X This study provides a textual analysis of YouTube videos produced by two popular Western English-speaking vloggers, Amenakin and Nye Armstrong using Guo and Lee’s hybrid vernacular discourse framework. Vernacular discourse is defined as speech and culture that includes music, art, and fashion, which resonates within a local community.The framework focuses on three components: content, agency, and subjectivity. I extend this framework by examining audience response to the new images through analyzing comments and response videos. Recognizing that the boundaries between vernacular and mainstream discourse are blurred, my research is guided by the following question: How are Muslim women rearticulating and renegotiating mainstream and vernacular discourses to introduce new and complex images of Muslim womanhood that challenge mainstream Western representations of Muslim women? %B Online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet %G eng %U https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/religions/article/view/17364 %0 Journal Article %J Religious Studies %D 1971 %T Religious authority and divine action %A Wiles, M. F. %B Religious Studies %G eng %U https://www.jstor.org/stable/20004855?seq=1 %0 Book Section %B Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet %D 2004 %T Reading and praying Online: The Continuity in Religion Online and Online Religion in Internet Christianity %A Young, Glenn %X After sex, religion is one of the most popular and pervasive topics of interest online, with over three million Americans turning to the internet each day for religious information and spiritual guidance. Tens of thousands of elaborate websites are dedicated to every manner of expression.Religion Onlineprovides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to this burgeoning new religious reality, from cyberpilgrimages to neo-pagan chatroom communities. A substantial introduction by the editors presenting the main themes and issues is followed by sixteen chapters addressing core issues of concern such as youth, religion and the internet, new religious movements and recruitment, propaganda and the countercult, and religious tradition and innovation. The volume also includes thePew Internet and American Life ProjectExecutiveSummary, the most comprehensive and widely cited study on how Americans pursue religion online, and Steven O'Leary's field-definingCyberspace as SacredSpace. %B Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet %I Routledge %C New York %P 93-106 %G English %U http://books.google.com/books?id=iS80IHp0cDwC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=Reading+and+praying+Online:+The+Continuity+in+Religion+Online+and+Online+Religion+in+Internet+Christianity&source=bl&ots=gwOo6jbtWZ&sig=pvuLD0owBLZkWNawTX0RJUmHFKU&hl=en&ei=0QS2TqXZPLP2sQKD %0 Thesis %B Religious Education Association Conference %D 2009 %T Re-engaging Avery Dulles’ theology of revelation in the context of using internet-mediated communication in religious education %A Daniella Zsupan-Jerome %X Re-engaging Dulles’ theology of revelation as symbolic communication, where revelatory symbols engage the community in this fourfold way of participation, transformation, new commitment and behavior, and new understandings opens a profound way to dialogue with the internet, itself entirely a symbolic medium. Can we claim then, that because of this commonality of symbol, that the internet therefore is an appropriate medium for the transmission of revelation in the context of religious education? This is the guiding question of the present paper. This essay first constructs the theological foundation for pursuing this question, by revisiting Avery Dulles’ theology of revelation as symbolic communication, and his fourfold schema of participation, transformation, new behavior and commitments, and new awareness and understanding. Bringing the internet into the discussion, this essay next investigates how the category of symbolic communication fits with the internet as the specific communicative medium. Finally, this essay explores specific points of convergence and divergence between Dulles’ fourfold schema and internet-mediated communication. %B Religious Education Association Conference %C Dallas, TX %8 November 2009 %G eng %U http://www.religiouseducation.net/proceedings/2009_Proceedings/12Zsupan_Jerome.pdf