Digital Creatives and the Rethinking of Religious Authority - Chapter 2

Dr. Campbell, director of the Network, explores the interactions between digital innovators and religious organization and institutions, in her latest book: Digital Creatives and the Rethinking of Religious Authority (Routledge 2020). Here, we provide a glimpse into her insights shared in the book on how digital creatives with religious motivations and digital media experts working the churches are challenging traditional notions of what it means to have religious authority in a digital age. The following blog post is an edited excerpt from a chapter appearing in Digital Creatives and the Rethinking of Religious Authority give our readers a unique insights into her arguments and findings shared in the book.

Chapter 2: Defining Religious Creatives

Here I argued many traditional religious authorities encounter a shift as they are forced to negotiate with new practices and relationships occurring because of interactions between online and offline spaces and cultures. New forms of religious leadership, such as webmasters and theological bloggers, emerge in digital contexts, and these actors must negotiate their place within long-established religious systems of knowledge and influence. In addition, conventional religious authorities are forced to adapt to patterns of communication and being within new digital culture, which is based on an algorithmic authority that runs counter to previous status systems (Clark, 2011). This can be seen in work conducted by Cheong & Poon (2008) on Buddhist communities’ negotiations with the internet and how these shape communicative patterns and practices between religious leaders and members of associated organizations. They argued the internet can create perverse or fraught relationships within religious communities, in that digital spaces decrease religious organizations’ monopoly of control over religious knowledge. Though digital spaces create unique networks of communication between groups and actors, they found these new configurations may not be as effective in maintaining close relationships for these groups in comparison to established offline patterns of interaction. This dialectic encountered by both online and offline forms of religious authority raises important questions regarding who represents the legitimate voice for a particular religious community in the digital age, what processes must be in place to constitute these positions and how such status is solidified and maintained. So when the question is posed, “Does the internet challenge or empower religious authority in digital culture,” the answer is yes, it does BOTH. It challenges AND empowers emerging an established authorities simultaneously, but in different ways. New authority roles online can challenge and undermine the position of traditional religious leaders, while alternative voices are challenged to negotiate with already established religious structures and practices. Digital content creators and technologists are empowered as people grant them influence due to their prominence in online religious settings; traditional religious leaders may also be empowered to establish their offline influence online as they embrace digital tools and platforms.

I have argued for the need for a more nuanced approach to the study of authority online. In “Who’s got the power? Religious authority and the Internet,” I identified several different layers of authority influenced by religious activity online (Campbell, 2007). I suggested each needs to be explored separately, especially authority in relation to hierarchy, structure, ideology and text. First, I suggested the need to pay attention to religious hierarchy, which refers to the authority figures and roles existing both online and offline that may influence users’ relationships to the internet. Recognized religious leaders (such as imams, clerics, rabbis and pastors) who typically serve as community interpreters of religious knowledge and practice are often challenged by new authority figures (such as webmasters, forum moderators and bloggers) emerging online and performing similar roles. Religious practice online raises important questions about how much influence these new actors have and how their roles may shape a given religious community offline as well as online. Paying attention to how officially recognized religious roles respond to the internet or seek to culture it in particular ways also becomes crucial. Scholars studying religion and the internet have paid particular attention to the ways new religious leadership roles online influence traditional authority figures. For instance, Thumma (2000) found the internet had the potential to change congregational hierarchies, as previously marginalized “techies” take on new leadership roles when they serve as church webmasters. Similarly, Anderson (1999), whose work is explored in more detail later in this chapter, examined the roles of webmasters and online moderators as new agents of authority with the potential to influence trad- itional authority structures. Thus, I argue attention should be given to the character, perception and role these religious interpreters may have within the local faith communities and tradition as a whole.

Authority can be approached as the study of certain religious or organizational structures that support conventions of community practice, such as how the community worships, trains leaders, passes along information and stays connected. Online we see traditional religious structures both being imported to or reinvented on the internet—e.g., educational institutions and even worship spaces—as well as new or alternative structures being created, such as independently created study or meditation groups. Thus, it is valuable to explore the relationship between structures or channels of authority created by established offline groups and those formed by independent groups online. This requires careful consideration of the background and roots of various religious structures established online, as well as an examination of how they function compared to traditional organizations or comparable offline forms. Also, because the collaborative and interactive nature of the internet can make church structures and gatekeeping processes transparent, traditional networks and protocols may be challenged by the fact that private conversations easily become public and/or are quickly disseminated. Online spaces undermine their ability to control community members’ behavior by removing that behavior from the community’s watchful eye and placing it in individually controlled spheres. Thus, the internet may especially challenge the structures of fundamentalist communities, as it offers community members the chance to create alternate spaces of discourse and social engagement.

Excerpt taken from Campbell, H.A. (2020). Digital Creatives and the Rethinking of Religious Authority. Routledge. This book can be purchased through the publisher at: https://www.routledge.com/Digital-Creatives-and-the-Rethinking-of-Religi...