Douglas A Hicks
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195337174
- eISBN:
- 9780199868407
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337174.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Attaining an inclusive public space requires citizens as well as leaders to be religiously literate. Citizens and leaders do not need to become scholars of religion, but they need to understand the ...
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Attaining an inclusive public space requires citizens as well as leaders to be religiously literate. Citizens and leaders do not need to become scholars of religion, but they need to understand the basics of religious identities. This chapter asserts that citizens must learn to listen to one another’s stories, to share their own, and to find areas of both agreement and disagreement. Religious literacy can happen through formal civic education, which can be part of teaching about religion in public schools, private schools, and higher education. As a comparison to the U.S., the chapter analyzes how religion is taught in public schools in Spain. The chapter also considers religion and the media, and asserts that journalists can play a role in promoting public understanding of religion in its diverse forms.Less
Attaining an inclusive public space requires citizens as well as leaders to be religiously literate. Citizens and leaders do not need to become scholars of religion, but they need to understand the basics of religious identities. This chapter asserts that citizens must learn to listen to one another’s stories, to share their own, and to find areas of both agreement and disagreement. Religious literacy can happen through formal civic education, which can be part of teaching about religion in public schools, private schools, and higher education. As a comparison to the U.S., the chapter analyzes how religion is taught in public schools in Spain. The chapter also considers religion and the media, and asserts that journalists can play a role in promoting public understanding of religion in its diverse forms.
Lynn Schofield Clark
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195300239
- eISBN:
- 9780199850525
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300239.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter examines the extent to which parents in the US approached the media in relation to what they hoped to teach their teenage children about religion and spirituality. It explains two very ...
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This chapter examines the extent to which parents in the US approached the media in relation to what they hoped to teach their teenage children about religion and spirituality. It explains two very different expectations of parents regarding the media. These is the expectation that the media provides viable role models for others and the sense that the media should raise social issues for young people. It suggests that parents' thoughts about the media–religion relationship are influence by how they define religion.Less
This chapter examines the extent to which parents in the US approached the media in relation to what they hoped to teach their teenage children about religion and spirituality. It explains two very different expectations of parents regarding the media. These is the expectation that the media provides viable role models for others and the sense that the media should raise social issues for young people. It suggests that parents' thoughts about the media–religion relationship are influence by how they define religion.
Heike Behrend, Anja Dreschke, and Martin Zillinger (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823253807
- eISBN:
- 9780823260966
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823253807.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This volume explores the interferences of trance mediums and new technical media to add a new perspective to the ongoing debates on the “renaissance of the religious” which has been challenging ...
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This volume explores the interferences of trance mediums and new technical media to add a new perspective to the ongoing debates on the “renaissance of the religious” which has been challenging narratives of modernity and its disenchantment during the last two decades. However, in these discussions the “orgiastic” or enthusiastic qualities of religiosity have been largely neglected, despite the significant increase of the use of techniques of trance and possession that can be stated on a global level. Likewise, in research on religion and media only little attention has been paid to the fact that the rise of mediumship and spirit possession is closely linked to the advance of new media of communication – both analogues and digital. To close this gap this innovative and unprecedented publication offers a wide range of recent ethnographic studies in the fields of media anthropology as well as explorations in media studies and the anthropology of religion, which provide a broad, international, comparative perspective. Based on extensive scholarship the volume includes studies on local spiritual and media practices as varied as Thailand, Korea, India, Morocco, Mali, Tanzania and Germany. The editors aim to develop a new conceptual framework for ongoing work on religion and media, at the crossroads between anthropology, religious studies, and media studies.Less
This volume explores the interferences of trance mediums and new technical media to add a new perspective to the ongoing debates on the “renaissance of the religious” which has been challenging narratives of modernity and its disenchantment during the last two decades. However, in these discussions the “orgiastic” or enthusiastic qualities of religiosity have been largely neglected, despite the significant increase of the use of techniques of trance and possession that can be stated on a global level. Likewise, in research on religion and media only little attention has been paid to the fact that the rise of mediumship and spirit possession is closely linked to the advance of new media of communication – both analogues and digital. To close this gap this innovative and unprecedented publication offers a wide range of recent ethnographic studies in the fields of media anthropology as well as explorations in media studies and the anthropology of religion, which provide a broad, international, comparative perspective. Based on extensive scholarship the volume includes studies on local spiritual and media practices as varied as Thailand, Korea, India, Morocco, Mali, Tanzania and Germany. The editors aim to develop a new conceptual framework for ongoing work on religion and media, at the crossroads between anthropology, religious studies, and media studies.
Anderson Blanton
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469623979
- eISBN:
- 9781469623993
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469623979.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
In this work, Anderson Blanton illuminates how prayer, faith, and healing are intertwined with technologies of sound reproduction and material culture in the charismatic Christian worship of southern ...
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In this work, Anderson Blanton illuminates how prayer, faith, and healing are intertwined with technologies of sound reproduction and material culture in the charismatic Christian worship of southern Appalachia. From the radios used to broadcast prayer to the curative faith cloths circulated through the postal system, material objects known as spirit-matter have become essential since the 1940s, Blanton argues, to the Pentecostal community's understanding and performances of faith. Hittin' the Prayer Bones draws on Blanton's extensive site visits with church congregations, radio preachers and their listeners inside and outside the broadcasting studios, and more than thirty years of recorded charismatic worship made available to him by a small Christian radio station. In documenting the transformation and consecration of everyday objects through performances of communal worship, healing prayer, and chanted preaching, Blanton frames his ethnographic research in the historiography of faith healing and prayer, as well as theoretical models of materiality and transcendence. At the same time, his work affectingly conveys the feelings of horror, healing, and humor that are unleashed in practitioners as they experience, in their own words, the sacred, healing presence of the Holy Ghost.Less
In this work, Anderson Blanton illuminates how prayer, faith, and healing are intertwined with technologies of sound reproduction and material culture in the charismatic Christian worship of southern Appalachia. From the radios used to broadcast prayer to the curative faith cloths circulated through the postal system, material objects known as spirit-matter have become essential since the 1940s, Blanton argues, to the Pentecostal community's understanding and performances of faith. Hittin' the Prayer Bones draws on Blanton's extensive site visits with church congregations, radio preachers and their listeners inside and outside the broadcasting studios, and more than thirty years of recorded charismatic worship made available to him by a small Christian radio station. In documenting the transformation and consecration of everyday objects through performances of communal worship, healing prayer, and chanted preaching, Blanton frames his ethnographic research in the historiography of faith healing and prayer, as well as theoretical models of materiality and transcendence. At the same time, his work affectingly conveys the feelings of horror, healing, and humor that are unleashed in practitioners as they experience, in their own words, the sacred, healing presence of the Holy Ghost.
Heike Behrend and Martin Zillinger
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780823253807
- eISBN:
- 9780823260966
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823253807.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Ongoing debates about the “return of religion” have paid little attention to the orgiastic and enthusiastic qualities of religiosity, despite a significant increase in the use of techniques of trance ...
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Ongoing debates about the “return of religion” have paid little attention to the orgiastic and enthusiastic qualities of religiosity, despite a significant increase in the use of techniques of trance and possession around the globe. Likewise, research on religion and media has neglected the fact that historically the rise of mediumship and spirit possession was closely linked to the development of new media of communication. In order to invoke the transcendental, to make otherworldly beings and powers appear, trance mediums need to make dispositions and take great care in preparing a setting conducive to their work of mediation. Their equipment includes technical media, apparition and apparatus are linked through ritual techniques. Likewise, the discourses and the imaginary of trance mediumship powerfully anticipated and shaped technical media such as photography, cinema, the telephone, and television. Spirits and their mediums served as the media a priori for the ‘‘invention’’ of these technical media: spirits were able to ‘‘telesee’’ and ‘‘telehear’’ long before television and the telephone existed. Inquiry into trance mediumship, therefore, forms an interpretative key to understanding technical media, and vice versa.Less
Ongoing debates about the “return of religion” have paid little attention to the orgiastic and enthusiastic qualities of religiosity, despite a significant increase in the use of techniques of trance and possession around the globe. Likewise, research on religion and media has neglected the fact that historically the rise of mediumship and spirit possession was closely linked to the development of new media of communication. In order to invoke the transcendental, to make otherworldly beings and powers appear, trance mediums need to make dispositions and take great care in preparing a setting conducive to their work of mediation. Their equipment includes technical media, apparition and apparatus are linked through ritual techniques. Likewise, the discourses and the imaginary of trance mediumship powerfully anticipated and shaped technical media such as photography, cinema, the telephone, and television. Spirits and their mediums served as the media a priori for the ‘‘invention’’ of these technical media: spirits were able to ‘‘telesee’’ and ‘‘telehear’’ long before television and the telephone existed. Inquiry into trance mediumship, therefore, forms an interpretative key to understanding technical media, and vice versa.
Jeremy Stolow (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823249800
- eISBN:
- 9780823252480
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823249800.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Drawing upon a wide range of historical and ethnographic examples, this book approaches the study of religion and technology from an interdisciplinary perspective, synthesizing recent work in the ...
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Drawing upon a wide range of historical and ethnographic examples, this book approaches the study of religion and technology from an interdisciplinary perspective, synthesizing recent work in the anthropology and history of religion, media studies, and science and technology studies. The book comprises eleven original case studies plus an introduction that critically assesses the existing literature on religion and technology, and suggests future paths of scholarly inquiry. Discussions range across different religious traditions (including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Spiritualism, Buddhism, and Vodou) in different regions of the world (including Western Europe, United States, Ghana, Brazil, and Japan), and with regard to an array of technologies and technological procedures (including clocks and other timekeeping devices, magically empowered cables, belts, and talismans, kidney dialysis machines, and Internet-mediated commercial transactions). The fundamental operating premise of the book is that religion and technology do not refer to two mutually exclusive realms of knowledge, practice, and experience, but rather to a continuum of relationships between and among diverse material and immaterial entities, forces, and actors. Each chapter offers a concrete case study, attending to the things that lie “in between” religion and technology as they are commonly divided, and on that basis provides new analytical insight into the very construction of these categories in scholarly as well as non-academic discourses.Less
Drawing upon a wide range of historical and ethnographic examples, this book approaches the study of religion and technology from an interdisciplinary perspective, synthesizing recent work in the anthropology and history of religion, media studies, and science and technology studies. The book comprises eleven original case studies plus an introduction that critically assesses the existing literature on religion and technology, and suggests future paths of scholarly inquiry. Discussions range across different religious traditions (including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Spiritualism, Buddhism, and Vodou) in different regions of the world (including Western Europe, United States, Ghana, Brazil, and Japan), and with regard to an array of technologies and technological procedures (including clocks and other timekeeping devices, magically empowered cables, belts, and talismans, kidney dialysis machines, and Internet-mediated commercial transactions). The fundamental operating premise of the book is that religion and technology do not refer to two mutually exclusive realms of knowledge, practice, and experience, but rather to a continuum of relationships between and among diverse material and immaterial entities, forces, and actors. Each chapter offers a concrete case study, attending to the things that lie “in between” religion and technology as they are commonly divided, and on that basis provides new analytical insight into the very construction of these categories in scholarly as well as non-academic discourses.
Matthew Engelke
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780520280465
- eISBN:
- 9780520957107
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520280465.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Religion
The British and Foreign Bible Society is one of the most illustrious Christian charities in the United Kingdom. Founded by evangelicals in the early nineteenth century and inspired by developments in ...
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The British and Foreign Bible Society is one of the most illustrious Christian charities in the United Kingdom. Founded by evangelicals in the early nineteenth century and inspired by developments in printing technology at the time, its goal has always been nothing less than making Bibles universally available. Over the past several decades, though, the Bible Society has faced a radically different world, especially in its domestic work in England. Where the society once had a grateful and engaged reading public, it now faces apathy—even antipathy—for its cause. These days, it seems, no one in England wants a Bible. And no one wants other people telling them that they should: religion is supposed to be a private matter. The culture is secular. Undeterred, staff at the society have gone about trying to spark a renewed interest in the Word of God. They’ve turned away from publishing and toward publicity to “make the Bible heard.” God’s Agents is a study of how religion goes public in today’s world. Based on over three years of anthropological research, Matthew Engelke traces how a small group of socially committed Christians tackle the challenge of publicity within (what they understand to be) a largely secular culture. In the process of telling their story, Engelke offers an insightful new way to think about the relationships between secular and religious formations more generally. More than the resurgence of “public religion,” what we’re witnessing today are the dynamics of religious publicity.Less
The British and Foreign Bible Society is one of the most illustrious Christian charities in the United Kingdom. Founded by evangelicals in the early nineteenth century and inspired by developments in printing technology at the time, its goal has always been nothing less than making Bibles universally available. Over the past several decades, though, the Bible Society has faced a radically different world, especially in its domestic work in England. Where the society once had a grateful and engaged reading public, it now faces apathy—even antipathy—for its cause. These days, it seems, no one in England wants a Bible. And no one wants other people telling them that they should: religion is supposed to be a private matter. The culture is secular. Undeterred, staff at the society have gone about trying to spark a renewed interest in the Word of God. They’ve turned away from publishing and toward publicity to “make the Bible heard.” God’s Agents is a study of how religion goes public in today’s world. Based on over three years of anthropological research, Matthew Engelke traces how a small group of socially committed Christians tackle the challenge of publicity within (what they understand to be) a largely secular culture. In the process of telling their story, Engelke offers an insightful new way to think about the relationships between secular and religious formations more generally. More than the resurgence of “public religion,” what we’re witnessing today are the dynamics of religious publicity.
Jeremy Stolow
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780823249800
- eISBN:
- 9780823252480
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823249800.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This introductory chapter situates the book in relation to existing frameworks for the study of religion and technology across various disciplines and arenas of discussion. The introduction begins ...
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This introductory chapter situates the book in relation to existing frameworks for the study of religion and technology across various disciplines and arenas of discussion. The introduction begins with a commentary on how the study of religion and technology can and should build upon recent scholarship in religion and media (which has been marked by a growing interest in the material and technological dimensions of religious practice), and in social studies of science and technology (where there has been a growing premium placed on the ‘supernatural’ or ‘transcendental’ qualities of modern techno-science). The introduction proceeds to assess the established literature on religion and technology, noting problematic tendencies to rely on naively instrumentalist conceptions of technology use, and also on a Christian-centered conception of religion as an immaterial, symbolic force, completely separate from its technological engagements. This critique sets the stage for the agenda pursued in the rest of the book, namely to reconceptualize the relationship between religion and technology, and to demonstrate the possibilities for new interpretation through the close reading of particular case studies, both within and outside the history of Euro-American Christianity.Less
This introductory chapter situates the book in relation to existing frameworks for the study of religion and technology across various disciplines and arenas of discussion. The introduction begins with a commentary on how the study of religion and technology can and should build upon recent scholarship in religion and media (which has been marked by a growing interest in the material and technological dimensions of religious practice), and in social studies of science and technology (where there has been a growing premium placed on the ‘supernatural’ or ‘transcendental’ qualities of modern techno-science). The introduction proceeds to assess the established literature on religion and technology, noting problematic tendencies to rely on naively instrumentalist conceptions of technology use, and also on a Christian-centered conception of religion as an immaterial, symbolic force, completely separate from its technological engagements. This critique sets the stage for the agenda pursued in the rest of the book, namely to reconceptualize the relationship between religion and technology, and to demonstrate the possibilities for new interpretation through the close reading of particular case studies, both within and outside the history of Euro-American Christianity.
Matthew Engelke
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780520280465
- eISBN:
- 9780520957107
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520280465.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Religion
Chapter 2 focuses on an advertising campaign in Greater Manchester—mounted on roadside billboards, bus stop shelters, tram cars, taxis, and even beer mats—through which the Bible Society hoped to ...
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Chapter 2 focuses on an advertising campaign in Greater Manchester—mounted on roadside billboards, bus stop shelters, tram cars, taxis, and even beer mats—through which the Bible Society hoped to convince the general public that the Bible is relevant to the cares and concerns of modern life. In this project a revelatory message was made secondary to a “cultural” one; it is in this chapter that the advocacy team’s invocation of the church/culture divide is most evident. The project shows us how secularity gets configured as part of a Christian project of engagement and renewal.Less
Chapter 2 focuses on an advertising campaign in Greater Manchester—mounted on roadside billboards, bus stop shelters, tram cars, taxis, and even beer mats—through which the Bible Society hoped to convince the general public that the Bible is relevant to the cares and concerns of modern life. In this project a revelatory message was made secondary to a “cultural” one; it is in this chapter that the advocacy team’s invocation of the church/culture divide is most evident. The project shows us how secularity gets configured as part of a Christian project of engagement and renewal.
Gareth Fisher
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824839666
- eISBN:
- 9780824868475
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824839666.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Chapter 5 examines how Buddhist lay practitioners seek to earn merit and social status among other practitioners through the creation, copying, and distribution of Buddhist-themed media. It describes ...
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Chapter 5 examines how Buddhist lay practitioners seek to earn merit and social status among other practitioners through the creation, copying, and distribution of Buddhist-themed media. It describes in detail the types of materials the practitioners create and distribute and the different roles they take in this process. It also shows how the circulation of these materials fosters an imagined community of lay Buddhists in China as a whole and perpetuates discourses on the role of the miraculous in everyday life and the importance of moral reform that run counter to themes of secular progress in the mainstream media.Less
Chapter 5 examines how Buddhist lay practitioners seek to earn merit and social status among other practitioners through the creation, copying, and distribution of Buddhist-themed media. It describes in detail the types of materials the practitioners create and distribute and the different roles they take in this process. It also shows how the circulation of these materials fosters an imagined community of lay Buddhists in China as a whole and perpetuates discourses on the role of the miraculous in everyday life and the importance of moral reform that run counter to themes of secular progress in the mainstream media.
