"This article provides an overview of contemporary research within the interdisciplinary arc of scholarship known as digital religion studies, in which scholars explore the intersection between emerging digital technologies, lived and material religious practices in contemporary culture, and the imp
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act the structures of the network society have on understandings of spirituality and religiosity. Digital religion studies specifically investigates how online and offline religious spaces and practices have become bridged, blended, and blurred as religious groups and practitioners seek to integrate their religious lives with technology use within different aspects of digital culture." (Abstract)
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"In this sweeping and ambitious intellectual history, Daniel Veidlinger traces the affinity between Buddhist ideas and communications media back to the efflorescence of Buddhism in the Axial Age of the mid-first millennium BCE. He uses both communications theory and the idea of convergent evolution
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to show how Buddhism arose in the largely urban milieu of Axial Age northeastern India and spread rapidly along the transportation and trading nodes of the Silk Road, where it appealed to merchants and traders from a variety of backgrounds. Throughout, he compares early phases of Buddhism with contemporary developments in which rapid changes in patterns of social interaction were also experienced and brought about by large-scale urbanization and growth in communication and transportation. In both cases, such changes supported the expansive consciousness needed to allow Buddhism to germinate. Veidlinger argues that Buddhist ideas tend to fare well in certain media environments; through a careful analysis of communications used in these contexts, he finds persuasive parallels with modern advances in communications technology that amplify the conditions and effects found along ancient trade routes. From Indra’s Net to Internet incorporates historical research as well as data collected using computer-based analysis of user-generated web content to demonstrate that robust communication networks, which allow for relatively easy contact among a variety of people, support a de-centered understanding of the self, greater compassion for others, an appreciation of interdependence, a universal outlook, and a reduction in emphasis on the efficacy of ritual—all of which lie at the heart of the Buddha’s teachings." (Publisher description)
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"The media's coverage of religion is an important question, given the central role which news media play in ensuring that people are up-to-date with religion news developments. The book examines it in different countries. After an introductory section looking at trends in religion news in print, on-
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line journalism, and as a subject of foreign news, the book surveys religion reporting in five key countries: USA, Russia, India, China, & Nigeria. The book then looks at media events through the cases of the election of Pope Francis, and the death of rabbis. The book addresses the question of the influence of religion reporting in politics; the impact of religion reporting upon religious identity; and the role of social media - through looking at case studies in France, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Israel." (Publisher description)
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"Cette série de six articles, tous focalisés sur l’Afrique francophone, traite chacun à leur manière du thème principal de l’usage de l’Internet par des groupes religieux sur le continent africain. Cinq de ces contributions explorent l’usage religieux des médias numériques en Afrique
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de l’Ouest alors que la dernière se concentre sur l’Afrique centrale. Nous en tirons une vue d’ensemble équilibrée sur diverses communautés religieuses telles le Hibut-Tarqiyyah du Sénégal, des églises chrétiennes de Ouagadougou, des chrétiens de la République démocratique du Congo, des fidèles camerounais du pasteur nigérian T. B. Joshua ou encore des musulmans ivoiriens hors ligne comme en ligne ainsi qu’une communauté mixte regroupant des chrétiens et des musulmans au Burkina Faso. Les thématiques dominantes abordées sont : la représentation en ligne; le numérique en tant qu’espace étendu d’apprentissage et de conversion religieuse; la religion et la sphère publique; et, pour terminer, les formes de religiosité en Afrique subsaharienne. Cette compilation d’articles constitue un complément utile à l’abondante littérature anglophone sur les mondes médiatiques africains et leurs enchevêtrements religieux (voir entre autres de Witte, 2011; Hackett et Soares, 2014; Graetz, 2014; Meyer, 2015; Pype, 2012; Schulz, 2011). Parmi les analyses fournies, voici les trois thèmes qui m’ont frappée par leur pertinence et leur forte connexion avec les recherches actuelles sur les communautés religieuses en ligne sur le continent africain et au-delà : (a) l’importance de « réseaux » religieux; (b) l’interaction entre le religieux et la politique; (c) les pratiques de foi en ligne et leur dialectique avec la politique de la religion (particulièrement en termes d’autorité, de distribution et de transmission de la connaissance religieuse)." (Page 135)
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"In this volume, contributors consider the ways that Jewish communities and users of new media negotiate their uses of digital technologies in light of issues related to religious identity, community and authority. Digital Judaism presents a broad analysis of how and why various Jewish groups negoti
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ate with digital culture in particular ways, situating such observations within a wider discourse of how Jewish groups throughout history have utilized communication technologies to maintain their Jewish identities across time and space. Chapters in this volume address issues related to the negotiation of authority between online users and offline religious leaders and institutions not only within ultra-Orthodox communities but also within the broader Jewish religious culture, taking into account how Jewish engagement with media in Israel and the Diaspora raises a number of important issues related to Jewish community and identity." (Publisher description)
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"L’arrivée d’Internet provoque des évolutions dans le rapport aux médias des communautés religieuses. Il y a une volonté de visibilité externe grâce à l’usage d’Internet comme moyen de communication et comme mode de présence. À partir de l’exemple de l’Union fraternelle des cro
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yants de Dori au Burkina Faso, cette contribution analyse l’appropriation d’Internet par des acteurs interreligieux pour sortir de leur isolement et de jouer le rôle d’agents religieux de paix dans le monde. Le cas de l’UFC montre que si les religieux se saisissent du web, l’interreligieux peut être mobilisé pour promouvoir des objectifs sociaux et politiques dans les sphères publiques africaines." (Résumé)
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"This article provides a focused review of researches undertaken within Digital religion studies in the last three decades, specifically highlighting how religious communities have been studied and approached within this area. It highlights the dominant theoretical and methodological approaches empl
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oyed by scholars during what is being described as the four stages of research on religious communities emerging over this period of time. Thus, this article presents the findings of key studies emerging during these stages to illuminate how the study of religious communities online has evolved over time. It also offers insights into how this evolution specifically relates to the study of Catholic community online. Finally, a theoretical analysis is given, assessing current research on religious communities within Digital Religion studies, and approaches for future research are proposed." (Abstract)
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"This article explores the case of right-wing Hindu nationalist volunteers in India, to turn a critical eye on a digital practice that has become prominent on new media in India in recent times-the assembling of facts, figures, and treatises as an ideological exercise by the net-savvy "nonexperts."
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Using qualitative methods, I argue that this practice of online archiving constitutes a distinct politics of history-making. I show how archiving-as-history-making is pertinent especially for religion's interface with cyberspace and the varied ways in which online users participate in religious politics. Online archiving for religious politics offers a sobering, and even troubling, picture of the digital commons, and unsettles some of the universalist claims underlying much celebrated user-generated content." (Abstract)
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"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 religiou
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s 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." (Abstract)
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"Digital Religion offers a critical and systematic survey of the study of religion and new media. It covers religious engagement with a wide range of new media forms and highlights examples of new media engagement in all five of the major world religions. From cell phones and video games to blogs an
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d Second Life, the book provides a detailed review of major topics; includes a series of case studies to illustrate and elucidate the thematic explorations; considers the theoretical, ethical and theological issues raised." (Publisher description)
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"In the case of contemporary Buddhism, we have seen how fundamentalism and democracy are connected to each other, and also how the public sphere, mediated by the new technology of the internet, has a role to play in these relations. We have seen how groups such as the 'Santi Asoke' are succeeding de
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spite the absence of any support from the political authorities, and how this has made the traditional Buddhist establishment feel insecure. According to Marty and Appleby, fundamentalism is understood as an attempt to divide 'us' from 'them' through shared traditions and beliefs. In the case of Thailand, this divisive attitude is a modern phenomenon arising from dissatisfaction with the contemporary economy and with globalisation, which appear threatening to the most conservative members of the Sangha. In this sense, it is ironic that the austere and anti-capitalist Sanrti Asoke is less fundamentalist than the traditional Buddhist establishment." (Conclusion, page 233-234)
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