"This textbook is a wide-ranging introduction to the theology of communication, written by the executive secretary of the Social Communications Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI). The primary aim is to help develop the capacity to understand social communication from the p
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erspective of pastoral leadership. Communication is viewed from various theological and sociological disciplines, ranging from 'Jesus Christ the communicator' or 'liturgy as communication' to 'God, media and popular culture' and 'narrative theology'. The book emphasises pastoral communication and includes sessions on preaching, evolving effective strategies and plans, networking and integrating communications into one’s ministry. It forms part of the 'Communications for Pastoral Leadership' formation programme of CBCI." (CAMECO Update 1-2011)
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"This book examines the incorporation of newly accessible mass media into practices of religious mediation in a variety of settings including the Pentecostal Church and Islamic movements, as well as the use of religious forms and image in the sphere of radio and cinema." (Publisher description)
"Outside the West, religion is an ever more prominent force in social and political movements of both reform and retrenchment. Across these contexts, no issue in religion is of as much concern as fundamentalism - or rather the fundamentalisms within various traditions - which are seen to be fomentin
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g religious, social, ethnic, and political tension and conflict. The contributions to this volume represent the first effort to look at ‘fundamentalisms’ and the ‘media’ together and address the resulting relations and interactions from critical perspectives of history, technology, geography, and practice." (Publisher description)
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"Nuestro interés particular por analizar lo sagrado en los medios de comunicación no se refiere a encontrar "huellas" religiosas - cristianas o no - en actividades seculares mediáticas, sino a entender cómo desde los medios se construyen discursos que dan sentido a una nueva significación de sa
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cralidad en sociedades tercermundistas como las nuestras. Esta sacralidad estaría vinculada con nuevas rutas en la búsqueda de la utopía del Absoluto, con preguntas sobre el significado de la muerte, con búsquedas de alianzas y relaciones "fuertes" interpresonales con un objectivo común que trascienda lo individual, con espacios de encuentro ritual donde las personas encuentran nuevas maneras de construir identidades." (Introducción, página 7)
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"In dem folgenden Artikel soll es exemplarisch um den Aufstieg und Niedergang des westafrikanischen Pastors Dr. Martin Tsala Essomba gehen, dessen beispielhafter Karriereverlauf in nicht unerheblichem Maße durch die populären Medien Buch und Internet beeinflusst wurde. Die als Taschebuchformat ers
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chienene Konversionsgeschichte des Pastors, „Va, et raconte ce que j'ai fait pour toi ! Comment Jésus-Christ m'a arraché à ma double vie d'homme démon", beschreibt seine Transformation vom Hexer zu einem born again Christen. Er nutzte sein Buch als wirksames Medium zur Rekrutierung, Missionierung und Anbindung von Anhängern für seine neu gegründete Kirche. Außerdem unterstützte seine Geschichte die Popularität seiner Person, half bei der Verbreitung seiner religiösen Vorstellungen und diente der Werbung für seine religiösen Kompetenzen. Das Buch wurde im World Wide Web (u. a. bei Amazone UK) zum Verkauf, aber auch zum kostenlosen download angeboten. Daneben richtete er auch eine persönliche Website ein und warb mit seiner Konversion, spirituellen Seminaren und dem globalen Evangelisationsziel." (Seite 129-130)
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"The list of critical terms selected and explicated in this book will signal many things to readers. It will certainly indicate that the study of media and religion is broadly interdisciplinary. Before the 1980s, the field, if it even was one, was largely the domain of historians of Christianity, Ch
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ristian communicators, and seminary professors, geared toward the improvement of church communication policy and practice, education, evangelism, and preaching. Matters have changed since then. Though religious organizations scholarship has explored the subject. Anthropology, cultural studies, media studies, visual and material culture, film studies, and religious studies are among the next generation of disciplines drawn to the study of media and religion. The new paradigm that this book articulates has described itself under a triad of terms: religion, media, and culture. What the third term means will be considered in detail in the Introduction here and in several of the Key Word essays. For the time being, it is important to say that the religion, media, and culture approach is not limited to the tendency to focus on journalism and communication policy, which is the legacy of the older practice. The aim here is not to dismiss or ignore them but to expand the remit and to change some key assumptions about what “religion” and “media” are in academic study. The difference turns on the third term, culture. The dominant approach taken here is constructivist in nature." (Preface, page xii-xiii)
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"Media involve religious dimensions and have become the religious "iconofiers" of our world. People increasingly use media for shaping their - religious - identity and their search with respect to questions of ultimate meaning. The author first provides a succinct overview of the context and implica
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tions of media culture and the recent changes in communication theory. Then, by analyzing the contents of a broad range of Church documents from the Catholic as well as the Protestant Churches and Ecumenical Organizations, she reflects on Christian policy views and identifies the main problems and opportunities in relating to media culture. Finally she stresses the urgency of genuine "art of dialogue" between Christian religion and media culture, based on a thorough analysis of the trends of the global media context as well as recent insights from audience research. She also argues a theological paradigm shift and the importance of ethical involvement by religions in the public sphere. This is a thoroughly researched, major contribution to religious commmunication theory." (CAMECO Update 4-2008)
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"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
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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." (Publisher description)
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"Increasingly, Pentecostal, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and indigenous movements all over the world make use of a great variety of modern mass media, both print and electronic. Through religious booklets, radio broadcasts, cassette tapes, television talk-shows, soap operas, and documentary film
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these movements address multiple publics and offer alternative forms of belonging, often in competition with the postcolonial nation-state. How have new practices of religious mediation transformed the public sphere? How has the adoption of new media impinged on religious experiences and notions of religious authority? Has neo-liberalism engendered a blurring of the boundaries between religion and entertainment? The vivid essays in this interdisciplinary volume combine rich empirical detail with theoretical reflection, offering new perspectives on a variety of media, genres, and religions." (Publisher description)
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