Religion, Media, and the Public Sphere

by Birgit Meyer (Editor), Annelies Moors (Editor)

". . . one of those rare edited volumes that advances social thought as it provides substantive religious and media ethnography that is good to think with." ―Dale Eickelman, Dartmouth College

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 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.

Genres: Religion

325 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Susie Meister · Rating 3 out of 5]

During the 1980s scholars largely considered media and religion as belonging to two totally different spheres (except for televangelists). Today, the spread of the televangelical format highlights how religion has found technology. Additionally, The Passion of the Christ etc... show how religion features prominently in secular forms of media. Moors and Meyer use the public sphere as a means to show the complicated politics of identity in the information age. This books reveals how some scholars see fundamentalism as a response to globalization and the proliferation of mass media, while others see mass media as a means for dissenters to fight against the state and religious authorities. Birman's essay on evangelicals in Rio shows how media has been used so much that ritual activieis take their full meaning only after they start to appear on TV shows and in the secular and religious press.