Pub Date : 2019-09-03DOI: 10.1163/21659214-00802005
G. Perreault
This paper examines how religious news organizations in the UK covered the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe. Using narrative framing theory, this paper examines all coverage from 2015 and 2016 published in bbc Religion (a part of bbc News), The Muslim News, and Christian Today to examine shared and disparate narratives regarding Syrian refugees migrating to the UK. Four major frames emerged from our analysis of the media coverage in religious and mainstream publications: a humanizing frame, saviour frame, dehumanizing frame, and, redemption frame. The publications differed in their use of these frames as well as the use of sources, news values, and tone of coverage. We discuss each of these frames as well as the implications of the differing coverage.
{"title":"Narrative Framing of the Syrian Refugee Crisis in British Religious News","authors":"G. Perreault","doi":"10.1163/21659214-00802005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-00802005","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines how religious news organizations in the UK covered the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe. Using narrative framing theory, this paper examines all coverage from 2015 and 2016 published in bbc Religion (a part of \u0000bbc News), The Muslim News, and Christian Today to examine shared and disparate narratives regarding Syrian refugees migrating to the UK. Four major frames emerged from our analysis of the media coverage in religious and mainstream publications: a humanizing frame, saviour frame, dehumanizing frame, and, redemption frame. The publications differed in their use of these frames as well as the use of sources, news values, and tone of coverage. We discuss each of these frames as well as the implications of the differing coverage.","PeriodicalId":29881,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture","volume":"87 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2019-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90653536","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-03DOI: 10.1163/21659214-00802007
Alexander. Ornella
{"title":"The Eternal Present of Sport: Rethinking Sport and Religion, written by Grano, Daniel A.","authors":"Alexander. Ornella","doi":"10.1163/21659214-00802007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-00802007","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29881,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture","volume":"237 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2019-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74484170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-03DOI: 10.1163/21659214-00802001
J. Dyer
Christians in general and American evangelicals in particular are increasingly using digital media to access Scripture, but it is unclear how this shift is influencing the behaviors they value most: regular reading and in-depth study. Using survey data, assessments of comprehension, and daily reading progress, this study examines how engagement with the Bible varies between print and screens. Results indicated that American evangelicals use a combination of print and digital forms of Scripture based on the kind of engagement they want to carry out (devotional reading, in-depth study, prayer, etc.). The data also suggest readers have lower comprehension when reading the Bible on screens compared to print. Readers using mobile devices are more likely to engage scripture daily than those using printed Bibles, and these effects are more pronounced in male readers than female readers.
{"title":"The Habits and Hermeneutics of Digital Bible Readers: Comparing Print and Screen Engagement, Comprehension, and Behavior","authors":"J. Dyer","doi":"10.1163/21659214-00802001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-00802001","url":null,"abstract":"Christians in general and American evangelicals in particular are increasingly using digital media to access Scripture, but it is unclear how this shift is influencing the behaviors they value most: regular reading and in-depth study. Using survey data, assessments of comprehension, and daily reading progress, this study examines how engagement with the Bible varies between print and screens. Results indicated that American evangelicals use a combination of print and digital forms of Scripture based on the kind of engagement they want to carry out (devotional reading, in-depth study, prayer, etc.). The data also suggest readers have lower comprehension when reading the Bible on screens compared to print. Readers using mobile devices are more likely to engage scripture daily than those using printed Bibles, and these effects are more pronounced in male readers than female readers.","PeriodicalId":29881,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2019-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91335282","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-03DOI: 10.1163/21659214-00802004
S. Pandya
This article reports a three-year repeated measures study on the effect of guru-led new religious movements’ (gnrm) customized Facebook yoga lessons on followers’ spiritual experiences and religious commitment. Participants comprised 3,488 followers across four gnrms. During the study period, each gnrm Facebook page had an average of 1,095 daily posts and 156 weekly yoga lessons. Results showed that at phase 2, scores of participants on spiritual experiences and religious commitment measures were significantly higher vis-à-vis the comparison group. Within the participant cohort, women, those with stable marital status, and those who performed a combination of devotional and social service activities at the gnrms scored higher. Disciplined Facebook usage influenced regular viewing of the customized yoga lessons, higher quiz scores, and regular self-practice. The strongest predictor of the phase 2 outcome measure scores was regular self-practice. With focused administering and usage, Facebook is an effective medium for intensifying spiritual experiences and religious commitment among gnrms’ fellowship.
{"title":"Facebook and Yoga: Gurus, New Age, and Spirituality through Social Media","authors":"S. Pandya","doi":"10.1163/21659214-00802004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-00802004","url":null,"abstract":"This article reports a three-year repeated measures study on the effect of guru-led new religious movements’ (gnrm) customized Facebook yoga lessons on followers’ spiritual experiences and religious commitment. Participants comprised 3,488 followers across four gnrms. During the study period, each gnrm Facebook page had an average of 1,095 daily posts and 156 weekly yoga lessons. Results showed that at phase 2, scores of participants on spiritual experiences and religious commitment measures were significantly higher vis-à-vis the comparison group. Within the participant cohort, women, those with stable marital status, and those who performed a combination of devotional and social service activities at the gnrms scored higher. Disciplined Facebook usage influenced regular viewing of the customized yoga lessons, higher quiz scores, and regular self-practice. The strongest predictor of the phase 2 outcome measure scores was regular self-practice. With focused administering and usage, Facebook is an effective medium for intensifying spiritual experiences and religious commitment among gnrms’ fellowship.","PeriodicalId":29881,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2019-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73349556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-20DOI: 10.1163/21659214-00801003
Alexander Bielicki
The presence of nationalism in the Catholic Church, ostensibly global in its mission and outlook, has been a contentious issue especially in the post-communist countries of East-Central Europe. Events like the Slovak national pilgrimage to Šaštín, broadcast across the country on television, radio and internet, offer Catholic elite in Slovakia a rare chance to freely weave national history and national devotion into religious practice and discourse, but what does elite discourse actually tell us about the production and reproduction of nationhood in the Church? This article calls for increased exploration of reception of elite discourse in the media, not only to gauge audience reaction, but to better understand how the would-be recipients of these messages play a role in producing, reproducing or contesting these media constructions of national identity.
{"title":"Inconvenient National Discourse and the People Who Walk to Hear It: the Case of the Slovak National Pilgrimage","authors":"Alexander Bielicki","doi":"10.1163/21659214-00801003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-00801003","url":null,"abstract":"The presence of nationalism in the Catholic Church, ostensibly global in its mission and outlook, has been a contentious issue especially in the post-communist countries of East-Central Europe. Events like the Slovak national pilgrimage to Šaštín, broadcast across the country on television, radio and internet, offer Catholic elite in Slovakia a rare chance to freely weave national history and national devotion into religious practice and discourse, but what does elite discourse actually tell us about the production and reproduction of nationhood in the Church? This article calls for increased exploration of reception of elite discourse in the media, not only to gauge audience reaction, but to better understand how the would-be recipients of these messages play a role in producing, reproducing or contesting these media constructions of national identity.","PeriodicalId":29881,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2019-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76615639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-20DOI: 10.1163/21659214-00801009
B. Altenhofen
{"title":"Connected toward Communion: the Church and Social Communication in the Digital Age, written by Danielle Zsupan-Jerome","authors":"B. Altenhofen","doi":"10.1163/21659214-00801009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-00801009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29881,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2019-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78482111","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-20DOI: 10.1163/21659214-00801012
Ruth Tsuria
{"title":"Technologies of Religion: Spheres of the Sacred in a Post-secular Modernity, written by Sam Han","authors":"Ruth Tsuria","doi":"10.1163/21659214-00801012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-00801012","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29881,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture","volume":"73 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2019-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87015938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-20DOI: 10.1163/21659214-00801002
M. Abdel-Fadil
Affect theory often overlooks decades of anthropological, feminist, queer, and postcolonial scholarship on emotion. I build on this extensive scholarship of emotion and use my online ethnography of a Facebook group that promotes the public visibility of Christianity as a springboard to build a conceptual framework of the politics of affect. I address three theoretical gaps: 1) the lack of distinction between different emotions, 2) how affect is often performed for someone, and 3) the varying intensities of emotion. I delve into the intricate ways in which emotions fuel identities, worldviews, and their contestations, and how fake news may come to be perceived as affectively factual. This article deepens our understanding of the role of affect in polemic and mediatized conflicts. The role of emotion in religious conflicts and identity politics is not simply analytically useful, but is, at times, the very fabric of which political ideas are made.
{"title":"The Politics of Affect: the Glue of Religious and Identity Conflicts in Social Media","authors":"M. Abdel-Fadil","doi":"10.1163/21659214-00801002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-00801002","url":null,"abstract":"Affect theory often overlooks decades of anthropological, feminist, queer, and postcolonial scholarship on emotion. I build on this extensive scholarship of emotion and use my online ethnography of a Facebook group that promotes the public visibility of Christianity as a springboard to build a conceptual framework of the politics of affect. I address three theoretical gaps: 1) the lack of distinction between different emotions, 2) how affect is often performed for someone, and 3) the varying intensities of emotion. I delve into the intricate ways in which emotions fuel identities, worldviews, and their contestations, and how fake news may come to be perceived as affectively factual. This article deepens our understanding of the role of affect in polemic and mediatized conflicts. The role of emotion in religious conflicts and identity politics is not simply analytically useful, but is, at times, the very fabric of which political ideas are made.","PeriodicalId":29881,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture","volume":"23 22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2019-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74542743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-20DOI: 10.1163/21659214-00801005
L. Clark, Angel M. Hinzo
To explore the role of contestation in mediatization processes, this article utilizes digital and visual methods to analyze instances of Indigenous digital survivance. Focusing on recent examples at the heart of the #NoDAPL movement allows us to flesh out and argue for a decolonizing approach to the study of mediatization, which we define, following Clark (2011), as the process by which collective uses of communication media (1) extend the development of independent media industries and their circulation of narratives, (2) contribute to new forms of action and interaction in the social world, and (3) give shape to how we think of humanity and our place in the world. The article therefore concludes with suggestions regarding the further development of methodological approaches to studying processes of mediatization in relation to contestations over normative claims and pragmatic concerns regarding the role of media systems in our collective future.
{"title":"Digital Survivance: Mediatization and the Sacred in the Tribal Digital Activism of the #NoDAPL Movement","authors":"L. Clark, Angel M. Hinzo","doi":"10.1163/21659214-00801005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-00801005","url":null,"abstract":"To explore the role of contestation in mediatization processes, this article utilizes digital and visual methods to analyze instances of Indigenous digital survivance. Focusing on recent examples at the heart of the #NoDAPL movement allows us to flesh out and argue for a decolonizing approach to the study of mediatization, which we define, following Clark (2011), as the process by which collective uses of communication media (1) extend the development of independent media industries and their circulation of narratives, (2) contribute to new forms of action and interaction in the social world, and (3) give shape to how we think of humanity and our place in the world. The article therefore concludes with suggestions regarding the further development of methodological approaches to studying processes of mediatization in relation to contestations over normative claims and pragmatic concerns regarding the role of media systems in our collective future.","PeriodicalId":29881,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture","volume":"105 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2019-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76218894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-20DOI: 10.1163/21659214-00801001
M. Abdel-Fadil, Helge Årsheim
The phrase “religious controversies” is blunt and evocative, and immediately brings up associations to angry mobs, flag burning and, at times, inexplicable rage at seemingly mundane matters. The capacity of religion, whether in its doctrinal, social or institutional form, to generate, propagate and exacerbate controversy appears endless. While this capacity may not be unique to religion, nor recent in origin, the last couple of decades have seen what would appear to be unprecedented levels of religious controversies around the world. This introduction provides a brief backdrop to the overarching theme of mediatized religious controversies, and identifies some cross-cutting issues that have arisen across the different contributions. We identify some general patterns among the controversies dealt with in this special issue, and ask how these patterns may inspire new research efforts.
{"title":"Introduction: Media and Religious Controversy","authors":"M. Abdel-Fadil, Helge Årsheim","doi":"10.1163/21659214-00801001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-00801001","url":null,"abstract":"The phrase “religious controversies” is blunt and evocative, and immediately brings up associations to angry mobs, flag burning and, at times, inexplicable rage at seemingly mundane matters. The capacity of religion, whether in its doctrinal, social or institutional form, to generate, propagate and exacerbate controversy appears endless. While this capacity may not be unique to religion, nor recent in origin, the last couple of decades have seen what would appear to be unprecedented levels of religious controversies around the world. This introduction provides a brief backdrop to the overarching theme of mediatized religious controversies, and identifies some cross-cutting issues that have arisen across the different contributions. We identify some general patterns among the controversies dealt with in this special issue, and ask how these patterns may inspire new research efforts.","PeriodicalId":29881,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Religion Media and Digital Culture","volume":"48 5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.5,"publicationDate":"2019-03-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76501407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}