Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Networked Theology
WORK NOTES: with Stephen Garner
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1970
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: American
http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/authors/heidi-a-campbell/905 * http://readingreligion.org/books/networked-theology * https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/book-reviews-networked-theology * https://comm.tamu.edu/heidi-campbell/ * http://digitalreligion.tamu.edu/users/heidi-campbell
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born August 26, 1970.
EDUCATION:Spring Arbor University, B.A., 1992; University of Edinburgh, M.A., 1997, Ph.D., 2002.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, associate professor. Member of editorial boards of publications, including Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, New Media & Society, the Journal of Media, Religion & Digital Culture and Ecclesiology & Ethnography. Has appeared on radio and television programs.
AWARDS:Fellowships and grants from organizations, including the Institute for Advanced Studies-Durham University (UK), Caesarea Rothschild Institute for Interdisciplinary Applications of Computer Science-University of Haifa (Israel), Institute for the Advanced Studies-University of Edinburgh (UK) and the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research-TAMU.
WRITINGS
Contributor of articles to publications and entries to encyclopedias. Coeditor of “Studies in Religion and Digital Culture” series, Routledge.
SIDELIGHTS
Heidi A. Campbell is a writer and educator. She is an associate professor in the communication department at Texas A&M University. Campbell holds a bachelor’s degree from Spring Arbor University and both a master’s degree and a a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. Campbell has served on the editorial boards of publications, including Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, New Media & Society, the Journal of Media, Religion & Digital Culture and Ecclesiology & Ethnography and has written articles that have appeared in scholarly publications. Campbell has written and edited books on the convergence of religion and technology.
A Science and Religion Primer and When Religion Meets New Media
Campbell and Heather Looy are the editors of the 2009 book, A Science and Religion Primer. “This volume will be useful for those desiring a Christian perspective on these topics; it is suitable for personal, church, public, and academic libraries,” asserted A.H. Widder in Choice.
When Religion Meets New Media finds Campbell examines how religious groups navigate current media technology. Claire Badaracco, writer in Communication Research Trends, commented: “This work has advanced the field as Campbell makes a compelling case for her argument that a robust scholarly approach within the study of media, religion, and culture is needed as it applies to media technology. The author provides the rigorous, comprehensive level of analysis grounding her discussion.” Badaracco added: “This is an outstanding, highly readable book, a contribution as well as a challenge to the field of media, religion, and cultural studies and how the idea of belief–popular, particular, political–is changed by new media technology.”
Digital Religion and Playing with Religion in Digital Games
Campbell edited the 2013 book, Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds. According to Jim McDonnell, contributor to Communication Research Trends: “The book is divided into three sections, the first of which explores the crosscutting themes of ritual, identity, community, authority, authenticity, and religion. The second section provides two recent case studies from different religious contexts linked to each major theme. Finally, the third section offers a variety of theoretical, ethical, and theological reflections on the studying of religion and new media.” Laura Rutter Strickling, writer on the Hyperrhiz 10 Web site, noted: “Digital Religion explores six central areas of inquiry: ritual, identity, community, authority, authenticity, and how religion can be understood in the digital realm. The text also includes a chapter on ethical issues that one might confront when employing research methods and practices in this subfield.” McDonnell asserted: “Overall, this compendium will prove to be an invaluable resource for all those wanting a thorough state-of-the-art review of recent qualitative research in digital religion.” J.H. Fitz, critic in Choice, remarked: “A leading scholar of digital religion and media, Campbell … has compiled a state-of-the-art collection addressing research on religion and new media.”
Campbell is the editor of Playing with Religion in Digital Games, which features essays from contributors, including Oliver Steffen, Kevin Shut, and Michael Waltermathe. “This collection builds on and adds to the best criticism in this young and exciting subfield,” asserted Paul Stenis in Library Journal. Writing in Communication Research Trends, Paul A. Soukup suggested: “Heidi Campbell and Gregory Grieve’s edited collection addresses the intersection of religion and video games, providing an outstanding resource, particularly for those with interests in communication and religion.” Soukup added: “This edited collection is uniformly good and well worth reading. As the editors and authors note, the study of religion and gaming stands very near its beginning. They invite others to take up the study and this book offers a good starting point.” Choice reviewer, W.J. Hyndman described the book as “a well-documented study of the effects and influences that religion (in general) has had on digital gaming.”
Networked Theology
Campbell collaborated with Stephen Garner to write Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture. In the book, they synthesize their respective research on religion and technology.
Referring to Campbell and Garner, a writer in Publishers Weekly suggested: “They offer dry summaries of scholarship on digital culture and religion, which is unlikely to be of interest to readers.” However, a critic on the Gospel Coalition Web site remarked: “Cambell and Garner offer a fine example of how to remain grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ while also taking a careful, systematic look at how people and cultures use, appropriate, and navigate technology.” Annalee Ward, reviewer on the Christian and Communication Studies Network Web site, commented: “Campbell and Garner’s work makes a significant contribution to both media studies and theology, but their task was not easy. They encountered the challenge of attempting to extract themselves from their environment, examine it, and comment on its effects even as they are still a part of it.” Ward added: “This book makes the much needed argument for Christian communities to humbly and confidently question and engage with digital culture. Campbell and Garner’s research is thorough, pulling from multiple disciplines and gathering in this one textbook earlier scholars’ investigations and insights with the topic, extending that research in valuable ways using biblical norms”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Choice, August, 2009, A.H. Widder, review of A Science and Religion Primer, p. 2293; October, 2013, J.H. Fitz, review of Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds, p. 252; December, 2014, W.J. Hyndman, review of Playing with Religion in Digital Games, p. 631.
Communication Research Trends, September, 2010, Claire Badaracco, review of When Religion Meets New Media, p. 20; March, 2014, Jim McDonnell, review of Digital Religion, p. 37; March, 2015, Paul A. Soukup, review of Playing with Religion in Digital Games, p. 23.
Library Journal, March 1, 2014, Paul Stenis, review of Playing with Religion in Digital Games, p. 96.
Publishers Weekly, June 13, 2016, review of Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture, p. 95.
Reference & Research Book News, April, 2013, review of Digital Religion.
ONLINE
Christian and Communication Studies Network, http://www.theccsn.com/ (January 9, 2017), Annalee Ward, review of Networked Theology.
Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/ (October 26, 2016), review of Networked Theology.
Hyperrhiz 10, http://hyperrhiz.io/ (September 22, 2013), Laura Rutter Strickling, review of Digital Religion.
Panorama of a Book Saint, http://booksaint.blogspot.com/ (December 7, 2016), review of Networked Theology.
Texas A&M University, Department of Communication Web site, https://comm.tamu.edu/ (March 10, 2017), author faculty profile.*
LC control no.: n 2005016642
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
Campbell, Heidi, 1970-
Found in: Campbell, Heidi. Exploring religious community online,
2005: E-CIP title page (Heidi Campbell) data sheet (born
08-26-70; Institute for Advanced Studies in the
Humanities, University of Edinburgh)
Digital Judaism, 2015: ECIP data view (Heidi A. Campbell)
================================================================================
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Heidi A. Campbell (PhD, University of Edinburgh) is associate professor of communication at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. She has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, LA Times, and The Wall Street Journal, and on PBS's Religion & Ethics Newsweekly and the BBC Radio World Service. Campbell is the author of Exploring Religious Community Online, has written numerous articles and encyclopedia entries, and participated in the Sir John Templeton Oxford Seminars in Science and Christianity.
Heidi Campbell teaches media studies on themes related to media theory, global and popular culture and media & religion. Her research focuses on how religion is translated and transformed by digital cultures and the influence of digital and mobile technologies on Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities. She directs the Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies, is co-editor of the Routledge’s Studies in Religion and Digital Culture book series and on the editorial board of the Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, New Media & Society, the Journal of Media, Religion & Digital Culture and Ecclesiology & Ethnography. She has authored over 70 articles and books including Exploring Religious Community Online (Peter Lang 2005) and When Religion Meets New Media (Routledge 2010). She has also edited four works including Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media World (Routledge 2013) and Playing with Religion in Video Games (University of Indiana Press, 2014). Recognized as an international as an international scholar she has held research fellowships with the Institute for Advanced Studies-Durham University (UK), Caesarea Rothschild Institute for Interdisciplinary Applications of Computer Science-University of Haifa (Israel), Institute for the Advanced Studies-University of Edinburgh (UK) and the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research-TAMU. Her work on digital religion has been widely quoted in national and international media outlets including the Houston Chronicle, Los Angeles Times,, The Guardian (UK), LaVanguardia (Spain), Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and she has been interviewed by CBC, BBC and Australian ABC radio and has appeared on PBS’s Religion and Ethics program.
Courses Taught:
COMM 330: Human Communication & Technology
COMM 350: Theories of Mediated Communication
COMM 458: Global Media
COMM 480: Religious Communication
COMM 665: Communication and Technology
CV: https://comm.tamu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2016/04/CV-Campbell-Feb-2016-TAMU-website.pdf
Heidi Campbell
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Heidi A Campbell is an associate professor at the Department of Communication[1] and an Affiliate Faculty in the Religious Studies Interdisciplinary Program at Texas A&M University. She studies religion and new media [2][3][4] and the influence of digital and mobile technologies on religious communities.[5] Her work has covered a range of topics from the rise of religious community online,[6][7] religious blogging[8][9] and religious mobile culture within Christianity, Judaism and Islam, to exploring technology practice and fandom as implicit religion and religious framings within in digital games.[10][11]
Contents
1 Biography
2 Theoretical Contribution
2.1 Religious-Social Shaping of Technology
2.1.1 History and Tradition
2.1.2 Core Beliefs
2.1.3 Negotiation
2.1.4 Communal Framing
3 New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies
4 References
Biography
Campbell received her Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Spring Arbor University in Michigan (1988-1992) and a Masters from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland (1996-1997) in the Theology and Ethics of Communication. She also received her PhD from the University of Edinburgh (2002) where she studied the intersection of Computer-Mediated Communication and Practical Theology in her thesis entitled “Investigating Community Through an Analysis of Christian Email Online Communities”.
Campbell is a scholar of new media, religion and digital culture. Her work has appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion,[12] New Media and Society,[13] Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,[14] Journal of Electronic Broadcasting and Media [15] and the Journal of Contemporary Religion.[16]
She is the author of Exploring Religious Community Online: We are one in the network (Peter Lang, 2005) and When Religion Meets New Media (Routledge, 2010), and editor of Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New media Worlds (Routledge, 2013), and co-editor of A Science and Religion Primer (Baker Academic, 2009) and Playing with Religion in Digital Games (University of Indiana Press, 2014). Campbell is also co-editor of Routledge’s Studies in Religion and Digital Culture book series and on the editorial boards of Ecclesial Practices,pf Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, pf New Media and Society and the Journal of Religion, Media and Culture. She has held research fellowships with the Institute for Advanced Studies-Durham University (UK),[17] Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research-TAMU,[18] Caesarea Rothschild Institute for Interdisciplinary Applications of Computer Science-University of Haifa (Israel) [19] and Institute for the Advanced Studies-University of Edinburgh (UK)[20] and Wycliffe Hall-Oxford University (UK).
Theoretical Contribution
Religious-Social Shaping of Technology
Campbell developed the Religious-Social Shaping of Technology (RSST) approach to assist scholars seeking to examine religious user communities negotiation processes related to media technologies. This approach builds upon ideas drawn the social shaping of technology (SST), which sees technological change and user innovation as a social process. RSST views the interrelationship between religious groups and new technologies as a dialectical process, in which the ethos and identity of a religious groups dictates expectations regarding members’ engagement with new media. This approach was developed by Campbell in her book When Religion Meets New Media (Routlege 2010).
A key premise underlying the RSST is that religious communities typically do not reject new forms of technology outright, rather they undergo a sophisticated negotiation process based on their communal background and beliefs. This informs their response to the various affordances offered by a given technology and potential impacts they perceive it may have on their community. The RSST approach employs four layers of investigation:[21]
History and Tradition
A researcher must first uncover aspects of the community’s history and tradition which inform their response to media. Special attention should be given to how they define what constitutes community, authority and their relationship to textual media.
Core Beliefs
Next the core religious and social values of the community must be revealed and examined. Values underlie key religious practices and determine a group’s identity and priorities, also become the basis that guides their response towards and beliefs about a given technology.
Negotiation
Identifying a community’s background and beliefs become a basis for understanding how and why they respond to various media in particular ways. This leads to considering the process of acceptance, rejection and/or re-configuring. If a technology runs counter to their values and priorities they must make choices regarding what aspects of the technology they can accept, need to reject and to what extent its use or design needs to be innovated in order for it to fit into the moral economy of the community.
Communal Framing
Finally it becomes important to pay attention not only to how communities use but also talk about media. This layer focuses on analyzing the ways in which community members and leaders talk about new media through official policy statements, religious materials, sermons and in interviews. Studying technology talk reveals important identity narratives about the community and how they seek to frame themselves in contemporary society.
The RSST approach to studies of new media has been applied to varied religious context including the Amish faith and tradition influence on their response to technology; The case of Ultra-Orthodox Jews use of the “Kosher” phone ; Religious Christian use of the Internet; Modern Islamic discourses about computers and Baha’í Negotiation with the Internet.
New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies
The study of the intersection between new media, religion and digital culture is often referred to as the study of “digital religion”. Digital religion is defined as “Religion that is constituted in new ways through digital media and cultures… this recognizes that the reformulation of existing religious practices have both online and offline implications. It also means digital culture negotiates our understandings of religious practice in ways that can lead to new experiences, authenticity and spiritual reflexivity” (Campbell, 2013, p. 3).[22]
Digital religion research has become an emerging sub-field within Internet Studies, and display interest not only in the performance of religion online, but also in how religious communities interact with media and negotiate their online and the offline existence. The initial research of digital religion focused on describing and documenting online communities. Throughout the years this sub-field has evolved to investigate online worship spaces and offline institutions and use and response to online environments. The current approaches to digital religion studies focuses on the integration of online-offline use of social media and mobile media. As an effort to create an international interdisciplinary conversation related Digital religion research, The Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies [23] was established.
The project was established in 2010 through a grant from the Evans/Glasscock Digital Humanities Project, at Texas A&M University and brought to fruition with the assistance of TAMU's Initiative for Digital Humanities, Media, and Culture [24] Campbell serves as the project Director.
The Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies brings together scholars from not only religious studies, theology and sociology of religion, but those in fields such as area studies, media studies, political science, and psychology. The Network serves as the leading repository and connection point for scholars, students and independent researchers studying the intersection between new media, religion and digital culture. It provides access to an interactive online bibliography of research works, profiles of scholars actively working in this area, blog reviews of recent published scholarship and an up-to-date list of news items and events related to the study of Digital Religion.
QUOTED: "They offer dry summaries of scholarship on digital culture and religion, which is unlikely to be of interest to readers."
Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture
263.24 (June 13, 2016): p95.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture
Heidi A. Campbell and Stephen Garner. Baker Academic, $22.99 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-0-8010-4914-9
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Campbell and Garner, both professors studying the intersection of digital culture and religion, collaborate in this addition to Baker's "Engaging Culture" series, which aims to "help Christians respond with theological discernment" to issues in contemporary culture. Who the authors imagine this volume's intended audience to be, however, is less than clear: even as they provide definitions of common words such as "theology"--for which few if any Christian readers need explanation--they offer dry summaries of scholarship on digital culture and religion, which is unlikely to be of interest to readers looking to think theologically about their own use of technology. Perhaps most salient is this book's lack of specific examples: in a discussion of how the Internet has enabled laypeople to challenge the authority of more official theological gatekeepers, the authors cite the abstract studies of other scholars rather than including mainstream examples--for instance, Rachel Held Evans being named to a President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships for her role as a blogger. At its core, the book seeks to explore "what it means to love God and love your neighbor" in a digitally networked world, but it seems unlikely to be helpful in that regard, loaded with far more citations and unnecessary definitions than original insights. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture." Publishers Weekly, 13 June 2016, p. 95. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA458871783&it=r&asid=77c251055b44710e63baf4649039f553. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
QUOTED: "This collection builds on and adds to the best criticism in this young and exciting subfield."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A458871783
Playing with Religion in Digital Games
Paul Stenis
139.4 (Mar. 1, 2014): p96.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Playing with Religion in Digital Games. Indiana Univ. (Digital Game Studies). May 2014. 302p. ed. by Heidi A. Campbell & Gregory P. Grieve. notes. index. ISBN 9780253012449. $85; pap. ISBN 9780253012531. $30; ebk. ISBN 9780253012630. REL
Editors Campbell (communication; Texas A&M Univ.; When Religion Meets New Media) and Grieve (religious studies; Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro; Retheorizing Religion in Nepal) present a rare collection: critical essays on religion in digital games. The pieces here take fresh approaches to the topics and add valuable insight. The collection distinguishes itself most in its section on gaming as implicit religion--where authors discuss the ways in which some games imbue nonreligious activity with religious meaning. In these games, players experience "emotions and processes" that match religious emotions and processes, an area of gaming studies ripe for exploration. There is occasionally, among these studies, a lack of depth, which may arise owing to the youth of digital games as a medium or the relatively few digital games produced without sales as their primary goal. The coverage overlaps some with Craig Detweiler's edited collection Halos and Avatars: Playing Video Games with God, which also explores, for example, the problematic portrayals of Muslims in video games. VERDICT This collection builds on and adds to the best criticism in this young and exciting subfield and will grow more important as religion integrates further into our digital games.--Paul Stenis, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA
Stenis, Paul
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Stenis, Paul. "Playing with Religion in Digital Games." Library Journal, 1 Mar. 2014, p. 96. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA359852364&it=r&asid=89fc8b12c232a901b870779cc32b6095. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
QUOTED: "The book is divided into three sections, the first of which explores the crosscutting themes of ritual, identity, community, authority, authenticity, and religion. The second section provides two recent case studies from different religious contexts linked to each major theme. Finally, the third section offers a variety of theoretical, ethical, and theological reflections on the studying of religion and new media."
"Overall this compendium will prove to be an invaluable resource for all those wanting a thorough state-of-the-art review of recent qualitative research in digital religion."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A359852364
Campbell, Heidi A. Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds
Jim McDonnell
33.1 (Mar. 2014): p37.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture
http://cscc.scu.edu/trends/index.html
Campbell, Heidi A. Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds. New York: Routledge, 2013. Pp. 272. ISBN 978-0-415-67610-6 (cloth), $115.00; 978-0-415- 67611-3 (paper) $34.95.
Heidi Campbell's edited overview of what she terms a new "subfield of inquiry" is a comprehensive guide to recent scholarship in the field of religion and new media.
The book is divided into three sections, the first of which explores the crosscutting themes of ritual, identity, community, authority, authenticity, and religion. The second section provides two recent case studies from different religious contexts linked to each major theme. Finally, the third section offers a variety of theoretical, ethical, and theological reflections on the studying of religion and new media.
All the chapters circle around the difficulty of defining "digital religion." According to Campbell, the early distinctions between what Helland famously described as "religion online" and "online religion" is becoming increasingly blurred. For her, digital religion is "a new frame for articulating the evolution of religious practice online, as seen in the most recent manifestations of cyberchurches, which are linked to online and offline contexts simultaneously" (p. 1). Later she describes it as "the technological and cultural space that is evoked when we talk about how online and offline religious spheres have become blended or integrated" (p. 4). In the book's reflective concluding chapter, Stewart Hoover observes that "We must see digital religion as being about the generation of models of practice and the ability to produce meaning in the world that relates to the religious" (p. 268). Gregory Grieve, in his exploration of the topic of "religion," maintains that "digital religion is unique because it uses the technological aspects of new media to weave together non-scientific metanarratives with the technological ideology surrounding the digital as a way to address the anxieties produced in a liquid modern world" (p. 134). So, in summary, the concept of "digital religion" is thought of as (1) an observational "frame"--the way we observe religious behavior, (2) the technological and cultural "space" within which that behavior takes place, (3) the "practice" that constitutes such behavior, and (4) and the "meaning" that the behavior expresses.
Another common thread is the awareness of the development of the scholarly field itself. The consensus is that scholarship has gone through three distinctive phases or waves since the mid-1990s. Campbell herself identifies a first wave of documenting and learning, a second of critical analysis, and a third more theoretical phase (p. 8-11) Mia Lovheim in her chapter on identity follows the same path, the waves being characterized as plurality and experiments, critical empirical studies, and studies of religious identities online being integrated into everyday life (p. 45-49). Gregory Grieve is more astringent, noting an initial "ideology of awe" in the face of the new technology followed by a "routinization of digital ideology," which in turn was followed by studies examining more closely "authority, co-production, and convergence" and how offline and online religion are integrated (p. 110-113).
The intermingling of offline and online worlds is explored through the thematic chapters and the associated case studies. Grieve's study of what is meant by "religion" in the digital context highlights the different ways in which the elements of "myth, ritual, and faith" are combined by individual and groups. He observes that digital religion is a response to the fluid, "liquid" nature of modern life so that "individuals have to actively explore and create novel, elastic, temporary, and flexible forms" of religious experience because, he claims, traditional religious communities and institutions are being "dissolved." The two related case studies, by Erica Baffelli on the Internet practices of the Japanese new religion, Hikari no Wa, and by Nadja Miczek on Internet and New Age individuals, illustrate the complexity of the topic. The Japanese case study shows how the Internet can be used by a religious group to reinforce its common identity and gain greater public recognition while the New Age study stresses again how individuals use the Internet to create their own unique religious identities.
Christopher Helland's chapter on ritual, which he defines for his purposes as the "purposeful engagement with the sacred" (p. 27), once again emphasizes the sheer variety of forms ritual can take and the need for scholars to broaden their definitions to encompass this variety. He argues that "people are using the Internet as a mechanism to help facilitate the ritual--they may not be doing anything 'online'--yet in other cases they are engaging in ritual in cyberspace itself" (p. 37).
The two case studies on ritual reveal how different religious traditions are able to adapt to the online environment. Heinz Scheifinger's study of online Hindu puja (ritual worship of an image of a god or goddess) concludes that the essential nature of puja allows "online puja to be a "valid and efficacious form of a ritual" so that it does not "constitute a fundamentally different experience from the carrying out of worship in a traditional setting" (p. 122). Louise Connelly's study of Buddhist meditation in Second Life describes how the Buddhist Center in the Second Life environment enables "Buddhists and non-Buddhists to participate in a variety of non-religious as well as religious practice and ritual." This has also meant a greater degree of intermingling of different traditions that would be seen in "in real life" (p. 133).
The overview of identity and the Internet by Lovheim concludes that "religious identity online is not that different from religious identity in everyday offline life" (p. 52). She also counters the tendency to over emphasize the individual nature of identity by arguing that "religious identity in modern society is still a social thing, deeply anchored in the social situations and relations individuals want and need to stay connected to in order to find meaning and act in everyday life" (p. 52). The related case study by Vit Sisler on Islamic video games explores how such games can help players adopt the identity of a hero rather than as a victim or villain. A second case study, by Lynn Schofield Clark and Jill Dierberg, investigates how young people construct their religious identities through digital storytelling.
Campbell herself takes up the theme of community and notes that society offline and online is becoming increasingly networked. Online religious groups differ from traditional religious communities precisely as "rather than operating as tightly bonded social structures, they function as loose social networks with varying levels of religious affiliation and commitment" (p. 64).
The chapter by Tim Hutchings on the "online churches" of St. Pixel's and Church Online explores how these networked communities offer different kinds of experience to offline churchgoers. "St. Pixels has created a space for debate and friendship, while Church Online offers world-class preaching and the chance to share in an evangelism movement that claims to be highly successful" (p. 170). On the other hand, the case study by Oren Golan on Chabad Jews reveals how a highly structured Ultra-Orthodox Jewish offline community can deliberately and successfully use its web presence to promote institutional growth and visibility both to outsiders and insiders.
The theme of authority is studied by Pauline Cheong who argues that studies tend to conceptualize the study of authority either primarily as relationships of disjuncture and displacement, in which traditional religious authority is threatened, or of continuity and complementarity, in which religious authority can be supported and even enhanced. Like Golan's study of the Chabad Jews, Tsuriel Rashi's case study of the kosher cell phone is another example from the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel of how religious authority can be retained even when it seems that technology must undermine it. Approaching the topic from a different angle, Paul Teusner's study highlights the paradox facing Christian bloggers in Australia as they seek to challenge religious institutional structures and patterns of authority. In order to be visible online, they have to adapt to similar patterns and structures of authority, this time determined by search engines like Technorati, where authority rankings are given to the most regular and prolific and to those who write about public issues.
Kerstin Radde-Antweiler tackles the difficult theme of authenticity. As she points out the term holds together the distinct notions of authentic as something true or genuine and the related idea of being real or true. These meanings can be seen to inform the numerous debates about whether online interactions, especially bodily interactions in environments like Second Life, are "real" or "only virtual." Other questions are raised about whether online sacred spaces are or could be "authentic." In addition, other discussions are about the credibility of online sources and the extent to which they could embody authentic religious authority. Radde-Antweiler questions whether authenticity as an analytical category is still helpful. She concludes by taking up De Witte's suggestion that further research should focus on the "work of construction itself," asking, for example, questions like "why do some religious actors judge certain performances or traditions as authentic, and why do others not? How do they legitimatize these judgments?" and so on (p. 99). The related case study by Nabil Echchaibi is a study of how a progressive Muslim web site seeks to define what is religiously authentic. In so doing it poses a challenge to the authority of other sites that have different conceptions of what constitutes authentic Islam. Rachel Wagner's case study considers six different types of smart phone religious apps: prayer, ritual, sacred texts, religious social media, self-expression, and focusing/meditation. She examines how the user's choice of these apps may challenge the ability of existing religious authority to determine what is or is not authentic, particularly as they encourage an individualized form of religious experience in which the users put together their own eclectic mix.
The final part of the book consists of reflections on the studying of religion and new media. Knut Lundby categorizes research on digital religion by classifying the theoretical frameworks through which researchers have conceptualized the subject. He considers five approaches to religion in "new media" that he thinks have been particularly influential and identifies key authors associated with each approach. The five approaches are: "technological determinism" (McLuhan); "mediatization of religion" (Hjarvard); "mediation of meaning" (Hoover); "mediation of sacred forms" (Lynch); and "social shaping of technology" (Campbell). In his discussion of McLuhan, Lundby might have also mentioned his contribution to the emergence of the "media ecology" approach to the interaction of religion and media.
Mark D. Johns considers the ethical issues which arise when studying concepts like identity, authenticity, and authority online. Stephen Garner argues that to be relevant theological reflection will have to work in partnership with other disciplines and experiences in grappling with the diversity and complexity of digital religion.
Each of the thematic sections are followed by an annotated list of recommended reading as well as a bibliography. Overall this compendium will prove to be an invaluable resource for all those wanting a thorough state-of-the-art review of recent qualitative research in digital religion.
--Jim McDonnell
London
McDonnell, Jim
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
McDonnell, Jim. "Campbell, Heidi A. Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds." Communication Research Trends, vol. 33, no. 1, 2014, p. 37+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA366082111&it=r&asid=9f40067fe84157977b07cd554a80d53d. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
QUOTED: "This work has advanced the field as Campbell makes a compelling case for her argument that a robust scholarly approach within the study of media, religion, and culture is needed as it applies to media technology. The author provides the rigorous, comprehensive level of analysis grounding her discussion."
"This is an outstanding, highly readable book, a contribution as well as a challenge to the field of media, religion, and cultural studies and how the idea of belief--popular, particular, political--is changed by new media technology."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A366082111
Campbell, Heidi A.: When Religion Meets New Media
Claire Badaracco
29.3 (Sept. 2010): p20.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2010 Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture
http://cscc.scu.edu/trends/index.html
Campbell, Heidi A. When Religion Meets New Media. London and New York: Routledge, 2010. Pp 193. ISBN 978-0-415-34957-4 (pb.) $35.95.
This is the fourth book in the excellent series on media, religion, and culture edited by Stewart Hoover, Jolyon Mitchell, and David Morgan. In previous publications in the series, Mara Einstein took up the commercial marketing of religion; David Morgan, the visual mediation of religion; and Stewart Hoover, the theoretical framework for the study of religion in the Media Age. In this volume, Heidi Campbell examines how religions negotiate borders and the social and cultural processes of meaning-making using new media technology. This work has advanced the field as Campbell makes a compelling case for her argument that a robust scholarly approach within the study of media, religion, and culture is needed as it applies to media technology. The author provides the rigorous, comprehensive level of analysis grounding her discussion in the history and traditions of the community as determinative of the currency and wisdom informing new media use, and how orthodox and fundamentalist believers' "core values" (p. 88) contextualize their uses of new media. To follow through on her analysis blurs further the distinctions once made between secular and sacred public cultures, and places those academic discussions within their own historical continuum. Her book fills the need she sees as part of her conclusion, for more work that examines religious communities as technology users, as opposed to niche groups trapped by a technological framework imposed upon them, forcing them to either accept or resist. Instead, she argues that religious constituencies are in fact "active participants in the meaning-making processes surrounding technology" (p. 187). Fundamentalist or orthodox groups approach the diffusion of innovative new media from the ground of their own history, ideals, political viewpoints, as Campbell demonstrates in her extended case studies and ethnographies. Their adaptation of new media to serve their own purposes influences the development of the technology productions and shapes their use by others in the mass marketplace of beliefs. Production is a two-way street, and religious users ought to be viewed as engaged in the social discourse, as technology productions assume a social life of their own, constituting an ummah or interconnected global religious public that is as aware as it is observant.
In the first chapter, Campbell explicates comprehensively the relevant scholarship in the literature of media, religion, and culture concerning religious communities and the Internet; the second chapter is a rigorous exposition of her methodology. Chapter 3 takes up the historical "baseline" (p. 64) for religious approaches to new media as the author takes the readers into an orthodox Jewish home, into their lived understanding of Shabbat, and then demonstrates through ethnographic description the ancient traditions in the town of Bnei Brak in Jerusalem. Campbell describes how the family uses technology in the home and in society, explaining the many prohibitions of ancient laws concerning the Sabbath. This section is one of the highlights of the book in terms of the author's first-person experience as participant observer: Her work in the Middle East is a fascinating illustration, as is the later chapter on the kosher cell phone (Ch. 7), of how users adapt their use of new media to uphold ancient laws.
In the fourth chapter, Campbell extends her argument beyond historical and ethnographic analysis, arguing that media use is negotiated through the filter of the social life of the group; to illustrate this argument she explores how communal values inform Islamic responses to media, using a broad range of contemporary examples. Among them are Campbell's interviews in the Arab-Israeli town of Baqa al Garbia in 2006, asking young people about their use of new media. The preacher Amr Khaled is widely popular, a multimedia entrepreneur of beliefs. To see this phenomenon in the Middle East, particularly among the young, sheds light on the movement among the "new band of 'veiled-again' Islam," (p. 91) and is bound to stimulate discussion about the two contrary social forces that are in conflict, the legalistic approach of Western Europe that wants to forbid wearing of veils in the name of nationalism and the force of globalized new media that cultivates the presumption that religious identity is a privilege that precedes nationalism.
The fifth chapter examines the process of how Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Evangelicals enter a journey of adaptation, and use new media to connect with the larger social world, to evangelize, cultivate religious practice, and grow their faith traditions. The data in this chapter concerning Islam and Judaism is fascinating, fresh, original, and rich; the data about Anglicanism and other Christian faiths is also useful. In the sixth chapter, Campbell takes up evidence from mainline Protestantism, data gathered through personal interviewing, and reiterates the communication theory about framing that lends scholarly contexts for these examples of communal discourse. Chapter 7 is a stand-alone piece on the case of the kosher cell phone. It could be used in an undergraduate media and religion class as well as a more advanced academic group. Finally, in the eighth chapter, Campbell identifies the trends and consequences of these progressions in the use and adaptation of new media by religious groups, not the least of which is how people view the idea of religious authority as it has been traditionally defined offline, and how traditional religions will cope with the behaviors based on new conceptions of belonger groups and loyalty, as changed by online communities. This is an outstanding, highly readable book, a contribution as well as a challenge to the field of media, religion, and cultural studies and how the idea of belief--popular, particular, political--is changed by new media technology.
The book concludes with a lengthy bibliography and an index.
--Claire Badaracco
Marquette University
Badaracco, Claire
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Badaracco, Claire. "Campbell, Heidi A.: When Religion Meets New Media." Communication Research Trends, vol. 29, no. 3, 2010, p. 20+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA236568327&it=r&asid=e2b7c17c3b6b14c762390675dd46a240. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
QUOTED: "A leading scholar of digital religion and media, Campbell ... has compiled a state-of-the-art collection addressing research on religion and new media."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A236568327
Digital religion: understanding religious practice in new media worlds
J.H. Fitz
51.2 (Oct. 2013): p252.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
51-0691
BL638
2012-15446 CIP
Digital religion: understanding religious practice in new media worlds, ed. by Heidi A. Campbell. Routledge, 2013. 272p bibl index ISBN 9780415676106, $115.00; ISBN 9780415676113 pbk, $34.95; ISBN 9780203084861 e-book, contact publisher for price
A leading scholar of digital religion and media, Campbell (Texas A&M Univ.) has compiled a state-of-the-art collection addressing research on religion and new media. She and 22 other scholars from disciplines engaging this relatively new area of study (e.g., communication and media studies, sociology, religious studies, and theology) contribute 23 chapters divided into three sections. Part 1 addresses topics of ritual, identity; community, authority, authenticity, and religion; part 2 offers a total of 12 case studies reflecting each of the six themes from part 1. Part 3 includes four chapters addressing theoretical frameworks, ethical issues, theology, and the new media. "Digital religion," described by Campbell in her introduction as "the technological and cultural space that is evoked when we talk about how online and offline religious spheres have become blended or integrated," highlights the ways in which "digital media and spaces are shaping and being shaped by religious practice." These chapters trace the rise of the digital mediation of religious experience and practice, distinguishing between "religion online" and "online religion," defining differences between "digital" and "analog" religion, addressing how digital religious experience both challenges and strengthens religious authority "off line," and exploring under what conditions digital religion could be considered "authentic." Summing Up: Highly recommended. *** Upper-division undergraduate and above.--J. H. Fitz, Duquesne University
Fitz, J.H.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Fitz, J.H. "Digital religion: understanding religious practice in new media worlds." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Oct. 2013, p. 252. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA347001909&it=r&asid=af750395f2194b7818a1c04ab7701b69. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A347001909
Digital religion; understanding religious practice in new media worlds
28.2 (Apr. 2013):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 Ringgold, Inc.
http://www.ringgold.com/
9780415676113
Digital religion; understanding religious practice in new media worlds.
Ed. by Heidi A. Campbell.
Routledge
2013
272 pages
$34.95
BL638
Scholars of communication and religion explore the various ways people are using digital communication in religious practice. They look at the themes ritual, identity, community, authority, authenticity, and religion. Among the topics are Hindu worship online and offline, digital storytelling and collective religious identity in a moderate to progressive youth group, Muslims and modernity's discontents, Japanese new religions online, ethical issues in the study of religion and new media, and theology and the new media.
([c] Book News, Inc., Portland, OR)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Digital religion; understanding religious practice in new media worlds." Reference & Research Book News, Apr. 2013. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA324601070&it=r&asid=2626e66c7741b51b4becdb66afe7791f. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
QUOTED: "Heidi Campbell and Gregory Grieve's edited collection addresses the intersection of religion and video games, providing an outstanding resource, particularly for those with interests in communication and religion."
"This edited collection is uniformly good and well worth reading. As the editors and authors note, the study of religion and gaming stands very near its beginning. They invite others to take up the study and this book offers a good starting point."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A324601070
Campbell, Heidi A. and Gregory Price Grieve (Eds). Playing with Religion in Digital Games
Paul A. Soukup
34.1 (Mar. 2015): p23.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture
http://cscc.scu.edu/trends/index.html
Campbell, Heidi A. and Gregory Price Grieve (Eds). Playing with Religion in Digital Games. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2014. Pp. xii, 301. ISBN 978-0-253-01244-9 (cloth) $85.00; 9780-253-01253-1 (paper) $30.00; 978-0-253-01263-0 (ebook) $29.00.
Heidi Campbell and Gregory Grieve's edited collection addresses the intersection of religion and video games, providing an outstanding resource, particularly for those with interests in communication and religion. They note that, in their volume, "digital gaming is explored as a field filled with potential for new insights into the place, presentation, and impact of religion within popular culture" (p. 2). As they situate the essays, they argue that scholars and researchers have neglected the connection between video games and religion for four reasons: "games are widely considered simply a form of young people's entertainment; video games are often seen as artificial or unvalued forms of expression; technology is thought to be secular; and virtual gaming worlds are seen as unreal" (pp. 2-3). They then demonstrate the inaccuracy of each of these assumptions.
A few researchers have begun the study of religion and gaming. Their brief review of the published work (really only a handful of books and some panels at the annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion) indicates that researchers have followed one of several approaches: the use of video games in religious education, the use of religion as a plot device or narrative background in games, and the connection between gaming and the performance of religion. Their volume expands these directions.
Campbell and Grieve divide the volume into three equal sections, each consisting of four chapters: explorations of religiously themed games, religion in mainstream games, and gaming as implicit religion.
In the first section, Jason Anthony presents a helpful typology. Looking at how games have played a role in ancient Greek religious practice, Anthony sees four categories: didactic games meant to teach or instruct; hestiasic games, those connected to a sacred festival or celebration; poimenic games in which "the divine is an active, interested player" (p. 31); and praxic games, which engage with the sacred, as for example in seeking the divine will. For each category, Anthony seeks contemporary digital games, but then adds some others. Allomythic games provide a first-person entry into a religious landscape, where players can practice one or another kind of ritual. Allopolitical games place the player in a virtual community (Second Life, for example) in which worship takes a natural place. Theoptic games "embrace the category of 'god games'" in which "the player assume[s] the role of an all-seeing power, who controls the environmental circumstances of the game world" (p. 42).
Other studies in the first section examine specific games and religious traditions. Isamar Carrillo Masso and Nathan Abrams present an analysis of The Shivah, a game set in a Jewish cultural tradition and featuring a Jewish detective. "The Shivah provides new ways and trajectories of being Jewish that move beyond other stereotypes and is based on the practice of Jewish faith" (p. 62). Xenia Zeiler turns to Hinduism with an analysis of the game, Hanuman: Boy Warrior, "the first entirely India-developed digital game based on Hindu mythology" (p. 66). In addition to providing a summary of the game and the debate that it triggered among Hindu organizations, which judged it disrespectful of religion, Zeiler argues that her "analysis uncovers the debates's underlying processes of negotiating religious identity and authority in global, diaspora Hindu contexts" (p. 67). Her questions, developed in the Hindu context, apply equally well to any religiously themed game. Finally, Brenda S. Gardenour Walter examines games that deal with supernatural horror; many of these typically draw on Christian imagery and ideas of the occult.
Section 2 offers studies of how religion appears in mainstream games. Vit Sisler shows how video games, which represent real world events, typically represent Islam; he contrasts games developed in the Arab and American contexts. As a context he notes that "existing research on Islam and video games can be divided into three clusters: (a) the representation of Muslims in Western games, (b) the construction of identity in Muslim games, and (c) the communication of Islamic moral and ethical values" (p. 110). To deepen these approaches, he looks at games from each context, examining the audiovisual layer (images and presentation of characters and locations), the narrative layer (the storyline), and the procedural layer (the rule systems that guide the players). He concludes that the games draw on generic conventions as well as set topoi. Rabia Gregory focuses on medieval religious imagery and legends in multi-layer online role-playing games (MMORPG), in which players take on the identity of characters in the fantasy worlds. Situating the games within the context of theories of play and representation, she examines one game, Shadowbane. Noting that players in such game environments take on shared narratives, she concludes with an observation that more scholars should study "the coincidental similarities between body and avatar and body and soul, between ascending the spiritual ladder and grinding the gaming treadmill, between achieving salvation and leveling up, between meditating on a hand-painted woodcut while spinning and playing an MMORPG while making dinner" (p. 151). Shanny Luft turns to a specific subset of game players: "hardcore Christian gamers." The title comes from a website on which players share their faith while they also exchange tales of their favorite, often violent, first-person shooter games. Using content analysis of the websites and questionnaire research Luft "identified some ways in which Christian gamers are similar to mainstream hardcore games, and second, ... identified how Christian gamers distinguish themselves through efforts to make their gaming practices adhere to the communal and ethical standards of their religion" (p. 165). The last study in this section analyzes how game producers and companies localize games culturally. Here Peter Likarish offers a case study of Actraiser and Actraiser 2, noting how the developers modified the original Japanese games, particularly in terms of religious references, to gain acceptance in the U.S. context.
Section 3 of the book offers a very different approach, with each essay arguing that game playing itself takes on a religious or ritual tone. Rachel Wagner builds on her earlier analyses of gaming and religion to find a parallel between religion and games, rejecting the idea that "religion is 'serious' whereas games are 'fun'" (p. 193). Instead she argues that both require a sincerity for meaningful participation and that games fit well into many of the existing studies of the sociology of religion. Oliver Steffen asks, "what does a digital game need to be spiritually effective?" and examines The Path. In this, he notes several qualities of spiritual or religious experience, as described by researchers of religion: flow, meditation, a contrast between a cognitive orientation of empowerment and surrender, and morality. He applies these categories to his analysis of what is, on its surface, a non-religious game and finds evidence of each. Michael Waltenmathe analyzes playing games through the lens of Alfred Schutz's theory of the life-world. In the chapter, he argues "that humor and play are the bridge between the worlds of video games and the actual world, because both the religious experience and the comic relieve us of the tense and fundamental anxiety of what Schutz calls the 'paramount reality,' the pragmatic world of working in daily life" (p. 239). Finally, Kevin Schut offers a kind of critique of the games-as-religion approach through his case study of Civilization IV. In this and in other games that offer a more explicit inclusion of religion, he notes that the games face a limit of their medium: all have a mechanistic bias. To code any activity, the developers must assign points for religious acts and reduce religion to a kind of external practice. Noting that this is "a bias of representation" (p. 272, italics in original), he suggests that polysemy and multiple players can overcome it. He concludes, "it is worth being aware that, uncorrected by any contrary force, video games have a tendency to mechanize faith, presenting an impoverished vision of what religions mean to adherents" (p. 273).
This edited collection is uniformly good and well worth reading. As the editors and authors note, the study of religion and gaming stands very near its beginning. They invite others to take up the study and this book offers a good starting point.
Each chapter has its own notes and reference list; the book has a gameography and index, as well as author information.
--Paul A. Soukup, S.J.
Santa Clara University
Soukup, Paul A.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Soukup, Paul A. "Campbell, Heidi A. and Gregory Price Grieve (Eds). Playing with Religion in Digital Games." Communication Research Trends, vol. 34, no. 1, 2015, p. 23+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA409236081&it=r&asid=e4599728dbc8e0cfe2dec20fc5436428. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
QUOTED: "a well-documented study of the effects and influences that religion (in general) has had on digital gaming."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A409236081
Playing with religion in digital games
W.J. Hyndman
52.4 (Dec. 2014): p631.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
Playing with religion in digital games, ed. by Heidi A. Campbell and Gregory Price Grieve. Indiana, 2014. 301 p bibl gameography index afp ISBN 9780253012449 cloth, $85.00; ISBN 9780253012531 pbk, $30.00; ISBN 9780253012630 ebook, $29.99
52-1934
GV1469
2013-44778 MARC
This fine collection of essays represents a well-documented study of the effects and influences that religion (in general) has had on digital gaming and its players. The essays are divided into three parts titled "Explorations in Religiously Themed Games," "Religion in Mainstream Games," and "Gaming as Implicit Religion." Any theologian would agree with the basic premise of this work: that religion often cultivates varied responses in its adherents. Followers of religion may be game developers or players, and their influence is identifiable throughout the digital gaming industry. This book examines the influence of religion on gaming from a historical point to the present. Each chapter represents a different vantage point. In the several specific games explained, the games' use of symbols often mimics religious icons from the worlds religions. Readers will discover subtle reminders of how capitalism has influenced changes in gaming. One chapter is devoted to "Christian" gamers and their interpretation of playing various games. Contributors carefully offer views from many of the worlds religious groups concerning digital gaming. This volume will be a good launching pad for future research. Summing Up: ** Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through professionals/practitioners.--W. J. Hyndman Young Harris College
Hyndman, W.J.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Hyndman, W.J. "Playing with religion in digital games." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Dec. 2014, p. 631+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA392069542&it=r&asid=50d96bca4169221f59c07a6dae7eaa85. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
QUOTED: "This volume will be useful for those desiring a Christian perspective on these topics; it is suitable for personal, church, public, and academic libraries."
Gale Document Number: GALE|A392069542
A Science and religion primer
A.H. Widder
46.12 (Aug. 2009): p2293.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
46-6548
BL240
2008-37973 CIP
A Science and religion primer, ed. by Heidi A. Campbell and Heather Looy. Baker Academic, 2009. 230p bibl index ISBN 9780801031502 pbk, $19.99
This primer--truly "something which serves as a first means of instruction" (OED Online)--finds its home in BL 240.3, within the LC classification for works on science and religion. Other more in-depth works include The Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, ed. by J. Wentzel Vrede van Huyssteen (CH, Nov'03, 41-1263), and the Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science (2006), ed. by P. Clayton and Z. Simpson. The editors' goal was to produce a "phrase book, a cultural crib sheet that provides a basic and essential guide for those seeking to navigate this fascinating but potentially confusing territory." The hoped-for audience is college and university classes, individuals, and groups interested in historical and contemporary dialogues on science and religion. This primer emanates from the 2003-05 John Templeton Oxford Seminars on Science and Christianity. It deals with four core areas: history, philosophy of science, science and technology, and Christian theology.
The first part contains four very short essays on these subjects. The book is primarily a dictionary of concepts and biographical sketches with 88 entries, about a quarter of which are biographical. Included are the usual suspects: intelligent design, causation, chaos theory, creation/creationism, Darwin, Descartes, Einstein, ethics, Galileo, genomics/genetics, fundamentalism, determinism and free will, biotechnology, evolutionary biology, quantum theory, scientific method, and soteriology. Each entry, consisting of about two pages, provides a brief summary/definition of the concept or person, key points showing its relationship to the science and religion dialogue, and a further reading list of up to a dozen references. The signed entries are all by British and American academics. This volume will be useful for those desiring a Christian perspective on these topics; it is suitable for personal, church, public, and academic libraries. Summing Up: Recommended. ** Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.--A. H. Widder, Michigan State University
Widder, A.H.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Widder, A.H. "A Science and religion primer." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Aug. 2009, p. 2293+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA266633452&it=r&asid=5afa45465c88ec8fe22f3f1fca74ca97. Accessed 26 Feb. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A266633452
QUOTED: "Cambell and Garner offer a fine example of how to remain grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ while also taking a careful, systematic look at how people and cultures use, appropriate, and navigate technology."
How to Live Your Faith in a Digital Age
October 26, 2016
0 Comments
32
Discussing issues of technology and faith—how Facebook shapes our marriages, how Instagram and Snapchat influence youth, what that theologian said on Twitter—can be fun. Laying out a clear, systematic, theologically and theoretically grounded approach to technology that has practical value is much harder.
In Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture, American sociology of religion scholar Heidi Campbell and Australian theologian Stephen Garner have made great strides in modeling the latter approach.
Framing the Question
Before getting into specifics, it’s important to understand where this book fits among the various ways others have approached the subject. Some readers are likely to have had exposure to communication theory in a field called “media ecology”—popularized by Marshall McLuhan and his students Walter Ong and Neil Postman, who became cultural critics—that points out ways media influences society and culture. Another approach is “philosophy of technology” in which thinkers like Martin Heidegger, Albert Borgmann, Andrew Feenberg, and perhaps Jaques Ellul ask more fundamental questions like what it means to be human in a technological age. Then there are Christian authors who typically fall into one of two categories: those offering advice on how to use technology for more effective ministry, and those addressing the new moral issues presented by technological change (e.g., internet porn and distracted parents glued to their phones at family dinner).
Unlike those approaches, Campbell and Garner draw from an academic field that generally receives less attention in popular writing on technology—sociology. Yet this isn’t cite-a-study-that-proves-your-point writing, but rather a deep dive into subdisciplines like internet, religion, and media studies from an explicitly Christian worldview. Campbell herself has been a pioneer in the study of digital religion, and Networked Theology brings together insight from several of her previous works—most notably her book When Religion Meets New Media and her article “Understanding the Relationship Between Religious Practice Online and Offline in a Networked Society.” (To give a sense of how significant these are, at an academic conference on media and religion I recently attended, I can’t recall hearing a single paper that didn’t reference Campbell’s work.) To this, Garner adds rich theological reflection and an international reach that helps Networked Theology avoid trotting out familiar American technology stories.
Why This Approach Matters
Why have I spent so much time setting up the book’s approach? Part of the reason is to clarify that what Garner and Campbell offer isn’t so much a guide for how to answer specific technological questions or what to do in specific situations, but a model of how to read technological shifts and reflect theologically without being reactionary.
For example, imagine you’ve noticed that younger, more technically savvy people are less likely to accept the views of those in traditional positions of authority. One way of responding is to loudly denounce them as “those postmoderns.” Instead, Campbell and Garner give us the image of a network, which “stresses that within digital culture our relationships with information and others have changed from static, controlled structures to dynamic, adaptive connections. (3)
In other words, as people incorporate computers, phones, and other networked devices into their lives, society itself has begun to mirror the web of connections between those machines.
Campbell and Garner then build on the concept of the network and show that “networked religion” has five main characteristics: networked communities, storied identities, convergent practices, shifting authority, and multisite reality.
Note the fourth one—shifting authority. In this section, they go on to offer a more nuanced understanding of this concept: “The Internet is a place where negotiations are occurring over who and what constitutes legitimate religious leader and gatekeeper of knowledge” (74).
Campbell and Garner aren’t necessarily saying this is a good or bad thing, and they go on to point out that “while the Internet challenges offline religious authorities, it can also provide opportunities for maintaining or establishing influence” (74). This helps explains why previous unknowns like Tim Challies or Rachel Held Evans can gain online influence, while figures who gained influence in earlier media like Albert Mohler (magazines and radio) can maintain and extend their audience online.
Practical Value
While much of Networked Theology is academic in tone and geared toward offering tools for better understanding what’s happening with modern media, it closes with some excellent reflections on “a vision of technology . . . unashamedly Christian and Christ-following in its ethos and how it is lived out in the world” (120).
As guideposts, Campbell and Garner offer Micah’s threefold call “to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:8). Practically, doing justice with technology could mean Christians looking for areas of injustice such as the digital divide they can mend (129); or when using social media to connect with youth, not neglecting older people who don’t feel comfortable and might be left out (131). In an age of speedy transactions and angry tweets, the idea of walking humbly might mean not relying on technology or the church for quick fixes (140), but on Christ himself for the true but often slow process of transformation and sanctification.
In the end, Cambell and Garner offer a fine example of how to remain grounded in the gospel of Jesus Christ while also taking a careful, systematic look at how people and cultures use, appropriate, and navigate technology.
Heidi Campbell and Stephen Garner. Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2016. 192 pp. $22.99.
QUOTED: "Digital Religion: Understanding religious practice in new media worlds, is a book that attests to a growing interdisciplinary approach to the study of religion and new media. Presented as a scholarly apologetic for the emerging subfield within Internet, media and culture studies, the text maps out key research and prominent themes, provides case studies from a variety of fields, and stands as an interdisciplinary framework for the study of digital religion."
"Digital Religion explores six central areas of inquiry: ritual, identity, community, authority, authenticity, and how religion can be understood in the digital realm. The text also includes a chapter on ethical issues that one might confront when employing research methods and practices in this subfield."
The Third Space and Beyond: Review of Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New Media Worlds
Laura Rutter Strickling
University of Maryland Baltimore County
Campbell, H. (ed.). (2013). Digital religion: Understanding religious practice in new media worlds. New York: Routledge.
In this age informed by social media, religious self-expression online has become an accepted part of religious identity and practice. For example, through the Net, Jesus has his own Facebook page, the Buddha tweets, and worshipers can download a variety of religious mobile phone apps that facilitate praying toward Mecca or connecting with the Pope. Digital Religion: Understanding religious practice in new media worlds, is a book that attests to a growing interdisciplinary approach to the study of religion and new media. Presented as a scholarly apologetic for the emerging subfield within Internet, media and culture studies, the text maps out key research and prominent themes, provides case studies from a variety of fields, and stands as an interdisciplinary framework for the study of digital religion.
Heidi Campbell, editor of this book, attributes the fluid, flexible nature of the Internet to having created a landscape where new forms of religiosity can take place online. Similarly, the fluid dynamic of the Net has facilitated a reconceptualization of the study of digital religion toward examining religion not only as it is performed and articulated in cyberspace, but also how digital media and cyberspaces are being shaped by religious practice. To illustrate, the study of early cyberchurches reveals a focus on emulating aspects of offline church services by using technologies, such as podcasts, to offer sermons, singing, and limited engagement between members of a congregation. But with the rise of the virtual world, religious groups are now embracing, as well as shaping a variety of technologies, such as Second Life, to create online experiences that offer interactive worship via avatars, or "kosher" cell phones that block access to "indecent" material.
Digital Religion explores six central areas of inquiry: ritual, identity, community, authority, authenticity, and how religion can be understood in the digital realm. The text also includes a chapter on ethical issues that one might confront when employing research methods and practices in this subfield. Thematic chapters are partnered with case studies that provide varying methodological approaches, and notwithstanding the variety of disciplinary foci in this book, the reader will note the interconnectivity of the studies as themes overlap from chapter to chapter. For example, questions of authenticity are addressed in the chapters on ritual. In his case study, Heinz Scheifinger considers how the Hindu ritual, puja, practiced online can constitute a valid form of religious expression. In the view of some Hindu worshipers, "there is no reason why deity cannot inhabit cyberspace" (p. 124). Not only can worshipers connect with deity online, but they claim that "because gods and goddesses cannot be affected by impurity they can actually have a positive impact in cyberspace" (p. 125). Louise Connelly's case study of virtual Buddhist meditation also includes a discussion on the authenticity of this online ritual. The author argues that even though the virtual ritual lacks aspects of the traditional Buddhist sensory experience, "seeing is part of the embodied experience of feeling" (p. 132). Because the purpose of ritual is to gain greater understanding and spiritual awakening, she states that virtual artifacts can contribute toward this aim.
Authority is another theme woven throughout the chapters on identity, community, authenticity and religion. The Internet, that allows for the consumer to also be the producer, facilitates a decentralization of knowledge that harbors the potential to undermine religious authority. Studies suggest, however, that the Internet can facilitate both the weakening and strengthening of religious authority by creating a forum, not only for conflict but also, for understanding and accommodation. In his case study, Charting frontiers of online religious communities, Oren Golan defines a religious enclave "as a cultural system that ensures insiders will conform to the collective's worldview" (p. 155). While religious community practices foster inner solidarity, parameters of conforming can simultaneously be monitored by religious authorities. Golan reports that in the case of Chabad, an ultra-orthodox Jewish group, the community is strengthened through web presence and by select religious authorities who actually promote its use. The Internet is considered an outreach tool that spreads its world view by highlighting the group's religious practices and advancing godliness, "our [Internet outreach] was set up strictly to deal with the outside world ... technology is here for a purpose, for something positive" (p. 158). In contrast to other ultra-orthodox Jewish communities who prefer to reign in Internet access, Chabad's Internet use has gained increasing support from its institutional leaders.
In terms of further research, Campbell suggests that, even though the separation between "religion online" and "online religion" has become increasingly blurred, the distinction is still a useful construct. (See Helland, 2000). But Campbell further argues that this demarcation does not address the "third space" where lived religious practice and digital culture meet. She states that this hybridized and fluid context requires new logic that evokes unique forms of meaning-making. Religion that is taking place in a digital environment becomes informed by new media ideology which can alter, not only practice, but also the meaning-making process itself.
It is unfortunate that Campbell does not explore in more depth the question of media ideology as another lens from which to examine emerging forms of religion that might not fit within the conceptual parameters of the third space. Kopimism, for example, is a religion that is not just informed by new media ideology — new media ideology is the religion. Founded principally by Isak Gerson in 2010, Kopimism is a legitimate missionary ministry whose dogma is Internet file-sharing. The congregation's value system is based on the axioms that the Internet is holy and that all knowledge is sacred, therefore the circulation of knowledge and the act of copying is also sacred. Individual pastoral care and confession are conducted with Kopimist priests, or Ops, who are morally obligated to assist upon request. Digital worship services take place via compatible internet protocol to ensure that those in attendance can communicate. This is followed by the holiest act of Kopimism which is for participants to copy, remix and distribute as much information as possible among each other. The final part of the worship service is to engage the public in the practice of Kopimistic values. The meeting ends with all members submitting "thx" to their congregation. (See Kopimistsamfundet.org, 2013). Kopimism represents a transcendence of the third space beyond "where lived religious practice and digital culture meet" toward lived digital culture as religion. In the third space, "digital" may stand in for previous forms of religious practice and become a means of mediation, but in the Church of Kopimism mediation itself is an act of worship.
In his blog response for Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies, Kyong James Cho critiques Campbell for defining digital religion as "a bit too all encompassing" (Cho, 2013). Cho quotes Campbell's description of digital religion as "the technological and cultural space that is evoked when we talk about how online and offline religious spheres have become blended or integrated" (p. 4). Kopimism is an example of how this conceptualization of digital religion is not broad enough for this emerging area of inquiry. This new religion calls for a reframing from digital religion to the digital as religion. In the last chapter, Stewart Hoover, contributor to Digital Religion, correctly positions the research and trajectory of the book as "a valuable and generative start," because future investigation of religion and new media will likely lead us through the third space and beyond. The digital as religion is perhaps the brave new spiritual frontier.
QUOTED: "Campbell and Garner’s work makes a significant contribution to both media studies and theology, but their task was not easy. They encountered the challenge of attempting to extract themselves from their environment, examine it, and comment on its effects even as they are still a part of it."
"This book makes the much needed argument for Christian communities to humbly and confidently question and engage with digital culture. Campbell and Garner’s research is thorough, pulling from multiple disciplines and gathering in this one textbook earlier scholars’ investigations and insights with the topic, extending that research in valuable ways using biblical norms"
Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture (Review by Annalee Ward)
Robert Woods January 9, 2017 Research: Featured Book Reviews (peer reviewed) 0 Comments
Cite as follows: Ward, Annalee (2017). Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture, by Heidi A. Campbell and Stephen Garner (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016) [Book Review]. Journal of Christian Teaching Practice 3(1), http://www.theccsn.com/augustine-for-philosophers/ [a publication of the Christianity and Communication Studies Network, www.theccsn.com, copyright 2017]
Downloadable PDF: Annalee Ward_Review of Networked Theology_Campbell and Garner
By Annalee Ward, Ph.D., ARWard@dbq.edu; Director of the Wendt Character Initiative, Dubuque University
Students sit seemingly idle in the techno-hunch, engrossed in their own little square of light. An outraged outsider might opine, “Is this how a church youth group gathers?” This lament is only part of the story. While students do engage in mindlessness, they also search scripture, message friends, listen to inspiring music, watch videos of performers and everyday people sharing their faith. They tweet the silly. They tweet the profound. They live together in a digital world.
The scene characterizes an age-old tension of a technological shift—we lose some things with each new technology, but we also gain. Heidi Campbell and Stephen Garner’s Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture provides needed reflection on what is happening in our digital world in relationship to Christian theology and its practice. Changes are afoot. The ways people gather as a church are in flux. The concept of place is blurring. Speaking to this context, the authors provide evaluative language for a theological perspective on the changes and challenges of a digital world, helping us all to live “wisely” (14).
With the refreshing starting point of making “theology visible through the eyes of media studies and the network metaphor” (12), Campbell and Garner argue that theology is inherently networked. To explore this perspective, they bring the neophyte to this area of study up to speed. Basic definitions of theology and new media ensure the readers understand the breadth of their approach. For those already actively reading and studying in this area, much of this is review, but if the readers are new to either practical theology or media studies, the book will systematically map characteristics of each. Therefore, this book will be appropriate for both upper level undergraduates, supplementary graduate studies, and the thoughtful layperson.
Nevertheless, rarely in discussions of the digital world do we find an understanding of technology as something that encompasses more than just the hardware. Using the work of scholars such as Arnold Pacey and Stephen Monsma, Campbell and Garner include the processes of production, cultural values, and context in their definition. The authors trace the historical technological paradigm shifts and reactions to them. This history reminds us of how the illiterate were marginalized, which raises questions regarding the marginalization of the non-networked. As characteristics and values of this networked world are named, the strengths of the book begin to emerge. To live in our digitally-shaped world thoughtfully, they point out, awareness of the media ecology is a must. Additionally, they stand in the line of James Carey’s “media as culture” work and Quentin J. Schultze’s framing of media within a cultural definition and Christian worldview.[1]
Proceeding systematically, Campbell and Garner define new media all the while looking hopefully for positive new practices. Their description uncovers the nature of what I prefer to call convergent media (new media) and suggests questions which we need to consider. What are the implications for the church if more people are living in augmented reality? The blurring of space and place, the blurring of creator and user—of author intent and interpretation—mean both new connections and lost connections. If reality is a malleable concept, how should the church speak of Truth? If traditional logic matters not, how do we persuasively communicate? And how are the values of this new media culture shaping us? If interactivity is a norm and the freedom of creativity with, at best, limited boundaries, is the method, then how might theology look and sound differently? Ontologically, adapting one’s message to the audience takes on new dimensions. Interrogating what is normative and what is culturally preferable begins to take on new urgency. To thoughtfully do so requires that we foreground the characteristics and values of digital life—something this book does well.
As they move on to describe characteristics of networked religion, issues around the nature of the networked community, identity, merging and blurring practices, the irrelevance of authority, and the practice of multisite experiences emerge. Participating in this networked life comes with costs. Life online means giving up authorial ownership, offline living, communal authority, and privacy. This is a culture that is constantly in flux, mixing and re-mixing anything and everything. A culture where the expectations are that we will be in constant contact. A culture that assumes the individual “I” takes precedence over community. A culture where what I do online is not private and might be publicized. These are all conditions of this networked world.
People are taking their theology online with them, and they are discovering other stories and other practices, argue the authors. Living out one’s theology in the network accords new relationships in community that are flattened, less hierarchical. Geographical boundaries are crossed. Our neighborhoods are no longer easily defined, as digital relationships begin to trump spatial ones. Connectedness happens on screen. Barriers to entry are lowered if not removed, but because of the equalizing effect, appeals to authority or orthodoxy are trivialized, and with freer access safety becomes a concern. Traditions are mixed. Identities are more fluid, more performative, emphasizing story and individual experience. The fluidity and fickleness of this community could easily lead to a loss of a moral compass. While Campbell and Garner believe defining “neighbor” more broadly evidences an incarnational theology that goes beyond the immediately physical (92), I wonder how a message of Jesus’ incarnation is received when embodied presence is not central to online faith practice
Once the characteristic assumptions are laid out, the authors address countermeasures that might need to be enacted. Despite the fact that the digital environment makes identifying who one’s neighbors are and where they are found difficult, the authors believe a simple heuristic will empower appropriate use of technology: love God and love neighbor. Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). These values will cause disruption to those engaged in the digital environment. As New York Times journalist David Brooks reminds us, social media encourage self-aggrandizement and the publicizing of oneself.[2] By focusing on neighbor and practicing virtues of humility, honesty, and authenticity before God, our networked theology can become a natural and necessary realm for the practice of a thoughtful Christianity, advocacy which Campbell’s earlier and more broadly religious book avoids.[3]
Campbell and Garner’s work makes a significant contribution to both media studies and theology, but their task was not easy. They encountered the challenge of attempting to extract themselves from their environment, examine it, and comment on its effects even as they are still a part of it. I see no way out of this conundrum. Academics who live in the older logic of process rationality are speaking about evaluating a digital culture that operates with a different logic. They are often constrained by the language of that older technology. They call for a “careful reading of technological trends.” They speak of “systematic analysis,” a “discernment process,” and “digital literacy” (2). Their evaluation uses language to harness a networked world and turn it into a linear, step-by-step, point-by-point analysis—taming the wildness into something those of us who grew up in the older world might dare to think we could manage. But for those who have only lived with the technology, the approach may seem quaint.
Overall, this book makes the much needed argument for Christian communities to humbly and confidently question and engage with digital culture. Campbell and Garner’s research is thorough, pulling from multiple disciplines and gathering in this one textbook earlier scholars’ investigations and insights with the topic, extending that research in valuable ways using biblical norms.
This is no narrow rant from a particular theological interpretation nor does it dismiss technology. Dutch theologian and prime minister Abraham Kuyper once wrote, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”[4] The authors take this seriously in their exploration of the intersection of digital culture and theology. They refuse to encourage churches to take either an anti-cultural stance by ignoring this technological environment, nor do they succumb to an inevitable digital environment uncritically. The church, preach Campbell and Garner, must live out its beliefs and values in every area of life. Networked theology is simply not optional.
Notes
[1] James W. Carey, Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society (Winchester, MA: Unwin Hyman, 1980); Quentin J. Schultze, Communicating for Life: Christian Stewardship in Community and Media (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2000).
[2] David Brooks, The Road to Character (New York: Random House, 2015), 250.
[3] Heidi Campbell, When Religion Meets New Media (New York: Routledge, 2010).
[4] Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader, ed. James D. Bratt (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 461.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
"Networked Theology" (Heidi Campbell and Stephen Garner)
TITLE: Networked Theology: Negotiating Faith in Digital Culture (Engaging Culture)
AUTHOR: Heidi Campbell and Stephen Garner
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2016, (192 pages).
Digital devices have become ubiquitous throughout the world. It has redefined how we communicate, how we interact, and how we live. For many people, technology has become so integral that one cannot live without it. An outage could easily shift people to panic mode. Its attractiveness can become an addiction in itself. In faith matters, digital media and technology has not only redefined how we practise our faith, it is taking us on a whole new direction. This means we need to learn how to engage this new environment wisely and appropriately. This new digital era has invaded and affected the way we learn, do outreach, teach Christian Education, do Church, and share faith concerns. This is why we need to take the technology seriously and to think of constructive ways to engage with it, about it, and through it.
Chapter 1 begins with a primer about the interactions between theology and technology. The authors cover the three key responses (optimism, pessimism, and instrumentalism) by listing both the advantages and the disadvantages before offering their prescription. While technology is largely positive, it can also concerns about how it challenges the traditional models and presuppositions in society. They acknowledge that technology has now become forever ingrained into the fabric of modern life. The next best thing we can do is to learn to live with it. This is done through chapter 2 which gives us a deeper understanding of new media and digital influences. We learn about digital coding and how the digital media are used as building blocks. They can be interactive, programmable, and continues to progress from one generation to another. Not only that, they have also transformed the way we communicate. Media content can be readily downloaded. People are always being in contact. The individual has the power to speak above the rest. Privacy has become a major concern. With technology becoming increasingly "flexible, transitional, and transnational," and if I may add, transactional, faith matters need to be looked at with greater discernment. Who then is our neighbour in the digital culture? Where is our neighbour? How should we treat our digital neighbours? This calls for a community response that media can be used not only for communicating and sharing interests, it can be a new way of living and believing. Four levels of inquiry are proposed:
How does our faith shape our identity and mission?
How does our group define itself as a community?
What is the authority structure and decision making methodology?
What is the group's relationship with text and mass media?
They also give readers some guidelines that come about when we understand the implications of how technology affects us. These guidelines are developed from passages of Scripture. We need to develop theologies that begin with the Person of God. Campbell and Garner propose a two-fold approach on developing such a public theology: 1) Be based on the revelation of God; 2) articulate this in the community we are networked in. Based on Micah 6:8, we can live neighbourly via doing justice; loving mercy; and walking humbly in the digital world.
There are many books that look at theological interaction with all things technology. The authors feel that not many have adequately dealt with "clear, systematic investigations" for faith practitioners. They intend to provide a map in which readers can theologize about digital matters. Calling it a "networked society," they borrow ideas from science fiction, nonfiction, social networks, and rhetoric surrounding its use. From science fiction, they imagine the use of cyberspace and the image of a wide open network where everyone can get into. From social networks, despite the use of digital devices in an electronic network space, people who interact are still considered a social community. From rhetoric, they show us how the network can become a metaphor for describing our social networks and well-being. Following this, they lay down the foundations of theology being in terms of making meaning from the eyes of faith in Jesus, and to communicate that understanding to others. A key note is that network can shape theology which is why the authors spend time explaining what "networked theology" is. They pay attention to the way technology has infiltrated and influenced the way we live and believe. Let me offer three thoughts about this book.
First, I appreciate how the authors take care to define the fundamentals of both technology and theology without becoming too locked into difficult terminology. This makes it palatable for the layperson to read. For those of us who are familiar with these terms, the definitions and descriptions can be a good review as well. Understanding how faith and technology interact requires us to understand what they are in the first place. Second, apart from technology, the theological perspective is sensitive to other disciplines like sociology, mission, connectivity, culture, and others, which makes this book a fascinating read. In the same manner, they urge churches to develop their own theological convictions on how to interact with the digital culture. This must be based on their theological identity and their sense of call in the neighbourhoods and networks they are in. Third, I believe this book addresses something that is still very much in its infancy. The way the Internet and social media have dominated headlines recently might only be the beginning of something more significant. What will the future networks be like? How can the Church adapt? What are the changes coming? Before churches devote too much attention to the nitty-gritty of technology and digital media, it is more important to observe how people are taking to it. The digital environment is still in flux and I believe even more changes will be coming. In the meantime, while the present digital environment must be addressed, we should be careful not to put all of our eggs into this era's concerns and forget about preparing about the next. Do what we can with regard to the concerns in this book, but remember that ten or twenty years down the road, we may need to work on the next big thing.
Heidi Campbell is associate professor of communications at Texas A&M University and has been an advocate for all things faith related to media, online matters, and religious activities in the digital world. Stephen Garner shares that theological and technological conviction. He is head of school of theology at Laidlaw College in Auckland, New Zealand.
Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.