As the availability and use of media platforms continue to expand, the cultural visibility of religion is on the rise, leading to questions about religious authority: Where does it come from? How is it established? What might be changing it? The contributors to The Media and Religious Authority examine the ways in which new centers of power and influence are emerging as religions seek to brand themselves in the media age. Putting their in-depth, incisive studies of particular instances of media production and reception in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America into conversation with one another, the volume explores how evolving mediations of religion in various places affect the prospects, aspirations, and durability of religious authority across the globe.
An insightful combination of theoretical groundwork and individual case studies, The Media and Religious Authority invites us to rethink the relationships among the media, religion, and culture.
The contributors are Karina Kosicki Bellotti, Alexandra Boutros, Pauline Hope Cheong, Peter Horsfield, Christine Hoff Kraemer, Joonseong Lee, Alf Linderman, Bahíyyah Maroon, Montré Aza Missouri, and Emily Zeamer, with an afterword by Lynn Schofield Clark.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Media and Religious Authority Stewart M. Hoover
Section One: Re-thinking authority in an era of media and religious change
Religious Authority in the Media Age Stewart M. Hoover
The Media and Religious Authority from Ancient to Modern Peter Horsfield
Media and (vicarious) religion – two levels of religious authority Alf Linderman
Religious Authority & Social Media Branding in a Culture of Religious Celebrification Pauline Hope Cheong
Section Two: Case Studies
Satellite Publics: Moral Identity and New Media in Moroccan Islam Bahíyyih Maroon
Examining all the Realms of Nature: Evidence, insight, and the quest for knowledge in modern Thailand Emily Zeamer
Cyber Memorial Zones and Shamanic Inheritance in Korea Joonseong Lee
Baadaass Mamas: Race, Sex and Afro-Religiosity in SankofaMontré Missouri
Techno-Vodou: Transnational Flows in the Spiritual Marketplace Alexandra Boutros
Evangelical Media for Youth and Religious Authority in Brazil Karina Kosicki Belotti
The Authority of the Image: Sex, Religion, and the Text/Image Conflict in Craig Thompson’s BlanketsChristine Hoff Kraemer
Afterword Lynn Schofield Clark
Notes
Bibliography
Index
“This brilliant book shows a master editor at work. It identifies and gives substance to the critical issue of religious authority in the global media age in terms of its constitution. The book knows intellectual history; it understands the classics and their relevance today as it opens pathways to the future. Rarely is one book erudite in theory and also sophisticated in research methodology, but The Media and Religious Authority is a model of both. This is scholarship of the world mind; the case studies span the continents, and the theorizing represents the big picture.”
