Wikiklesia: Voices of the Virtual World

After a short hiatus--thanks to a wisdom teeth extraction and 5 days with broken A/C amidst the sweltering Texas heat--I'm back.

For those who haven't heard about it I wanted to point you to a forthcoming e-book sponsored by the Wikiklesia Project coordinated by John LaGrou and Len Hjalmarson who came up with the idea for a collaborative "ecclesial e-book - virtual, self-organizing" that seeks to facilitate a "conversation on how technology is changing the church". Book One is called "Voices of the Virtual World" and brings together an interesting cross section of bloggers, emerging church leaders and a few academic types like myself. I have written a piece called "Living as the Networked people of God" which will feature a summary of my thoughts on what online christian community has to teach offline churches about community, caring relationships and technology. Each chapter will also be downloaded as an MP3 file, read by each of the authors. All proceeds from the Wikiklesia Project will be contributed to the Not For Sale campaign. Coming soon...so check it out!

Mediating Faiths: Religion, Media and Popular Culture

Call for papers: Mediating Faiths: Religion, Media and Popular Culture

Edited by Michael Bailey (Leeds Metropolitan University), Anthony McNicholas (University of Westminster) and Guy Redden (Lincoln University).

The place of religion in contemporary society is an issue of major importance. Yet it has too frequently been considered a ‘survival’, a residue of previous socio-cultural formations, rather than a significant dimension of the present. Even in modern liberal societies, such as Britain and the United States, religion continues to play a role in shaping political ideologies, alliances, institutional practices, public policy, communities of interest, ways of life and social identities. The socio-political context of religion has become even more salient in light of the recent dynamics of religious fundamentalism and religiously-legitimated conflict, e.g. the ‘clash of civilisations’ between a Christian or secular west and Islam. Such developments raise important questions about how best to mediate between the needs and/or demands of different religions, communities and competing belief systems, some of which are secular. The question of religious representation and recognition is particularly urgent in multicultural societies where there are a diversity of faiths and beliefs, each with their own distinct cultural values and traditions.Meanwhile, it is increasingly common for expressions of religiosity to take place outside conventional sacred spaces and, in contexts of mediated popular culture, where they can become imbricated with mundane interests and concerns of everyday life.

Most religious faiths have come to recognise the role the media and popular culture can play in extending, promoting, renewing, and re-embedding religious traditions in temporal and spatial contexts, in ways that were previously unimaginable. This is particularly true of some new religious movements for which spirituality is as much about personal development, experience, and lifestyle as it is belief. On the other hand, some religious groups are reluctant to engage with secular-based media, in case this challenges the authority of religious institutions in relation to their everyday embodiment of spiritual discipline, moral authority and pastoral guidance. At the same time, the media itself may be seen in quasi-religious terms. ‘Media rituals’ are just one example of the way in which popular media and their audiences can themselves be understood as imagined holy communions, far removed from official religious practices and forms of worship.

Given the recent growth in interest in contemporary religious issues, beyond specifically theological matters, and the intersections between religion, media and culture, it is timely to bring together scholars working across a range of disciplinary fields, including anthropology, cultural studies, media and film, history, sociology, cultural theory, among others, in an effort to facilitate greater understanding of religious beliefs, identities, and the changing nature of rituals and concepts of the sacred.

Proposals are welcomed on, but not limited to, the following topics and areas:

• Representations of religion across a variety of media forms, including film, television, the newspaper press, literature, popular music and new media
• Religion, popular culture and everyday life
• Religion, diversity and intercultural relations
• Religion, politics and social movements
• Religion, censorship and media policy
• Religious media, audiences and consumption
• Religion and media rituals
• Mediations between the sacred and the secular
• Virtual and imagined sacred spaces• New spiritualities and religious movements
• Religion, media and young people
• The privatisation and commodification of religion
• Religion and media/cultural/social theory

Proposals with an international focus are particularly welcome, as are those that are concerned with historical and cross-cultural analyses of religion.

Proposals of 200-250 words, accompanied by a brief biographical note, should be sent by 31st July 2007 to all three editors: Michael Bailey (m.bailey@leedsmet.ac.uk); Anthony McNicholas, (anthony.mcnicholas@bbc.co.uk); Guy Redden (gredden@lincoln.ac.uk).

Building the Bible Online: The Brick Testament

I continue to be a amazed at the diversity and creativity of online content produced around religion. For instance the web site The Brick Testament. This an entertaining and irreverent site featuring popular stories of the Old, and New Testament as told through the use of Legos. Note the warning rating guide for particular stories highligthing nudity, violence, sexual content, etc. This is a classic example of what might have been the silent hobby of one man becoming a publicized phenomenon by using the internet as a platform digital publication...

Building the Ancient Online

I am attending a conference on teaching called Wakonse and as part of the afternoon activities went on a nature hike where we learned about tracking animals, dune ecology and Native American Spirituality. The hike culminated in a visit to a Medicine wheel built on the camp grounds where we learned how meeting places were used such as these for tribal meetings and places of prayer as pattern constructed represented multiple meanings including the moon cycles/months of the years, different seasons of life and journeys towards growth. As I was unable to take notes and remember all of what our guide had said I was interested to see what I could find out online post the walk. The answer is a lot! ...from numerous articles to online spaces where you can create a digitial interactive medicine wheel.

If you are interested in Native American and non-institutionalized spiritualized practices and discourses—from ethical consumerism to the New Age to eco-spiritual tourism-- you might want to check out the upcoming conference: Media, Spiritualities and the Public Sphere to be held June 4-8, 2008 at the University of Colorado-Boulder and sponsored by the Center for Media, Religion and Culture. For more information contact Dr. Monica Emerich, Monica.emerich@colorado.edu

Selling Church Online

I am multi-tasking during a conference I am attending on the Internet in China. Right now a Chinese scholar based in Arizona is presenting on chinese cybernationalism and activitism, and I am learning about chinese hackers, honkers and the sino-china online war of 1999-2001. While trying to find a web site the speaker was talking about I came across a web site that linked me to several interesting sites on church marketing.

You can experience technological conversion online at Fellowship one, a web site that offers church managment software to help you retain and cultivate contact with casual church visitors.

Other interesting Church marketing tools include: Parishsoft, church software and Church Community Software.

For those who feel that most Church Marketing Sucks, we have a blog for you. It offers insights in how to communicate the christian faith cleverly and with clarity, with the aim to frustrate, educate, and motivate those that need it. The blog is linked to the Center for Church Marketing.

There is also Eministry notes which includes as series of posts that feature tools and concepts for churches seeking to raise their profile and minstry online.

It seems "selling faith" is becoming even more of an industry, faciliated through the proliferation of online resources. Business models motivating and driving religious organizations have become increasingly accepted. since the launch of the Willow Creek phenomeon--a church started by Bill Hybles based on a marketing survey. Yet I wonder how the medium and these strategies might reshape the perception and reception of spiritual content.

Cell Phones and Religion

Since I got my first cell phone in 2000 I have been interested in how religion may or may not shape mobile/cell phone use. I have written on text messaging, trends in religious uses of cell phones, and the rise of the "kosher" cell phone in Israel. The later is a unique example of the UltraOrthodox Jewish community culturing and innovating a technology so that its use is more in line with their moral codes and way of life. It is a case study in my current book project, and it has also just come out as a journal article.

‘What Hath God Wrought?’ Considering How Religious Communities Culture ( or Kosher ) the Cell Phone is appearing Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Volume 21 Issue 2, 191

My thoughts and research reflections are also featured today in an article in the Houston Chronicle entitled CUTTING THE CORD: The great disconnect. The article explores "The increasing use of cell phones has prompted a communication revolution that may eventually make land lines a thing of the past."

Doing Church online

Over the past 5 years I have been watching some of the creative thinking and examples coming out of the UK related to the possibility of doing church online.

There is I-Church started by the Oxford diocese of the Church of England back in 2003 that aimed to be the CoE's first cyberparish. I actually attended the dedication of the I-Church in Oxford back in summer of 2004. There of course was also the Church of Fools experiment, 3-D virtual church environment that got lots of international attention during its 3 month launch in 2004. I also had the opportunity to attend 2 services at that time. I mentioned in a previous post that a PhD in Durham is currently doing some interesting work on these 2 groups, and this week I reviewed an article on these two groups soon to come out in the journal Online. I also learned that another cyberchurch I came across recently St Pixels is a reincarnation of individuals previously active in and connected to the Church of Fools.

Today I learned of another manifestation of cyberchurch coming soon to a virtual space near you from a Cynthia Ware a new friend and connection who is also exploring how new media and Christianity may interconnect. She suggested I check out Church on the net which is an evangelistic project about to be launched and according to the project leader, Nicola David
"is designed to help bring the concepts of God and church into the comfort zones of people who are in no way currently engaged with either."

Church of the Net is connected to the UK 'fresh expression' of church" initiative which is a partnership of the CofE and Methodist Church which began in 2004 with the aim to resource mission through encouraging new and different expressions of church life. It is fascinating to see how these many different forms of e-church have been emerging on the other side of the pond.

Finding your religion online...via Belief-o-matic

The internet can not only help you in your spiritual journey it can also help you define the path you are already on. Check out the handy "Belief-o-matic" quiz at Beliefnet.com. It takes you through a series of questions and in the end gives you a break down with what religious groups or traditions some of your core beliefs align you with. I was surprised to learn that based on my results I am 100% Orthodox Quaker (and 52% Orthodox Jew).

Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Religion and Computer-Mediated Communication

The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication has just launched a special issue on "Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Religion and Computer-Mediated Communication". The issue provides an interesting collection of articles dealing with many cutting edge topics and features work on several under-represented religions in studies of religion online including Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. As the editors Ess, Kawabata & Kurosaki surmise in their introduction:

"Indeed, as religion continues to foster and expand its role in the lives of the vast majority of the world's population, as that population increasingly accesses and makes use of CMC technologies....and as the majority of the world's religious traditions continue their migration online, religion on the Internet should become an increasingly important dimension of CMC research. We hope that this special issue will generate insights, foundations and, most of all, enthusiasm for a research field that is crucial, growing, and very much in its beginning stages."

I would especially recommend the pieces by Helland, Cheong & Kluver... and my own article "Who's Got the Power? Religious Authority and the Internet" which deals with my current work on authority and the internet. As a teaser see the abstract below...

While many themes have been explored in relation to religion online—ritual, identity construction, community—what happens to religious authority and power relationships within online environments is an area in need of more detailed investigation. In order to move discussions of authority from the broad or vague to the specific, this article argues for a more refined identification of the attributes of authority at play in the online context. This involves distinguishing between different layers of authority in terms of hierarchy, structure, ideology, and text. The article also explores how different religious traditions approach questions of authority in relation to the Internet. Through a qualitative analysis of three sets of interviews with Christians, Jews, and Muslims about the Internet, we see how authority is discussed and contextualized differently in each religious tradition in terms of these four layers of authority.

Hail Mary...full of digital grace.

During a recent lenten retreat I learned how to make a set of prayer beads. As I was admiring my creation tonight I wondered whether or not the rosary had yet gone digital. Thanks to google I learned that my suspicions were indeed correct and several versions of the rosary can be found online.

For instance at the Philip Neri Newman Center web with the click of the mouse you are able move your way around the visual image of the rosary and corresponding prayers. If you want a flash version complete with Monks singing in Latin try the online rosary at The Fatima Network online.

For the spirtually mobile you might want to consider spending $29.95 to on the vista rosary, a hand held electronic hand held device that allows you to say the rosary without the hassle of carrying around a string of beads. Or check out this digital rosary liscenced by WIPO. And there are even tongue-n-cheek versions, like the one found at Instant Absolution online.

It seems these days almost every traditional religious artifact can be found re-imagined online in some form or fashion...

That's Marshal...Marshall McLuhan

A colleague sent me this link this morning. So for those Marshall McLuhan fans out there, check out this ballad!

Coming soon...Internet Evangelism Day!

Q: Do you know what April 29th is?
A: It's Internet Evangelism Day!

"E-vangelism" has been a growing trend in religious online culture sine the late 199os. Generally speaking, the aim of "e-vangelism" is the presentation of a purposeful religious presence online, whether it be organizations creating web sites to inform people about their faith and religious community, or individuals visiting chat rooms or joining an e-mail list with intention of trying to make converts.

In my current research in this are I came across the Internet Evangelism Coalition (ICE) and one of their projects is to sponsor “Internet Evangelism Day” to “communicate the outreach potential of the Web to the worldwide church". Each year they encouraging bible schools, churches and Christian organization to take time to focus on trainings about the nature and potential of the Web or discussions about web evangelism. I find this a fascinating example of para-church collaboration for the purpose of embracing technology for religious witness!

Down with the JC...at God Tube

First there was God Casting and now there is God Tube! From Sermons, to clips from Christian videos to even Christian ads. I even found a few ads that combine tongue-in-check commedy with the intersection religion and new technology. Click on the picture above to see one of my favourites, a paradoy of the Mac vs. PC ads and an interesting message about Christian Music. If you liked this one, check out the one below as well, featuring the HSHD (Holy Spirit Hard Drive). [And thanks to my friend Matt, postmodern pilgrim in Oxford, whose blog initally pointed me to this site.]

CFP: Media, Religion, and Politics in the Age of Globalization

This call for papers might be of interest to researchers of religion and new media...

The American Edition of Global Media Journal invites the submission of essays and research reports that focus on the intersections across media, religion, and politics in the context of globalization for the fall 2007 issue. The guest editors, Debra Merskin and Karin Gwinn Wilkins, are particularly interested in critical work that considers the way religious and political groups engage global media systems in order to advocate particular perspectives. Global media refer to transnational, regional, and global media systems. Articles might address, but not be limited to, such topics as:

- the participation of religious and/or political leaders in the production of global media
- advocacy efforts of religious and/or political leaders and agencies to influence the content of global media
- ideological positions relating to religious and political perspectives evidenced in global media
- how religious and/or political groups interpret and engage global media
- intersections across religious and political groups in reference to media production and distribution

This special issue will include a Graduate Research Section. Authors should be sure to indicate current student status if to be considered in this section.

All papers must be submitted as Microsoft Word attachments no later than July 15, 2007. For submission guidelines, please go to: http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/gmj/gmj_submission_guidelines.htm. All papers MUST follow the APA style manual and must include: (a) Author's address and contact information, (b) a brief abstract--less than 200 words, (c) five to ten keywords which reflect the contents for the paper, and (d) a brief biography of the author--less than 50 words. Articles that do not follow appropriate submission guidelines will not be considered.

Please direct inquiries regarding this special issue to Karin Gwinn Wilkins, University of Texas at Austin, kwilkins@mail.utexas.edu. Inquiries pertaining to the graduate research section should be directed to Debra Merskin, University of Oregon, dmerskin@uoregon.edu.

Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age

I am sitting in St Catherine's College in Oxford at the end of a 3 wonderful day conference called Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age which brought together sociologist, theologians and media scholars from the UK, Europe and the USA to discuss a variety of topics on the intersection of religion, media and culture. The papers ranged from religion in club culture and the spirituality of Harry Potter to studies of Muslim Identities in Europe and Religious Media in Turkey.

There were several conference highlights for me. Lynn Schofield Clark, author of From Angles to Aliens, gave a great keynote address on Religious Branding, highlighting the rise of Fashion Bibles like Revolve and Muslim Hip Hop artists such as Native Deen as examples of the growing trend towards religious lifestyle branding making faith both more accessible and marketable to wider audiences. Tom Beaudoin, author of Virtual Faith, made an through provoking plea to use fandom studies as a basis for academics to become more self-reflexive in their study of popular culture and made interesting observations of how the act of spiritual direction provides a model for critical guided reflection on religion and media.

My favourite paper session--besides my own of course, where I think Pete Ward and I did a fine job of talking about spirituality and youth and specifically what youth led prayer meetings have to teach us about Evangelical Identity construction--was today's session on religion and the internet (no surprise there, eh!) PhD student Tim Hutchins from Durham University did a great job providing insights into institutional born cyberchurces such as i-Church and the Church of Fools, as did Katharine Moody from Lancaster University introducing her research on theo(b)logy and the Emerging Church (and citing my now good friend Mr. tallskinnykiwi) . Both demonstrated in how the field of religion and internet studies is maturing through exhibiting a developed knowledge of the field and well thought out methodologies. I think these will be 2 young scholars worth watching as their research projects mature.

Emerging Church in Orkney

I just returned from the Orkney Islands and 3 wonderful days learning about all things emerging, emergent and organic church related by picking the brain of postmodern pilgrim Andrew Jones. Andrew is a dynamic walking encyclopedia of the history of the emerging church movement, and I learned much by peppering him with questions while following him about his routine...including how to build a chicken coop and how to brew beer from ancient Orcadian Barley. He also pointed me to some interesting web sites related to the emerging church including emergent village and next-wave.org. More information on emerging church to follow...

UK Here I come...

Heidi has left the building...or the country as it were. I am off to the UK for a couple of weeks so will likely not be posting for a while due to sporadic email access while I am traveling. There are 2 aspects of my trip that directly relate to this blog.

First, I will venturing to the very north of the British Isles to the wind swept Orkney Islands to spend time with Andrew Jones, an avid blogger and expert on the emerging Church movement.

Second, I will be attending a conference in Oxford entitled Religion, Media and Culture: Exploring Religion and the Sacred in a Media Age which is co-sponsored by the the British Sociological Association Sociology of Religion study group and the UK Research Network for Theology, Religion and Popular Culture. I will be co-presenting a paper with my friend and colleague Pete Ward from King's College-London on an ethnographic research project looking at the role music plays in Evangelical worship/prayer meetings. This paper is part of a larger project which Gordon Lynch is also a part of, studying the construction of Evangelical identity and discourse by Scottish youth within public prayer meetings.

Will let you know how things went when I return...

Hey, there's religion in my music?!

I'm continuing to search out new forms of religious expression popping up in popular culture. The last few weeks I have I spent a bit of time exploring emerging genres of religious music, especially related to Islam and Judaism. Contemporary Religious Music has facinated me since my stint as DJ at a Christian Radio station back in the early 1990s. Now I have discovered the wonders Muslim Hip Hop and Jewish Rock.

A great web site for a quick introduction to Muslim, Hip Hop and contemporary Nasheed is MuslimHipHop.com; I recommend checking out the music of Danish group Outlandish or New York native Miss Undastood. I am also anxiously awaiting the arrival of a recent CD purchase The So Called Seder: A Hip Hop Haggadah to add to my growing collection of Jewish pop music. For an introduction into Jewish Rockers, religious and not so religious, check out Jewsrock.org and for fun test your knowledge of with the "Jew or Not?".

Christian Bloggers Survey

An interesting survey on Christian Bloggers has just released its results. The 2007 Christian Bloggers Survey was conducted by Cory Miller of ChurchCommunicationsPro
in partnership with Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox recieved much hype on a variety of Christian blog sites while the study was being conducted during January 2007. In some econversations with Miller he described the survey as an attempt to "at a rough estimate at the "Christian" blogosphere...and give some general observations " (personal communication, 1 March 2007).

The snowball sampling method counducted "word of mouth" via Miller's site and Rick Warren's pastors.com meant the population surveyed was somewhat self-selecting, which might account for the high percentage of Pastor and male respondents. Still it managed to offer important insights into the some dominant characteristics Christian blogging including the most popular platforms (Blogger & WordPress), primary age range (Gen Xers, 31-40) and lenght of blogging (most under 2 years, highlighting it as a recent trend). This exploratory study has helped me frame my own current project on how religious identity and authority is framed in religious blogs, a content analysis study I am currently overseeing here at TAMU.

What do religious organizations have to say about the internet?

One of my project this week is trying to track down official statements or documents issued by Christian Denominations or Church organizations on internet use and/or ethics.

After much googling and searching the bibliographies of my research library, I still have only been able to track down three: the PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR SOCIAL COMMUNICATIONS documents"Church and the Internet" and "Ethics in Internet" and the Church of England’s "Cybernauts Awake" report.

So the question is, are there any other such documents or statements like these floating around out there? If you have a recommendation, please let me know!