Lent Online

Today is Ash Wednesday so one of my commitments during this lenten season is to see what online resources are available online and highlight some of the most interesting ones. I just got done listening to an online teaching on the purpose of lent found at Praying Lent, run by Creighton University. The site offers weekly audio teachings weekly, as well as a Full Audio Lenten Retreat. Or for those who are busy they offer the text of a short prayer for those on a tight schedule. This is just one of a number of sites I have come across in a search this morning and I am looking forward to exploring other options offered online during the next 40 days.

CFP: Religion and Spirituality in Cyberspace

I wanted to give people a heads up on CFP. The Australian Religion Studies Review has sent out a call for papers for a special issue on Religion and Spirituality in Cyberspace. The context for this issues is the belief that "religion online and online religion are now an integral part of Cyberspace. The intersection of religion and spirituality and the Internet is a new area of study (1990s onward) and will certainly become even more important in the future. The Internet will undoubtedly promote the emergence of new forms of spiritualities, religious expressions, experiences, identities, communities, and authorities. This thematic issue will explore some of the methodological and theoretical issues raised with the coming together of Internet with religion and spirituality and, hopefully, provide interesting case studies".

Guest Editor Roxanne Marcotte is looking for submission on topics such as cyber-theology, cyber-rituals, online religions, cyber-proselytization and cyber-polemics, cyber-pilgrimages, cyber-covens and sanghas, religious blogs, etc. Submission deadline is February 2010. For more information check out CFP or contact the editor directly.

Religion in Virtual Worlds

I am getting ready to head to Las Vegas this weekend for the Virtual Worlds and Interpretive Communities: Opportunities for Global Dialogue, host next week at UNLV. I am excited and honored to be the opening keynote at what looks to be a very interesting conference. My talk is titled"Offline Implications of Online Religious Community" and will look at the issues raised by performing Religion through Online communties in Virtual Worlds. The full skinny on my talk is that I hope to highlight the conditions within our information society that have given rises to the growth of online religious communities and the challenges this poses to offline religious groups and institutions. I will also address how the experience of community online may alter individual’s expectations of community and how authority structures are negotiated will be addressed through several case studies of different online religious communiteis including the Anglican Cathedral in Second Life, Tangle and Kipa. Basically it is a synthesis of my first book Exploring Religious Community Online and a smattering of insights learned in my current book project When Religion Meets New Media.


As a warm-up for the conference I was interviewed on KNPR's State of Nevada radio program for a story on New Media and Religion. Much of the content focused on a conversation on several of my last few blog posts on Tangle/God Tube and my reaction to Bishop Katherine Jefferys Schori statements about disembodied religion via the internet. To hear my opinions check out the forthcoming audio files.

GodTube gets Tangle-d

GodTube has officially relaunched itself as Tangle, with a new vision and services. This new incarnation is kind of a Christian You Tube meets Facebook meets p2p/sns community. It promises to allow Christian to take their faith out of the Church and embed it more fully in their online activities, or have them get Tangled in their faith 24/4. Check out their promo:

The Vatican launches YouTube Chanel

In an attempt to stay attune with today's information culture and also attempt to control its image online the Vatican has launched a special YouTube channel. The Vatican channel is updated daily and offers news coverage of the main activities of the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI and of relevant Vatican events. The Catholic church have long been innovators in embracing new forms of media for religious purpose, though not without concern and thoughtful reflection about its potential impact on society (something I will explore in my forthcoming book. For more details on the site and Catholic perceptions of the internet check out at AP story about its launch.

Can online communty be incarnational?

Today a friend sent me a link to a recent radio interview [News 88.9 KNPR-Nevada on 24 Dec 2008] with Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, leader of the Episcopal Church in the US. The focus of the interview was on the state of the Episcopal church due to the on-going tensions in the church over the election of an openly gay bishop. However in the middle of the interview she made some interesting comments on the her view's about online religious community.

BISHOP: The reality is Christian communities; faith communities of all sorts need physical proximity of humane being in order to discover each other, in order to grow individually and as a community. We do not do that as well with people who are not in our presence. It is hard to build a faith community in a deep sense on the internet. We deal with caricatures; we deal with perceptions and positions rather than full human beings sitting in our presence.

INTERVIEWER: Although many people point to the Obama campaign and the social networking and the impact it made, in drawing together millions of people in this country, mobilizing them, getting them to vote getting them to knock on doors throughout the country and that would be community engagement that is philosophical engagement.

BISHOP:It is. I think it is at a different level that what is normally though of as a faith community.

INTERVIEWER: How so?

BISHOP: Because it doesn’t involve face-to-face encounter with a human being, individual whom you come to know over months and years with all that person’s gifts and warts. And learning to challenge one another in a faithful sense to grow up into all they can be.

...and later she went one to say...

"it is a hunger for intimate community of the kind that we were talking about the minute ago that is only possible in the physical proximity of other human beings. Some of it can be served on the internet but the incarnate piece is missing."

Upon reflection I both agree and disagree with the Bishop. I agree the in most case physical proximity is the ideal and may more easily facilitate the possibility for intimate community, however in my experience and research physical presence does not necessarily mean that intimacy and care will be achieved in community. I think the incarnational nature is also about what people bring to the table to create the environment and that this can be intentionally built and maintained in a "disembodied" context. I have both studied and experience this online my past 13 years of research.

But what do you think?

Research Wiki on the Move

I wanted to give you an update on the Studying Religion and New Media Wiki, designed for researcher looking to network on research questions or relevant resources about the study on religion and the internet. Currently there are over 45 members, representing scholars from all over the world looking at different aspects of religion online.

Due to different circumstance the wiki has been move do a new platform. This is a temporary move and I will be looking for another more permanent home for the wiki over this next semester. Just wanted to give you a heads up, hope you find the resources useful!

What would Jesus blog?

According to Jeff Brumley of the Florida Times-Union Jesus might question some of the content and critique generated by religious bloggers... Check out his article on the dilema of how the the Internet may be seen to transform individual spirituality, congregations and, in some cases, the future of entire denominations - for good and bad. You might find a quote or two from yours truly... :-)

Online Religion on PBS

PBS's Religion & Ethics Newsweekly launched a cover story, episode 1212 today on Online Religion that features your truly. The story explores the impact and implication of doing religion online as it where. Here is and excert of what I had to say:

SEVERSON: Heidi Campbell is a professor at Texas A&M University and author of the book “Exploring Religious Community Online.” She says there are very tangible reasons why the religious experience through chat rooms and social networking sites has increased in popularity — online prayers, for example.

Dr. HEIDI CAMPBELL (Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Texas A&M University and Author, “Exploring Religious Community Online”): In fact, some of the people in my early research said that they felt more cared for and that people, when they said they were praying for them online, that they really meant it because there was some tangible artifact that they could see to really show that they were praying for them.

SEVERSON: She says the Internet extends the “global body of Christ” because someone or some prayer is always there, and she says for those too shy or introverted to speak up in church, the Internet offers anonymity.

Dr. CAMPBELL: That anonymous nature allows them to ask the questions, to get the feedback, to say things that they would never be able to say in a face-to-face environment.

For the full story check it out here.

Blogging from GCIA

I am sitting in a room full of Christian internet innovators in the beautiful Texas hill country at the GCIA conference at Laity Lodge. It is beautiful remote location on the Frio River where there is not cell phone coverage, but they got wifi installed in the conference hall especially for this conference. I am learning lots about the creativity and diverse strategies and uses of the internet by different Christian groups around the world. Some of my favorite sites that I have seen so far include http://www.biblegamezone.com/, created by Norwegians in an effort to offer a complete children’s Bible via computer games; http://www.topchretien.com/ based in France who are applying some interesting e-vangelism strategies via a number of sites and partnerships including www.GodRev.com; also http://www.erf.de/ a German web site that has launched "the Jesus experiment" as a sort of online alpha course to facilitate discovery about Christianity and many others. I have also had fascinating conversations with people from Brazil, Russia and Canada on their visions and work online.

Yesterday was a full day. We heard from the new CEO of GodTube yesterday which has grown in leaps and bounds in the last 14 months since it went public. News flash, GodTube is going through major re-branding and structuring and will be re-launching itself in January 2009 as "Tangle" as a global Christian SMS site. It will be a MySpace/Facebook hybrid that will provide options for individuals, ministries, churches groups, bands and artists and expand to include discussion forums, podcasting as well as host the prayer wall and a new feature an interactive "virtual bible' that will allow for tagging and commenting on individual verses. GodTube will still exist as the video sharing section of the site, so it sounds like interesting times are ahead for that group.

I gave a talk on my research on the rise of Christian community online and its implications for the Church and Christian ministries. I was also interviewed by the editor in chief of Alliance Presse from Switzerland for an article on how the internet is and will impact Evangelical Christianity in Europe. More ministry case studies and presentations today...It was a five hour drive from TAMU to here, but it has definitely been worth the trip.

Relfecting on Christianity online at the Global Christian Internet Alliance

On Monday I will be giving a presentation at the annual meeting of the Global Christian Internet Alliance in the Texas hill country. GCIA describes itself as "an international network of Christian ministries using the Internet to help fulfill the Great Commission". I am looking forward to hearing about Christian online innovation from around the world and especially learn about the latest happenings at GodTube. As part of my presentation--"When Religion Meets New Media"-- I am posting links to some of the most interesting studies I have come across on Christian use of the Internet here in the past 2 years as resources for the conference participants [and anyone else in the blogosphere that might be interested]. I will be highlighting some of these in my presentation summary on "where do we go from here..." on the next wave of religion and internet research.

Heidi Campbell, (2007). Who's got the power? Religious authority and the Internet. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(3), article 14.
This article explores how the internet both powers and challenge online religious authority within Christian (as well as Jewish & Muslim) communities.

Pauline H Cheong, Alexander Halavais, Kyounghee Kwon, (2008). The Chronicles of Me: Understanding Blogging as a Religious Practice. Journal of Media and Religion, Vol. 7, No. 3. (2008), pp. 107-131.
Their content analysis study of 200 blogs with mentions of topics related to Christianity, suggests that blogs provide an integrative experience for the faithful, not a “third place,” but a melding of the personal and the communal, the sacred and the profane.

Nadja Miczek, (2008) Online Rituals in Virtual Worlds. Christian Online Service between Dynamics and Stability. Online – Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet: Vol. 03.1
This article investigates online worship services and interpret them through a framework of ritual theory, to look at issues of religious invention, transformation and exclusion at different stages of ritual action. This is found in a special issue of Online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet, entitled Being Virtually Real? Virtual Worlds from a Cultural Studies’ Perspective. Be sure to check out the other interesting articles on Christianity in virtual worlds, namely learn about St Pixels by Jenkins and Church of Fools by Kluver & Chen.

Paul Teusner. (2007). Christianity 2.0 - a new religion for a new web. Paper Presented at Association of Internet Researchers Conference, Vancouver, BC, Oct 2007.
Interesting reflection on interview research with emerging church bloggers, attempting to understand the Christian life via their use of media.

Studies in World Christianity, December 2007, Special Issue: In Search of Online Religion
This entire issues is a diverse and rich collection of a variety of Christian uses of the internet combined with theological reflection on religious innovation online.

How Internet Innovations Are Changing the Way We Do Church

If you are interested in learning more about the conversation that happened at the Alban Institute one days conference I was part of last April on the impact of the internet on Christian Churches and institutions, check out the following brief report How Internet Innovations Are Changing the Way We Do Church.

Still in Denmark: Learning about Mediatization in terms of Media, Religion & Culture

Hi, still from Copehnagen! After a day break after AoIR I am now involved in a facinating short conference sponsored by the Nordic Research Network on the Mediatization of Religion and Culture which is a facinating group of scholars who meet as part of a research grant to explore the interconnectedness between media, religious activities and beliefs, and broader cultural dynamics. This is the last of a series of event which is looking at Researching Media and Religion: Future Directions of Mediatization Theory and Analyses.

Today I have been learning a lot about the idea of mediatization, which is a contested term but generally describes the process which begins with a change in communication media and proceeds to subordination of the power of prevailing influential institutions .

Stig Hjarvard & Knut Lunby took different theoretical approaches to look at issues of how media transforms social networks of relations and the contrast between new and old media and how they may influence such discussions. I gave a talk on the how the iPhone has been framed as the Jesus phone as an example of the complexities of the circulations of meaning in mediatization.. My colleague Eric Rothenbuhler asserted that ifmediatization is a industrialized, technologization of the basic idea of human communication, designed for different purposes, outcomes and expectations-- then we maybe should expect media to be a generator of communicative forms
And Lynn Clark spoke about the need to consider how media contribute to an ongoing tranformaion of societal institions by thinking about how issues such as our understanding of time, space anf family may shape these. more facinating discussion to follow...

AoIR Bof & the New Media & Religion Wiki

Today we are having the second annual meeting of AoIR research of religion and new media (Religion, Ritual & Internet culture). Birds of a Feather (Bof) is a chance for networking and last year was the first time we had a significant enough cohort to justify such a meeting. My first 2 AoIR conference I was often the only one or one of 2 presenters of religion online so this is definitely exciting for me.

I wanted to use the occasion to announce a results of our last years meeting, the Studying Religion and New Media Wiki. There was a recognition of a need for a networking space to share resources and connect with one another. After debating whether a blog or web site might be a possible forum I decided to jump start things with a more collaborative forum. It is space that lists who's who in the area of research, create a shared bibliography on different topic, gather online resource and announce conferences & grants & what not... If you are reading this, and are are a researcher in this area and want to be part of this wiki conversation just send an email to me at heidic@tamu.edu and I will help you get started.

Religion Online-part 2 at AoIR

I am sitting in on the second Religion Online panel at AoIR. We have three presenters.
Maria Beatrice Bittarello is speaking on Sacred Space vs. Sacred Place. She is basically is making the argument for differnetiating that Sacred Space denotes a sense of global, generic transcent space or a an arena in which one loose the sense of self--where as sacred place she says is defined as limited localised locations which are small and communal. These distinctions may become important when seeking to categorize different virtual space and how they are formed and one interacts with them.

Tim Hutchins is presenting (or presented as due to battery issue I am finishing this post 24 hrs later) on models of Church online. He draws on the work of .... (1999) who studies relations and conflict within offline congregations and developed 4 models to look at the relatiosnhips formed online in these church groups such as i-church & st pixels that be describes as: the family, the leader, the community or the worship center/space. Facinating study.

Nadja Miscjek from University of Heidlberg is doing work in the western esoteric tradition (i.e. new age religions) and how those who connect themselves to this tradition use the internet to present a distinctive religious identity. She spoke specifically about new ager practioners web page profile as a space to present their spiritual journeys.

So a lot of diversity of topics being covered at Aoir and I am glad I am no longer the lone voice of calling for attention to be paid to the online practice of religion and its potential offline implications.

Greetings from AoIRing in Copenhagen (and a long hiatus)

After a long hiatus I am back in the blogosphere. I never really left but was spending most of my time researching blogs rather than on writing them the past 6 month. Also am plowing my way through finishing the book after which this blogs has been titled, and after many days of 8+ hours of writing the last things I wanted to do was to blog. But I am now at Copenhagen at the 9th Annual Association of Internet Researchers Conference which seems like the perfect time return to the blogosphere.

Today I was on a very interesting panel entitled Rethinking Religion Online. It is one of 2 panels on religion at the conference and it is great to see the growing contingent of scholars working in this area. The panel consisted of Mark Johns from Iowa who reported on a study of religious groups operating on Facebook. Paul Teusner from RMIT-Australia presented work on religious podcasting in the emerging genres and motivations found. I presented a preliminary report on a comparative study of relgious identitiy presentation and construction by Jewish, Muslim & Christian bloggers. Mia Lovheim from Sweden/Norway shared a facinating study on religious web usage in Sweden and the challenges this poses to some of the previous assumptions about religious internet use. This was followed up by Knut Lunby who did a supurb job of summing up the presentation. Will try and add more detail here post-jetlag and a good night sleep. More to come...

Consultation on Technology and Spiritual Community

Greetings from WDC (Herndon, VA actually). I am getting ready for a day consultation of faith and technology sponsored by the Congregational Resource Guide--Alban Institute. I am going to be presenting on my research on religion and the internet and along with Brian Brunius going to be part of an interesting conversation on congregational use of new media. They have assembled an interesting group of participants from members of the clergy, media professionals, bloggers and members of a variety of Congregational group. I'll give an update tomorrow on the details of the days activities.

Is SNS being used for discipleship and intentional church planting online?

I had a request for information from Lee Behar of The Maclellan Foundation. He is looking for examples of people who use SNS or web tech to do online evangelism in non-religious spaces on the internet with the intent of making converts and then building intentional churches online out of those relationships. In Lee's words: "I’m not looking for social networks that are meant to connect people to conventional churches, but rather those that may be doing church (especially the outreach part) through social networks."

I know of people doing e-vangelism in non-religious space online but not of any who did it with the direct intent of building an online church. Most of what I have seen in building online community has been more organic or when it has been intentional it has not been motivated by an initial e-vangelism focus.

I am wondering if anyone out there knows of any examples of Christian evangelism/discipleship, even church planting effort, that is using a social networking platform as its primary path for ministry? If you do both Lee and I would be grateful to hear more about these efforts!

Social Capital, Religion and the Internet

I want to recommend a recent article appearing in the journal Information, Communication and Society, check out: WWW.FAITH.ORG (Re)structuring communication and the social capital of religious organizations . In it Cheong & Poon examine the relationships between Internet and social capital building within religious organizations by looking at how Christian and Buddhist religious leaders in Toronto respond to Christian and Buddhist religious leaders in Toronto have found that their communicative norms, values, and practices are changing due to communal use of the internet and presentations of faith online.

Holy Week Online

In honor of Holy week I have gathered together some of the interesting online resource available that can help you celebrate this season of remembrance. There are numerous of version of stations of the cross: way of the cross with pictures of Jerusalem, via cruix, stations of the cross in flash and virtual pilgrimage to Rome for stations of the cross.You can find music of the Passion and the gallery of the passion for meditative images and music. To participate in a virtual Good Friday or Easter service check out the service options at the Anglican Cathedral in Second Life. (Their Palm Sunday service provided attendees with virtual Palm frond and the ambiance of donkeys hee-haw-ing). And finally for other resources you might desire related to Easter check out Easter in cyberspace.