Technologies of Religion: Spheres of the Sacred in a Post-secular Modernity (Routledge Research in Information Technology and Society)

Bringing together empirical cultural and media studies of religion and critical social theory, __Technologies of Religion: Spheres of the sacred in a post-secular modernity__ investigates powerful entanglement of religion and new media technologies taking place today, taking stock of the repercussions of digital technology and culture on various aspects of religious life and contemporary culture more broadly. Making the argument that religion and new media technologies come together to create "spheres"—environments produced by an architecture of digital technologies of all sorts, from projection screens to social networking sites, the book suggests that prior social scientific conceptions of religious worship, participation, community and membership are being recast. Using the case of the strain of American Christianity called "multi-site," an emergent and growing church-model that has begun to win favor largely among Protestants in the last decade, the book details and examines the way in which this new mode of religiosity bridges the realms of the technological and the physical. Lastly, the book situates and contextualizes these developments within the larger theoretical concerns regarding the place of religion in contemporary capitalism. __Technologies of Religion: Spheres of the sacred in a post-secular modernity__ offers an important contribution to the study of religion, media, technology and culture in a post-secular world. Breaking new ground by bringing together empirical work done in the vein of the emergent field of "digital religion" and larger social-theoretical discussions on secularism and modernity, this book investigates the powerful entanglement of religion and new media technologies. It takes stock of the repercussions of both digital culture and technology on various aspects of religious life, specifically worship and community, as they have been recast to emphasize themes of embodiment, affectivity and sociality. Drawing from the cultural and media theorist Peter Sloterdijk, it specifically makes the argument that religion and new media technologies come together to create "spheres," digital environments that recast prior theological definitions of religious participation and community through shifting what it means to be a worshiper and also what it means to worship. Using the case of the strain of American Christianity called "multi-site," an emergent and growing church-model that has begun to win favor largely among Protestants in the last decade, the book details and examines the way in which this new mode of religiosity bridges the realms of the technological and the physical.0The book connects this empirical instance of contemporary digital-religious culture and practice with the larger theoretical concerns regarding the place of religion in today's post-secular, post-modernity. -- Provided by publisher. 1. Disenchantment revisited: formations of the "secular" and "religious" in the technological discourse of modernity -- 2. From cosmos to sphere : "worlds" across religion and technology -- 3. (Atmo)sphere : the liturgical aesthetics of deterritorialized worship spaces -- 4. The digital milieu : the socialization of religious experience in church online -- 5. Is the return of religion the return of metaphysics? Or, the renewed spirit of capitalism