Monday, September 15, 2008

Exploring Religious Community Online


For this week's case study we will be discussing some of on my own work on religion and the internet. The reading " Approaches to Religious Research in CMC" from Mediating Religion offers a preliminary report of my PhD research which culminated in a book called "Exploring Religious Community Online: We are one in the network". This provides insight into a 4 years study on how people use the internet to build Christian community online and the effect this participation has in the offline church involvement. For more info on the book check out this review.

Case Study Reflection Questions:

- Compare and contrast online and offline religious community. Can online religious community relations be authentic?
- Do you think the internet and religion online are transforming traditional ideas of religion? Do you think they are influencing traditional religious structures?
- Of the typologies discussed in “spiritualizing the Internet” which forms of religious use of the internet seem most potentially problematic?

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