This lively book focuses on how different Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities engage with new media. Rather than simply reject or accept new media, religious communities negotiate complex relationships with these technologies in light of their history and beliefs. Heidi Campbell suggests a method for studying these processes she calls the "religious-social shaping of technology" and students are asked to consider four key areas: religious tradition and history; contemporary community values and priorities; negotiation and innovating technology in light of the community; communal discourses applied to justify use. A wealth of examples such as the Christian e-vangelism movement, Modern Islamic discourses about computers and the rise of the Jewish kosher cell phone, demonstrate the dominant strategies which emerge for religious media users, as well as the unique motivations that guide specific groups.

Religion and the Internet will present a range of scholarly articles that offer a critical overview of the interdisciplinary study of new media, religion and digital culture. Scholars have documented individuals using computer networks for religious discussions and enagagment since the early 1980s. In the mid 1990s, when the Internet became publicly accessible, scholars began to study how users were translating and transporting their religious practices onto this new digital platform. This collection will cover the development of the study of Religion and the Internet over the past three decades, highlighting the core research topics, approaches and questions that have been explored by key international scholars at the intersection of new media and religion. The collection seeks to present how new forms of religious practices have emerged and been interrogated by scholars. It will also present how religious communities have negotiated their engagement with digital techologies and the online and offline implications this has had for religious practioners and individuals.

This lively book focuses on how different Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities engage with new media. Rather than simply reject or accept new media, religious communities negotiate complex relationships with these technologies in light of their history and beliefs. Heidi Campbell suggests a method for studying these processes she calls the "religious-social shaping of technology" and students are asked to consider four key areas: religious tradition and history; contemporary community values and priorities; negotiation and innovating technology in light of the community; communal discourses applied to justify use.

A wealth of examples such as the Christian e-vangelism movement, Modern Islamic discourses about computers and the rise of the Jewish kosher cell phone, demonstrate the dominant strategies which emerge for religious media users, as well as the unique motivations that guide specific groups.

Exploring Religious Community Online is the first comprehensive study of the development and implications of online communities for religious groups. This book investigates religious community online by examining how Christian communities have adopted internet technologies, and looks at how these online practices pose new challenges to offline religious community and culture.