ABSTRACT
When religious communities must make choices about why, how, and in what contexts they will engage with new forms of media, they undergo a complex process of assessment. For the “peoples of the book,” their relationship with sacred texts outlines a code of behavior and beliefs which help orient the life practices of the community and its members. This relationship with texts in general also serves as a guide to their future interactions and decision-making regarding new forms of media. In the era of the written and printed word numerous issues of authority emerge such as: Who can serve as official interpreters of the medium? What structures should guide the process of its interpretation and application? And what are the boundaries of core beliefs derived from the medium? These questions of religious authority roles, structures, and theologies surface again and again in each era of new media. As seen in Chapter 1 religious discussions about the internet raise concerns over potential challenges this technology poses for traditional religious gatekeepers, ritual structures, and communal beliefs. These debates touch not only on issues of practice, but also on core ideologies of different communities, their relationship between the sacred and the secular, and their understanding of the role media should play in religious life. Studying the relationship between religious communities and their perceptions of media therefore can be a multilayered process. So how can we seek to understand this complex negotiation? A core aim of this book is to recommend the need for a systematic
approach to the study of religious communities’ engagement with new media forms. I argue that the “social shaping” approach to technology, found within the sociology of technology, and in science and technology studies, offers a dynamic basis for studying how religious communities negotiate their uses of media, especially in an age of new digital, networked technologies. However, the mere application of the social shaping of technology (SST) approach to religious communities is not enough. What is needed is a framework that also acknowledges how a religious community’s historical life practice, interpretive tradition, and the contemporary outworking of their values inform their choices about the adoption and adaptation of technology. To this end I
offer what I call the religious-social shaping approach to technology. This takes into account the factors informing a religious community’s responses to new media – their relationship to community, authority, and text – and combines it with a social shaping approach that highlights the practices surrounding technology evaluation. The result is a four-part analytical framework that researchers can use to explore in greater depth religious communities’ negotiation of new media. Before we can fully discuss this approach the chapter begins with a review
of how media technology has been viewed within studies of media, religion, and culture. This leads to a discussion of the SST discourse as a reservoir for a more dynamic approach to the study of religious communities’ media negotiation. Finally the religious-social shaping of technology approach is outlined and how it can be applied is discussed. This is vital as this methodological approach is applied throughout the remainder of the book as an interpretive tool.
