When Religion Meets New Media - 9780415349574

`The most compelling insights about religion and new media are in Heidi Campbell`s book; it`s simply the most definitive, nuanced, and thoroughly researched work on the subject. Instead of joining the bandwagon of media determinists and pundits, Campbell grounds her conclusions in actual case studies of Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Likely to be enormously important, this book should be read by anyone interested in media, religion, and the juncture between the two.- Daniel Stout, Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies, University of Nevada Las Vegas, USA, and Editor of the Journal of Media and Religion.

`When Religion Meets New Media provides valuable new insights into thinking about the relationships between religion and new media technologies. Using informative case material, Heidi Campbell demonstrates the complex processes through which religious communities engage with, and justify their use of, new media. The book provides a useful framework for thinking about religious uses of media technologies that can be taken up across a wide range of contexts. Clearly-written, it will be of great value both to students and researchers in media studies and the study of religion.`-Gordon Lynch, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK

`Heidi Campbell treats the path-breaking influences of the Internet and the digital media with a careful understanding of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions she relates to. This is an illuminating book, showing how religious communities actually take part in the shaping of new media.`- Knut Lundby, University of Oslo, Norway

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 A. 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

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.