Mediation of Religious Meaning and Emerging Religious Sensibilities
https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2020-38-2-159-183
EDN: HGPPWO
Abstract
This text presents theoretical premises of how to study the reception of media content by the religious audience. The author looks first at how media and mass communication scholarship developed along with the emergence of the media sphere as a technological and social phenomenon. One of the results of these developments is that, within the multiplicity of sources available, specifically religious channels and services, and channels and services that can accommodate religious and spiritual interests and uses, are increasingly possible and available. Secondly, the nature of contemporary religion is undergoing significant change as well. Following the works of W.C. Roof and R. Wuthnow the author considers a religiosity or spirituality of “seeking” as a major dimension of the contemporary religious landscape. The next step of the analysis is considering how various categories of seekers might be positioned vis-a-vis religious history, religious practice, religious and social experience, orientation toward religious tradition and authority, and religion/spirituality in media culture. The author argues that the evolving religious/symbolic marketplace would be a place where new, more focused mediated symbolic and practical material would be made accessible to interested receivers.
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Review
For citations:
Hoover S. Mediation of Religious Meaning and Emerging Religious Sensibilities. State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide. 2020;38(2):159-183. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2020-38-2-159-183. EDN: HGPPWO
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