From Jesus to the Internet examines Christianity as a mediated phenomenon, paying particular attention to how various forms of media have influenced and developed the Christian tradition over the centuries. It is the first systematic survey of this topic and the author provides those studying or interested in the intersection of religion and media with a lively and engaging chronological narrative. With insights into some of Christianity's most hotly debated contemporary issues, this book provides a much-needed historical basis for this interdisciplinary field.
Autorentext
Peter Horsfield is Professor of Communication at RMIT University, Australia. From 1987-1996, he was Dean of the Uniting Church Theological Hall and Lecturer in Applied Theology in the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne, Australia. His early study, Religious Television: The American Experience (2004) was influential in assessing the impact of the emerging phenomenon of televangelism in the U.S. From 1997-2005 he was a member of the International Study Commission on Media Religion and Culture. He has researched and published extensively in the area of the interaction of media and religion, with a particular focus on Christianity. He is the co-editor of several books, including Emerging Research in Media, Religion and Culture (2005) and Belief in Media: Cultural Perspectives on Media and Christianity (2004).
Klappentext
"This ambitious, resourceful, and clearly written book makes the major contribution of showing how fundamentally integrated religion and media always have been throughout the history of Christianity. The power of media from writing to print, from imagery, music, and architecture to radio, film, and television has been to make accessible what Christians experience in their faith. Horsfield properly locates the study of media at the heart of the study of the religion."
DAVID MORGAN, Duke University
"Tracing the implications of the adoption of new media technologies into Christian modes of communication among believers and with the divine over a period of 2000 years, Peter Horsfield draws a fascinating and fresh picture of contestations, breaks, and reformations in the dynamic history of Christianity. This well-written, imaginative book does not only throw recent work on modern mass media and Christianity into historical relief, it also makes a convincing case for the fruitfulness of a media perspective to capture salient transition points that rearticulate the Christian tradition and reset its role and place in society."
BIRGIT MEYER, Utrecht University
From Jesus to the Internet is the first systematic survey of the historical relationship between Christianity and media. Although many see the relationship between religion and media as a distinctly modern phenomenon, in this book the scholar Peter Horsfield examines Christianity through its history as a mediated phenomenon, showing how profoundly it has been shaped by the many media forms used in embodying and spreading its stories.
In a lively and engaging chronological narrative, the book demonstrates the ways in which Christianity's beliefs, rituals, theological thought, institutional forms, economic views, and political systems have been conceptualized and developed over time as a result of its media practices. It takes a broad view of media, including communication technologies and industries as well as cultural and material practices. The narrative moves through all of the major periods in Christian history and includes coverage of oral cultures, the practices of Jesus, writing, printing, material practices, visual expressions, and the present digital era. With insights into some of Christianity's most hotly debated contemporary issues, this ambitious and wide-ranging book provides an indispensable historical basis for this fast-developing interdisciplinary field.
Zusammenfassung
From Jesus to the Internet examines Christianity as a mediated phenomenon, paying particular attention to how various forms of media have influenced and developed the Christian tradition over the centuries. It is the first systematic survey of this topic and the author provides those studying or interested in the intersection of religion and media with a lively and engaging chronological narrative. With insights into some of Christianity's most hotly debated contemporary issues, this book provides a much-needed historical basis for this interdisciplinary field.
Inhalt
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
What's this book about? 1
What do we mean by Christianity? 2
What do we mean by media? 4
Media and the historical development of Christianity 7
1 In the Beginning 10
The social and media context 11
Jesus in his media context 14
Remaking Jesus in speech and performance 22
2 Making Jesus Gentile 28
Context: the media world of the Roman Empire 28
Early Christian writing 30
Paul and letter writing 32
The end of the beginning 39
3 The Gentile Christian Communities 42
The appeal of Christianity 42
Multimedia communities 43
Christian writings 45
The reception and circulation of Christian writings 56
Resistance to writing 58
4 Men of Letters and Creation of "The Church" 62
The Catholic?]Orthodox brand 63
Tertullian 68
Cyprian 70
Origen - the media magnate of Alexandria 72
Writing out women 74
5 Christianity and Empire 80
Imperial patronage and imperial Christianity 80
Councils, creeds, and canons 84
Constructing time - Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History 90
The scriptures as text and artifact 93
6 The Latin Translation 99
Latin roots 99
After the fall 106
Monasteries and manuscripts 110
Written Latin and the consolidation of medieval Christendom 117
7 Christianity in the East 125
The Church of the East 125
Islam 130
Writing the voice 132
Regulating the eyes 134
8 Senses of the Middle Ages 141
The medieval context 142
Making time 143
Seeing space 145
Rituals and hearing 150
Nice touch: relics, saints, and pilgrimage 154
9 The New Millennium 162
Marketing the Crusades 163
Scholasticism and universities 168
Cathedrals 173
Catholic reform 175
The Inquisition 180
10 Reformation 187
Printing and its precursors 187
Martin Luther 191
John Calvin 195
Reworking the Bible 198
The changing sensory landscape 200
Catholic responses 207
Ignatius of Loyola 209
11 The Modern World 214
The legacy of the Reformation 214
Catholic mission 216
The impact of print 219
Evangelical Revivalism 223
Protestant mission 232
12 Electrifying Sight and Sound 237
The technologies of the audiovisual 237
Christianity and the twentieth?]century media world 240
Mainline mediation 242
The Evangelical Coalition 246
Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism 254
13 The Digital Era 261
The empire of digital capitalism 261
Digital practice 264
Global Pentecostalism 270
Media and Christian sexual abuse 276
Tradition and change 279
Conclusion 285
References 293
Index 311