Overview

"This volume explores the relationship between new media and religion, focusing on the digital era's impact on the Russian Orthodox Church. A believer may now enter a virtual chapel, light a candle through drag-and-drop, send an online prayer request, or worship virtual icons and relics. In recent years, however, Church leaders and public figures have become increasingly skeptical about new media. The internet, some of them argue, breaches Russia's ""spiritual sovereignty"" and implants values and ideas alien to Russian culture. This collection examines how Orthodox ecclesiology has been influenced by its new digital environment, such as the intersection of virtual religious life with religious experience in the ""real"" church, the role of clerics on the Russian Web, and the transformation of the Orthodox notion of sobornost' (catholicity), asking whether and how Orthodox activity on the internet can be counted as authentic religious practice."

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9783838208817

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Reviews

An interesting piece of work which addresses an important and obviously under-researched topic. -- Thomas Bremer, Westfalische Wilhelms-Universitat Munster To the scholarly study of the impact of the internet and social media on religious beliefs and practices, this interdisciplinary collection brings a special focus on Orthodox Christianity and its diverse online expressions in Russia and Ukraine-both official and unofficial. In addition to transforming human relations throughout the world, the communications revolution has also generated urgent questions for the Orthodox Church: Do the new media enhance Christian teaching and church unity, or do they undermine clerical authority and enable heresy? Do digital popular culture and cybertheology, religious blogging and online worship reinforce the religious community or do they erode a religious ethos and traditional values? Digital Orthodoxy is an indispensable resource on this fascinating encounter between traditional religiosity and the new media. -- Andrii Krawchuk, University of Sudbury This book includes an erudite study... which raises the question of parallels between contemporary virtual reality and transcendental virtuality of an icon. -- Galina Yankovskaya, Perm State University

An interesting piece of work which addresses an important and obviously under-researched topic. -- Thomas Bremer, Westf lische Wilhelms-Universit t M nster To the scholarly study of the impact of the internet and social media on religious beliefs and practices, this interdisciplinary collection brings a special focus on Orthodox Christianity and its diverse online expressions in Russia and Ukraine-both official and unofficial. In addition to transforming human relations throughout the world, the communications revolution has also generated urgent questions for the Orthodox Church: Do the new media enhance Christian teaching and church unity, or do they undermine clerical authority and enable heresy? Do digital popular culture and cybertheology, religious blogging and online worship reinforce the religious community or do they erode a religious ethos and traditional values? Digital Orthodoxy is an indispensable resource on this fascinating encounter between traditional religiosity and the new media. -- Andrii Krawchuk, University of Sudbury This book includes an erudite study... which raises the question of parallels between contemporary virtual reality and transcendental virtuality of an icon. -- Galina Yankovskaya, Perm State University

Author Information

Mikhail Suslov is a Marie Curie fellow at Uppsala University's Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. His academic interests include Russian intellectual history, geopolitical ideologies and utopias, and religious political theorization.

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