Overview

Existing through the ordeals of the Communist regimes of the last century and then facing the expansion of the Internet and the digitalization of the present one, East-European Orthodoxy seeks to re-establish itself on the geopolitical and religious map of today's world. Dragoș-Ioan Șamșudean argues that, within this context, new religious actors such as Ortho-bloggers, manifest themselves in the digital environment of blogs and social media, driven not only by spiritual and religious motivations but also by political, economic and institutional ones. Caught between the inabilities of the Orthodox Church to offer them a safe religious online framework to express themselves and their various personal and socio-political aspirations, Orthodox bloggers become religious influencers, theologians, but also promoters of disinformation and misinformation. Șamșudean chose Romania as a case study on Ortho-bloggers motivations, based on four characteristics of this state: the majority Orthodox population, a well-developed internet infrastructure, a local Orthodox Church active online and offline as well as the Geopolitical position of Romania, at the intersection of the clash between civilizations and cultures.

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9781666942415

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Reviews

“Dragos Samsudean's is not the first book on ‘digital Orthodoxy’, but it is certainly one of the most complete and systematic ones. It provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for this subject, which can be helpful in studying various contexts. Dr. Samsudean's own context is Romanian, which he navigates masterfully. This context seems to be vibrant, tense, and inspiring for everyone interested in ‘digital Orthodoxy.’” -- Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, professor of ecclesiology, international relations and ecumenism at Sankt Ignatios College, University College Stockholm, and a director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

"""Dragos Samsudean's is not the first book on 'digital Orthodoxy', but it is certainly one of the most complete and systematic ones. It provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for this subject, which can be helpful in studying various contexts. Dr. Samsudean's own context is Romanian, which he navigates masterfully. This context seems to be vibrant, tense, and inspiring for everyone interested in 'digital Orthodoxy.'"" --Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, professor of ecclesiology, international relations and ecumenism at Sankt Ignatios College, University College Stockholm, and a director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles."

Author Information

Dragoș Șamșudean is associate professor in the Department of International Studies and Contemporary History at the same University, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

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