Book Review: Heidi A Campbell and Ruth Tsuria (eds),Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in Digital Media

Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in Digital Media is a sorely needed book edited by Heidi A Campbell and Ruth Tsuria and is a significant contribution to religious studies and digital media. It examines religious engagement with various forms of digital media and provides instances of new media engagement in five of the world’s main religions. The authors present critical ideas of ritual, identity, community and embodiment from a fresh perspective. At the end of each case presented, the authors provide discussion questions to stimulate further thinking and research in the field. We believe the book has the potential to become a significant reference for the development of religion and digital media studies.

The book is a mature study of digital religion. It provides up-to-date case studies focusing on YouTube (pp. 127, 167), Twitter (pp. 132, 159), Facebook (p. 205) and even video games (p. 213). It offers a critical and systematic survey for developing a deeper understanding of the study of religion and digital media. The authors explore how digital media shapes religious groups and cultures in a global network society.

Scholars in religion and media should pay close attention to Chapter 3 because it discusses interconnected factors between religion and media in historical and contemporary contexts (p. 232). The authors outline the theoretical frameworks and methodologies in the study of religion and media developed by previous academics. Based on these theoretical and methodological approaches, they conclude that religion and the media share a mutualistic symbiotic tendency (p. 233). They argue that religious studies can apply media studies approaches to comprehend knowledge production, dissemination and user engagement in digital environments. They likewise suggest that media studies can use religious theories to determine the meaning of spiritual practices and rituals in digital media (p. 234).

The authors also explain, however, that the theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches in the study of religion and digital media, respectively, are different. They relate this to how religious expressions and engagement on the internet are not the same as those ‘in real life’ (p. 250). In ‘real life’, the engagement between religious communities is, they suggest, more powerful than online. At the same time, they demonstrate how digital media and technologies influence religious communities, including regarding worship, prayer and religious authority (p. 266). The book provides readers with exciting discussions of media and religious criticism. It puts forth enriching theory (p. 233) and ethical issues (p. 250) that other researchers can take up when studying religion and digital media.

The book recommends that researchers be cognisant of the complexities of studying religion and digital media, because religious communities have their own objectives, rules and conventions. The authors describe how researchers concerned with religion and digital media do, and should, take a strategic approach when analysing the interaction of religious communities in digital media (p. 253). They identify how matters are further complicated by the (inter)active nature of human engagement online, whereby individuals engage in production of textual material, such as emails, web pages, blog posts, audio or video clips, status updates and tweets. These complexities are shaped by the longstanding matter of gender and religion, which the book identifies as playing out through digital media. The fact that males still dominate religious authority in digital media is an intriguing issue to be developed further, placing women not as an object but as a subject in the development of religion in digital media.

Overall, this edited volume offers a critical and systematic perspective on the study of religion and digital media. The book provides a new and refreshed understanding of and perspective on studying religious and media discourse, addressing a range of issues from ethics to feasible approaches to studying the topic. The authors examine the topic comprehensively and extensively from social, cultural, theological, anthropological and communication perspectives. The book is essential as a primary reference for understanding the interaction between religion and digital media in the 21st century. We consider it to hold potential to influence further discussion and research about religion and digital media and hope that it sets the stage for the evolution of study in this field. Thus, empirical and theoretical understandings of the relationship between religion and digital media will continue to develop in the next few years.