"Puffs to follow" The study of religion and media is rapidly coming of age. Using vivid examples from a range of media, including cartoons and high art, Christian rock music and slam dancing, tracts and technoculture, this groundbreaking book investigates the essential terms and concepts essential for the study of this important area. Media interface with people each day to make the world familiar and intelligible, and are a primary means of shaping personal and collective identity. Rather than focusing on the media principally as channel or artefact, "Key Words in Religion, Media and Culture" explores mediation as the site where religion happens--as belief, as community, as instruction and socialization, as self-discovery and empowerment, as cohort formation, rite of passage, and as revelation. Written by a leading team of contributors drawn from North America, Europe and Australia, the chapters cover the core concepts in the field, from Aesthetics and Audiences through to Soundscape and Text. Each chapter explores a cluster of related terms, explaining their significance and relating them to other chapters.The introduction surveys the field and its historiography, while the bibliography provides further resources for those wishing to go further.
All the contributors have produced highly influential work in the area of media and religion and this book will help to clarify its conceptual foundations, proving to be essential reading for both students and scholars alike. David Morgan is Professor of Religion at Duke University. Author of several books, including "Visual Piety" (1998) and "The Lure of Images" (Routledge, 2007), Morgan is also co-editor of the journal Material Religion.