What is it about?
To understand why and how different religious actors use digital media, this book combines actor-centered and structural perspectives. Engagement with digital media depends on, for example, theology, history, societal context, and self-understanding.
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Why is it important?
A combination of actor-centered perspectives (i.e., history, theology, and internal discourses) and structural perspectives (i.e., mediatization and secularization) is crucial for understanding how and why digital media are used and perceived among religious actors. The book also questions the concept of “digital religion” through the study of technology-hesitant actors, and it challenges normative assumptions that increased digital communication reflects a better understanding of digital media. Ultimately, the focus is on the aims behind such engagement and on how religious actors understand the affordances of digital media, and to what extent this is in line with what they want to do.
Perspectives
I found it necessary to combine structural and actor-centered perspectives, as neither approach is sufficient. This was made possible through the study of three different cases within the same context. The most interesting case, I think, examines the deliberate non-use of digital media, which reflects a good understanding of digital communication, which consequently leads to a restriction in its use.
Stefan Gelfgren
Umea Universitet
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Why Do Christian Churches Build Congregations Online?, September 2025, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.4324/9781032719016.
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