Table of Contents

Contributors ix

Introduction 1

Part I Theoretical Background 5

1 Academic Approaches to Communication, Media, and Religion 7
Lynn Schofield Clark and Heidi Ippolito

2 Communication, Media, and Religion Research: Theoretical Roots 23
Stephen Garner

3 Theology and Communication 39
Paul A. Soukup S.J.

4 Religious Traditions and Ethics in Communication 55
Robert S. Fortner

Part II Theological Perspectives 69

5 Christianity and the Mass Media 71
Mary Catherine Kennedy Copyrighted Material

6 Communication in Judaism and Islam 83
Yoel Cohen and Hadi Enayat

7 Religious Communication in Asia 99
Anthony Le Duc and Keval J. Kumar

8 African Religions and Communication 117
Joseph Muyangata and Mark Fackler

9 Atheism and the Media 131
Teemu Taira

Part III Religions as Actors 145

10 Religious Broadcasting: An Overview, 2000–2021 147
Jim McDonnell

11 Religious Personalities and Televangelism 165
Paul A. Soukup S.J.

12 Public Relations and Advertising 181
Carlo Nardella

13 “Survival and Salvation”: Religious Situational Crisis Communication Strategies 197
Gregory P. Perreault, Mildred. F. Perreault, and Monica Crawford

14 Web Presence 213
Amanda Sturgill

Part IV Individual Religious Communication 229

15 Pastoral Ministry and Communication 231
Daniella Zsupan-Jerome

16 Piety, Religious Identity, and the Media 241
Damian Guzek and Piotr S. Bobkowski

17 Youth, Education, and Media 257
Mary E. Hess

Part V Media Institutions 271

18 Mediatization 273
Knut Lundby

19 Reporting Religion News 287
Yoel Cohen

20 Entertainment 301
Allan Novaes

21 Religion and Film 315
Joel Mayward

22 Documentary Film and Religious Faith in Historical Perspective 337
John P. Ferré

Part VI Functional Perspectives 351

23 The Role of Media in Creating Communities of Religious Belief and Identity 353
Myna German

24 Religion and Meaning 365
Johannes Ehrat

25 Religious Rituals, Pilgrimages, Festivals, and Media: Exploring the Interface 383
Gnana Patrick

26 Death, Spirituality, and Digital Afterlife 399
Johanna Sumiala

Part VII Cultural Perspectives 415

27 Incipient Diversity: Gender and Race in Media and Religion Research 417
Chiung Hwang Chen

28 Material Religion 433
Felicia Katz-Harris

29 The Sex–Religion Matrix 453
Ruth Tsuria and Jason Bartashius

30 Authority, Religion, and Media 469
Míriam Díez Bosch and Alba Sabaté Gauxachs

31 Religion and Development Communication 487
Robert A. White

Part VIII Approaches in New Technologies 503

32 Internet, Mobile Technology, and Religion 505
Miriam Díez Bosch and Josep Lluís Micó

33 Online Religion 521
Rohit Chopra

Index 537

About the Author

YOEL COHEN is Professor Emeritus of Mass Communication, and former Chair of The School of Communication, at Ariel University, Israel. He is a chairperson of the Religion and Communication working group of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). He is the author of God, Jews and the Media: Religion and Israel's Media; Media Diplomacy; and editor of Spiritual News: Reporting Religion Around the World.

PAUL A. SOUKUP, S.J., is Professor and past Head of the Department of Communication at Santa Clara University, where he teaches courses in technology, communication, and theology. He is the author of Communication and Theology a Christian Communication: A Bibliographical Survey Media; and The Media Ecology of Theology: Communicating Faith Throughout the Christian Tradition, and co-editor of Mass Media and the Moral Imagination and Fidelity and Translation: Communicating the Bible in New Media.