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Published by Irvan Hutasoit, 2023-10-16 19:44:21

The Mediatization of Religion: When Faith Rocks

90 The Mediatization of Religion Liturgy and the its Visual Aspects As the subject under discussion here is changes in liturgy derived from media use, it is important to begin with a brief consideration of the concept of “liturgy.” It is not the goal of what follows to engage in a theological discussion, but only to define the term in a way that is appropriate to the main argument of the chapter. Given that it is the key aspect of how worshippers experience and give voice to their religious beliefs, changes to it can reflect important changes in doctrines. Religious doctrine is generally practiced in the form of organized rituals by which some fundamental doctrinal aspect is remembered and celebrated— in a word, liturgy. The word liturgy comes from the Greek litourgeia, meaning “work” or “service”—not exclusively a paid job, but a type of a duty. In the main branches of Western Christianity, liturgy can be roughly defined as the collection of ritual practices and ceremonies by which an assembly stands in the presence of the sacred. As several authors (for example, Durkheim 2003; Otto 1958) claim, the concepts of “sacred” and “sacredness” generally mean something that goes beyond everyday life. For Durkheim (2003), those who make contact with their god became special, even if it is just during the time of contact. As one of the most important components of religious practice, liturgy, in this sense, can be defined as the rules that control this process of contact of worshippers with the sacred. It is the set of instructions, practices and rituals that can lead the faithful towards the sacred, governing the way they contact and experience it. As a consequence, it can be argued that liturgy is a derivative of doctrine, representing the way doctrine is made visible in special moments. Some classical studies by the sociology of religion’s so-called “founding fathers”—Marx (1975), Durkheim (2003) and Weber (1992)—focus on ritualistic and liturgical aspects of belief. Hanson (1969) claims that it is impossible to separate doctrine from liturgy, since what is defined as “religious” by doctrine also influences rituals and worship. Doctrinal concepts help the practical action of liturgy, but they remain relatively independent—that is why, according to him, liturgy, worshipping and preaching can change more quickly than doctrine. However, there seems to be a limit to change: he claims that it would be impossible to make a complete transformation in liturgy and preaching without changing doctrine as well. It is possible to conclude from this, therefore, that liturgy has been linked to the available means of communication. For centuries, liturgy had implied the presence of worshippers and a preacher who, using only his voice, commanded the faithful through the religious service, and having only those religious symbols inside the church that reflected the particular characteristics of each denomination. In the twentieth century, however, there was a change. For the first time in history, the preacher’s voice and the church symbols were no longer the only available media: electronic broadcasting, especially radio and television, made possible a new sort interaction between preacher and worshippers. As Bruce (1990) suggests, the availability of such new media has made it possible for preachers to develop new


Borrowing Styles from the Media 91 kinds of liturgy specially adapted to mass communication. The next sections will briefly discuss some of the pioneers of this religious media use and then consider particular aspects of some of the high-mediated churches’ liturgy. The Beginnings of a Mediated Liturgy Television was for the first time for religious purposes in the United States in the 1950s. Bruce (1990) argues that Roman Catholic Bishop Fulton Sheen and Evangelical Pentecostal leader Billy Graham should be seen as pioneers of what would become known as “televangelism”—the use of television to broadcast religious programs. And while there have been a lot changes in televangelism, Hoover (2006) maintains that it was these two religious leaders in particular who found a way to make television an instrument for evangelism. For Smart (1999), the main changes have been in the way television resources are used: the medium’s particular resources, such as scene framing, close-ups, fade-ins and outs, editing and cutting to create a specific “syntax” of the medium, just as two generations earlier the cinema pioneers had progressively developed the way they tell a story from a theatre-based narrative to a more specifically cinematographic one. This is exemplified by Bruce (1990) when he describes Fulton Sheen’s programs as “simple”: they had no special effects and only one camera followed the Bishop’s movements. The setting was a library and the only resource was a blackboard at the back of the set, on which Sheen periodically wrote a word or drew something. Graham, on the other hand, decided to make full use of the available resources, and started to conduct his religious ceremonies in a style that mixed traditional Protestant services and television techniques, such as alternating cameras and talking directly to people at home. Graham thus challenged the boundary between religious preacher and television presenter for the first time. Both Graham and Sheen can be seen as examples of what would happen in the future, although while Graham seemed to have welcomed the new communication devices, Sheen appeared to be more cautious in using them. This is not to claim that they are the founders of the style, but the differences between them illustrate what happens today with the low-mediated and high-mediated churches: while the former use media communication, especially television, only as a channel to transmit a pre-conceived message, the latter do not hesitate to adapt their preaching to a media-like or media-appropriate style. Indeed, as stated earlier there are some characteristics in high-mediated liturgy that seem to have been appropriated from media communication, especially from television programs. Moreover, it is not a matter of simple imitation. Rather, it actually seems that high-mediated churches have changed the whole idea of liturgy to make it resemble to some television programs. Ultimately, neither Sheen nor Graham used all the available media resources to convey their messages. In fact, their television programs were akin to “televised sermons” more than anything else (Bruce 1990: 120). However, following these


92 The Mediatization of Religion two pioneers, other televangelists quickly learned how to use the resources of mass media—what some would call the media’s “language” or “style.” To modern viewers, Sheen or Graham’s TV broadcasts might be regarded as the equivalent of comparing a Charlie Chaplin movie to the latest Hollywood 3D digital production. However, just as the pioneers of the movies set some of the cinematographic schemata that would be employed in the next decades, so Sheen and Graham—and even the anti-Semitic Father Charles E. Coughlin, one of the pioneers in the use of radio for religious purposes by the first half of the twentieth century—also taught a vital lesson about the media to those who sought to follow, emulate and improve on what they had done. That lesson was simple: the use of modern media communication could no longer be ignored by those who were serious about conveying a religious message to a larger audience. Martelli and Cappello (2005: 254) that “nowadays, religion is interpreted, especially by the young people, through the cognitive and expressive schemes moulded by television and the media.” Thus, it is not merely a matter of broadcasting a service using a camera. The programs have actually to resemble their non-religious correlates to be familiar to their audiences, which, since the first decades of the twentieth century, has become progressively accustomed to the language of the media—first with radio and the cinema, and latterly with television and then the Internet—and, moreover, they are not only “audiences” to a “message,” but they, we, live in a mediated environment and in a mediatized society. Modern public thus expect stories to be told using the tools, structures and rules employed on the radio, TV and film including editing, cut-aways, closeups, vocal inflections and all the other effects commonly found in modern media productions (Abercrombie and Longhurst 1998; Fiske 1992a). In other words, religious messages have needed increasingly to be framed in the modern media style in order to be familiar to audiences more and more accustomed to receiving information pre-packaged by the media in a particular way. In the following decades, televangelists progressively developed the lessons from these first mediated preachers in order to become closer and closer to the media style just as their audiences had also grown used to the developments in the secular media. Indeed, in recent years it has been possible to identify a move towards the full use of all the media resources available, including the use of mass culture models by churches to structure their liturgy and celebrations. In what follows, therefore, I highlight and discuss some of the high-mediated church liturgical practices that indicate consistent efforts to utilize fully a range of ideas drawn from popular culture. My intention is to demonstrate that some of their procedures, especially the religious service, have drawn on ideas, codes and styles that had been in the media before they were subsequently applied to the religious services. The service as a Show Three examples, taken from high-mediated church services provide excellent illustrate the points raised above. The first is provided by the Norwich-based


Borrowing Styles from the Media 93 Proclaimers Church. On the church’s YouTube channel it is possible to find video records of a number of the religious services and celebrations conducted there, along with some of the sermons preached by the founder. What is particularly interesting is that there are none of the typical items one would expect to find in a church: no cross, table, pulpit or anything like this. Instead, the service is dominated by guitars, keyboard, backing vocals and drums. To all intents and purposes, this is a gospel rock concert. Indeed, a non-English speaker may find it difficult to understand it as a religious celebration at all since there were so few visual references to anything related to religion. The second example is a religious ceremony held by the Snowball Church, in Sao Paulo (again, on YouTube). In this case, while a rock band is playing, the preacher appears at the altar from a backdoor. The faithful, already clapping along to the music, give him warm applause. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, he goes to the pulpit—a surfboard with a Bible on it. Using slang, and simple words, he starts to pray. Then there is a song of praise, sung by the preacher and the band. The public joins them singing several verses and choruses. After this, the preacher reads from the Bible, adding his own comments and personal remarks. Throughout, he is interacting and engaging with his public. The third example is provided by an article published in the New York Times on September 19, 2009, about a night of Reggae and boxing as an attraction at the Reborn in Christ Church, in Sao Paulo. The article describes the event as follows: In the night of the Extreme Fight, dozens of teenagers and young adults hovered around the church. In the front room, booths sold hot dogs and pizza, and young people lined up in one corner to get religious-themed tattoos like “I Belong to Jesus.” In the main room, there were video games, a DJ spinning a mix of hip-hop and funk, and a projection screen showing a DVD of the Harlem Globetrotters. Though most came for the main event, the Extreme Fight, they lingered. After four fights and Pastor Maffei’s sermon, members paired up. One placed his hand over the other’s forehead and spoke of Jesus Christ; the other closed his eyes tightly. (Barrionuevo 2009) In all these examples the interaction between the preacher and the public is far greater than in the low-mediated churches. There are also clear resemblances to the way television shows are produced. In the Proclaimers example, the way the preacher leads the religious celebration clearly resembles some television presenters, notably in the way he teases the public, calling on them to respond more loudly to what he says. In the Snowball Church, meanwhile, the resemblance to a pop show appears even more complete: were it not for the readings and preaching from the Bible between the songs, it could be virtually impossible to identify this as a religious service. The examples illustrate what Campos (1997) sees as a “theatrical” aspect to some churches, emphasizing the idea of a staged action created in deliberate resemblance to secular practices. Meyer and Moors (2006: 8) suggest something similar:


94 The Mediatization of Religion Adopting a mode of representation geared to grandiosity and spectacle, the [Universal] Church strives to organize mass-scale media events such as filling the Maracanã, the world’s largest football stadium, or assembling huge crowds in its “Cathedrals of Faith” in Israel or Africa. If for low-mediated churches media communication, particularly television, remains an accessory to preaching, for high-mediated churches the television-style adopted for the services sometimes takes precedence over their actual contents. In these churches’ liturgy, the media style seems to be almost as important as their doctrinal concerns. Indeed, in some cases it seems to go beyond this. Among the high-mediated churches researched for this book, while there are several differences in liturgy, all seem to share common practices and actions. Thus, while in the low-mediated contact with the Holy Ghost comes as the climax of a prayer conducted only by the preacher’s commands, in the high-mediated churches a far more “theatrical” structure of worship has been developed leading to this moment. The services of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, a Brazilian church with branches all over the world, including the U.S.A., U.K., Africa and Latin America, provide an excellent illustration of this. As part of my research, I visited several of its churches to gain a understanding of these practices, and I was continually struck by their resemblance to popular live television shows. As the preacher starts the prayer that will lead to ecstasy with the Holy Ghost, a soundtrack is provided at the very least by a keyboard, but more often than not a live band. It is not a hymn like those that are sung in the low-mediated churches— rather it should be thought of as an instrumental background provided to create the right environment for this crucial moment, helping worshippers become fully involved in the ceremony. As the preacher’s voice grows in strength, so the music becomes more frenetic and grows in both volume and tessitura. After a final cry from the preacher, the Holy Ghost starts its manifestations among the faithful, while the preacher and his auxiliaries exclaim “Glory!” “Hallelujah!” and other expressions of rejoicing. The second argument used to justify these financial requests is the church’s expenses. In the high-mediated, the argument is generally directed towards maintaining their ability to broadcast, which not surprisingly represents a significant part of their expenditure. As Bruce (1990) remarks, it requires a great deal of money to utilize broadcast media, and donations are particularly welcomed to help keep the broadcasts. Mixing media questions and theological arguments, they argue that broadcasting is a way to “save” the people and, as a consequence, maintaining their broadcasting is also religious work. However, it is also difficult to keep their television channels and religious stations, and people’s money is the only way to keep transmitting their message. Thus, they justify their need for money by including the maintenance of their mass media usage among the church’s expenses. This is borne out by Bruce (1990), whose study of North American denominations shows that in the churches’ discourse, keeping the broadcasts is


Borrowing Styles from the Media 95 articulated as a religious task, with those who support it by making donations being especially blessed. In the high-mediated churches the argument is the same: broadcasting is a way to save souls from damnation, so those who support it are supporting this vital religious endeavor. These characteristics of the liturgy of high-mediated churches can also be observed in the Roman Catholicism. Among the oldest Christian religious services, the Roman Catholic Mass is perhaps the most important service for this church with weekly attendance regarded as one of the main duties of a faithful Catholic. As with other Christian services, there is a sermon and a number of prayers, but the highlight is the “Holy Communion,” when according to the believers, they share in the host the body and blood of Jesus Christ. In the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR), Catholic Pentecostalism and high-mediated branches of the Catholic Church, great emphasis is placed on the power and action of the Holy Ghost. The CCR Masses generally follow the same structure as any other Mass—prayers, Bible readings, sermon and Holy Communion. However, between these key moments, and throughout the ceremony more generally, there are popular songs, usually accompanied by guitar, bass and even drums, and the public is asked to interact with the priest by clapping hands, singing along and even dancing (Souza 2005). What we observe in the high-mediated liturgy of both Catholicism and Protestant Evangelism, therefore, is the merging of religious traditions with modern media communication styles. The way the preacher communicates with the worshippers during the rituals resembles nothing so much as a television program. At the same time, it is also possible to identify the adoption by the high-mediated churches of such techniques and practices in the liturgical organization itself. Worshippers as Audience: Segmentation and Merchandizing In recent years, some commentators (for example, Reysen 2006) have identified the creation of specific messages for particular publics as an important and growing tendency in religious media communication. The idea is that each public segment has its own interests, needs and demands that must be filled by the media. Information should therefore be packaged in order to fill these specific needs and, by doing so, provide the right message for each and every public. Denominations doing this have developed a particular liturgy according to the public they want to reach—and it is important to stress here this shift in terminology when describing those who attend church. Some churches have been “accepting the marketing and branding methods of corporate business, which shows in the dress style and comportment of pastors” (Meyer and Moors 2006: 9). They are no longer seen only as “worshippers” or “the faithful”: they are increasingly seen as a “public” and an “audience” that is looking for a specific kind of message. Reysen (2006) identifies a relationship between religious worshippers and fans. In the high-mediated churches considered here, the mixing of “worshipper” and “audience” seems to be complete. Religious services are altered


96 The Mediatization of Religion to fit the needs of the faithful/customer, while in the low-mediated churches—and presumably in the “non-users”—there remains just one kind of liturgy for all. The services at the Snowball Church services provide a good example of this increasing worshipper-audience mix. Services are directed towards young people, with prayers alternating with live music, adoration and brief sermons, which make use of very popular and current language. The preachers use plenty of slang, idiomatic expressions and even puns and jokes to communicate with the public. At the same time, the size of the central church in Sao Paulo is enough to accommodate nearly 2,000 people, and on the Sunday night services it is generally full. In the Reborn in Christ Church, meanwhile, the services are strongly directed to highly qualified businesspeople and company owners, and have their own liturgy and rituals emphasizing prosperity. The church even has a group of preachers who visit companies offering religious services in loco for those who want a special blessing at their companies. These “businesspeople services,” as they are called, also offer tips on business management and interpersonal relations, suggesting that the boundary between religion and marketing is becoming increasingly vague and unclear. In recent years, there seems, as well, to have been another shift in the churches that have fully adopted media communication towards developing new types of religious celebration designed specifically for television, the music industry and the Internet (Joseph 2003; Cantoni and Zyga 2007; Cheong et al. 2008). This indicates that religious denominations have appropriated media technology to create their own products, from records to television programs, and enhancing how they use the media to convey religious messages. This shift could be seen as evidence of religious mediation: besides the alterations in the nature of doctrine and liturgy, it seems that religion is learning how to deal with media resources on a proactive basis, creating their own media companies and record industries. Thus, not only are high-mediated churches making full use of all available technology to convey their message; they are also fully adopting the style of the popular culture to ensure those messages resonate as widely as possible. For the high-mediated, media, especially music and television, represent far more than simply a channel of communication. They have provided the basis for developing a completely new way of preaching that creates the possibility of conveying tailored and highly specific religious messages to different publics, whether it be employing rock and roll as liturgical music in services directed to younger publics (Souza 2005) or specific services for CEOs, for example. One of the first shows to bring together religious messages in a secular style was a televised debate named “The 25th Hour,” created by the Universal Church. Broadcasted late at night, it always dealt with a controversial subject and invited guests from particular areas—politics, the police, public health and education, for example—to debate with Universal Church preachers and leaders around a table using a set familiar from any journalistic program. The presenter was also a preacher, and after any discussion, some opinions always supported the Universal Church’s teachings on the subject in question. The Reborn in Christ Church also


Borrowing Styles from the Media 97 provides good examples of this “self-mediation” through their television station, Gospel TV, which is filled with shows structured like non-religious ones. For example, “Reborn Space,” presented by Estevam Hernandes, founder of Reborn in Christ and owner of the Gospel TV, resembles a news comment show, the main difference being that he only discusses religious problems and explains everything according to the church’s teachings and points of views. His wife Sonia is the presenter of “De bem com a vida” [an idiomatic expression which can be translated as “Living life to the full”], a religious self-help show directed towards women. In another, “Prophets School,” a Reborn in Christ preacher explains Bible verses using images and slides as if it was a sort of documentary. However, perhaps the best example is “Clip Gospel” (the title is originally in English), one of the Gospel TV musical television shows. “Clip Gospel” is a music and debate program. Created in 2002, it is broadcast live from Monday to Saturday and its style seems to have been drawn from many other popular music shows on television: presenters sing as well as leading the debate; the day’s topic, mainly on general subjects like “violence” or “the arts,” is debated by guests who generally include one secular specialist on the subject area, two others selected from the public and a Reborn in Christ preacher. There is a live audience able to address questions to guests and the presenters. The setting is colorful, with rainbow-like decorations. In one corner, inside an old car, there is a DJ with two pick-ups, responsible for providing the show’s soundtrack. The show is divided into three parts, each one of which starts with a question that the guests have to answer. They can also ask each other questions as well as debating with the public. The preacher always has the last word, even if in disagreement with the secular specialist. After the debate, there is always a live music performance, generally an artist or a band hired by Gospel Music, the Reborn in Christ record company. These programs provide just a few examples of how religious contents have been wrapped in a format created to resemble television programs or popular music shows. Related to this is another crucial aspect of how religious messages are being repackaged and communicated: the use by some churches of marketing and merchandizing techniques by some churches. It is suggested here, therefore, that the adoption of logos and brands by churches provides important evidence of their adoption and adaptation of modern media communication techniques. In addition to the cross, arguably the most famous symbol of Christianity, these churches have developed their own symbols and brands, with brands and merchandising becoming a key part of their religious identity. A number of examples illustrate this. At the Snowball Church’s main temple in Sao Paulo there is a souvenir store which sells church franchised products to the worshippers—from notebooks, key holders, and pencils to t-shirts, trousers and bandanas, with everything carrying the church’s “Ball” logo. The same image can be found everywhere in the church. Meanwhile, Reborn in Christ Church is the owner of the Gospel Brand, and all Gospel products carry the logotype. And at the Universal Church it is possible to get some products with the church logo, a red heart with a dove in its center. These


98 The Mediatization of Religion examples all demonstrate a wider trend among high-mediated churches: the creation of a religious brand. It is possible to say, therefore, that these churches have adopted what is called a “media mix,” (Hjarvard 2008a) that is, a similar message shared via different media, from CDs and DVDs to key holders and other souvenirs. Religious symbols and logotypes can be found everywhere in these churches (although there is no available data concerning sales) and the churches themselves have become valuable brands. As has been discussed throughout this work, if by “mediation” it is possible to understand the changes in religion itself, we can see such developments as meaning that high-mediated churches have in fact been colonized by the media. Doctrine and liturgy have been altered to enable them to get nearer to mediation through radio broadcasts or television shows, for example. With the exception of the contents and religious messages, the forms being used mean they are almost like any other secular show and could fit in any mainstream broadcast schedule. Denominations are therefore no longer only spaces for spiritual matters: they have become video and music companies production companies while preachers not only have to know religion—they also have to have the skills necessary to master the many facets of the media, but especially television. Personal Life Exposition Down the ages, personal stories told in a dramatic way have been used to instruct and teach people about how best to lead their lives, with the Bible providing some of the best examples of this. What is new today is the way some high-mediated churches have developed this, producing such tales in a format that draws strongly from secular television shows. The “testimonials,” as these stories are called in many high-mediated churches, explore what Neil Gabler (2000) claims to be one of the main aspects of contemporary media culture: the systematic exhibition of private life. In the Bible, and, as it has been largely employed by some denominations, testimonials generally emphasize the action of the divine in crucial moments. The particular element of the testimonials in high-mediated churches is the emphasis on the trouble and pain experienced by the faithful: the preacher usually asks for details of the suffering, in an overt exposition of the individual’s personal life. Personal life is an important theme across all media, but especially on television. As Galtung and Rudge (1965) pointed, the “human interest” story is one of the most important devices used to attract public attention, while Bell (1991) suggests that “personalization” is a decisive element in news selection. Thus, as much as acts of the divine, it is the peculiarities of the individual’s life as focused on by the preacher that provide the great attraction of these testimonials. Indeed, it is possible to argue that the personalization of the religious experience as part of the liturgy goes beyond the exposition of a worshipper’s personal life. In the high-mediated churches, there seems to have been another change in liturgy


Borrowing Styles from the Media 99 because of the increasing importance of religious leaders not only as spiritual chiefs but more and more as celebrities. In a study on media and celebrity for example, Hesmondhalgh (2005: 101) shows how Robert Schuller, a North American televangelist, became a celebrity by adopting attitudes and practices mostly associated with celebrities. By making his personal history dramatic and exposing his personal life, the televangelist has succeeded in becoming a celebrity, a media-constructed persona based no longer solely on his religious qualities, but also on his skills at managing the prerequisites of fitting the modern media culture. In many high-mediated religious services, field research has suggested, worshippers are invited to go to the center of the altar to describe how God— always through the church, of course—has changed their lives. These testimonials generally follow the same loose script or structure: the faithful start by describing their problems, which are mostly monetary or relationship-based. When the problem reaches its peak, the person will have gone to the church and everything will have got better, and the worse the previous situation, the more powerful the claimed intervention of God and the church. These testimonials are always listened to carefully by the rest of the worshippers, with the preacher interjecting to ask for more details. The more tragic the situation, the bigger the congregation’s interest will be. At the end of each testimonial, the preacher shouts several “Alleluias” and the public joyfully shouts and claps their hands in response. Generally the narrative lasts for 30 seconds to one minute. If the testimonial goes longer than this, the preacher interrupts the speaker with an “Alleluia,” and the rest of the worshippers follow him. Although such testimonials of faith have been a component of religion for a long time—there are a number of similar examples in the Bible itself—I suggest that there is another important aspect to them that is particular to the highmediated churches: that is, they seem to be focused primarily on the entertaining aspects of personal confessions. Most are structured around very personal facts, especially sad love stories and problems at with their work. This indicates that the exposition of the private life is one of the main attractions of the liturgy, something that parallels the exploitation of particular personal lives in what we recognize as “reality TV” (Murray and Ouellete 2004; Biressi 2005). In addition to this, there is another link with contemporary television. Following Hesmondhalgh’s (2005) and Jenks’ (2004) arguments about the similarities between celebrities and religious people, I suggest that another liturgical transformation in the high-mediated churches concerns the role and actions of the preachers. In these churches, the preachers, and especially denomination leaders, now also have to be entertainers, resembling well-known presenters of TV news or entertainment programs, such as Ed Sullivan or Oprah Winfrey. Thus, they are no longer purely concerned with spiritual matters, but also with how to appear in the media and how to perform in front of a camera. Interaction with the public during religious services appears to be the rule, but more and more the exposition of the private


100 The Mediatization of Religion lives of the audience in a way more familiar with the standards of show business is also playing a role. Likenesses with figures from the secular media people relate not only to liturgical or religious affairs. It seems that some religious leaders have gone so far as to structure their own images, both personal and public, in order to resemble secular media celebrities. Moreover, they increasingly recognize that media skills are becoming as important as “religious” or “spiritual” qualities. Their public appearances are reserved for special occasions and places, with some of the religious ceremonies they are due to lead prepared as if they were a show by a popular rock band. Such mega-services generally take place at the biggest churches or even in football stadiums, with the leader’s pronouncements and teachings alternating with those of other preachers, religious pop songs generally sung by large choirs of gospel singers, and, finally, the leader’s main sermon and prayers. When they appear at the altar, the crowds of worshippers salute them with cheering and applause. Once again, were it not for the religious preaching between the songs, it would be hard to be sure that such events were actually religious celebrations. The change in some preacher’s role, adding a touch of “celebrity style” to spiritual leadership, is also suggested by the increasing interest in their life stories and actions. As Turner (2004) argues when talking about celebrity culture, they are not only famous because of what they do: more and more they are famous for who they are. In the words of Boorstin (1964), celebrities are well known just because they are well known. In the high-mediated churches it is possible to find a number of examples of such transformations whereby the life of a particular preacher now matters almost as much as their religious gifts. Two examples demonstrate how some religious leaders have become what Evans (2005: 17) describes as fully “mediated personas.” The first is Romildo Ribeiro Soares, founder and leader of the International Grace Church, an Evangelical Pentecostal church created specifically to fit the requirements of television. Described as having been a “missionary” since he was a child, Soares’ biography claims: In 1958, an 11 year-old boy named Romildo Ribeiro Soares watched television for the first time in his life. He noticed that everybody around was fascinated with the images on the screen. In that very moment, deep in his heart, he vowed to God: “There is nobody talking about the Lord on this device. Oh Lord, if you give me the necessary conditions, I’ll be on television one day, and I will talk only about you. (http://www.gracamusic.com.br/artistas/janela. php?id=17andsecao=bio) In his services, he prays, sings, talks to the worshippers as if they were the audience of a television show and invites singers and artists to perform. The second example is provided by Father Marcello Rossi, a Catholic Pentecostalist preacher. Until 1994 he was just another member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. In that year, however, he appeared on one of the most popular


Borrowing Styles from the Media 101 Brazilian television programs of those days, “Domingo Legal” [“Cool Sunday”]. He was introduced as “a singing priest” and quickly became a huge hit in Brazil (Souza 2005). Indeed, so great was his success that in that same year he recorded his first CD, reaching the top 20 in the charts and soon becoming a national “celebrity.” Although not altering the structure of the traditional Catholic Mass structure, he added a number of innovations including popular music, singing and even dancing—during the religious celebrations, worshippers were sometimes invited to repeat the choreographies he had created for his own songs. Soon the secular media defined his masses as “Showmasses,” in a reference to popular music shows. More than 200,000 people gathered for public religious celebrations he organized in 1999 and 2000, and his parish church, the Sanctuary of the Byzantine Rosary, attracted worshippers on a scale never seen before. Despite the liturgical alterations in the high-mediated churches described above, their services are still defined as “religious” by the churches themselves. And however distant these services may be from what we might understand as “traditional”—particularly those conducted by non-media-using or low-mediated churches—there remains at least a nominal link with the basic structure of a religious ceremony and ritual. Crucially, people attend these services first and foremost as the way to reach what is “sacred” or “divine.” The changes should therefore be seen as evidence of the process of “mediation” proposed by authors such as Zengotita (2005), Borelli (2009) and so on and already discussed here. Thus, liturgy has been changed as high-mediated churches have created new forms of ritual and worshipping, closer to what could be seen in television shows or popular music shows. There remains one other important change in the liturgy of high-mediated churches, though: this is the appropriation of media communication technology to create what is essentially an “electronic church” (Assman 1986) whereby the content and worship is designed as a television program, but conveys a modified religious message. This innovation will be examined next. Religious Kitsch and Media Any tourist visiting London or Paris will easily find a large number of souvenir shops where they can buy their own miniature of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe. They will also, of course, be able to choose from a wide range of postcards, each offering some idyllic view of the city. It is even possible to find chocolate boxes beautifully decorated with pictures of the countryside, or tiny stuffed animals dressed as a French painter or an English policeman. These objects and pictures would hardly be considered “art”: they are not the work of an artist, struggling with inspiration to find the perfect color combination or create the perfect sculpture. Still, there is something valuable in such objects: they amuse and delight because they are beautiful or quaint, tiny or fluffy, or stir up nostalgia for an imaginary past. Rather than being


102 The Mediatization of Religion art, they might better be considered its close neighbor—kitsch. In what follows, I heavily draw on Eco (1989, 1995, 2001) and Morin (2003). It is not straightforward to translate the German word kitsch, which probably comes from both Kirche, German for “Church,” and Küche, “kitchen,” but many people would immediately recognize it the objects described above. The description can be applied to a large number of things, and even among specialists there is disagreement about how to define precisely what the term means (see, for example, Knight 1999; Mosquera 1986; Solomon 1991). The problem starts with the name itself. Kitsch is both an aesthetical concept and an adjective. It can refer simultaneously to the particular aspects of an object that claims to be art, and to the aesthetic effect provoked by the presence of artistic elements in everyday objects. As an aesthetic concept, it is commonly related to “bad taste” in art, mainly because of its emphasis on emotional effect. It is usually applied to pieces of art with an insistent appeal to the immediate senses of the viewer, and is often likened to some kind of exaggeration. Kitsch art is generally too emotional, too beautiful or too sad (or a combination of all three, as in a melodrama) and its crude emotionality are shared with the viewer, owner or witness with little attempt at refinement. Partially because of this emotional effect, kitsch has been appropriated perhaps most notably by religion. Indeed, what some critics (for example, Gialacone 1991) call “religious kitsch” has become one of the most important symbolic elements in high-mediated churches. There have been endless debates over the centuries regarding the theological principles of faith and the rational reasons why one should believe, which religion is “correct,” and so on. A famous example is Thomas Aquinas’ Summa contra gentiles, a highly intellectual attempt to convince an imaginary pagan listener of what the philosopher claims to be the qualities of Christianity. However, as impressive as such intellectual disputes are, the fact remains that the core of religion is rooted in feelings and emotions. This, in turn, opens the door to the strong presence of kitsch in many aspects of religion. A prime example of this can be seen in the nature of church architecture. The austerity of Gothic church architecture, designed deliberately to direct the worshipper’s eye towards the highest point, stands in sharp contrast to the gilt and gaudiness of a Baroque church, which seeks to please the eye of the worshipper with a profusion of colors, forms, shades and shapes. Kitsch is used in particular to kindle emotions in popular culture. Elements of kitsch can be found in a myriad of film scenes, from silent classic to recent blockbusters, while soap operas, especially the very popular Latin American “telenovelas,” are often structured around basic and schematic kitsch plots: a poor girl and a rich boy fall in love, but his evil mother, aunt or sister does not like her. This provides an excuse to show chapter after chapter of misery on screen until the last moment when love finally saves the day. In popular music, as well, many ballads could be categorized as kitsch: romantic lyrics and an easy melody, sometimes wrapped up in a portentous orchestration and chorus to stress the refrain. Mass literature is also replete with kitsch scenes—many of the “misery


Borrowing Styles from the Media 103 childhood” paperbacks sold at any bookshop, for example, are filled with overly dramatic events highlighting the sadness of a wasted childhood. Some of the best examples, though, can be found in those aspects of religion that draw on mediated kitsch to format their religious message. As such, it can be found in the liturgy, both Catholic and Protestant, and in some of the main Roman Catholics devotional objects like pictures of saints, small medals, tiny crosses, images and so on, as well depictions of Biblical scenes. While these are not works of art, they do provide the small-scale aesthetic feeling often associated with kitsch. Often, the appeal is visual. In Roman Catholic shops, for instance, you will frequently find little plastic figurines of saints covered with luminous green paint that shines (my wife refers to these as “Martian saints” as a consequence). Such objects are attractive to the eye and may have a short-lived aesthetic resonance. They are nothing special— such items often do not—but enough to attract the attention for a while. Likewise, you will find other mass-produced devotionals. For example, I could mention small cards with a prayer on one side and a picture on the other depicting a wide range of scenes, from saints in heaven to Bible stories. None of these can claim any kind of artistic invention. These images are intended simply to catch the believer’s eye and help them worship. They are not religious art as produced by an artist moved by a feeling of spirituality. Often produced by anonymous designers, they are sold very deliberately as a reminder of faith. Equally, elements of the liturgy in some Pentecostal evangelical churches could also be labeled as kitsch because of their emphasis on the sensorial aspect of worship—particularly on vision, hearing, and body movements. Clark (2007) reports that in the United States, a Protestant denomination particularly concerned with young women’s lack of interest in reading the Bible developed what they called a “fashion Bible,” complete with fluffy pink cover, contemporary text formatting, and pictures to make it more attractive and enticing to the reader. Such Bibles have not only been sold in the US but also across Latin America, where they have been marketed as “The Girl’s Bible.” This chapter has argued that there are strong similarities among high-mediated churches in how they approach media use. It has suggested that while low-mediated churches follow a more “traditional” style of religious service, that is, one that could be easily recognizable as part of the religious tradition in both Catholic and Protestant churches, the high-mediated tend not only to have changed their liturgy and worshipping style, but also seem to have made considerable efforts to develop new religious activities intended to take specific advantage of the opportunities provided by the media, particularly television. While the previous chapter considered the differences between low-mediated and high-mediated in terms of doctrine, especially how the high-mediated seem more tolerant with regards to their worshippers’ appearance and clothing, this chapter has shown how the gap between them further increases if we consider how the high-mediated have not hesitated to change both rituals and liturgy to bring them closer to recognized—and popular—media styles, again particularly those of television. Furthermore, they seem to have rearranged some of their


104 The Mediatization of Religion practices by creating or expanding their media departments and offices, producing and broadcasting their own contents and, finally, creating logotypes and brands to be sold as any other product. They have even created their own media and audiovisual centers to produce religious shows, and, by doing so, it is arguable that high-mediated churches are also media conglomerates, printing their own books and recording and producing their own CDs and DVDs. In short, it is possible to say that the process of mediation is complete, and that high-mediated churches have become producers of religious culture. For some denominations, contemporary religious practice requires them to stay in touch with contemporary popular culture, particularly that produced and/or broadcast through media communication channels, and such practices mirror those used across the mainstream media more generally. However, adopting modern media communication techniques to spread religious messages has its counterparts— changing religious practices, beliefs and liturgy to fit the media style and codes. In other words, they have evolved to produce a new sort of popular media culture.


Conclusions “Social networking? Yeah, we do that. Jump in and join us!” The title above is a tagline of the American Foursquare Gospel Church website (http://www.foursquare.org/). It is also a good summary of the questions I have outlined and discussed throughout this book. The need to connect with people is one of the main reasons why some churches have become more and more mediated in recent years. While proselytizing is still important, more so is the challenge of working out exactly how to draw attention to a specific message in a world overwhelmed by information. The problem for religion, in this sense, is not dissimilar to that facing any television station, movie or website. Inevitably, this leads to a related question: how to wrap or package the message to make it the most interesting. In an article published on the website SFgate.com, Don Lattin sums the situation up thus: Congregation X Rocks the Mission / Cornerstone markets new-time religion Some of the finest minds in Christendom are trying to figure out how to sell Jesus Christ to Generation X. It has been called “the first post-Christian generation,” a slice of the demographic pie raised on MTV and the philosophy of “whatever.” (http://articles.sfgate.com/2001-04-15/news/17592951_1_cornerstone-jesuschrist-espresso-bar) The answer, it seems, is to talk the same language as the people they are trying to reach. In the contemporary world, where western popular culture currently predominates, it is therefore about how to use that culture to reach young people who feel no reason to attend church. Of course this is not a golden rule. There are churches that, without using any media technology, have an engaged and active congregation, happy to be part of their church’s life as it is. Rather, this question is asked of those churches that want to reach people beyond this. The struggle is to find a way to get people to connect with the church, and to do this, some churches do not hesitate in using some uncommon resources, as an article by Matt Richtel’s in the New York Times on October 1, 2007, shows: Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Popular Video Game at Church Across the country, hundreds of ministers and pastors desperate to reach young congregants have drawn concern and criticism through their use of an unusual


106 The Mediatization of Religion recruiting tool: the immersive and violent video game, Halo. (http://www. nytimes.com/2007/10/07/us/07halo.html?ex=1349409600&en=7ee896e665c85 911&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss) However useful a popular video game, a particularly gifted preacher, rock music or the latest fashionable clothes, the fact is that part of what we would see as Western Christianity has been struggling to really connect with people who live in today’s highly mediated environment, and consequently demand a message that really stands out and offers them something new and exciting in terms of living and learning if they are to pay attention to it. This book began with a question about the impacts of media use on religion. This arose from the work of Clark (2007), Meyer and Moors (2006) and Babb (1995) who together have argued that something has changed in religions around the world as a consequence of the use of media communication. While there is no consensus on the length or characteristics of this change, they all suggest that mediation is the responsible for some significant alterations in the way people live and experience religion. Moreover, they also argue that media use has changed the inner structure of religious practices, in a process of structural transformation of practices, rules, and codes. As outlined in the preceding chapters, it is possible to find many examples of the presence of media-related elements in religious denominations, as well as the representation of religion and politics in secular media, as the last chapter showed. For example, churches have their own public relations offices and have become broadcasters. Some even have their own television channel, while several others hire space on non-religious television stations. Some priests and preachers behave like media celebrities and worshippers are often treated as if they were a TV show audience. In essence, it seems that the style of media communication, especially television and the Internet, that is, the way media frame their message (Fiske 1989, 1992a), has encompassed religious practices in those churches that have adopted communication as a device to transmit their message. It also has framed the way religion is portrayed on non-religious media. In order to demonstrate this, the four first chapters were based upon a comparison among two groups of churches from both Protestant and Roman Catholic. A number of significant results emerged. First, there is a difference between high- and low-mediated churches in that although they may share the same background in terms of beliefs and practices, the high-mediated group seems more likely to change their rules to become more compatible to what some term an element of “media culture” (Kellner 1995). This also implies a more lenient view of some practices, such as body care and the use of fancy clothes. Second, there has been a degree of homogenization among high-mediated churches driven not by doctrinal concerns but by the adoption of media practices and codes in their inner religious practices. A variety of media techniques have been adopted in the religious services, while the use of brands and marketing is also usual among them. In order to meet and accept the constraints and style demanded by these media, this has led to some important changes in the


Conclusions 107 rules, beliefs and practices of some religious denominations. The high-mediated churches seem to have fully adopted the logic of symbolic production by putting together media technology resources and religious doctrine and liturgy. This logic of symbolic production implies the alteration of religious concerns to fit into media communication. These results suggest an appropriation of media semiotic codes (Fiske 1989), practices and techniques by those denominations which have used media as devices, in a kind of retroactive effect: using the media seems to imply changing some of the practices, codes and values. As Grossberg (2006) and Bonner (2003) have noted, media communication produces discourses about reality that circulate through it, partially shaping people’s understanding and practice in everyday life. These discourses spread quickly through society thanks to the characteristics of mass communication—its immediacy and omnipresence (Fairclough 1995; Bignell 1997). Media can potentially make anything “popular,” in the sense that any broadcast information can be known by a large number of people at the same time. For religious denominations, this provides the opportunity to reach a larger number of people, what is one of the most important aspects of Christian doctrine and practice (Hanson 1969). As a consequence, Christian churches have had to learn how to adapt their messages to a style that fits the media discourse. For this research, it was important to focus on how media discourse and their production conditions have been incorporated into the communication and messages of religious denominations. In other words, how have some churches appropriated media discourses and what have been the effects of this appropriation on the inner structure of denominations. Media use, especially television, by religious denominations also implies the adoption of values and practices easily identified as part of a media culture. To date, there has been no attempt to measure the effects of media communication on religion in order to identify what happens to churches that employ media such as radio and television to convey their messages. On the one hand, religious discourse is the product of a complex social agency with many aspects. Inside any religious groups there will be conflict, dissent, concurrent forces and trends, and it would be impossible to treat “religion” as a whole without taking into account that there is no “abstract” religion, but a social practice that some people experience and practice in their everyday lives. On the other, the media are not a “neutral tool” that can be used by anyone without care or attention. Thus, although it is common to talk about “media” or “the media” (to which this book is no exception), it is important to bear in mind that “media” is a plural word, and each medium has its own characteristics, demands and effects. They are generally organized as companies that produce and convey a particular kind of message to a specific public. They are not simply “tools,” but social agencies and companies planned to create a specific message. They are also an “environment” where we all live (Meyrowitz 1993, 1999; Hjarvard 2008b). There are no such thing as “media” in an abstract way, but technological tools operated by skilled people in order to create a particular product.


108 The Mediatization of Religion What does seem to be agreed by communication scholars, though, is that any attempt to transmit a message using media implies the need to change the message to ensure it fits each particular media. This is arguably why some media theorists identify a particular “language” of each means of mass communication, by which they mean its individual qualities. As Babb (1995: 4) states: A complex myth presented in a comic book format, for example, is likely to be greatly simplified; simplicity is obviously inherent to the medium. A televised performance of a religious drama may well adhere to traditional performance conventions to an impressive degree, but will inevitably abstract the performance from social and ritual contexts that, in traditional settings, invest the experience with its full range of meaning to the audiences. As was argued in the introduction, media communication already existed when churches employed it for the first time in the 1950s. Throughout the twentieth century, mass media had developed a particular mode of framing a message. As a result, churches have had to learn how to use media resources to communicate their religious message. By doing this, they have also had to adapt themselves to deal with the requirements and demands of mediation. Obviously not all churches decided to use the media to the full. On the contrary, there has been an equally strong resistance to media use by many denominations that prefer to keep their distance from any sort of contact with communication (Stolow 2005). Consequently, there seems to be no relationship between media and religion in these denominations, except a negative one, based on doctrinal questions that are beyond the goals of this book. The argument that follows only refers, therefore, to those religious groups that have already used media communication to convey their messages. Again, it must be stressed that media use has led to changes in churches because of the particular demands and needs of mass communication. It is important to remember that media have not changed every aspect of these churches, and the use of media by denominations has not been to an equal degree or level. However, the existence of common changes in many mediated churches allows us to set out some common ground or features of the transformations in these churches as a consequence. In other words, since the argument is that religious practices mirror those of the media, which therefore implies changes in religious liturgy, it is because of the particular aspects of the media themselves and the specific conditions and techniques needed to operate them. In this book, I have sought to emphasize the merging of media characteristics with religious denominations and the effects on the churches themselves. One of the first and most visible results of this process has been the creation of public relations offices and/or media departments in some denominations (Mendonça 1997). These are responsible for creating a link between the religious denominations and the non-religious media, but they have also been responsible for producing religious shows for radio and television. In short, they were one of the first aspects of change in churches as a result of media use. Borrowing from Meyer (2002), the


Conclusions 109 creation of communication departments and public relations offices was the first evidence of “mediation” of religion. In the cases studied, the churches’ organizational structures reveal a specific group of people—or at least one person—responsible for dealing with the media and ensuring that the religious message is conveyed properly through the media (Mendonça 1984; Oro 1997). Media has thus brought modern media language inside religious denominations. Finally, the merging of media and religion has been completed by the incorporation of media codes and practices into the everyday life of the church, by making them part of the religious practices and codes. Indeed, it is possible to argue that in some churches, from a certain moment in time onwards, media styles have been detached from media use and actually become a quality of religious doctrines and practices themselves. When this happens the mediation process is complete: media elements, techniques and characteristics are no longer merely a resource to deal with media, but have become an integral part of the religious denominations and their messages. Religious denominations, as with any other social agencies, are complex structures involving multiple levels of action. It would be both difficult and beyond the scope of this book, therefore, to deal with all the elements of religion, and would require a multiple-level analysis that takes into account many other factors that may influence a religious denomination in its everyday actions. The point being made here, therefore, is that some alterations in a particular group of churches can be characterized as being the result of their adoption of media communication as a tool to convey their message. Even in the high-mediated churches, it is possible to identify and locate specific media effects to a certain extent—and not all practices, beliefs and rituals have been changed by media use. Up-to-date media elements thus coexist with old practices and doctrines. In other words, some practices, values, doctrines and rituals have been changed by aggregating some elements of what could be called “television style” or “media culture.” This means elements that belong first to the “codes,” formulas and patterns (Fiske 1989) that make television recognizable and then, to a lesser extent, to popular culture (Fiske 1992a). Briefly, it could be said that the greatest amount of research and number of case studies concerning media and religion relate to the question of the representation of religion in the mass media. Research has focused mainly on how newspapers frame religious issues, or on how television and entertainment use religious motives. There have, though, been some attempts to determine how religious groups have used media communication as a tool to convey their beliefs, and even studies on the ways religious denominations use media resources. However, there seems to be little effort to go beyond the level of messages and representations, and there is room to examine the intersection between media and religion (Buddenbaum 2002; Stout and Buddenbaum 2002). There have been few attempts to go beyond the question of framing and message in the current research about media and religion. There have been some attempts to frame this relationship, but these have focused mainly on how religious


110 The Mediatization of Religion denominations have incorporated media technologies or how popular culture, especially in the United States, has used religious elements. Most of the research on the intersection between media—or popular culture—and religion does not seem to take into account media effects on religion itself. The use of media communication, especially television, by religious denominations could be seen as an example of this relationship between media and society. As it has been stated earlier, there seems to be many levels of articulation, from complete rejection to full adoption. Different religious values seem to lead to different attitudes towards television use. In the low-mediated denominations, doctrinal and theological concerns seem to be more important than proselytizing. In an interview with the author on November 7, 2007, a leader of the Assemblies of God explained his church’s position: We don’t need to show up on television to get more worshippers. The Holy Ghost is powerful and will lead us toward growth. He will help us to grow and to go on. On the other hand, high-mediated churches seem to have little problem in using media, even if they have to change doctrine and liturgy to make them compatible. High-mediated wrap religious values with media techniques. They convey religious teachings and beliefs using media agendas and models such as news, entertainment shows and music clips. They have transformed themselves to be able to keep in touch with a mediated society. Adopting media, especially television, as a model, seems also to require the adoption of other aspects of contemporary life directly related to media communication, such as consumption, advertising marketing, brands and merchandizing. Some such as Brito (1998) and Rocha (1998) stress this link between popular culture, television and church practice. Kramer (2005: 37) claims that NeoPentecostal groups maintain a pragmatic orientation to this world and “speak the language of the people.” As a result, denominations are no longer only space for spiritual matters, but become also video and music companies. Preachers do not only have to know the Bible or have spiritual charisma; they must also have skills to master the media, especially television. The cross is no longer the only symbol of Christianity— some churches have even developed their own brands and logos. The differences between low-mediated and high-mediated started with doctrine: that of the high-mediated seems to be more tolerant over the worshipper’s appearance and clothing than the low-mediated. In liturgy, the gap between them increases, as the high-mediated do not seem to hesitate in changing rituals and liturgy to ensure they are more in line with media style, particularly that of television. Furthermore, they have rearranged some of their practices by creating or expanding their media departments, producing and broadcasting their own contents and, finally, creating logotypes and brands to be sold as any other product. As Clark (2007: x) notes:


Conclusions 111 [B]ecause the various religions of the world have had their own stake in the practices of storytelling and selling of goods, religion has always had some kind of interaction with the marketplace and the media of the day. By modeling their religious values on media genres, some denominations have ensured their teachings remain close to other contemporary values and practices. It is even possible to state, echoing Burdick (1999), that the inclusion of secular practices in church’ rituals, doctrine and liturgy permits the faithful to break with the “world” without renouncing worldly practices. Thus, the rock fan can listen to gospel rock; the soap opera viewer can watch the religious drama where the hero is a Roman Catholic saint, an faithful member of an Evangelical Pentecostal denomination—or even simply a “Christian”; the movie fan can easily find some religious productions where the plot depicts the struggle between good and evil as an allegory of Christianity; those who like night clubs, raves and electronic music might find their religion in all of these. For the high-mediated, it seems that church is the place to be for those who want to have fun. They have even created their own media and audiovisual centers to produce religious shows, and, by doing so, it is arguable that high-mediated churches are also media conglomerates. In short, it would be possible to say that high-mediated churches are no longer concerned only with spiritual or religious matters. Media communication use has turned some denominations into the most entertaining media shows of all. As a final remark, it may be said something about some ethical consequences of the presence of mediated religion in politics, specially in the “politics of identity” (Street 2001). The results of this research do not authorize me to take sides among those who believe that religion is intrinsically related to conflict and intolerance, as much as I would not argue the contrary. The presence of religion in politics is not caused by its mediation, but mediated religion gets more visibility than non-mediated one, and, as it has been argued throughout the book, being on the mediated public sphere increases the chance of interference in the public debate. Inevitably, this may attract attention to mediated religion as the source of a full range of political actions. This would be an argument against religion, and could well be biased and used against one or other particular religion. However, as far as this research shows, the actions perpetrated by churches are not intrinsically due to their religious characteristics; on the contrary, throughout the whole book it has been suggested that the use of media technology, in the high-mediated churches, usually is surrounded by other doctrinal and theological concerns. Radical discourse, particularly, does not seem to be specifically linked with any particular religion among those mentioned in this book. I particularly believe, and this may well be a utopian point of view, that the mediatization of religion may, one day, contribute to people to know and understand each other better and (why not?) start to see each other from a better perspective. Unfortunately, sometimes the representation of “otherness” is hardly an invitation


112 The Mediatization of Religion to openness, but I do believe that mutual understanding can be achieved through dialogue and mutual tolerance. I have lived in a country where Catholics and Protestants, Muslims and Jews, believers and atheists live side by side. In England, I had the opportunity to live with people from all sort of places, of many religions and beliefs. Catholic priests, Anglican vicars, Muslims, Hindus and Jews, and from all of them I had practical lessons of tolerance and mutual understanding—the more you get to know the “otherness,” the less you fear the “other”; it is no longer a distant “other,” but a person. And persons can talk, dialogue, and live with each other.


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Index Aquinas, Thomas, Summa contra gentiles 102 Assemblies of God church 110 body, control of 79–80 dress rules 84–5 homosexuality, attitude to 81–2 political agenda 64–5 relationships, control of 81 tattoos 86 technology, use of 63–4 text on everyday living 68–72 “gospel”, use of label 68–70 Babb, Lawrence 33–4, 39, 108 Media and the Transformation of Religion in South Asia 38 Baudrillard, Jean, on simulacra 12 beauty changing notions of 74 rules on 85 Beckford, J. 75 Bell, A. 99 Benedict XVI, Pope, remarks about Islam 56–7 Berger, Peter 47, 48 Besecke, K. 33, 35 Bible, translation to vernacular languages 49 body, the aesthetics of 83–4 in Catholic Charismatic Renewal, rituals 83 as communication device 75 consciousness of 78–9 control of 73, 74, 86 Assemblies of God 79–80 by churches 79–83 Foucault on 77–8 International Church of God 80 and Pentecostals 76 and religion 74–6, 78–9, 88 Universal Church of the Kingdom of God 80 messages from 74 and power 76–7 public exposure of 85 in rituals 82–3 use, in highly-mediated church services 83 see also tattoos Bono 1 Boorstin, Daniel 100 Bourdieu, P. 33 Bruce, S. 90, 95 Buddenbaum, Judith 30 Buffy the Vampire Slayer 31 Calhoun, C. 52–3 Catholic Charismatic Renewal Masses 95 rituals, body in 83 Cerello, Morris 31 Christian Right, political agenda 64 church, state, separation 46, 50 church services, highly-mediated body use 83 branding 98, 110 examples 92–5 market segmentation 96 merchandising 98 money, requests for 94–5 preachers, as entertainers 100 television, as model 110 testimonials 98–102 theatricality of 93–4 worshipper-audience mix 96 churches body, control of 79–83 financial donations 67


128 The Mediatization of Religion highly-mediated 4, 5, 27, 61, 66, 69, 70, 72, 109 and consumption 66–8, 71 fun factor 111 homogenization 106 and media communication 89 political involvement 64–5 low-mediated 4, 5, 27, 63, 66, 69, 70, 72, 106 and consumption 66–8 media departments, creation of 108 public relations offices 106, 108 churchgoing, decline 53 Clark, Lynn Schofield 37, 40, 41, 42, 110–11 From Angels to Aliens 31 Religion, Media and the Marketplace 39 clothes and religion 73 rules on 84–5 and Snowball Church 87 Cogel, M., and Minkler, L. 25 communication etymology 34–5 religion as 34–5 communication device, the body as 75 Connolly, W. 64 consumption and desires 67 low-mediated, vs highly-mediated churches 66–8, 71 and ostentation 67 religious doctrinal rules 67 examples 67 Coughlin, Charles E., Fr 92 Creationism 62–3 Cromwell, Thomas 49 culture, notion of 21–2 Debord, G. 71, 72 democracy, and quantity 44 denominations see churches Durkheim, Émile 90 Elementary Forms of the Religious Life 34 electronic church 25–6, 102 Finnemann, N. 12–13 Foucault, Michel 61 on control of the body 77–8 on power 77–8 works Discipline and Punish (Surveiller et punir) 76, 78 La volonté du savoir 78 Foursquare Gospel Church, website 105 “frames”, and mediatization 14 Gabler, Neil 99 Galindo, D. 25 globalization, of religion 88 Graham, Billy 31, 83, 91, 92 Grant, D. 84 Gutenberg, Johannes 48 Gutierrez, Sierra 23–4 Habermas, Jürgen 47, 51, 54, 55–6 Theory of Communicative Action 12 Hall, Stuart 22 Henry VIII, King 48 Hindu myths, in comic form 39 Hjarvard, Stig 17, 26 homosexuality, churches’ attitude to 81–2 Hoover, S. 21, 25, 53 Humbert, Rex 31 identity, politics of 2, 3 Innis, Harold 16 International Church of God, control of body 80 International Grace Church 101 Islam, Benedict XVI’s remarks about 56–7 John Paul II, Pope 31 Johnson, Spencer, Who Moved My Cheese? 31 Journal of Communication and Religion 30 Journal of Media and Religion 30 Jubilee 2000 50 kitsch liturgical 103–4 in popular culture 103


Index 129 religious 102, 103 knowledge, and narratives 57 Kolakowski, L. 53 Latin America, mediatization of religion 21 Lattin, Don 105 Levine, D. 65 Liberation Theology 21, 27, 68 Lippmann, Walter 16 liturgy kitsch elements 103–4 meaning 90 mediated 91–2 visual aspects 90–5 Livingstone, Sonia 12, 14, 15, 18 Luckmann, Thomas 39, 48, 51 Lundby, K. 18 Luther, Martin 48 McLuhan, Marshall 16 Madonna, Like a Prayer video, religious elements 30 Martin, David 47, 48, 50 Martin-Barbero, Jesus 21, 22, 23 Communication, Culture and Hegemony 20, 21 mass media, and secularization 47 media autonomy of 48 colonization notion 37 and commodity culture 19 as conduit 13 effects 16–17 as environment 13–14 and experience of religion 38–9 as language 13 meanings 107 metaphors 13–14 as practices 19 and religion effects on 110 studies 30–2 religion as 33–4, 35–6 technology 14 media communication 16, 107 example 45–6 highly-mediated churches 89 message adjustment of 108 framing of 109–10 and spectacle 71 mediation as cultural process 20–3 mediatization, relationship 13, 14–15, 20 and public space 45 and religion 41, 108–9 examples 47–8 varieties of 26–7 mediatization concept 13–17 direct/indirect 18 and “frames” 14 meanings 11–13, 17 mediation, relationship 13, 14–15, 20 of politics 37 as social process 17–20 mediatization of religion 4, 57–8 examples 11, 24–5 Latin America 21 meaning 18–19 and otherness, recognition of 111–12 and politics of identity 111 symbols 25 medium theory 16 Meyer, Birgit 19, 34 Meyer, Birgit & Moors A. 40–1, 56, 58, 89, 93–4 Religion and the Public Sphere 42 Meyrowitz, Joshua 13 modernity, and religion 88 money, as proof of faith 94–5 narratives and knowledge 57 mediatization of 57 newspapers, origin 48 Obama, Barack 1 Ong, Walter 16 Osteen, Joel 83 otherness, recognition of 111–12 Pentecostals and body control 76 Creationism 63


130 The Mediatization of Religion doctrines 62 pre-marital sex 63 Protestant 50, 62 Roman Catholic 4, 27, 62 see also Catholic Charismatic Renewal (CCR) Plato, Phaedrus 12 politics of identity 2, 3 and mediatization of religion 111 meaning 1–2, 3 and religion 3 pop culture 31 Pop Culture Christ, website 71 Poptheology, website 43 power and the body 76–7 Foucault on 77–8 printing press, and religion 47, 49 Proclaimers Church 92–3 public sphere mediated religion in 50–6 notion 52 and secularization 52 Zaret on 52 Rayburn, C. 85 Reborn in Christ Church Gospel Music record company 98 services 93 for business people 96 “Clip Gospel” show 97–8 Gospel TV shows 97 relationships, control of Assemblies of God 81 Snowball Church 81 religion and body control 74–6, 78–9, 88 and clothes 73 as communication 34–5 and cultural context 37–8, 41, 42 definition, attempts at 29 etymology 35 globalization of 88 in the market place 56 as media 33–4, 35–6 and media see media, and religion and media culture 42 mediated, in public sphere 50–8 as mediation 19–20 and mediation see mediation, and religion and modernity 88 monopoly, end of 48, 49 normative dimension 62 and politics 3 and popular music 38 and the printing press 47, 49 “privatization” of 51 in public affairs 46–7 decline 51 as sacred/secular link 36, 41–2 science, differences 32 worldview 32 see also mediatization of religion religions core doctrines 61–2 South Asia 38 religious ethos, disappearance 51 Reysen, S. 96 Richtel, Matt 105 rituals, the body in 82–3 Robertson, Pat 31 Roof, W. 37–8 Rossi, Marcello, Fr 37, 83 celebrity status 101 Roussef, Dilma 1 Schrott, A. 15 Schuller, Robert 99 secularization 47–51 evidence of 48 and mass media 47 meaning 47 and the public sphere 52 and science 32–3 studies 31 theory 49–50 self-help literature 31 September 11 (2001) events 30, 53 Sheen, Fulton, Bishop 91, 92 Life is Worth Living, television broadcast 29 Shilling, C. 77 simulacra, Baudrillard on 12 Snowball Church 66, 79


Index 131 and clothes 87 relationships, control of 81 services 93 worshipper-audience mix 96 souvenir store 98 tattoos 86 Soares, Romildo Ribeiro 101 South Asia, religions 38 spectacle, and media communication 71 Spider-Man, religious elements 30 Stolow, J. 35–6, 36, 47 Stuff Christians Like, website 40 Swaggart, Jimmy 31 tattoos Assemblies of God Church 86–7 Snowball Church 86 televangelism 18, 46 origins 91 studies 31 techniques 91 televangelists 31 celebrity status 99 theology, prosperity 67 Thompson, John B. 12 Touched by an Angel 31 Universal Church of the Kingdom of God 1, 71 body, control of 80 services as television shows 94 “The 25th Hour” debates 97 Vatican Broadcast Centre 31 Weber, M. 32 Wilson, Bryan R., Religion in Sociological Perspective 29 Wood, R. 72, 87 Wright, Jeremiah 1 X-Files 31 Zaret, D., on the public sphere 52


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