Religious Talk Online


Book Description

Original research that explains how religious conflict is played out on social media.




Religious Talk Online


Book Description

In the online world, people argue about anything and everything - religion is no exception. Stephen Pihlaja investigates how several prominent social media figures present views about religion in an environment where their positions are challenged. The analysis shows how conflict creates a space for users to share, explain, and develop their opinions and beliefs, by making appeals to both a core audience of like-minded viewers and a broader audience of viewers who are potentially interested in the claims, ambivalent, or openly hostile. The book argues that in the back-and-forth of these arguments, the positions that users take in response to the arguments of others have consequences for how religious talk develops, and potentially for how people understand and practice their beliefs in the twenty-first century. Based on original empirical research, it addresses long-debated questions in sociolinguistics and discourse analysis regarding the role of language in building solidarity, defining identity and establishing genres and registers of interaction.




Talk about Faith


Book Description

How do people of faith use language to position themselves, and their beliefs and practices, in the contemporary world? This pioneering and original study looks closely at how Christians and Muslims talk to people inside and outside of their own communities about what they think are the right things to believe and do. From debates, to podcasts and YouTube videos, the book covers a range of engaging texts and contexts, showing how doctrine and beliefs are not nearly as fixed and static as we might think, and that people are prone to change what they say they believe, depending on who they are talking to. From abortion, to hell, to whether it's okay to sell alcohol, Pihlaja investigates how Christians and Muslims struggle with different elements of their own faith, and try to make decisions about what to do when there are so many different voices to believe.




Religion Online


Book Description

Religion Online provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to this burgeoning new religious reality, from cyberpilgrimages to neo-pagan chatroom communities. A substantial introduction by the editors presenting the main themes and issues is followed by sixteen chapters addressing core issues of concern such as youth, religion and the internet, new religious movements and recruitment, propaganda and the countercult, and religious tradition and innovation.




Give Me That Online Religion


Book Description

The future of online religion is now! Operating online allows long-established religious communities to reach the unaffiliated like never before. More startling is the ease by which anyone with internet access can create new circles of faith. Electronic shrines and kitschy personal Web "altars" express adoration for living celebrities, just as they honor the memory of long-departed martyrs. In Give Me That Online Religion, online religion expert Brenda Brasher braves a new world in which cyber concepts and technologies challenge conventional ideas about the human condition--all the while attempting to realize age-old religious ideals of transcendence and eternal life. As the Internet continues its rapid absorption of culture, Give Me That Online Religion offers pause for thought about spirituality in the cyber-age. Religion's move to the online world does not mean technology's triumph over faith. Rather, Brasher argues, it assures religion's place in the wired universe, along with commerce and communications--meeting the spiritual demands of Internet generations to come.




Exploring Religious Community Online


Book Description

Exploring Religious Community Online is the first comprehensive study of the development and implications of online communities for religious groups. This book investigates religious community online by examining how Christian communities have adopted internet technologies, and looks at how these online practices pose new challenges to offline religious community and culture.




How to Talk with God


Book Description

Enjoy prayer in a new way as New York Times bestselling author Joyce Meyer explains the keys to unanswered prayers, the hindrances to prayer's effectiveness, and the Bible's role in prayer. Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life and an amazing privilege, but for many, it’s challenging. There are so many different ideas about what prayer is and how to pray that it can be confusing or even intimidating. In How to Talk With God, Joyce gives simple, practical advice based on scriptures from the Bible that will help you discover the truth about prayer. She addresses common issues, such as how to communicate with God, how to know with confidence that He hears you, and how you can learn to hear His voice. But most importantly, you will learn that prayer is exciting because it’s the key to nurturing your personal relationship with God. Refresh your daily rhythms and deepen your faith through an effective, powerful life of prayer! Derived from material previously published in The Power of Simple Prayer.




Digital Liturgies


Book Description

How the Habitat of Internet Technology Undermines Christian Wisdom With advancements in internet technology, people can get instant answers to just about any of their questions, connect long distance with family and friends, and stay informed with events around the world in real time. In Digital Liturgies, tech-realist Samuel D. James examines the connection between patterns in technology and human desires. Everyone longs for a glimpse of heaven; James argues they are just looking for it in the wrong place—the internet. This accessible book exposes 5 "digital liturgies" that prohibit people from contemplating big truths, accepting the uncomfortable, and acknowledging God as their Creator. It then calls readers to live faithfully before Christ, finding wisdom through Scripture and rest in God's perfect design. A Biblical View of the Internet and Technology: Readers explore the connection between human desire, the internet, and wisdom through a Christian lens Great for College Students, Parents, and Pastors: This book encourages readers to live faithfully for Christ Offers a Tech-Realist Perspective: Samuel D. James highlights the inherent dangers of digital technologies, offering wisdom for navigating our internet-saturated world




Relax, It's Just God


Book Description

Gold-medal winner of a Next Generation Book Award, silver-medal winner of the Independent Publishers Book Award. As featured on the PBS NewsHour “A gem of a book.” — LIBRARY JOURNAL (STARRED REVIEW) A step-by-step guide to raising confident, open-minded kids in an age of religious intolerance. Relax, It's Just God offers parents fresh, practical and honest ways to address issues of God and faith with children while promoting curiosity and kindness, and successfully fending off indoctrination. A rapidly growing demographic cohort in America, secular parents are at the forefront of a major and unprecedented cultural shift. Unable to fall back on what they were taught as children, many of these parents are struggling, or simply failing, to address issues of God, religion and faith with their children in ways that promote honesty, curiosity, kindness and independence. The author sifts through hard data, including the results of a survey of 1,000 nonreligious parents, and delivers gentle but straightforward advice to both non-believers and open-minded believers. With a thoughtful voice infused with humor, Russell seamlessly merges scientific thought, scholarly research and everyday experience with respect for a full range of ways to view the world. "Relax, It's Just God" goes beyond the numbers to assist parents (and grandparents) who may be struggling to find the right time place, tone and language with which to talk about God, spirituality and organized religion. It encourages parents to promote religious literacy and understanding and to support kids as they explore religion on their own -- ensuring that each child makes up his or her own mind about what to believe (or not believe) and extends love and respect to those who may not agree with them. Subjects covered include: • Talking openly about our beliefs without indoctrinating kids • Making religious literacy fun and engaging • Talking about death without the comforts of heaven • Navigating religious differences with extended family members • What to do when kids get threatened with hell




The Real Heaven


Book Description

Heaven has received a lot of attention in recent years as bestselling books and movies have told the stories of people who claim to have been there. But what does the Bible actually say about heaven? What difference does it make? What happens the moment after we die? What will our relationships be like in heaven? Chip Ingram sets aside the hype and myths and digs into the Scriptures to discover what God actually wants us to know about the hereafter. Most importantly, Ingram shows why our understanding of heaven matters now, in this life. Because what we believe about heaven actually affects us today in ways we may not have imagined.