"This essay provides an overview of mediated religion in Brazil, focusing on people’s responses to the 'Life Network' (Rede Vida) in Porto Alegre. In addition to a general overview, a case study offers a glimpse into how countries and cultures outside of the U.S. experience the interaction of comm
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unication and religious practices. Based on dissertation research (Sierra Gutiérrez, 2006), the text falls into six parts: the first part reviews past research in North and South America; the second explicates the context and the general problem encountered in this kind of study; the third part lists the central questions and objectives. Part 4 reviews the theoretical implications of mediated religion while Part 5 reviews methodology for studying the topic. Finally, the last section specifies some conclusions based on the investigation and some more general observations about televised religion and the post-modern challenge it presents." (Page 3)
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"A cada ano as igrejas neopentecostais ocupam mais espaço na programação televisiva nacional. A IURD (Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus), que iniciou suas atividades em 1977, fez escola e é considerada como uma instituição religiosa-modelo pelas igrejas dessa corrente religiosa no que se refer
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e à exploração do espaço televisivo para a adesão de fiéis. Neste texto, o autor analisa um programa televisivo desta igreja, revelando o alto grau de profissionalismo na construção de discurso e na utilização dos recursos audiovisuais da televisão." (Resumo)
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"¿Por qué hay tantos teleapóstoles en Guatemala? Me conformo con presentar siete líneas de investigación que nos ayudarán a responder esta pregunta. Para responder adecuadamente, también habría que contrastar la experiencia guatemalteca con otras experiencias latinoamericanas, especialmente
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la brasileira.
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"This article addresses the interface of video-films and Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity in Ghana. This interface, it is argued, needs to be examined from a position that transcends the confines of film studies and religious studies and leaves behind a secularist perspective on the relationship
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between religion and film. On the basis of detailed ethnographic research, it is shown that, far from standing apart from the realm of religious beliefs, video-films call upon audiovisual technologies so as to remediate Pentecostal views of the invisible world around which Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity evolves. Video-films invoke a “techno-religious realism” that addresses spectators in such a way that they authorize video representations as authentic. Transcending facile oppositions of technology and belief, media and authenticity, and entertainment and religion, video-films are shown to achieve immediacy and authenticity not at the expense of, but thanks to, media technologies and practices of remediation." (Abstract)
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"This article will describe the impact of North American religious television in two very different Latin American contexts: Guatemala in Central America and Brazil in South America. From these common North American roots, Guatemala and Brazil provide contrasting case studies of how religious entrep
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reneurs struggle to place their messages in the media marketplace. Guatemala provides a study in marginality: despite having built impressive religious institutions, Guatemala’s Pentecostal television preachers have had little success in getting their message before the general populace on commercial television. Guatemala’s highly fragmented social and ecclesial climate has led to fierce competition for the loyalty of the faithful between religious entrepreneurs who have only limited impact in the larger society. Brazil, on the other hand, provides examples of Pentecostal preachers who have built successful religious franchises that have accumulated sufficient resources to finance major incursions into the commercial media. The concluding section will explore how symbolic goods are marketed in today’s global religious supermarket." (Introduction, page 49)
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"Esta pesquisa propõe-se a demonstrar como uma terceira onda de recatolização brasileira está sendo constituída, liderada por uma nova face da Renovação Carismática Católica: o catolicismomidiático, cujo emblema é o fenômeno Pe. Marcelo Rossi. O estudo identifica as mutações culturais
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que alavancam a consolidação dessa recatolização, suas semelhanças com o neopentecostalismo protestante e os conflitos intra-eclesiais gerados por essa ofensiva de reinstitucionalização, inspirada e legitimada no pontificado de João Paulo II. Alerta-se, também, para os traços - neointegristas - e - exculturados - que tendem a redesenhar outra fase do catolicismo, a qual vem fermentando nos últimos trinta anos. No âmago dessa discussão, encontram-se os dilemas e os paradoxos que emergem na relação histórica entre a Igreja e a modernidade, quando a primeira apropria-se da cultura midiática, através do uso religioso dos meios de comunicação de massa, no afã de adaptar-se aos sinais dos tempos. A tese consta de três partes: a primeira captura as interfaces da vertiginosa ascensão do jovem sacerdote com a cultura de consumo; a segunda esboça os traços do catolicismo midiático e a maneira como ele configura imaginários, subjetividades e sociabilidades religiosas, veiculando-as na rádio, televisão, internet e cinema, além de analisar os desdobramentos sociais dessas práticas pastorais; e a terceira aproxima o leitor à dinâmica interna de uma instituição milenar, experiente na arte de gerenciar diferenças, negociar hegemonias e de manter um equilíbrio sistêmico. No seu conjunto, esta reflexão ambiciona sugerir a relevância do fenômeno religioso na sociedade contemporânea." (Resumo)
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"In many parts of Africa, charismatic-Pentecostal churches are increasingly and effectively making use of mass media and entering the public sphere. This article presents a case study of a popular charismatic church in Ghana and its media ministry. Building on the notion of charisma as intrinsically
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linking religion and media, the aim is to examine the dynamics between the supposedly fluid nature of charisma and the creation of religious subjects through a fixed format. The process of making, broadcasting and watching Living Word shows how the format of televisualisation of religious practice creates charisma, informs ways of perception, and produces new kinds of religious subjectivity and spiritual experience. Through the mass mediation of religion a new religious format emerges, which, although originating from the charismatic-Pentecostal churches, spreads far beyond and is widely appropriated as a style of worship and of being religious." (Abstract)
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"Durch das Auge der Kamera verändert sich der Gottesdienst. Die Kamera leitet den Blick des Zuschauers und ihre Anwesenheit verändert auch die gottesdienstliche Feier der Gemeinde. Mit durchschnittlich ca. 700.000 Menschen, die am Sonntag von den regelmäßigen katholischen Gottesdiensten im Ferns
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ehen erreicht werden, ist ihre Reichweite beachtlich. Die vorliegende Arbeit fragt zum einen nach der theologischen Grundlegung der Übertragungen. Zum anderen untersucht sie, wie die gottesdienstliche Gestaltung und die Regie dabei mitwirken, dass die Übertragungen auch für die Zuschauer am Bildschirm zu gottesdienstlichen Feiern werden können. Die Geschichte der Gottesdienstübertragungen im Femsehen ist die Geschichte der Diskussion um die Zulässigkeit dieses Sendeformats. Dabei wird das Übertragungskonzept, das aus der bisherigen Praxis erhoben wird, durch die vorliegende Arbeit maßgeblich weiterentwickelt. Ein neues Konzept der Gottesdienstübertragungen wird durch die interdisziplinäre Anlage sowohl auf medienwissenschaftlicher als auch liturgietheologischer Basis erarbeitet. Die Arbeit kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Gottesdienstübertragung sowohl eine eigenständige Gottesdienstform als auch ein eigenständiges Programmformat darstellt. Durch die Analyse der Übertragungspraxis, des Zuschauerprofils und vor allem durch die detaillierte Untersuchung von über 50 Gottesdienstübertragungen wird diese konzeptionelle Grundlegung an der Praxis überprüft und fortgeschrieben." (Klappentext)
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