Religion and Media
Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press (2001), xvii, 649 pp.
Series: Cultural Memory in the Present
"The twenty-five contributors to this volume—who include such influential thinkers as Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Nancy, Talal Asad, and James Siegel—confront the conceptual, analytical, and empirical difficulties involved in addressing the complex relationship between religion and media. The book's introductory section offers a prolegomenon to the multiple problems raised by an interdisciplinary approach to these multifaceted phenomena. The essays in the following part provide exemplary approaches to the historical and systematic background to the study of religion and media, ranging from the biblical prohibition of images and its modern counterparts, through theological discussion of imagery in Ignatius and Luther, to recent investigations into icons and images that "think" in Jean-Luc Marion and Gilles Deleuze. The third part presents case studies by anthropologists and scholars of comparative religion who deal with religion and media in Indonesia, India, Japan, South Africa, Venezuela, Iran, Poland, Turkey, present-day Germany, and Australia. The book concludes with two remarkable documents: a chapter from Theodor W. Adorno's study of the relationship between religion and media in the context of political agitation (The Psychological Technique of Martin Luther Thomas' Radio Addresses) and a section from Niklas Luhmann's monumental Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft (Society as a Social System)." (Publisher description)
PART I. INTRODUCING THE CONCEPTS
In Media Res: Global Religion, Public Spheres, and the Task of Contemporary Comparative Religious Studies / Hent de Vries, 3
Religion, Repetition, Media / Samuel Weber, 43
"Above All, No Journalists!" / Jacques Derrida, 56
Theory on TV: "After-Thoughts" / Laurence A. Rickels and Samuel Weber, 94
The Deconstruction of Christianity / Jean-Luc Nancy, 112
Reading a Modern Classic: W. C. Smith's The Meaning and End of Religion / Talal Asad, 131
PART II. SEEING AND BELIEVING: HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Mimesis and the Ban on Graven Images / Gertrud Koch, 151
In the Workshop of Equivalences: Translation, Institutions, and Media in the Jesuit Re-Formation of China / Haun Saussy, 163
Images of Iron: Ignatius of Loyola and Joyce / Burcht Pranger, 182
Luther with McLuhan / Manfred Schneider, 198
Tele-vision: Between Blind Trust and Perceptual Faith / Jenny Slatman, 216
"The Catholicism of Cinema": Gilles Deleuze on Image and Belief / Paola Marrati, 227
Mission Impossible: Postcards, Pictures, and Parasites / Mieke Bal, 241
PART III. LOCAL RITES, GLOBAL MEDIA: CRITICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES
Kiblat and the Mediatic Jew / James T. Siegel, 271
The Cassowary Will (Not) Be Photographed: The "Primitive," the "Japanese," and the Elusive "Sacred" (Aru, Southeast Moluccas) / Patricia Spyer, 304
A Remaking of Hinduism?: or, Taking the Mickey Out of Valmiki / Julius Lipner, 320
Mirror Image: Layered Narratives in Photographic and Televised Mediations of Ise's Shikinen Sengu / Rosemarie Bernard, 339
Reconciliation Without Justice / Mahmood Mamdani, 376
Channel-Surfing: Media, Mediumship, and State Authority in the María Lionza Possession Cult (Venezuela) / Rafael Sánchez, 388
Production of Fundamentalism: On the Dynamics of Producing the Radically Different / Werner Schiffauer, 435
Filmic Judgment and Cultural Critique: The Work of Art, Ethics, and Religion in Iranian Cinema / Michael M. J. Fischer, 456
The Aboriginal Medium: Negotiating the Caesura of Exchange / Andrew McNamara, 487
Before the Law: Reading the Yuendumu Doors with Eric Michaels / Rex Butler, 514
PART IV. TWO DOCUMENTS
The Religious Medium / Theodor W. Adorno, 531
Morality and the Secrets of Religion / Niklas Luhmann, 555
In Media Res: Global Religion, Public Spheres, and the Task of Contemporary Comparative Religious Studies / Hent de Vries, 3
Religion, Repetition, Media / Samuel Weber, 43
"Above All, No Journalists!" / Jacques Derrida, 56
Theory on TV: "After-Thoughts" / Laurence A. Rickels and Samuel Weber, 94
The Deconstruction of Christianity / Jean-Luc Nancy, 112
Reading a Modern Classic: W. C. Smith's The Meaning and End of Religion / Talal Asad, 131
PART II. SEEING AND BELIEVING: HISTORICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Mimesis and the Ban on Graven Images / Gertrud Koch, 151
In the Workshop of Equivalences: Translation, Institutions, and Media in the Jesuit Re-Formation of China / Haun Saussy, 163
Images of Iron: Ignatius of Loyola and Joyce / Burcht Pranger, 182
Luther with McLuhan / Manfred Schneider, 198
Tele-vision: Between Blind Trust and Perceptual Faith / Jenny Slatman, 216
"The Catholicism of Cinema": Gilles Deleuze on Image and Belief / Paola Marrati, 227
Mission Impossible: Postcards, Pictures, and Parasites / Mieke Bal, 241
PART III. LOCAL RITES, GLOBAL MEDIA: CRITICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACHES
Kiblat and the Mediatic Jew / James T. Siegel, 271
The Cassowary Will (Not) Be Photographed: The "Primitive," the "Japanese," and the Elusive "Sacred" (Aru, Southeast Moluccas) / Patricia Spyer, 304
A Remaking of Hinduism?: or, Taking the Mickey Out of Valmiki / Julius Lipner, 320
Mirror Image: Layered Narratives in Photographic and Televised Mediations of Ise's Shikinen Sengu / Rosemarie Bernard, 339
Reconciliation Without Justice / Mahmood Mamdani, 376
Channel-Surfing: Media, Mediumship, and State Authority in the María Lionza Possession Cult (Venezuela) / Rafael Sánchez, 388
Production of Fundamentalism: On the Dynamics of Producing the Radically Different / Werner Schiffauer, 435
Filmic Judgment and Cultural Critique: The Work of Art, Ethics, and Religion in Iranian Cinema / Michael M. J. Fischer, 456
The Aboriginal Medium: Negotiating the Caesura of Exchange / Andrew McNamara, 487
Before the Law: Reading the Yuendumu Doors with Eric Michaels / Rex Butler, 514
PART IV. TWO DOCUMENTS
The Religious Medium / Theodor W. Adorno, 531
Morality and the Secrets of Religion / Niklas Luhmann, 555
