From Jesus to the Internet - A History of Christianity and Media

From Jesus to the Internet examines Christianity as a mediated phenomenon, paying particular attention to how various forms of media have influenced and developed the Christian tradition over the centuries. It is the first systematic survey of this topic and the author provides those studying or interested in the intersection of religion and media with a lively and engaging chronological narrative. With insights into some of Christianity's most hotly debated contemporary issues, this book provides a much-needed historical basis for this interdisciplinary field.

List of contents

Acknowledgements xi
 
Introduction 1
 
What's this book about? 1
 
What do we mean by Christianity? 2
 
What do we mean by media? 4
 
Media and the historical development of Christianity 7
 
1 In the Beginning 10
 
The social and media context 11
 
Jesus in his media context 14
 
Remaking Jesus in speech and performance 22
 
2 Making Jesus Gentile 28
 
Context: the media world of the Roman Empire 28
 
Early Christian writing 30
 
Paul and letter writing 32
 
The end of the beginning 39
 
3 The Gentile Christian Communities 42
 
The appeal of Christianity 42
 
Multimedia communities 43
 
Christian writings 45
 
The reception and circulation of Christian writings 56
 
Resistance to writing 58
 
4 Men of Letters and Creation of "The Church" 62
 
The Catholic?]Orthodox brand 63
 
Tertullian 68
 
Cyprian 70
 
Origen - the media magnate of Alexandria 72
 
Writing out women 74
 
5 Christianity and Empire 80
 
Imperial patronage and imperial Christianity 80
 
Councils, creeds, and canons 84
 
Constructing time - Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History 90
 
The scriptures as text and artifact 93
 
6 The Latin Translation 99
 
Latin roots 99
 
After the fall 106
 
Monasteries and manuscripts 110
 
Written Latin and the consolidation of medieval Christendom 117
 
7 Christianity in the East 125
 
The Church of the East 125
 
Islam 130
 
Writing the voice 132
 
Regulating the eyes 134
 
8 Senses of the Middle Ages 141
 
The medieval context 142
 
Making time 143
 
Seeing space 145
 
Rituals and hearing 150
 
Nice touch: relics, saints, and pilgrimage 154
 
9 The New Millennium 162
 
Marketing the Crusades 163
 
Scholasticism and universities 168
 
Cathedrals 173
 
Catholic reform 175
 
The Inquisition 180
 
10 Reformation 187
 
Printing and its precursors 187
 
Martin Luther 191
 
John Calvin 195
 
Reworking the Bible 198
 
The changing sensory landscape 200
 
Catholic responses 207
 
Ignatius of Loyola 209
 
11 The Modern World 214
 
The legacy of the Reformation 214
 
Catholic mission 216
 
The impact of print 219
 
Evangelical Revivalism 223
 
Protestant mission 232
 
12 Electrifying Sight and Sound 237
 
The technologies of the audiovisual 237
 
Christianity and the twentieth?]century media world 240
 
Mainline mediation 242
 
The Evangelical Coalition 246
 
Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism 254
 
13 The Digital Era 261
 
The empire of digital capitalism 261
 
Digital practice 264
 
Global Pentecostalism 270
 
Media and Christian sexual abuse 276
 
Tradition and change 279
 
Conclusion 285
 
References 293
 
Index 311

About the author

Peter Horsfield is Professor of Communication at RMIT University, Australia. From 1987-1996, he was Dean of the Uniting Church Theological Hall and Lecturer in Applied Theology in the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne, Australia. His early study, Religious Television: The American Experience (2004) was influential in assessing the impact of the emerging phenomenon of televangelism in the U.S. From 1997-2005 he was a member of the International Study Commission on Media Religion and Culture. He has researched and published extensively in the area of the interaction of media and religion, with a particular focus on Christianity. He is the co-editor of several books, including Emerging Research in Media, Religion and Culture (2005) and Belief in Media: Cultural Perspectives on Media and Christianity (2004).

Summary

From Jesus to the Internet examines Christianity as a mediated phenomenon, paying particular attention to how various forms of media have influenced and developed the Christian tradition over the centuries.

Report

Tracing the implications of the adoption of new media technologies into Christian modes of communication among believers and with the divine over a period of 2000 years, Peter Horsfield draws a fascinating and fresh picture of contestations, breaks and reformations in the dynamic history of Christianity. This well-written, imaginative book does not only throw recent work on modern mass media and Christianity into historical relief, it also makes a convincing case for the fruitfulness of a media perspective to capture salient transition points that rearticulate the Christian tradition and reset its role and place in society.
Birgit Meyer, Utrecht University
 
This ambitious, resourceful, and clearly written book makes the major contribution of showing how fundamentally integrated religion and media always have been throughout the history of Christianity. The power of media--from writing to print, from imagery, music and architecture to radio, film, and television--has been to make accessible what Christians experience in their faith. Horsfield properly locates the study of media at the heart of the study of the religion.
David Morgan, Duke University

Product details

• Authors: Peter Horsfield, Peter (Rmit University Horsfield, Horsfield Peter
• Publisher: Wiley, John and Sons Ltd
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 22.05.2015
• EAN: 9781118447383
• ISBN: 978-1-118-44738-3
• No. of pages: 336
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; Geschichte, Christentum, Religionsgeschichte, History, Geschichte des Christentums, Christianity, Social groups: religious groups and communities, Religion & Theology, Religion u. Theologie, History of Christianity