![Publicity for the eFaith workshop featured an Instagram post by M.K., a third-generation Palestinian refugee from Lebanon. The post shows the user during a virtual tour of the Old City in Jerusalem, a tour made possible by VoIPbased videotelephony services WhatsApp and Facetime. The user described the virtual tour as "the closest I have ever gotten-and probably the closest I will ever get-to my homeland, Palestine … It's like a virtual Right of Return". Instagram post [username withheld]. November 4, 2018.](https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Fouad-Marei/publication/387822593/figure/fig1/AS:11431281302177435@1736343369967/Publicity-for-the-eFaith-workshop-featured-an-Instagram-post-by-MK-a-third-generation_Q320.jpg)
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Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture
VOLUME 13, ISSUES 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME 13.2 2024
2588-8099
e 2165-9214
brill.com/rmdc
edited by Fouad Gehad Marei
Reshaping
Against #CoronaJihaad
Roland Benedikter. Religion in the Age of Re-Globalization: A Brief
Introduction
Networking the Black Church: Digital Black Christians and
Hip Hop
Performing Atheist Selves in Digital Publics: U.S. Women and
Non-Religious Identity Online
Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture VOLUME 13.2 2024
Journal of
Religion,
Media and
Digital Culture
Special Thematic Articles:
God’s Influencers: How Social Media Users
Shape Religion and Pious Self-Fashioning
edited by Fouad Gehad Marei
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Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture
Aims & Scope
The Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture (
.
Editor-in-Chief
Seton Hall University, USA
Managing Editors
University of Denver
Bar-Ilan University
Founding Editor
University of Nottingham (UK)
Liaison to the International Society for Media, Religion and Culture
Aarhus Universitet (Denmark)
Book Review Editor
Deakin University, Australia
Editorial Board
Trinity Theological Seminary, USA
Universitat Ramon Llull, Spain
Arizona State University, USA
University of Denver, USA
Universidade Metodista de São Paulo, Brazil
University of Sydney, Australia
University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
Greg Grieve, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
Uppsala University, Sweden
University of Hyderabad, India
CODEC Centre for Digital Theology, Durham University, UK
University of Bremen Institute for Religious Studies & Religious Education, Germany
Charles University, Czech Republic
Åbo University, Finland
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, USA
University of Southern California, USA
Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture (print 2588-8099, online
Published with license by Koninklijke Brill
(print)(online)
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the
Introduction
Fouad Gehad Marei
f.g.marei@icloud.com
and social networking can be used to lull us … Yet he knew how to
1
(
social media are a sociotechnological force to be reckoned with in the global
The articles of this special issue examine how social media users shape
digital mediascapes and technoscapes ( shape relations within
marei
–
social media users who enjoy a degree of public recognition as celebrity
world (
i.e.
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
i.a.
marei
celebrity users depends on their claim to authenticity and legitimacy and their
to react and interact with social media content and each other (e.g.
i.a.
This special issue takes as its starting point that Digital Religion is not
Campbell
and
programmatic introduction explores resonances and dissonances between the
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
sketching future research directions in the study of how social media users
marei
2
practice are not completely distinct (
a) identifying alliances and interactions between digital and analog practices
rely on these online tools to search for mosques that suit their personal pieties
i.a.
Muslims and their mosques as physical places of worship and the coalescing
from digital harassment to institutional sanctions and social disapprobation
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
the
while also showing that online interactions can both reinforce and challenge
3
technologies use can both reduce and increase inequality (
3.1 Social Media as “a Tool of Absolute Self-Empowerment”
and enable ordinary users to reach wider audiences and become celebrities
marei
through online performance ( ;
;
e.g.;
; ; on Muslim
e.g. + people (e.g.
and the youth (e.g.
e.g.
to the Internet and create new forms of online religiosities (
to an intersection of religious actors at multiple layers of authority (Campbell
; ; also
religious social media use can alter the dynamics of epistemic authority in
contemporary religions (
(
of race and sexuality in ways that challenge the contours of mainstream
Trattner demonstrate how Christian feminists in Ghana and Germany use
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
3.2 Social Media as a Space Where Agency Is “Relational, Situated and
Constrained”
e.g.
Tsuria
;
new meddlesome opportunities for religious and other authorities to police
e.g.
e.g.e.g.
;
This recognition has two implications for the study of how social media
marei
enabled by the interplay between the systems and structures that guide social
reactions and interactions of religious
4
This leads us to consider the outcomes of the change brought by increased
on social media (;
4.1 Authenticity and Religion
;
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
(;
;
i.e.
;
4.2 Authenticity in Religious Social Media
]) foster an impression of authentic disclosure and
Germany and feminist Christians in Ghana impart closeness and relatability
Malli examines calls itself Macht’s klick?
the female Muslim propriety that these YouTubers promote does not draw
Ministries (
marei
grassroots public theology emanating from outside ecclesiastically controlled
Research on religious social media use in other contexts also shows that
and authenticity of personal expression rather than … religious tradition or
4.3 Performing Authenticity Online
Gauthier
modernity (; ; ;
entails communicating the uniqueness and sincerity of the religious social
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
authentically
to perform and
present
Balaban and
; ; ; Snyder
marei
5
The empirical case studies that inform this special issue illustrate how
5.1 Aesthetic (Audiovisual) Strategies
emotional responses (see on “
the “
where content (e.g.e.g.
e.g.
aesthetic effects that enhance and highlight digitality (e.g.
i.a.
(
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
(e.g.
Christoph
(
(
; ;
;
not
marei
5.2 Rhetorical Strategies
“
(; of contemporary digital
employ a “
i.e.
i.e.
Interpretation
actions and positionings (e.g.
is “
strategy that demonstrates to the audience how a religious social media user
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
e.g.
i.a.
(“
Vitriolic Rhetoric
the
multimodal features of social networks make the production and circulation
Marc
elite social media users employ professional digital marketing techniques and
scale (
debate and conciliatory dialogue (
be a tool of systematic deceit and dupery (
5.3 Social Networking Strategies
marei
i.e.
(
of online interactions (
i.e.
social media users and their interactions with digital content and each other
this special issue makes three key contributions to our understanding of how
platforms that allow users to repost content on their own social media feeds or
i.e.
own and the discussions that ensue) and increases the likelihood of hostile
e.g.
e.g.
content according to the user’s digital footprint (i.e.
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
solely by the platform (e.g.
;
(i.e.
encounter content that reinforces their preexisting beliefs and connect
(i.a.
democratic cultures (
By
e.g.
6
This programmatic introduction explored resonances and dissonances
marei
on whether online interactions reify or challenge socioreligious norms and
relations to a focus on the substantial and enduring impact that online actions
religion is increasingly shaped by religious digital leaders and ordinary users
the attributes of religious authority and shape the dynamics and outcomes of
e.g.
c) social networking strategies that allow users to enhance the empowering
6.1 Implications and Future Research
conclude by sketching new directions in the study of how social media users
research is needed to unpack
i.a.
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
Digital Religion should pay closer attention to the impact of technological
)
could be especially useful in unpacking
and multimedia) (e.g.
should also focus on
e.g.
look like
feel
(
marei
Cheong
e.g.
e.g.
e.g.
needs to be done to unpack the complex interconnections between religion
consider that a) countries of the Gulf region are home to the world’s highest
and
(
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture
Graduate School (
(
The Handbook of 5 A Fifth Generation of War?
Ada New Media
Social Media + Society
New Media in the
Muslim World
Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization
Media and Communication
Culture as Praxis
Liquid Modernity
Social Media + Soci-
ety
Virtually Islamic: Computer-Mediated Communication and Cyber
Islamic Environments
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in New
Media Worlds
Digital Creatives and the Rethinking of Religious Authority
Information, Communication and
Society
Religions
Society
Digital Religion: Understanding Religious
Practice in New Media World
Journal
of Communication
The Mediated Construction of Reality
Digital 2024: Global Overview Report
Journal of Contemporary Religions
Information Society
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
Print
Moderne Religiöse Erlebniswelten in den USA:
“Have Fun and Prepare to Believe!”
Zeitschrift für Religion, Gesellschaft und Politik
Practicing Religion in the Age of the
Media
Studies in Religion
/Sciences Religieuses
Infor-
mation, Communication & Society
Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern
Age
Religions
Journal of Communication Inquiry
The Black Scholar
Jihadi Audiovisuality and its Entanglements
Practices of Islamic Preaching: Text, Performativity, and Materiality of Islamic Reli-
gious Speech
Jihadi Audiovisuality and Its
Entanglements: Meanings, Aesthetics and Appropriations
Re-thinking Mediations of Post-truth Politics and Trust: Globality, Cul-
Jurnal Komunikasi:
Malaysian Journal of Communication
marei
Deep Mediatization
The Ethical Soundscape: Cassette Sermons and Islamic Coun-
terpublics
International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
The Invention of Tradition
Sensational Piety: Practices of Mediation in Islamic and Pente-
costal Movements in Abuja, Nigeria
Digital Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Deception, Disin-
formation and Social Media
Understanding Digital Literacies
Edge
Technology Review
Journal of Research in Interactive
Marketing
The Invention of Sacred Tradition
College English
Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in
New Media Worlds
– Journal for Communication Studies
Journal of Religion, Media and Digi-
tal Culture
Poetics
The Epistemology
of Deceit in a Postdigital Era: Dupery by Design
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
Religion and Society
-
ters
A Flag Worth Dying For: The Power and Politics of Flags
Aesthetic Formations: Media, Religion, and the Senses
How the World Changed Social Media
Philosophical Perspectives on Computer-Mediated Communication
The Academy of Management Annals
The Filter Bubble: What the internet is hiding from you
Muslim Women Online: Faith and Identity in Virtual Space
Blowing
up the brand: Critical perspectives on promotional culture
Christus vivit
Digital Religion: Understanding Reli-
gious Practice in New Media Worlds
Material Religion
marei
Social Sciences
Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in the Age of Social Net-
works
Nar-
ratives in Research and Interventions on Cyberbullying among Young People
Media, Culture and Society
Journal of Contemporary Reli-
gion
Social media usage worldwide: Statistics report about global social network
usage
Information Technology and
Moral Philosophy
Information
Journal of Information, Communication, and Ethics in Society
Religion
+
The Oxford Handbook of Digital Religion
god’s influencers: how social media users shape religion
Keeping Women in Their Digital Place: The Maintenance of Jewish
Gender Norms Online
Digital Hate: The Global
Conjuncture of Extreme Speech
The Digital Divide
Narratives in Research and Interven-
tions on Cyberbullying among Young People
Geoforum
Religions
Digital Literacy and Inclusion: Stories, Platforms, Communities
marei
