Churching Online: A Study on Religious Authority and Tourism in a Digital Age
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12727/ajts.21.4Keywords:
Online Religion, Digital Authority, Digital Tourism, Corporatisation of Church, Monitoring, Religious IdentityAbstract
Christian churches in India with their growing access to digital technology have brought along promises to im-prove the interface between religion and society. This study looks at the Assemblies of God Fellowship (AGF), a popular youth church in Ahmedabad, Gujarat which has utilised the digital space to create an experience of engaging with the spiritual. This study contributes to-wards an ethnographically researched narrative of the church and its role in the domain of digital tourism, the manner in which religious authority negotiates the influx of the Internet. The research focusses on ways in which online communications shape religious meanings, identi-ties, expressions of religiosity, and contemporary notions of tourism. AGF‘s inclusion of the online in its day-to-day faith practices along with its establishment of new units such as the ‗media team‘ has led to the emergence of a media-savvy leadership.
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Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1988). Do inquiry paradigms imply inquiry methodologies? In D. M. Fetterman (Ed.), Qualitative approaches toevaluation in education: The silent scientific revolution (pp. 89-115). Praeger, London. Hebden, K. (2011). Dalit theology and Christian anarchism. Ashgate, Corn-wall, UK.
Helland, C. (2013). Religion. In H. Campbell (Ed.), Digital religion: under-standing religious practice in new media worlds (pp. 104-118). Routledge, New York,.
Hiroyuki, K. (2011). Preserving the dignity of Shinto Shrines in the age of the internet: a social context analysis. In E. Baffelli, I. Reader, & B. Staemmler (ed.), Japanese religions on the internet: innovation, representa-tion, and authority (pp. 62-80). Routledge, New York.
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Jorgensen, D. L. (1999). Participant observation. Sage, London.
Kaelber, L. (2006). Paradigms of travel: from religious pilgrimage to postmodern tourism. In D. Timothy, D. Olsen (Eds.), Tourism, religion, and spiritual journeys (pp. 49-63). Routledge, London.
Kant, I. (1960). Religion within the limits of pure reason. Harper & Row, New York.
Kenshin, F. (2011). The situation of Japanese traditional Buddhism in the Web2.0 Era: who attacks and who guards the religion? In E. Baffelli, I. Reader & B. Staemmler (Ed.), Japanese religions on the internet: innova-tion, representation, and authority (pp 39-62). Routledge, New York.
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Meyer, B. (2006). Religious sensations: why media, aesthetics and power matter in the study of contemporary religion. Retrieved from https:// www.researchgate.net/publication/241889837_Religious_Sensations_Why_Media_Aesthetics_and_Power_Matter_in_the_Study_of_Contemporary_Religion
Muller, M. F. (1910). Lectures on the origin and growth of religion. Scribner, New York.
Mauss, M. (2001). A General theory of magic. Routledge, New York.
Nayan, D. (2008, January 14). An all-Christian village in Gujarat [India]. The Times of India. Retrieved from http:// search.proquest.com. ez-proxy.auckland.ac.nz/docview/428290305?accountid=8424
Pathak, B. (2011, December 21). Gujarat‘s oldest Church in city [Vadoda-ra]. Times of India. Retrieved from http:// search.proquest.com. ez-proxy.auckland.ac.nz/docview/912043517?accountid=8424
Rajan, B. (2015). Faith memes: An analysis of authority as reflected in the social media of Churches in New Delhi. Interdisciplinary Journal of Re-search on Religion, 11(13). http:// www.religjournal.com/ ar-ticles/article_view.php?id=104
Rajan, B. (2016). Minority representation in ‗The Digital‘: narrative from Christian communities in Delhi. TransMission: The Journal of Film and Media Studies, 1(1), 21-36.
Rajan, B., & Sarkar, S. (2017). Emerging digital Church in India: A study of WhatsApp communication in Churches. In S. Kar (Ed.), Religion, society and culture (pp. 125-136). Kolkata: Monoshakti.
Rajan, B., & Vaz, E. (2018). Sacred texting: a study on social media lan-guage trends in New Delhi and Bengaluru Churches. Amity Journal of Media & Communication Studies, 8(1), 24-35.
Terre Blanche, M., & Durrheim, K. (1999). Research in practice. University of Cape Town Press, Cape Town. Thomas, P. (2008). Strong religion, zealous media Christian fundamentalism and communication in India. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.
Turner, W. V. (1969). The ritual process: structure and anti-structure. Cornell University Press, New York.
Usunier, J. C., & Stolz, J. (2014). Religions as brands: new perspectives on the marketization of religion and spirituality. Ashgate AHRC. Ashgate Pub-lishing Group.
Venugopal, C. N. (1990). Reformist sects and the sociology of religion in India. Sociological Analysis, Special Presidential Issue Sociology of Re-ligion: International Perspectives, 51, S77-S88.
White, R.A. (2007). The media, culture, and religion perspective: discover-ing a theory and methodology for studying media and religion. Communication Research Trends, 26(1), 1-3.
Yagnik, B. (2013, November 24). Irish took to Gujarat with missionary zeal. The Times of India. Retrieved from https:// timesofin-dia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Irish-took-to-Gujarat-with-missionary-zeal/articleshow/26280446.cms
Weber, M. (1968). Economy and society: an outline of interpretive sociology. Bedminster Press, New York. Weber, M. (1966). Sociology of religion. Methuen, London.
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Published
2021-08-23
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Rajan, B., & Kundu, D. (2021). Churching Online: A Study on Religious Authority and Tourism in a Digital Age. Atna Journal of Tourism Studies, 14(1), 47-82. https://doi.org/10.12727/ajts.21.4
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