scholarly journals Christianity as Public Religion in the Post-Secular 21st Century

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Gibbons
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Sociology Of Religion ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Religion ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Christian Perspective ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Gospel Message

The Christian gospel message was intended to be public. The biblical basis for this is undisputable. Yet in recent times the visibility of the Christian perspective on issues affecting society that are often debated in the public sphere has declined in many Western societies. In “Sociology and Theology Reconsidered: Religious Sociology and the Sociology of Religion in Britain,” John Brewer states that “religion has tended to be restricted to the private sphere” in many modern nation-states over the 20th century, meaning public displays of religiosity have been frowned upon and strictly limited. The privatization of religion is a result of a decline in the importance of religion in modern societies, a process termed “secularization.” Yet the idea of increasing secularization in society is not accepted by all. Despite common-sense notions that such societies have become increasingly secular in nature, Christian values do still clearly underpin the nature and functioning of institutions of the state and government in many Western nation-states. Bryan Turner states in “Religion and Contemporary Sociological Theories” that since the late 20th century at least, there has actually been a “growing recognition of the importance of religion in public life”, something José Casanova termed “public religion.” The sociologist Peter Berger suggested that we began to witness the “desecularization” of the world in the late 20th century as there has been (and continues to be) a global resurgence in religious adherents. This situation was evident most considerably in the rapid growth of Christianity across the globe throughout the 20th century, a phenomenon that continues to gather momentum into the 21st century.

The Politics of Immersive Storytelling

2020 ◽  
pp. 175-190
Author(s):  
Christian Stiegler
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Logic ◽  
The Public Sphere

This article applies and extends the concept of social media logic to assess the politics of immersive storytelling on digital platforms. These politics are considered in the light of what has been identified as mass media logic, which argues that mass media in the 20th century gained power by developing a commanding discourse that guides the organization of the public sphere. The shift to social media logic in the 21st century, with its grounding principles of programmability, popularity, connectivity, and datafication, influenced a new discourse on the logics of digital ecosystems. Digital platforms such as Facebook are offering all-surrounding mediated environments to communicate in Virtual Reality (‘Facebook Spaces') as well as immersive narratives such as Mr. Robot VR. This article provides an understanding of the politics of immersive storytelling and of its underlying principles of programmability, user experience, popularity, and platform sociality, which define immersive technologies in the 21st century.

‘No Line on the Horizon'

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
Christian Stiegler
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Logic ◽  
The Public Sphere

This chapter applies and extends the concept of social media logic to assess the politics of immersive storytelling on digital platforms. These politics are considered in the light of what has been identified as mass media logic, which argues that mass media in the 20th century gained power by developing a commanding discourse that guides the organization of the public sphere. The shift to social media logic in the 21st century, with its grounding principles of programmability, popularity, connectivity, and datafication, influenced a new discourse on the logics of digital ecosystems. Digital platforms such as Facebook are offering all-surrounding mediated environments to communicate in virtual reality (‘Horizon') as well as immersive narratives such as Mr. Robot VR. This chapter provides an overview of the changing dynamics within Facebook's VR strategy as well as an understanding of the politics of immersive storytelling and its underlying principles of programmability, user experience, popularity, and platform sociality, which define immersive technologies in the 21st century.

The Politics of Immersive Storytelling

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Stiegler
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Mass Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Logic ◽  
The Public Sphere

This article applies and extends the concept of social media logic to assess the politics of immersive storytelling on digital platforms. These politics are considered in the light of what has been identified as mass media logic, which argues that mass media in the 20th century gained power by developing a commanding discourse that guides the organization of the public sphere. The shift to social media logic in the 21st century, with its grounding principles of programmability, popularity, connectivity, and datafication, influenced a new discourse on the logics of digital ecosystems. Digital platforms such as Facebook are offering all-surrounding mediated environments to communicate in Virtual Reality (‘Facebook Spaces') as well as immersive narratives such as Mr. Robot VR. This article provides an understanding of the politics of immersive storytelling and of its underlying principles of programmability, user experience, popularity, and platform sociality, which define immersive technologies in the 21st century.

“Band Wagon and Gravy Train”: uses and abuses along the Silk Road

Afghanistan ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-194
Author(s):  
Warwick Ball
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Ancient Trade ◽  
International Image ◽  
Academic Discussion ◽  
The Silk Road

The Silk Road as an image is a relatively new one for Afghanistan. It appeals to both the pre-Islamic and the perceived Islamic past, thus offering an Islamic balance to previous identities linked to Bamiyan or to the Kushans. It also appeals to a broader and more international image, one that has been taken up by many other countries. This paper traces the rise of the image of the Silk Road and its use as a metaphor for ancient trade to encompass all contacts throughout Eurasia, prehistoric, ancient and modern, but also how the image has been adopted and expanded into many other areas: politics, tourism and academia. It is argued here that the origin and popularity of the term lies in late 20th century (and increasingly 21st century) politics rather than any reality of ancient trade. Its consequent validity as a metaphor in academic discussion is questioned

Word, Image, Sound

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-152
Author(s):  
Matthew Engelke
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Religion ◽  
The Senses ◽  
The Public Sphere

Abstract This essay introduces the special section “Word, Image, Sound,” a collection of essays on public religion and religious publicities in Africa and South Asia. The essays cover case studies in Myanmar, Zambia, Senegal, Rwanda, and Egypt. The introduction situates the essays in relation to the broader fields of work on the public sphere and publics, especially as they relate to recent work in the human sciences that focus on materiality, the senses, and media.

Wonder, Horror, Mystery: Letters on Cinema and Religion in Malick, Von Trier, and Kieślowski

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan Meis ◽  
J.M. Tyree
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Film Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Life Meaning ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Lars Von Trier ◽  
Creative Writer ◽  
Film Critic

Wonder, Horror, Mystery is a dialogue between two friends, both notable arts critics, that takes the form of a series of letters about movies and religion. One of the friends, J.M. Tyree, is a film critic, creative writer, and agnostic, while the other, Morgan Meis, is a philosophy PhD, art critic, and practicing Catholic. The question of cinema is raised here in a spirit of friendly friction that binds the personal with the critical and the spiritual. What is film? What’s it for? What does it do? Why do we so intensely love or hate films that dare to broach the subjects of the divine and the diabolical? These questions stimulate further thoughts about life, meaning, philosophy, absurdity, friendship, tragedy, humor, death, and God. The letters focus on three filmmakers who challenged secular assumptions in the late 20th century and early 21st century through various modes of cinematic re-enchantment: Terrence Malick, Lars von Trier, and Krzysztof Kieślowski. The book works backwards in time, giving intensive analysis to Malick’s To The Wonder (2012), Von Trier’s Antichrist (2009), and Kieślowski’s Dekalog (1988), respectively, in each of the book’s three sections. Meis and Tyree discuss the filmmakers and films as well as related ideas about philosophy, theology, and film theory in an accessible but illuminating way. The discussion ranges from the shamelessly intellectual to the embarrassingly personal. Spoiler alert: No conclusions are reached either about God or the movies. Nonetheless, it is a fun ride.

scholarly journals Hebrew, Hebrews, Hubris?: Diagnosing Race and Religion in the Time of COVID-19

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1020
Author(s):  
Richard Newton
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Thought Experiment ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Working Paper ◽  
History Of ◽  
Race And Religion

This thought experiment in comparison ponders a Black man’s conviction that his Hebrew identity would make him immune to COVID-19. Surfacing the history of the claims and the scholar’s own suspicions, the paper examines the layered politics of identification. Contra an essentialist understanding of the terms, “Hebrew” and “Hebrews” are shown to be classificatory events, ones imbricated in the dynamics of racecraft. Furthermore, a contextualization of the “race religion” model of 19th century scholarship, 20th century US religio-racial movements, and the complicated legacy of Tuskegee in 21st century Black vaccine hesitancy help to outline the need for inquisitiveness rather than hubris in matters of comparison. In so doing, this working paper advances a model of the public scholar as a questioner of categories and a diagnostician of classification.

scholarly journals The Problem of Fundamentalism in Foreign Orthodoxy: the Review

2019 ◽  
pp. 23-35
Author(s):  
Anna M. Yakovleva ◽  
◽  
Alexey V. Volobuev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
21St Century ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mass Consciousness ◽  
Conservative Beliefs ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Given ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The Church

. The review deals with the problem of Orthodox fundamentalism in the discussion of Englishspeaking authors of different denominations, representatives of canonical and non-canonical Orthodox churches, which took place in theological discussions, in journalism and at scientific conferences mainly in recent years. The main materials are first introduced into the scientific circulation in Russian. The concepts of fundamentalism in Orthodoxy in the foreign press are presented; the definitions of Orthodox fundamentalism, the main theses of opponents and their argumentation are given. Frequently, the word “fundamentalism” in relation to Orthodoxy is used as a banal nickname for those opponents who have traditional or conservative beliefs, are prone to “ritualism”, shows intolerance and lack of readiness for dialogue, including ecumenical. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, theologians, priests and scholars have been trying to give a stricter definition of such fundamentalism as a phenomenon of the modern era, especially in its demise. It is primarily about the attitude to the works of the holy fathers of the Church. It is expressed, in particular, the opinion that the veneration of patristic writings, along with the resolutions of the Councils (which constitutes the Holy Tradition) should be revised. However, the concept of “Orthodox fundamentalism”, as follows from the given review, has not yet been formed. But one can speak of such signs of it, connected, in particular, with a wide exit to the public sphere of mass consciousness, as the striving to minimize theological provisions, absolutization of some provisions of dogma to the detriment of others, and the logos (modern) reading of the myth.

scholarly journals NYC POPS: Exploring Human Agency of the Public Sphere

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Anna Constable
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Privately Owned

<p>This thesis aims to investigate, through design, spatial agency within the realm of New York City’s Privately Owned Public Spaces. The notion of agency in architecture is directly linked to social and political power. Starting in 1961, New York’s city planners introduced an incentive zoning scheme (POPS) which encouraged private builders to include public spaces in their developments. Many are in active public use, but others are hard to find, under surveillance, or essentially inaccessible. Within the existing POPS sites, tension is current between the ideals of public space - completely open, accessible - and the limitations imposed by those who create and control it. Designed to be singular, contained, and mono-functional, POPS do not yet allow for newer ideas of public space as multi-functional, not contained/bounded but extending and overlapping outward.  As public-private partnerships become the model for catalyzing urban (re)development in the late 20th century, bonus space is an increasingly common land use type in major cities across the world. The quality and nature of bonus spaces created in exchange for floor area bonuses varies greatly. In many cases, tensions in privately owned space produce a severely constricted definition of the public and public life. Incentive zoning programmes continue to serve as a model for numerous urban zoning regulations, so changing ideas of public space and its design need to be tested in such spaces.  These urban plazas offer a test case through which to examine agency, exploring how social space is also political space, charged with the dynamics of power/ empowerment, interaction/ isolation, control/ freedom. This thesis looks at one such site, the connecting plaza sites along Sixth Avenue between West 47th St and West 51st St. This is an extreme example of concentrated POPS sites in New York City. Here one’s perception and occupation of space is profoundly affected by the underlying design of that space which reflects its private ownership. Privately Owned Public Space can be designed that is capable of/ challenging the notion of the public in public space, and modifying the structure of the city and its social life.</p>

scholarly journals The Two-Part Gender Revolution, Women’s Second Shift and Changing Cohort Fertility

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Frejka ◽  
Frances Goldscheider ◽  
Trude Lappegård
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Private Sphere ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
The Public ◽  
Employed Mothers ◽  
Cohort Fertility ◽  
Second Shift ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Gender Revolution

The two parts of the gender revolution have been evolving side by side at least since the 1960s. The first part, women’s entry into the public sphere, proceeded faster than the second part, men’s entry into the private sphere. Consequently, many employed mothers have carried a greater burden of paid and unpaid family support than fathers throughout the second half of the 20th century. This constituted women’s “second shift,” depressing fertility. A central focus of this paper is to establish second shift trends during the second half of the 20th century and their effects on fertility. Our analyses are based on data on cohort fertility, male and female labor force participation, and male and female domestic hours worked from 11 countries in Northern Europe, Western/central Europe, Southern Europe, and North America between 1960/70 and 2000/2014. We find that the gender revolution had not generated a turnaround, i.e. an increase in cohort fertility, by the end of the 20th century. Nevertheless, wherever the gender revolution has made progress in reducing women’s second shift, cohort fertility declined the least; where the second shift is large and/or has not been reduced, cohort fertility has declined the most.

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