Media and Religion

2025/2026

Учебный год

ENG

Обучение ведется на английском языке

3

Кредиты

Кто читает:

Институт медиа

Статус:

Курс по выбору

Когда читается:

1-й курс, 4 модуль

Course Syllabus

Abstract

In this course media are viewed as an integral part of lived religion as they are now integrated into everyday practices, identity formation and meaning making. During the course, students will be offered theoretical resources and a variety of empirical cases for understanding and analyzing how religious communities interact with media understood as a) means by which something is communicated or expressed, b) means of mass communication. As for religion, it is approached in its institutional and vernacular dimensions and different manifestations: individual and collective, visible and invisible, public and private. The course sheds light on different aspects of the relationship between media and religion including negotiation of media technologies within religious communities, constructing religious identity online, changes in religious traditions brought by the processes of mediatization of religious sphere. A part of the course is devoted to producing content concerning religious sphere: the peculiarities of writing and talking about religion in public, which is useful for professional journalists as well as writers, researchers, exhibition curators, etc.

Learning Objectives

• To introduce the principles and main theoretical approaches to analyzing the relationship between media and religion(-s)
• To teach students to reveal the effects of mediatization of religion on the communities
• To provide students with the tools to analyze how religious communities construct their identities in media environment
• To familiarize students with the specificity of working in the religious field in order to produce content on religious topics
• To show a variety of religious traditions interacting with media technologies and means of mass communication in order to demonstrate the spectrum of beliefs and practices influencing our understanding of religious communities and their media representations

Expected Learning Outcomes

• uses such theoretical approaches as mediation of religion, mediatization of religion and religious social shaping of technology in their research and / or makes sense of a wide variety of phenomena concerning the interaction of media and religion(-s)
• reveals the effects of mediatization of different aspects of religious life
• compares different religious traditions in their attitudes to adopting media technologies as well as strategies of everyday presence on different media platforms,
• works in a religious field as a professional journalist, researcher, writer or a professional in creative industries and knows the specificity of producing content on topics connected with religion
• applies the latest research in the field of media and religion studies to his/her professional needs

Course Contents

• Introduction to Media and Religion
• Religious communities and media technologies
• Religion in apps, films, and games
• How to talk and write about religion
• Case studies

Assessment Elements

• Analyzing views of religious leaders / religious leader’s blog
• Discussing research on religious journalism
• Theoretically and empirically grounded final project
• Attendance of classes & Activity during the course

Interim Assessment

• 2025/2026 4th module
  0.2 * Discussing research on religious journalism + 0.2 * Attendance of classes & Activity during the course + 0.2 * Analyzing views of religious leaders / religious leader’s blog + 0.4 * Theoretically and empirically grounded final project

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Stout, D. A. (2006). Encyclopedia of Religion, Communication, and Media. Taylor & Francis [CAM].

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Partridge, C., & Dowley, T. (2018). Introduction to World Religions : Third Edition (Vol. 3rd ed). Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1828519

Authors

• Dushakova Natalia