Religions Are Remixes

This book utilizes an approach that centers on remix theory and conceptual metaphor theory, arguing for an examination of the study of religion via a model for analyzing cultural constructs that the author terms Remix+/-. After discerning the metaphorical correspondences underlying his argument, the author claims that the shift in conceptual and terminological framing remix provides can assist in understanding religious phenomena and developments differently, paying close attention to the sorts of meanings, implications, and assumptions that are disrupted and subverted as a result. The chapters indicate how notions of originality, authenticity, and authority are problematized and challenged from the perspective modeled by Remix+/-, with Buddhist philosophy occupying a significant role in the demonstrative examples. This book will be of interest to remix theorists and conceptual metaphor theorists because it advances a new approach to applying both remix and metaphor to the study of cultural constructs. It will also be valuable for those studying religion and digital culture—especially Buddhist thought and practice—as it proposes a new lens through which religiosity can be defamiliarized and critically analyzed.

"This book utilizes an approach that centers on remix theory and conceptual metaphor theory, arguing for an examination of the study of religion via a model for analyzing cultural constructs that the author terms Remix+/-. After discerning the metaphorical correspondences underlying his argument, the author claims that the shift in conceptual and terminological framing remix provides can assist in understanding religious phenomena and developments differently, playing close attention to the sorts of meanings, implications, and assumptions that are disrupted and subverted as a result. The chapters indicate how notions of originality, authenticity, and authority are problematized and challenged from the perspective modeled by Remix+/-, with Buddhist philosophy occupying a significant role in the demonstrative examples. This book will be of interest to remix theorists and conceptual metaphor theorists because it advances a new approach to applying both remix and metaphor to the study of cultural constructs. It will also be valuable for those studying religion and digital culture-especially Buddhist thought and practice-as it proposes a new lens through which religiosity can be defamiliarized and critically analyzed"--

Remixed and Reimagined: Innovations in Religion, Spirituality, and (Inter)faith in Higher Education is a new edited book that invites readers to rethink and re-examine the traditional paradigms in which religion, spirituality, and interfaith (RSI) have been studied within higher education and student affairs settings. This volume introduces new theoretical frameworks that enrich and enliven the study of RSI, making it more dynamic, inclusive, and, most importantly, innovative. It is framed by a commitment to social justice and intersectionality, while centering the narratives of the religiously marginalized. The text is divided into two units. The first unit explores new and emergent frameworks for analyzing and interpreting RSI in higher education and student affairs. The second unit puts various theoretical frameworks into practice, while highlighting the often-marginalized voices of the religiously minoritized. The book concludes with a call for researchers to begin exploring the new proposed horizons within the study of RSI in higher education and student affairs. This text is perfect for graduate level seminars in higher education and student affairs programs. It is also an invaluable resource for researchers and scholars. Perfect for courses such as: Religion in Popular Culture | Religion and Spirituality in Higher Education | Introduction to the Study of Religion | Introduction to Interfaith (Multifaith studies) | Interfaith Dialogue on Campus | Introduction to Queer Studies | Contemporary Issues in LGBTQ Studies | Introduction to Diversity | Masters of Education (Graduate Level) | Politics of Difference | Diversity and Identity | Diverse Issues in Higher Education | Student Affairs

This volume explores the contradiction between the news coverage given to issues of religion, particularly since 2001 in relation to issues such as terrorism, politics, security and gender, and the fact of its apparent decline according to Census data. Based on media research in Australia, and offering comparisons with the UK, the author demonstrates that media discussions overlook the diversity that exists within religions, particularly the country’s main religion, Christianity, and presents religion according to specific interpretations shaped by race, class and gender, which in turn result in very limited understandings of religion itself. Drawing on understandings of the sacred as a non-negotiable value present in religious and secular form, Media Perceptions of Religious Changes in Australia calls for a broader sociological perspective on religion and will appeal to scholars of sociology and media studies with interests in religion and public life.

A sparklingly strange odyssey through the kaleidoscope of America's new spirituality: the cults, practices, high priests and prophets of our supposedly post-religion age. Fifty-five years have passed since the cover of Time magazine proclaimed the death of God and while participation in mainstream religion has indeed plummeted, Americans have never been more spiritually busy. While rejecting traditional worship in unprecedented numbers, today's Americans are embracing a kaleidoscopic panoply of spiritual traditions, rituals, and subcultures -- from astrology and witchcraft to SoulCycle and the alt-right.As the Internet makes it ever-easier to find new "tribes," and consumer capitalism forever threatens to turn spirituality into a lifestyle brand, remarkably modern American religious culture is undergoing a revival comparable with the Great Awakenings of centuries past. Faith is experiencing not a decline but a Renaissance. Disillusioned with organized religion and political establishments alike, more and more Americans are seeking out spiritual paths driven by intuition, not institutions. In Strange Rites, religious scholar and commentator Tara Isabella Burton visits with the techno-utopians of Silicon Valley; Satanists and polyamorous communities, witches from Bushwick, wellness junkies and social justice activists and devotees of Jordan Peterson, proving Americans are not abandoning religion but remixing it. In search of the deep and the real, they are finding meaning, purpose, ritual, and communities in ever-newer, ever-stranger ways.

Remix Judaism: Preserving Tradition in a Diverse World offers an eloquent and thoughtful new vision for all Jews seeking a sense of belonging in a changing world, regardless of their current level of observance. Kwall sets out a process of selection, rejection, and modification of rituals that allow for a focus on Jewish tradition rather than on the technicalities of Jewish law. Her goal is not to sell her own religious practices to readers but, rather, to encourage them to find their own personal meaning in Judaism outside the dictates of Commandment by broadening their understanding of how law, culture and tradition fit together. In Remix Judaism, Kwall inspires her audience to be intentional and mindful about the space they allocate for these elements in defining their individual Jewish journeys and identities.

A leading Christian intellectual explores the newest strain of atheism, its foremost thinkers, the cultural conditions that have bred it, and how Christians should respond. Something has changed in American culture. What for years was a little-regarded belief system-atheism-has now gained a large, and increasing, national hearing through the writings of "new atheists" such as Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, and Hitchens. Wanting to both inform and equip serious-minded Christians regarding this cultural shift, R. Albert Mohler Jr. explores the environment that has bred the "new atheism" while also introducing readers to the movement's four leading thinkers and the contours of their arguments. Mohler-deemed "the reigning intellectual of the evangelical movement in the US" by Time magazine-then uses this foundation to pinpoint eight major distinctives that make the new atheism new, and to discuss the future of Christianity in relationship to it. At school and in the community, Christians are sure to encounter people who have been shaped by this strain of atheism. Here is keen insight that any believer can use to understand and challenge the new atheists.

This book critically analyses the functions and interconnectedness between religion and digital media in a range of East Asian countries. It discusses both how religious organizations make use of new technologies, and also explores how new technologies are reshaping religion in novel and interesting ways. Based on extensive research, the book focuses in particular on Christianity in South Korea, Neo-Shintoism in Japan, Falun Gong in China and Islam in Southeast Asia. Offering a comparative perspective on a broad range of media practices including video gaming, virtual worship, social networking and online testimonials, the book also investigates the idea that use of technology in itself mirrors religious practices. With an analysis of the impact of religion and new technology on national consciousness in a range of geographical locations, the authors offer a broadening of the scope of the study of religion, culture and media.