Description
Book SynopsisFrom Jesus to the Internet examines Christianity as a mediated phenomenon, paying particular attention to how various forms of media have influenced and developed the Christian tradition over the centuries. It is the first systematic survey of this topic and the author provides those studying or interested in the intersection of religion and media with a lively and engaging chronological narrative. With insights into some of Christianity''s most hotly debated contemporary issues, this book provides a much-needed historical basis for this interdisciplinary field.
Trade Review"This is a book I've wanted to read for a long time, and I find it both enlightening and thought provoking in a positive sense. The book represents a way of writing the history of Christianity in a rather novel multi-perspective and contextualized manner. Technology, politics, economics, demographics, and scientific discoveries all play a role in how religion is transformed – but at the center of this transformation, according to Horsfield, is media." (Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 1 November 2015)
"Horsfield's compelling and nuanced scholarship of integration traces the evolution of Christianity from an oral Jewish movement in the 1st century through epochs dominated by written, printed, electronic, and now digital media to become the world's largest religious faith with 2.2 billion followers." (Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 2016)
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
What’s this book about? 1
What do we mean by Christianity? 2
What do we mean by media? 4
Media and the historical development of Christianity 7
1 In the Beginning 10
The social and media context 11
Jesus in his media context 14
Remaking Jesus in speech and performance 22
2 Making Jesus Gentile 28
Context: the media world of the Roman Empire 28
Early Christian writing 30
Paul and letter writing 32
The end of the beginning 39
3 The Gentile Christian Communities 42
The appeal of Christianity 42
Multimedia communities 43
Christian writings 45
The reception and circulation of Christian writings 56
Resistance to writing 58
4 Men of Letters and Creation of “The Church” 62
The Catholic]Orthodox brand 63
Tertullian 68
Cyprian 70
Origen – the media magnate of Alexandria 72
Writing out women 74
5 Christianity and Empire 80
Imperial patronage and imperial Christianity 80
Councils, creeds, and canons 84
Constructing time – Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History 90
The scriptures as text and artifact 93
6 The Latin Translation 99
Latin roots 99
After the fall 106
Monasteries and manuscripts 110
Written Latin and the consolidation of medieval Christendom 117
7 Christianity in the East 125
The Church of the East 125
Islam 130
Writing the voice 132
Regulating the eyes 134
8 Senses of the Middle Ages 141
The medieval context 142
Making time 143
Seeing space 145
Rituals and hearing 150
Nice touch: relics, saints, and pilgrimage 154
9 The New Millennium 162
Marketing the Crusades 163
Scholasticism and universities 168
Cathedrals 173
Catholic reform 175
The Inquisition 180
10 Reformation 187
Printing and its precursors 187
Martin Luther 191
John Calvin 195
Reworking the Bible 198
The changing sensory landscape 200
Catholic responses 207
Ignatius of Loyola 209
11 The Modern World 214
The legacy of the Reformation 214
Catholic mission 216
The impact of print 219
Evangelical Revivalism 223
Protestant mission 232
12 Electrifying Sight and Sound 237
The technologies of the audiovisual 237
Christianity and the twentieth]century media world 240
Mainline mediation 242
The Evangelical Coalition 246
Fundamentalism and Pentecostalism 254
13 The Digital Era 261
The empire of digital capitalism 261
Digital practice 264
Global Pentecostalism 270
Media and Christian sexual abuse 276
Tradition and change 279
Conclusion 285
References 293
Index 311
