1. Religion IN AND in the Media

2. What changed... Media technologies encouraged fragmentation of audiences and markets Increasing questing of religious/spiritual belief. (2003 religion survey) Decline of role of institutions (home, school, church, etc.) to help individuals make sense of their social experience. Late modernity- focus on self Rise of “culture of therapy”, personal autonomy- Generation of seekers.

3. Giddens and Late Modernity Proliferation of knowledge (and doubt about absolutes) has complicated social experience for individuals Self and identity are fluid; not fixed. Are in the hands of social actors. Rise of a generation of individual quest for knowledge aided by commodified mediation of information.

4. Roof: Lived Religion Religion as experienced in everyday life Integrating the official, the popular, and the therapeutic modes of religious identity. The media then play a critical role in providing cultural and religious meaning

5. Media as Symbolic inventory News: traditional and alternative sources religious broadcasting and televangelism- Christian Music Religious publishing: Christian Booksellers of America, Artscroll, American Trust Publications. Entertainment media: a vast exploration of religion and cross-over (Hallmark, Oxygen, Lifetime)