Religion – Medien – Kultur

The "Handbuch Religion – Medien – Kultur" takes up a line of cultural studies research in the study of religion and makes it accessible in an updated form to students and researchers in religion-related disciplines as well as to a broad academic public. A cultural studies approach to religion focuses on this complex phenomenon in history and the present from a communication theory perspective. Religion is viewed as a communication system that provides orientation in a variety of ways and shapes existentially relevant meanings.

The handbook is divided into three parts:

• Part I: Theoretical approaches to religion, culture and media
  The first part summarises current theoretical debates that shed light on different facets of a communication theory approach to religion.

• Part II: Basic concepts of religion, culture and media
  This lexical section contains a selection of basic concepts that are central to the study of religion, culture and media. The entries are arranged alphabetically. The basic concepts are to be specified in terms of their relevance to the approach to religion as part of culture and emphasise the mediality of religion.

• Part III: Interactions between religion, culture and media in research practice
  The relevance of researching religion as part of culture is examined using specific case studies with a focus on Europe and contemporary society, with brief diachronic reviews and/or references to cultural exchanges with other regions of the world enriching these perspectives. The third part focuses on the application of methods.

The handbook positions itself in the current debate with a clear profile, which mainly results from the combination of two lines of thought. On the one hand, topics that are particularly important, urgent and/or controversial in the 21^st century will be addressed; on the other hand, we aim to bring together the various facets of this specific communication-theoretical approach to religion within a theoretical framework in order to understand religion as an essential dimension of society in view of its diverse, often fragmented and contradictory forms. The combination of these two desiderata can ideally be realised in the form of a handbook.

Eighty authors, mainly from German-speaking countries, are participating in the project.

Editors

Dr. Verena Marie Eberhardt

PD Dr. Anna-Katharina Höpflinger

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Knauß, Villanova University

PD Dr. Marie-Therese Mäder

Prof. Dr. Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati

Informationen und Kontakt: handbuch@evtheol.uni-muenchen.de