Transformations of Eastern Orthodox Religious Discourse in Digital Society

Bibliographic Data

ID3272676
AuthorsYana A Volkova (0000-0003-1456-5881, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume12
Issue2
Pages143
Publication date2021-02-22
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel12020143
OpenAlexW3130676893
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited3

Digital technologies have exerted a profound influence on every aspect of human life including religion. Religious discourse, like no other type of social-communicative interaction, responds to the slightest shifts in the concepts of life, identity, time, and space caused by digitalization. The purpose of this study was to reveal the digitalization-associated transformations that have taken place in the eastern orthodox religious discourse over more than quarter of a century. This discussion focuses on the attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church towards digital technologies as reflected in the interviews of its official spokespeople. On the basis of extensive empirical material, it is shown that two major factors determine new tendencies in eastern orthodox religious discourse: the necessity to adapt to modern digital environment and benefit from organizing the internet space in order to influence large numbers of "digitally educated" non-religious people, and, at the same time, a distrust of these new digital technologies. The study is based on the theory of discourse, with discourse analysis being the main research method along with the descriptive analytical method. The article also analyzed the changes in traditional genres of eastern orthodox religious discourse (the sermon), as well as the rapid development of new religious discourse genres (the commented liturgy and call-in show) and para-religious discourse genres. It is concluded that with the help of digital technologies, religious discourse penetrates into everyday life of people, regardless of their social status and religious affiliation, eliminating the borderline between the church and society in modern Russia

Aesthetics · Distrust · Epistemology · Everyday life · Media studies · Political science · Religious identity · Sermon · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of religion · Theology · Gender Studies · Law · Media, Religion, Digital Communication · Philosophy · Religious, Philosophical, and Educational Studies

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