Digital Religion
The term "digital religion" refers to research that deals with religion on the Internet or with the use of the Internet and other digital technologies by religious communities. In the anthology with the title "Digital Religion: Understanding Religious Practice in Digital Media“ benutzen die Kommunikationswissenschaftlerinnen Heidi Campbell und Ruth Tsuria die Bezeichnung digital religion nicht nur für gegenwärtige Forschung, sondern rückwirkend auch für Untersuchungen von Religionen im „Cyberspace“ die ab den 1990er Jahren durchgeführt wurde. Die beiden Wissenschaftlerinnen teilen die Forschung, die sich seit diesen Anfängen der Beschäftigung mit dem Themenfeld entwickelt hat in Anlehnung an Morten Hojsgaard und Margit Warburg", the scholars of Communications Heidi Campbell and Ruth Tsuria use the term digital religion not only for current research, but also retrospectively for studies on religion(s) in "cyberspace" that were carried out from the 1990s onwards. The both scientists follow an analogy used by Mortan Hojsgaard and Margit Warburg in 2005, who describe the development of the academic study of this topic in three waves, but with the addition of two new waves that span the time from 2005 until today. Each of these waves is characterized by certain characteristics and foci and they roughly follow each other but can also overlap. Campbell and Tsuria refer to the first wave as the "descriptive wave", the second as the "categorical wave", the third as the "theoretical wave" and the fourth as the "convergent wave". Since the fifth wave is the current wave, there is no conclusive designation for it yet. The division into waves should not be understood too strictly, since for example descriptive works on religion in the digital space are still published or can at least be part of broader research. The field of research today has opened up and scholars of different disciplines deal with emphases and on different issues relating to religion and religiosity in the digital space.
Material Religion
The term "Material Religion" refers to an approach in religious studies whose concern is to offer an alternative to a understanding of religion as a primarily cognitive phenomenon. Representatives of Material Religion are therefore increasingly focusing on the material aspects of religion and religious life. This refers to very different things: the role of the human body in religious practices, the use of objects by religious actors, certain smells or other sensory perceptions, color schemes, dress codes, or even sacred buildings are examples of material aspects of religion. Even if the focus is on materiality, cognitive aspects, such as religious teachings, are not completely neglected. However, they are considered less relevant to the actual religiosity of most people.
Due to the important role assigned to religious actors in the Material Religion approach, it also has a strong component of practice theory. Practice theory approaches belong to the cultural studies. They assume that culture as the level in which meaning is produced must be understood above all as practical knowledge. This means that in social coexistence, practices – which can already mean simple body movements – are the carriers of knowledge and meaning. for example, waving the hand in the right context is understood as a gesture of farewell or greeting. This meaning has been learned by the actors, but not every action is always carried out in the awareness of the meaning associated with it. For this reason, practice theory sometimes speaks of implicit and learned knowledge.
Cultural Studies
Digital religion, material religion but also practice theory can all be described as cultural studies approaches. Cultural studies – or at least the German term “Kulturwissenschaften” – can be understood in different ways. In my research, I use a cultural studies approach that is informed by the branch of cultural studies that developed in Great Britain starting in the middle of the 20th century and that changed in its theoretical orientation in the course of the 20th century. Some aspects from the beginnings of cultural studies have been preserved through further development, such as the focus on lived everyday culture and the consideration of aspects of power. It was only later that the approach was informed by poststructuralist theories, such as those of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault or Ernesto Laclau’s and Chantal Mouffe's theory of discourse and hegemony.