張大衛. / Thesis submitted in: May 2009. / Thesis (M.Div.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-39). / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Zhang Dawei. / 文章摘要 --- p.II / Chapter 1. --- 引言 --- p.1 / Chapter 2. --- 網上教會模式 --- p.4 / Chapter 2.1 --- 「第二人生」（Second Life)虛擬世界教會 --- p.4 / Chapter 2.2 --- 網誌空間新興教會（emerging church blogosphere) --- p.7 / Chapter 2.3 --- 網上聖餐和洗禮 --- p.8 / Chapter 2.4 --- 現場錄像直播模式 --- p.8 / Chapter 2.5 --- "社交網絡服務(SNS, social networking service)教會網站" --- p.9 / Chapter 2.6 --- 小結 --- p.11 / Chapter 3. --- 網上教會研究 --- p.13 / Chapter 3.1 --- 互聯網與社會變遷 --- p.13 / Chapter 3.2 --- 網絡空間(cyberspace)的虛與實 --- p.14 / Chapter 3.3 --- 靈性空間（spiritual space ) --- p.15 / Chapter 3.4 --- 身份建構(identity construction) --- p.18 / Chapter 3.5 --- 虛擬社群(virtual community) --- p.20 / Chapter 3.6 --- 網上信徒群體（Christian community online) --- p.20 / Chapter 3.7 --- 禮儀(ritual) --- p.22 / Chapter 4. --- 虛擬與真實 --- p.24 / Chapter 4.1 --- 取代與補足 --- p.24 / Chapter 4.2 --- 教會事工與虛擬網絡 --- p.25 / Chapter 4.3 --- 由上而下的網絡空間 --- p.27 / Chapter 4.4 --- 網絡空間與神學 --- p.28 / Chapter 4.5 --- 文化神學（theology of culture) --- p.29 / Chapter 4.6 --- 文化性神學(cultural theology) --- p.31 / Chapter 4.7 --- 有形教會（visible church )與無形教會（invisible church ) --- p.32 / Chapter 4.8 --- 從身體與靈魂看虛擬真實（virtual reality) --- p.33 / Chapter 4.9 --- 聖靈與網上教會 --- p.33 / Chapter 5. --- 結論 --- p.34 / 參考書目 --- p.36

This thesis investigates how two Christian communities — differentiated primarily by their medium of communication — characterize and cast Christian community. The method of fantasy theme analysis was used to explore this thesis's central research question; namely, are content differences present in the ways in which face-to-face and digital communication systems characterize and cast the Christian sense of community? After an analysis of St. Pixels Church of the Internet (digital communication) and St. Luke's United Methodist Church (face-to-face communication) it was found that the online community demonstrated a rhetorical vision of koinonia, while the face-to-face community demonstrated a rhetorical vision of ekklesia. / Department of Telecommunications

No description available.

Adviser: Daniel Wojcik. xiii, 299 leaves / A print copy of this title is available through the UO Libraries under the call number: KNIGHT BL37 .H69 2001 / Since the advent of the public World-Wide-Web in 1992, networked computer communication has rapidly become integral to the daily lives of many North Americans. Many researchers in the humanities and social sciences debate the potential power and nature of the effects of these new forms of communication. Some scholars see dangers in the changing forms of “media literacy,” but others see the Internet engendering new levels of democratic debate at grassroots and personal levels. However, much of this research still lacks the basic methodological rigor necessary to make reasonable claims about actual individual human communicative behavior on the Internet. By melding the behavioral ethnographic methods of folklore studies and socio-linguistics to postmodern methods of rhetorical analysis, this dissertation explores the general hypothesis that Internet media encourage the use of negotiative rhetorical strategies in the everyday expression of vernacular religious belief. By participating in the specific Christian Fundamentalist discourse known as Dispensationalism, this dissertation establishes methods for locating and classifying particular Internet expressions based on their revelatory, experiential, and/or negotiative rhetorical strategies. The hypothesis is explored through a series of five cases related to Protestant Dispensationalism: early American Puritan and Quaker autobiography, 1994 and 1995 Christian e-mail lists, the 1996 and 1997 e-mail campaign of the “Heaven's Gate” religious group, and 1999 and 2000 amateur Dispensationalist web-site builders. Based on e-mail, web-site, questionnaire, and face-to-face interview data, the results of this research have shown that the hypothesis overestimated the power of the Internet to encourage negotiative attitudes in deeply religious individuals. Although the Internet expressions of belief seem to have taken on a style of negotiation, little actual negotiation about religious beliefs or values occurred on the Internet among those documented. Instead, there was a constant exchange of similar ideas which seem to primarily function as attitudinal posturing. Though strong positions were taken and expressed to large and diverse audiences, only a very few individuals were willing to adjust their previously held beliefs as a result of their experiences with Internet communication.

This study used random sample survey data from the Middletown Area Survey of 2000 to examine the use of the Internet for religious purposes. The survey data was supplemented by follow-up phone interviews with survey respondents who identified themselves as frequent users of the Internet for religious purposes. Two hypotheses were tested: the Church Dissatisfaction Hypothesis - that religious use of the Internet is positively correlated with church dissatisfaction, and the Conservative Religiosity Hypothesis - that religious use of the Internet is positively correlated with conservative religiosity. This study found no evidence for the Church Dissatisfaction Hypothesis, but did find evidence for the Conservative Religiosity Hypothesis. In fact, 80% of those who used the Internet for religious purposes fit the study's definition of conservative religiosity. / Department of Sociology

This thesis compares an online church with a local physical church in terms of communication dimensions of the community, communication dimensions of sacramental practice, and communication dimensions of faith in general. In a local physical church, these have been traditionally conceived, defined, and profoundly understood in phenomenal or physical terms. In this, the objects of faith and the related rituals deal with the “real” and give even the transcendent physical and actual meaning. However, in an online environment, what was previously physical has become virtual, thus causing the transcendent to be virtualized as well. As such, two guiding questions for this thesis are: 1) Given the virtual nature of the Internet, do the beliefs that a church advocates seem to be or become less real or phenomenal when a church predominantly employs religious practices online; and, 2) Given the power and range of responses that individuals can have when responding to Internet content, do the beliefs that a church advocates become more ideocentric and emotional for its online users? Given the tremendous variations that are employed in religious groups, these two questions will naturally generate more heuristic rather than universal findings, as the title recognizes. LifeChurch.tv has been chosen as the subject for this heuristic investigation due to its manifestation in both an online church and in local physical counterparts. Each is examined through the LifeChurch.tv website using a method of ethnographic research, combined with a longitudinal study, and the resulting findings are interpreted through cluster criticism. A less grounded and more individualistic experience was found in the rhetoric surrounding the online church. / Literature review & theoretical background -- Methods for analysis -- A cluster analysis of a local physical church and online church website -- Major findings, limitations and suggestions for future research. / Department of Telecommunications

This dissertation makes the connection between the human drive, as described by psychoanalysis, to construct God and the construction of the technological entity, Google. Google constitutes the extension of the early Christian period God to the twenty-first century. From the examination of significant religious and theological texts by significant theologians (Augustine, Thomas, Luther, Calvin, etc.) that explain the nature of God, the analogous relationship of God to Google will open a psychoanalytic discourse that answers questions on the current state of human mediation with the world. Freud and, more significantly, Lacan’s work connects the human creation of God, ex nihilio, to Google’s godly qualities and behaviors (omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omnibenevolence). This illustrates the powerful motivation behind the creation of an all-encompassing physical / earthly entity that includes the immaterial properties of God. Essentially, Google operates as the extension or replacement of the long reigning God in Western culture. Furthermore, the advent of science and technology through rationalism (as outlined by Nietzsche) results in the death of the metaphysical God and the ascension of the technological God. Google offers an appropriate example for study. Moreover, the work of Jean Baudrillard and Marshall McLuhan will further comment on Google as the technological manifestation of God, particularly in its media formulations. Finally, this dissertation concludes with a review that highlights future research with an exploration that foresees the death of Google from the same rational method of inquiry by which the death of God occurred at the end of the nineteenth century. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The thesis argues that Neopaganism on the Web is an example of mythopoesis and aims at showing both the novelty and the limits of such mythopoesis. I use the term "mythopoesis" in its original Greek meaning, i.e. "the creation (the making/crafting) of a myth or myths", thus stressing the dynamic way in which the process of creation (of myths, rituals, divinities, identities—all implicitly or explicitly played out, connected, and organised as "stories", which can be told, written or performed, as well as represented as images) unfolds in Neopaganism. Neopagan mythopoesis on the Web is new, original, and structurally different from other previous and contemporary examples of mythopoesis, either religious or not, since it does not refuse, put aside, or implicitly contradict, the rational framework elaborated by Western culture. The research involves exploring the contemporary cultural and historical context that allows for mythopoesis to take place and the technology that allows for it to develop. It analyses the key features of Neopaganism on the Web as they emerge from the mythopoeic recreation of two ancient goddesses (Gaia, and Artemis/Diana) and an ancient ritual (the Eleusinian mysteries). In covering several different fields (from ancient religions, to the Internet, to myth and ritual theory), and in examining a range of heterogeneous materials (from ancient texts, Neopagan hymns and art, to hypertexts), the analysis adopts an interdisciplinary approach.

Mission is a central aspect of the Christian faith and much thought is given to the challenge of proclaiming the gospel in a new context or to a different people group (i.e. contextualization). In recent years, a new context has come to the forefront that has been and is being created through technology, namely virtual reality (VR). The purpose of this study is to explore how contextualization, with regards to evangelization, needs to be done in VR. The proposed thesis is that VR provides a new context in which the Christian faith is, or should be, shared in a contextualized way. Although much thought is given to the question of religion in VR, it mostly focuses on the nature of communities online. This study addresses the issue of online evangelization, which has so far received less attention. This doctoral thesis is structured after the empirical-theological praxis cycle of Faix (2007a), and the Policy Delphi Method (PDM) is the research technique used. Through the PDM, a panel of experts from different backgrounds (theologians, sociologists, and practitioners) discussed the various ways in which VR affects evangelization, the way people form their religious identity, and how contextualization could take place. The aim of this research is to contribute to the field of missiology by investigating VR as a new context in which to proclaim the Christian faith / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / D. Th. (Missiology)

The internet has brought about a revolution in human communication, unparalleled, because of its ability to communicate instantaneously across the globe. It has transformed our culture and made, what seemed impossible, now achievable with the click of a mouse, from an office in a city or in the comfort of your lounge. The computer networks we use are far more than a means of communication. They are agents of social change. I try to analyse what impact the electronic media have on human worldview and behaviour. I highlight some of the challenges that electronic media pose: we are not sure how these media (and technologies) will continue to shape our lives as they develop at a rapid pace. Jesus of Nazareth spent his incarnate life proclaiming the reign of God and, in doing so, invited humanity into a relationship with God. He commissioned his disciples and, the whole Church in all time, to continue his proclamation of Good News. In obedience to his command the Church has, throughout history, used the communication technologies at her disposal to carry out this command. The internet makes another technology available to the Church. In this thesis I attempt to better understand the impact of communication technologies, specifically the internet, on the Church. I look at the relationship between the Church and mass media. I analyse how the Catholic Church has responded to the advent of the internet and, how the internet has been used for the task of evangelisation. I investigate some of the key documents of the Church on the means of Social Communication, focusing especially on those of the Second Vatican Council, in order to understand how the Church understands and perceives the media. Using the spirituality of St. Ignatius Loyola I offer an Ignatian Communications Model to help the Church use the internet more effectively for evangelisation. St. Ignatius lived in a time when another communication revolution took place: the advent of the Gutenberg printing press. I show how, using his spirituality, the Church can better use the internet for the task of evangelisation. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2008.