AP/RLST 3800 6.00
God Online: Religion In The Digital Age
An interdisciplinary investigation into the changing nature of traditional religions in the digital age. This course examines ways in which religion is being shaped by digital culture, including the widespread social acceptance of new technologies and scientific ideals. The digital is changing human beings—we are adapting to new technologies more so than technologies adapting to us. Living in the digital age is not merely about new forms of communication and binary thinking, but about radical changes in beliefs, practices, and even self-identity. This course takes an interdisciplinary approach (sociology, history, religion, philosophy, psychology) that relies on the basic paradigm—friends, enemies, strangers—in order to frame the dynamic relationship between religion and the digital. Topics include religion in the context of: new technologies, new forms of communication, popular culture, film and media, changes to notions of social justice (ethics), and current science/religion debates. Broad and narrow course questions include: Has religion been largely supplanted (replaced) and/or augmented by secularism, which depends on human practical and technological innovation? Is the supplanting of religion a myth created by intellectuals? What does the current digital and techno-scientific culture mean for religion, and vice-versa? Is spiritual understanding possibly based on a digital understanding? Does the digital offer us new ways of participating in religion? Does the digital mount a fundamental opposition to the spiritual?
RELIGIOUS TRADITION(S) COVERED: Multiple
Course Category: Self, Society and Other