Mediatization of Religion: Boundaries between the Religion of the Intimate Sphere and the Religion of the Public Sphere

Dear Colleagues,

Religion is an individual and collective space, both public and intimate (Sennett, 1979; Amiraux, 2018). Most researchers (Tzuriel, 1984; Ebstyne King, 2003; Marcia, 2002; Oppong, 2013) tackling the question of religion and religious identity agree that there is a moving frontier that separates and organizes the places of passage between the space of religion (intimate) and public space, especially when it comes to mediatized public sphere (Hoover, 2003; Lövheim, 2013). Indeed, the current context of the digital media involves a permanent redefinition of public and intimate spaces, resulting in the reduction of the intimate space. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. tend to impose the intimate/private as social realities with an individual responsibility to defend the private. The public-private relationship is thus modified. It becomes an imperative to change the media, political, public, societal, etc. approach of religion as a public-private space. The media visibility of the private sphere, which has modified our understanding of the private sphere, defines in a different manner the public-private relationship by creating spaces that are both public and private (Papacharissi, 2010).

This Special Issue aims to contribute to a field under construction on the (new) relations between religion and the media (mainstream and new) with public and private spheres. Many paths and issues are envisaged. In the context of the mediatization of everything (Livingstone, 2009; Bratosin, 2016a), does religion preserve the character of an intimate space? When considering religion in institutionalized social spaces such as domestic space, organizational space, and public space (Bratosin, 2014; Bratosin 2016b) is religious representation the major symbolic tool used by human kind to distinguish between those who have power and those who do not have it, whether in the public or in the private spheres? Is there a mutual exclusion of the public sphere and the ecclesia, when the historical-theoretical coincidence of the public sphere and the ecclesia is undeniable? Is the hypothesis of a post-secular society insufficient to "reconcile" religion with public and intimate spaces within the framework of the mediatization of the religious? Does the public/private distinction really separate religion from the mediatized public sphere, thus creating a privatized religion? Could the natural existence of a private religious sphere and a public secular sphere be taken for granted through the prism of media hegemony?

This thematic issue is also open to other questions that would bring theoretical, empirical proposals, and cases studies likely to advance research in this field.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Bratosin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• mediatization
• religion
• public sphere
• intimate sphere
• power
• emerging media