I. Frameworks for Studying Media and Religion (Media and Religion‪)‬

A. Religious Studies/Sociology of Religion Hent de Vries, in introducing the essays in Religion and Media (de Vries and Weber 2001) proposes that the study of media and religion can help answer the question of the role of each in the public sphere. Rather than start with media studies as many other examinations of media and religion do, this collection begins with sociological and philosophical questions, rooted in critical theory and post-modernism. However, with this starting point, the various authors look at religion through the lens of communication. In his introduction, de Vries notes that, with the rise of democracy and the increasing secularization of society, theorists have tried to account for the persistence of public religion.