Each historical period presents a different challenge for religions. Among other conditioning factors, our time is profoundly marked by the mediation of our human relationships (and also relationship with the divine) through digital technologies. With this premise, Golan and Martini have written Sacred Cyberspaces, a book in which they analyze how digital communications are modifying the perceived authority and legitimacy of religions, especially Catholicism. The focus on this denomination is due to the challenges that it has been facing in recent decades. For the authors, the Catholic Church is trying to react to a crisis of identity and popularity caused by secularism and modernity, as well as by the emergence of relevant competitors (especially in Latin America). In doing so, after overcoming the reticence of some groups, it is using digital media in order to make itself relevant again. Scholars are interested in analyzing how that use is changing the status quo of influence and authority within the institution.
This study is a further contribution to an area of study on religious communication called Digital Religion, dedicated to analyzing how digital tools and languages are shaping the religious human experience. In this case, Golan and Martini are focusing on how a specific Christian denomination, where tradition and hierarchy carry so much weight, is changing its attitude towards digital technologies and how their use is altering the balances of trust, power and relevance with regard to the faithful.
The authors recount how, in 2014, they saw at a Christian religious ceremony in the Holy Land a priest broadcasting it from his phone for his community in Mexico. ‘Throughout the conversation, likes and hearts were popping up on his screen’ (4), they remember. This double liturgical presence, physical and virtual, so to speak, suggested to the authors the question about how the digital realm is changing the Catholic spiritual experience. What authority does the broadcaster have? What perception do the spectators have of the sacred place? What is the religious experience of the celebration like? How does it interfere with the audience present? Are the new forms of religious participation a game-changer in terms of socio-religious activity, or does the internet merely reproduce existing structures, theologies, and modes of devotee interaction? The book takes this question to areas as varied as official websites, Instagram, YouTube and apps.
Digital faith, videos and religious authority
In order to obtain an answer to those questions, the authors structure their analysis in three blocks, each in turn composed of two chapters. In the first section (chapters 1 and 2), they talk about ‘Digital Faith: Emergent Agents and Technologies for Devout Publics’. Two modalities of Catholic digital media are noted: the first one includes websites of the Holy See that are formal in the sense that they abide by the Church’s hierarchical authority; the second is comprised of grassroots believers, namely subgroups associated with or that have an affinity for the Church. According to the authors, while the positions taken by these groups do not constitute a full break with the establishment, some members object to certain facets of the accepted creed (7). In our opinion, there is room for further research to determine the relevance of websites that offer contents in opposition to Vatican teachings.
The second chapter contains an interesting and novel reflection on ‘The Rise of the Religious Webmaster’. The person in charge of a religious website or a social media channel has been seen until now as a technical support, but the authors of Sacred Cyberspace reclaim the position’s relevance as a new source of trust and authority. Far from being mere technical transmitters of the faith, these webmasters are ‘becoming a key factor in the daily operations of both venerable and emerging faith based movements’ (78). And they predict that ‘over the next few decades, institutionalized tracks will emerge for the qualification and job placement of religious’ (43).
The next block (chapters 3 and 4), entitled ‘Holy Land YouTube Videos: The Visual Language of Religious Outreach’, takes stock of institutional efforts to produce videos intended to help devotees formulate their beliefs. The authors argue that religious videos are a popular means for proselytization and building community. ‘From the comfort of their desktop, millions of believers tune in to charismatic speakers. The videos constitute an authoritative, if soft or informal, guide to achieving religious piety’ (83). The first part puts the focus on videos produced by the Catholic Brazilian group Cançâo Nova for the Franciscans in the Holy Land, in order to mediate pilgrimage and sacred places. The second concentrates on online efforts by religious institutions to underscore their affiliation with prominent holy sites, through the use of strategies that use mainly four elements: Biblical Landscape (for example, videos), textual references, iconography and performance.
The third and final section (chapters 5 and 6), ‘Bolstering Religious Authority through Visual Means’, delves into the building, re-affirmation, and wielding of religious authority in the digital sphere. It explores the ways that the emergent format of religious livestreaming fortifies the meanings of religious sites (from the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes) by instilling a sense of authenticity through the arguably unexpected format of virtual engagement with the sacred. The authors recover the concept of aura proposed by Walter Benjamin for holy places, and propose that religious livestreaming pushes holy sites back into the public spotlight and offers traditional denominations an avenue for global outreach. In fact, by evoking a sense of proximity to a holy site, the broadcast mediates its aura.
The last chapter, ‘The Pope on Instagram: Managing Religious Authority and Globalized Charisma in the Digital Age’, explores the way religious institutions run their social media outreach. Specifically, after analyzing the Pope’s account, the authors say that it projects a distant charismatic leadership, bringing him closer to the faithful while maintaining his status. They conclude that ‘the Holy See accentuates Francis’s own charisma on his Instagram feed as part of its struggle to prevent the rationalization and institutionalization of the papacy’ (180).
Digital religion
Sacred Cyberspaces emphasizes the capacity of virtual environments to create community and strengthen faith groups. Although some of the events analyzed (processions, events in holy places, preaching…) are very relevant for the Catholic faith – especially in the Holy Land – it is necessary to remind the reader that they are not at the core of the Church. In our opinion, this and other similar studies focused on Digital Religion have the limitation of leaving out one aspect that is fundamental to Christianity: the physical presence required for the participation in and celebration of the sacraments. Golan and Martini are aware of this, and in fact devote part of their analysis to the digital transmission of Eucharistic celebrations.
Our point is that digital technologies will have an important place in the revitalization of the Church, but always a secondary one. It is worth remembering that, for the Christian faith, only physical presence at sacramental celebrations allows for the full participation, as well as the full spiritual benefit, of the faithful. Before the sacraments, other religious events – such as pilgrimages, preaching, or processions – have a decidedly secondary value. In this sense, the authority of pastors, the interest of the faithful and, in general, the revivification of the Catholic Church are more dependent on the sacraments than on other spiritual realities. Therefore, Digital Religion as a field of academic analysis – although a very important reality – will always find this limitation in studying the Catholic faith. In our opinion, the reflections made in the book regarding how digital communications can help the Church of Rome open up an important panorama and are very timely, as long as this fundamental nuance is kept in mind.
At the same time, it could be argued that the authors start from a markedly dialectical approach – tradition versus modernity, power struggles, hierarchy versus influencers – that risks simplifying an overly complex reality, which is guided primarily by criteria of a spiritual nature and not following a logic of power. This sentence is an example of the interpretation we have pointed out: ‘Wary that these [opposed to the authority of the Holy See] organizations’ influence will grow, the Church is investing in digital platforms that adhere to strict canonical teachings. Confronting the emergent alternatives to mainstream Catholicism, the Vatican and its allies are strengthening traditional values by ratcheting up their use of modern media’ (27–28). While it is undeniable that different interest groups exist within any human community, an exclusively dialectical understanding of religion could distort the understanding of other more relevant dynamics.
Academically, the book is a valuable contribution to the study of Digital Religion and to the knowledge of how religious groups are dealing with technologies that interfere with dynamics that have been running for centuries. In this sense, Sacred Cyberspaces offers an interesting reflection on the new sources of authority that technology is causing to emerge in the religious sphere, in the forms of devotion, in the main actors and the conflicts that may arise with the potential changes in power. Religion in the digital realm is undoubtedly a field of research that will grow in importance in the coming years, and this book opens up many avenues for understanding it.
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