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Key research themes
1. How do Jewish religious communities negotiate authority, identity, and practice in digital spaces?
This research theme investigates the ways Jewish religious groups assert, contest, and reconfigure religious authority and communal identity through digital media. Emphasizing digital environments as dynamic arenas for religious discourse and practice, these studies examine how traditional norms and orthodoxies interact with new technologies to shape online religious education, leadership, and collective belonging. Understanding these negotiations is vital for grasping the transformation of Jewish religious life in the digital age and the evolving contours of religious authority, community boundaries, and identity mediation.
Key finding: Through ethnographic research with over 30 Chabad webmasters, this study uncovered a strategic dual approach: creating accessible Jewish knowledge for lay audiences online while maintaining exclusive, enclave-specific digital... Read more
Key finding: Analyzing 50,799 online Q&A exchanges between rabbis and laypeople, this study documents a shift in religious authority from institutional recognition of rabbis to the rise of less well-known rabbis gaining popularity through... Read more
Key finding: By conducting in-depth interviews with Religious Zionist learners, the paper reveals four key strategies for sourcing online religious knowledge: reliance on trusted social affiliations, navigating epistemic uncertainty,... Read more
Key finding: Campbell advanced the Religious-Social Shaping Technology (RSST) framework, demonstrating how diverse Jewish communities negotiate core values and communal goals around new media adoption. This interdisciplinary volume... Read more
Key finding: This study situates Chabad’s digital communication within broader Jewish and religious media-theology contexts, revealing a dual engagement with conceptualizing divine-human interaction and communicating the religious message... Read more
2. What theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches best capture the complexities of digital religion in Jewish contexts?
This area explores the critical methodological and theoretical lenses used to understand digital religion, particularly how digital religion studies integrate approaches from media, religion, culture studies, and internet studies. The goal is to delineate the conceptual tools necessary to analyze the blending of online and offline religious spheres, the formation of new religious subjectivities, and the social construction of digital religious authority within Jewish and broader religious milieus. This theme emphasizes theoretical rigor and interdisciplinary synthesis to better interpret digital religion’s sociocultural transformations.
Key finding: Developing from Helland's foundational classification, this article proposes a conceptual framework dividing digital religion into four types: religion online (informational sites), online religion (interactive... Read more
Key finding: Offering a comprehensive overview of digital religion scholarship, this paper identifies three predominant theoretical lenses—mediatization of religion, mediation of meaning, and religious-social shaping of technology—as... Read more
Key finding: This article introduces a 'fourth-wave' research emphasis on the negotiation between online and offline religious lives, urging scholars to adopt critical and interdisciplinary methodologies that address power, identity, and... Read more
3. How can digital pedagogical initiatives and historical projects enhance engagement with Jewish history and cultural heritage?
This theme focuses on the application of digital tools and platforms in educational settings to revitalize Jewish historical knowledge and cultural participation, particularly among youth. It examines digital media as a means of embodied, community-based learning and explores pedagogical frameworks that foster experiential understanding of Jewish heritage. These approaches contribute to innovative public history practices, allowing the transmission and reinterpretation of Jewish identity through collaborative digital projects, which is essential for cultural continuity in modern secular and multicultural environments.
Key finding: The Geschichtomat project exemplifies an innovative pedagogical model where students use digital media tools to explore, document, and narrate Jewish history and present life in Hamburg. By engaging in research, interviews,... Read more
Key finding: This case study details the use of Scalar, a digital humanities platform, in a collaborative student project creating an open-access digital publication on Sephardic culinary heritage. It highlights pedagogical benefits such... Read more
Key finding: This introduction advances a critical research agenda addressing religious youth’s digital social worlds, emphasizing the shifts in religious practice, identity, and peer affiliation facilitated by new media channels. It... Read more