From Jesus to the Internet examines Christianity as a mediated phenomenon, paying particular attention to how various forms of media have influenced and developed the Christian tradition over the centuries. It is the first systematic survey of this topic and the author provides those studying or interested in the intersection of religion and media with a lively and engaging chronological narrative. With insights into some of Christianity's most hotly debated contemporary issues, this book provides a much-needed historical basis for this interdisciplinary field.

About the Author

Peter Horsfield is Professor of Communication at RMIT University, Australia. From 1987-1996, he was Dean of the Uniting Church Theological Hall and Lecturer in Applied Theology in the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne, Australia. His early study, Religious Television: The American Experience (2004) was influential in assessing the impact of the emerging phenomenon of televangelism in the U.S. From 1997-2005 he was a member of the International Study Commission on Media Religion and Culture. He has researched and published extensively in the area of the interaction of media and religion, with a particular focus on Christianity. He is the co-editor of several books, including Emerging Research in Media, Religion and Culture (2005) and Belief in Media: Cultural Perspectives on Media and Christianity (2004).

Reviews

"This is a book I've wanted to read for a long time, and I find it both enlightening and thought provoking in a positive sense. The book represents a way of writing the history of Christianity in a rather novel multi-perspective and contextualized manner. Technology, politics, economics, demographics, and scientific discoveries all play a role in how religion is transformed - but at the center of this transformation, according to Horsfield, is media." (Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 1 November 2015)

"Horsfield's compelling and nuanced scholarship of integration traces the evolution of Christianity from an oral Jewish movement in the 1st century through epochs dominated by written, printed, electronic, and now digital media to become the world's largest religious faith with 2.2 billion followers." (Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 2016)

Book Information
ISBN 9781118447383
Author Peter Horsfield
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Wiley-Blackwell
Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Weight(grams) 431g
Dimensions(mm) 230mm * 154mm * 18mm