Religion and Media

Religion today is broadly covered in the media. Apart from the church(es), forms of religion that are "created" by the media themselves become ever more important in this respect. This project positions theology in the face of the challenges which the (post)modern media society pose. Utilizing the three-fold "See - Judge - Act" it proceeds from analyses of the church`s situation with respect to the media on the one hand, and of the development within the media on the other hand. From that an outline of a theological hermeneutic is developed, which tries to do justice to the wide range of church activities, and yet offers for each context valid criteria for a constructive and critical theological analysis. The first chapter analyzes the current situation with respect to the church. It not only views the actual church activities in the media, but especially concentrates on its theoretical-"ideological" grounding in the doctrinal statements of Vatican II. The second chapter analyzes the current situation with respect to the media by characterizing the "religion" that is brought about in and through the media. To that avail it first describes tendencies of the postmodern age which "produce" religion. After introducing a "functional" concept of religion, which is necessary to "handle" "religious" phenomena in the media, it turns its attention to concrete cases of "media-religion", analyzing several examples of them. In view of the questions and problems described in the first two chapters it becomes clear that we require a theological hermeneutic which - as we have said already - can do justice to the range of phenomena as well as to the central tenets of the Christian message. The third chapter meets this challenge. For that purpose it draws on Paul Tillich`s approach of a "theonomic culture". Furthermore, after explaining the basic mimetic structure of human behavior, it utilizes the distinction between myth and revelation that René Girard has propounded. By connecting Tillich`s and Girard`s ideas with each other and by further developing them, an outline of a criteriology is developed which enables us to reflect responsibly on both the church`s media activities and the phenomena of a "media religion". The fourth chapter takes up the task to transform these reflections into perspectives for future action. This means first to develop a basic ecclesiological attitude from our theological analysis, but also to attempt to apply that to the realms and phenomena the thesis has dealt with and make recommendations for future analysis and action.