Theology and media in modern society

Between theology and media society there exists a vigorous interaction. The necessity of using new media in theological research, teaching and transfer of knowledge, as well as in preaching the gospel as a part of a practical application of the results of theological research, is evident and for some part well documented. However, the question, whether the media society as the context of today`s theology influences or even alters it and whether media society exerts influence on well-known and developing results of research in the area of theology and philosophy, has insufficiently been dealt with and sometimes often been neglected. Fundamental theology as a discipline, which deals with a rational approach to religiosity given a specific sociological situation of a civilization, has been facing an increasing challenge through the developments, which can be seen in in modern society. Especially the use of typical theological terms, such as "transubstantiation" or "transmogrification", and the use of analogies with a religious meaning in information philosophy, as well as the use of technical terms of the information philosophy, such as "virtuality", in both, theology and philosophy, are a strong evidence for the mutual impact or interference. Looking at the connection between media society and fundamental theology, it is the objective of this research project to answer questions resulting from this connection: Is there a interaction between theology and media society, how can it be characterized and is it possible to uncover and unveil it? Considering the context, is it necessary for fundamental theology or for theology in general to reposition itself? Furthermore, in cooperation with Graz University of Technology and Joanneum Research a program will be developed, which allows the user to semi-automatically classify and analyze movies and films from a theological and filmtechnical point of view. The data of this analysis will then be connected with an iconographic database.

Between theology and media society there exists a vigorous interaction. The necessity of using new media in theological research, teaching and transfer of knowledge, as well as in preaching the gospel as a part of a practical application of the results of theological research, is evident and for some part well documented. However, the question, whether the media society as the context of today`s theology influences or even alters it and whether media society exerts influence on well-known and developing results of research in the area of theology and philosophy, has insufficiently been dealt with and sometimes often been neglected. Fundamental theology as a discipline, which deals with a rational approach to religiosity given a specific sociological situation of a civilization, has been facing an increasing challenge through the developments, which can be seen in in modern society. Especially the use of typical theological terms, such as "transubstantiation" or "transmogrification", and the use of analogies with a religious meaning in information philosophy, as well as the use of technical terms of the information philosophy, such as "virtuality", in both, theology and philosophy, are a strong evidence for the mutual impact or interference. Looking at the connection between media society and fundamental theology, it is the objective of this research project to answer questions resulting from this connection: Is there a interaction between theology and media society, how can it be characterized and is it possible to uncover and unveil it? Considering the context, is it necessary for fundamental theology or for theology in general to reposition itself? Furthermore, in cooperation with Graz University of Technology and Joanneum Research a program will be developed, which allows the user to semi-automatically classify and analyze movies and films from a theological and filmtechnical point of view. The data of this analysis will then be connected with an iconographic database.