Religion as Mediation

Abstract

Why and how is it productive to conceptualize religion as mediation? In this article, I 1) rehearse the intellectual trajectory of the move from studying the implications of the adoption of new mass media into religious practices to a broader idea of religion as a practice of mediation; 2) address some criticisms raised with regard to the concept of religion-as-mediation from my position in the interface of anthropology and religious studies; 3) discuss the evocation of a sense of transcendence through sensational forms, and 4) by way of an outlook, pinpoint how conceptualizing religion as mediation is useful to unpack religious plurality.

Keywords

• media
• mediation
• sensational form
• immanent and transcendent
• plurality