Online Christian Churches

Three Case Studies

Authors

  • Tim Hutchings Durham University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/arsr.v23i3.346

Keywords:

Internet, Christianity, Internet Religion, Online Churches, Cyberethnography

Abstract

Online churches are Internet-based Christian communities, pursuing worship, proselytism and other ecclesial activities through digital media. This article is based on three case studies of online churches: i-church, the Anglican Cathedral of Second Life, and LifeChurch.tv Church Online. Seven key themes emerge from these case studies and are used here as a framework for comparative analysis: mass appeal, spiritual experience, community, reliance on the familiar, local church attendance, internal control and external oversight.

Author Biography

  • Tim Hutchings, Durham University
    Tom Hutchings holds a PhD from Durham University, UK. His thesis, entitled ‘Creating Church Online: An Ethnographic Study of Five Internet- Based Christian Communities’, was based on three years of participant observation and over one hundred interviews and focused on worship, community, authority and the relationship between digital media and everyday life. He joined the HUMlab digital humanities research centre at Umea University, Sweden, in September 2010, beginning a one-year project examining the role of the Internet in religious recruitment and disaffiliation.

References

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Published

2011-01-28

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 3 (2010): Special Issue: New Virtual Frontiers: Religion and Spirituality in Cyberspace/Guest Editor: Roxanne D. Marcotte

Section

Articles

License

Equinox Publishing Ltd.

How to Cite

Hutchings, T. (2011). Online Christian Churches: Three Case Studies. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 23(3), 346-369. https://doi.org/10.1558/arsr.v23i3.346