Review of "Media and Religion: Foundations of an Emerging Field" by Daniel Stout (Routledge, 2012)

Abstract

Reviewer: Kyong James Cho (Texas A&M University)In Media and Religion: Foundations of an Emerging Field (2012), Daniel Stout endeavors to collect the many facets of the burgeoning field into an introduction of sorts. Stout's work outlines a brief history of the intersection of religion and media, and devotes a chapter to each subfield or area of emphasis, including religion and news media, cultural religion, media criticism from religious perspectives, digital religion, and entertainment and religion. It captures the wide range of research conducted in a field that at first appears to be quite specialized. Stout makes the case for the study of religion through demonstrating the reach of the religious into many areas of life. Similarly, media pervades nearly all aspects of life.Media, after all, is a broad term which encompasses consumption (film, television, news), production (art), interactivity (the Internet), and vocation (public relations/strategic communication). Each of these elements are represented in Media and Religion and synthesized into categories helpful for both the seasoned scholar and the newly oriented.One of the key points in Stout's work is defining the religious-like behaviors and devotions in secular life through the term the numinous. The numinous contains four elements: deep feeling, belief, ritual, and congregation. The numinous is used to describe the religious