Recent Grad Theses explore Digital Religion

Three recent graduate these explore interesting themes related to the study of Digital Religion

Erin Echols, in her MA thesis from George State University, studied Christian blogs found bloggers are most likely to cite texts as sources of authority and are more likely to affirm authority than to challenge it. See: Echols, Erin V., "Give Me That Online Religion: Religious Authority and Resistance Through Blogging" (2013). Sociology Theses. Paper 39. URL:
http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_theses/39

Narges Valibeigi, in his MA thesis from the University of Waterloo, presents a study of the junction of the Internet and religious fundamentalism reviewing the presentation of Shiite religious authority on the Persian blogosphere. See: Valibeigi, Narges. "Manifestation of Religious Authority on the Internet: Presentation of Twelver Shiite Authority in the Persian Blogosphere" (2013) Sociology Theses. URL:http://libdspace.uwaterloo.ca/bitstream/10012/6774/1/Narges_Valibeigi.pdf

Anna Rose Stewart, in her PhD in Anthropology from Sussex University, found that the use of the internet by Charismatic Christian women fits with wider religious preoccupations and patterns of ritual practice. See: Stewart, Anna R. "Gender, Faith, and Storytelling: An Ethnography of the Charismatic Internet" (2012). Anthropology Theses. URL: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/45226/1/Stewart,_Anna_Rose.pdf