Doing Ritual Criticism in a Network Society

Ritual criticism has a major role to play in the rise of innovations,
such as those in technology. The advent of media like radio and
television sparked fierce debates on religious rituals engaged in via
these media. Were ritual activities not necessarily characterized by a
physical (real) and locative dimension? And what about the community
that is literally a constituting part of a ritual? We see the same
questions emerging in the enormous spread of new network media and the
impact of digitization on our culture. Can there be such a thing as
online rituals? These questions equally apply to the phenomenon of
pilgrimage. Is there such a thing as cyberpilgrimage? If so, what forms
do these pilgrimages take? The criticism revolves around a range of
fixed themes: the physical dimension of ritual, virtuality and reality,
distance and engagement, individual and community, private and public,
authenticity and authority.





This book explores these questions and themes in chapters on the topos
of the Pilgrim and the Tourist, cyberpilgrimage as phenomenon and object
of research, E-religion and E-ritual, the tradition of mental or virtual
pilgrimage, reproduction of sacred space, and the topography of the
sacred.