Social media and the mediation of religious authority, identity and community

Abstract

As religion continues to expand across digital platforms, scholars are increasingly challenged to rethink how religious authority, identity, and community are constructed, communicated, and maintained online. Within the field of Digital Religion Studies, these three themes have emerged as key analytical categories for understanding religion in digital contexts. This thesis explores how these concepts are expressed and negotiated through the digital presence of a Pentecostal-Charismatic Church (hereafter referred to as a PCC) in Cape Town, South Africa, specifically View Church. While PCCs are the fastest-growing Christian denomination in South Africa and a frequent subject of religion and media research, existing literature often operates outside of Digital Religion frameworks, thus overlooking the dynamic interplay between digital media technologies and religious institutions. This research adopts a qualitative case study approach and uses View Church’s official Instagram account and website as primary sources of data. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) serves as the principal analytical tool to examine how linguistic and visual strategies are employed to establish religious authority, articulate identity, and foster a sense of community in digital spaces. The study is further guided by Heidi Campbell’s Religious-Social Shaping of Technology (RSST) theory, which offers a layered framework for understanding how religious communities interact with and are influenced by digital media. RSST begins with an investigation into a church’s history, community structure, theological background, and core values related to media use. It then assesses how these values shape the church’s negotiation with digital technologies and their representation of religious identity online.