Cyberhenge examines the use of Internet technology in shaping religious traditions and rituals. Cowan asks how and why Neopaganism has embraced the Internet in such an innovative and imaginative way.
Introduction 1. The Modern Pagan Internet: From Hyperbole to reality and Back Again 2. The Road to Cyberhenge: Conceptualizing Modern Paganism Online and Off 3. The Mists of Cyberhenge: Mapping the Modern Pagan Internet 4. Online Solataries and Cybercovens: (Re-) Inventing the Modern Pagan Path 5. Among the Stones of Cyberhenge: Modern Pagan Ritual on the World Wide Web 6. Coming Out of the Online Broomcloset: Identity and Authority on the World Wide Web 7. (In)Conclusion: A Web of Dangers, Benefits and Research Directions Bibliography Index
Biography
Douglas E. Cowan is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Sociology at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He is author of The Remnant Spirit: Conservative Reform in Mainline Protestantism and Bearing False Witness: An Introduction to the Christian Countercult. He is coeditor, with Lorne L. Dawson, of Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet, also published by Routledge.
'There is no question that Douglas Cowan's contribution to the study of modern paganism on the Internet is significant and valuable. He achieved his goal in removing the hype surrounding this form of religious activity, supplying readers with a clear overview of the phenomenon, new theoretical frameworks and heuristic devices for interpreting the activities, and insight into how the World Wide Web is changing the religious landscape of our wired world.' - Christopher Helland, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
'A much needed book.' - Irving Hexham, University of Calgary, Canada
'This book should become one of the classic texts in the still relatively new area of study.' - J. Gordon Melton, University of California, USA
